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Flashpoints, Military Buildup, News May 21, 2013

Oman to buy $2.1B Raytheon missile system(THAAD) to counter Iran

Gulf sultanate of Oman is set to buy a $2.1 billion missile system built by the U.S. Raytheon Co. as part of a U.S. drive to install a coordinated air-defense system linking the region’s Arab monarchies to counter Iran.

Details of the contract, including the type of system involved, have not been disclosed, but Oman has been in the market for a medium-range surface-to-air missile system for some time.U.S. officials traveling with Kerry say the deal will enhance the air-defense systems the United States has sold to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other allies in the gulf.

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News, Protest May 21, 2013

Swedes shaken by second night of riots in Stockholm suburb triggered by police shooting

Cars were engulfed in flames on Monday night and youths clashed with police in the north-western Stockholm district of Husby for a second night in a row.
“Six people have been arrested,” police spokesman Mats Eriksson told the TT news agency. “They are between 15- and 19-years-old. All of them are suspected of assaulting a public official (våld mot tjänsteman).” Firefighters who arrived to extinguish the blazes were met by young people throwing rocks. Shortly after midnight the fire from one burning car spread to three other nearby cars as emergency crews were unable to extinguish the flames.

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Military, News May 20, 2013

Russia Ready to Develop Long-Range Air Defense System with Turkey

Russia is ready to develop jointly with Turkey a long-range air defense complex based on S-300 surface-to-air missile systems, state arms seller Rosoboronexport head Sergei Ladygin said on Sunday.

Turkey launched a tender for the purchase of long-range air defense systems long ago but no winner has been announced to this day. “Russia is ready to offer as part of the tender a joint Russian-Turkish product based on the Antey-2500 system [the export version of the S-300 system]. For example, to mount the air defense system on the Turkish chassis,” Ladygin said at the weapons exhibition in the Peruvian capital of Lima.

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Military Buildup, News May 20, 2013

S. Korea deploys Israeli missiles to protect border islands

South Korea has placed Israeli precision-guided missiles capable of striking North Korean coastal artillery on its Yellow Sea border islands, a military official said Sunday.

“Dozens of Spike missiles and their launchers have recently been deployed on Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong islands,” an official for the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. “They can destroy (North Korea’s) underground facilities and can pursue and strike moving targets.”

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Military Buildup, News May 18, 2013

CIS & Russia plans to deploy troops along Tajik-Afghan border

Russia remains concerned about the volatile situation in Afghanistan, fearing the return of the Taliban and other terrorist groups to power once the US-led coalition troops leave Afghanistan by the end of next year. Predicting instability in the violence-wracked country, Russia plans to deploy troops on the Tajik-Afghan border to prevent the spillover of violence into Russia. Moscow’s envoy to Kabul, Andrey Avetisyan, told Reuters that if Russia didn’t guard its border with Afghanistan, it might face multiple challenges, ranging from the transport of narcotics to terrorism, and therefore the only solution was to guard the border.

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Military Buildup, News May 18, 2013

US to modernize tactical nuclear arsenal in Europe

The U.S. has decided to modernize its tactical nuclear weapons in Europe, as well as in America. Experts are divided concerning how the move will affect the balance of strength in Europe. However, this is not the worst news for Russia.

According to The Guardian, when the programme is completed in 2019-2020, the American nuclear arsenal in Europe will get new high-precision nuclear warheads together with advanced delivery systems, especially stealth planes.

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News, Sci/Tech May 17, 2013

DHS Eyes Sharing Zero-Day Intelligence With Businesses

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Wednesday offered to help private businesses zero in on the zero-day vulnerabilities being used to compromise their networks. The DHS pitch: We’ll share intelligence gleaned from the U.S. government’s vast stockpile of zero-day vulnerabilities — purchased from bug hunters and resellers — to help block zero-day threats. gPrivate businesses would pay for the service, which would be offered by telecommunications firms and defense contractors.

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Diplomacy, GeoPolitics, Military Buildup, News May 16, 2013

Karzai to visit India; Afghans look for enhanced defence ties

Ahead of its President’s visit here from May 20, Afghanistan on Thursday said it was looking for enhanced defence cooperation with India, from where it was expecting supply of lethal and non-lethal military equipment.

The two sides will discuss a range of issues of mutual concern and interest and will discuss cooperation at a “critical time” for Afghanistan, which is witnessing the withdrawal of NATO combat troops, the envoy said.

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Flashpoints, Military, News May 13, 2013

Syria threatens to enter occupied Golan Heights after Israeli airstrike

The Syrian government has warned Israel that it would enter the occupied Golan Heights “whenever it wants because it’s a Syrian land,” a warning that came a week after the latest Israeli airstrike against military positions in the capital Damascus.

Israeli officials have confirmed May 4, 2013, that the country’s air force carried out a strike against Syria and say it targeted a shipment of advanced missiles. The comments were made by Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi on Sunday, May 12, 2013, during which he said that the recent Israeli airstrike against Syria had violated the pertaining international accords.

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Military, News, Resources May 13, 2013

Japanese Defense Plan: Go Nuclear

Japan is preparing to start up a massive nuclear-fuel reprocessing plant over the objections of the Obama administration, which fears the move may stoke a broader race for nuclear technologies and even weapons in North Asia and the Middle East.

The Rokkasho reprocessing facility, based in Japan’s northern Aomori prefecture, is capable of producing nine tons of weapons-usable plutonium annually, said Japanese officials and nuclear-industry experts, enough to build as many as 2,000 bombs, although Japanese officials say their program is civilian.

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ISR, News May 9, 2013

Bill to allow police to use drones without search warrant heads to Maine Senate

In a narrow decision, lawmakers accepted an amendment to a bill offered by Sen. John Patrick, D-Rumford, that could allow police to use a drone without a search warrant.

In a 7-6 vote on May 1, the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee sided with Maine Attorney General Janet Mills on the issue of how police can employ unmanned aerial vehicles in criminal investigations.

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GeoPolitics, News, Territorial Dispute May 8, 2013

Chinese official mouthpiece claims rights to Okinawa

China’s top newspaper on Wednesday published a call for a “reconsideration” of Japan’s sovereignty over the island of Okinawa — home to major US bases — with the Asian powers already embroiled in a territorial row.

Major protest and outrage is likely from Japan for even a suggestion that China has any claim on Okinawa, the southernmost major island in the Japanese chain. “Unresolved problems relating to the Ryukyu Islands have reached the time for reconsideration,” wrote Zhang Haipeng and Li Guoqiang, citing post World War II declarations which require Japan to return Chinese territory.

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Flashpoints, Military Buildup, News May 7, 2013

Africom gets crisis response force

SP-MAGTF CR comprises a rotational contingent of approximately 500 Marines, sailors and support elements sourced from a variety of Marine Corps units. It will report to the head of Africom, Army General David Rodriguez.

“The intent for the crisis-response force is just that. … It’s to move in and offset whatever challenges there are to our national interests,” Marine Lieutenant General Richard Tryon, deputy commandant for plans, policies and operations told the Marine Corps Times last month.

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Conflict, News, Paramilitary, Risks May 7, 2013

U.N.’s Carla del Ponte says Syrian rebels may have used sarin

A leading member of a United Nations investigatory commission says there are “strong concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof” that Syrian rebels have used the nerve agent sarin.

Carla del Ponte, a former prosecutor for U.N. tribunals investigating war crimes in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, made the comment in an interview Sunday with a Swiss television channel, the BBC reported. She said the evidence emerged from interviews conducted by investigators with victims, physicians and others in neighboring countries.

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Flashpoints, Military, News May 6, 2013

Fighting Renews Along Afghan-Pakistani Border

Fresh clashes broke out Monday between troops on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, where soldiers from both countries exchanged gunfire last week.

Afghan officials said the fight broke out after Pakistani troops returned to the site of a gate on land that both sides claim along the porous border. It is not clear whether there were any casualties in Monday’s fighting. Last week, crossfire on the border killed one Afghan border guard and wounded two Pakistani security personnel.

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Crisis, Economy, News May 5, 2013

Food banks are ‘sign of return to Dickensian world’, warns food expert

Although the Department for Work and Pensions insists that the Government already provides a safety net for essentials such as food through the benefit system, the Prime Minister has acknowledged that many struggle.

Professor Lang said: “There ought to be a very big political debate about food banks. It should be a sign of shame that the sixth-richest economy on the planet has people who are essentially retreating to a Dickensian world. It’s shocking how quickly it’s been normalised.”

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Analysis, GeoPolitics, Intelligentsia, News May 5, 2013

Russia’s intelligence services treats Estonia as Russian territory

The annual public accounting of Estonia’s security and intelligence agency, Kapo, details numerous activities with which Russia’s clandestine services gathers information and aids the implementation of the Kremlin’s foreign policy.

The Kapo report states that in the last few years the Russian FSB’s attempts at recruitment in Estonia have substantially grown. One can then assume that the focus of the FSB toward Estonia has intensified.g

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Development, Flashpoints, Military, News, Stratagem May 3, 2013

Introducing ‘the arc’, Defence’s new strategic focus

Military strategists love a neat metaphor and today’s defence white paper from the Gillard government has given us a new one to bandy about.

The US had its “pivot” into the region. The white paper is asking us to envisage what it’s calling a “new Indo-Pacific strategic arc” stretching from India, through south-east Asia and north-east Asia, as our area of key strategic interest. In essence, this means more emphasis on looking west and northwest towards the Indian Ocean as well as to the north and north-east – not a revolution, but an evolution of what has been going on quietly inside defence circles for some years.

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Military, News May 2, 2013

Tunisia forces clash with 50 armed militants

Tunisian troops clashed yesterday with a group of around 50 armed militants in the remote Mount Chaambi border region, a security source at the scene said. An AFP journalist nearby reported hearing an exchange of gunfire in the area, which is close to Tunisia’s border with Algeria. The group is commanded by an Algerian and two Tunisians originally from the regional capital Kasserine, the source said. Tunisian forces have been conducting search operations in the mountainous region since Monday, targeting a group of “terrorists,” the authorities have said, while refusing to give further details because the operations were ongoing.

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Analysis, GeoPolitics, Military, News May 2, 2013

Japan PM’s ‘stealth’ constitution plan raises civil rights fears

Shinzo Abe makes no secret of wanting to revise Japan’s constitution, he is seeking to lower the hurdle for revising the constitution as a prelude to an historic change to its pacifist Article 9 – which, if strictly read, bans any military. That would be a symbolic shift, loosening restrictions on the military’s overseas activities, but would have limited impact on defence as the clause has already been stretched to allow Tokyo to build up armed forces that are now bigger than Britain’s. However, sweeping changes proposed by Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in a draft constitution would strike at the heart of the charter with an assault on basic civil rights.

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Development, GeoPolitics, Military Buildup, News May 2, 2013

Interesting: 3AF 9th Annual International Conference on Missile Defense

Thank you so much for inviting me to join you today. At the State Department, I am responsible for overseeing a wide range of defense policy issues, including missile defense policy. In this capacity, it was my responsibility and privilege to negotiate the details of the Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) agreements with Poland, Romania, and Turkey that will enable the United States to implement the European Phased Adaptive Approach (or EPAA), the U.S. contribution to NATO missile defense.

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Military, News May 2, 2013

U.S. to Deploy State of the Art Weapons in Japan

The U.S. and Japan have agreed to deploy state-of-the-art strategic weapons in Japan in a bid to build an early warning system against North Korean missiles. “Today, we made progress on plans to deploy a second TPY-2 radar to Japan, which will help protect both of our nations from the threat of North Korean ballistic missiles,” Hagel told reporters.

The TPY-2 radar will be positioned in Kyoto following one already placed at a Japanese Air Force base in Tsugaru, Aomori Prefecture in 2006. Using 2.5-3.75 cm wavelength, far shorter than other radars, the TPY-2 radar can identify ballistic missiles within a radius of 4,000 km.

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Analysis, Military Buildup, News May 2, 2013

Mapped: The U.S. military’s presence in Africa

The United States may be deploying 10 additional troops to Mali, but that’s just a drop in the bucket of the U.S. military’s presence in Africa, which has been quietly building for the last decade. You’ve probably heard about the 2,000-troop hub at Camp Lemmonier, Djibouti, and the 100 special operators hunting Joseph Kony. But less is known about the handful of U.S. drone bases scattered across the continent and the dozens of exercises involving hundreds, if not thousands, of American troops (Click the placemarks on the map above for a quick description of what U.S. troops are doing in each country.)

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Military Buildup, News May 1, 2013

Taiwan deploying three batteries of Patriot Missile Systems in the South

Three U.S.-made Patriot antimissile air defense batteries will be deployed in southern Taiwan, in addition to the one already in northern Taiwan, said the Deputy Defense Minister Andrew Yang. Responding to lawmakers’ questions in the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign and National Defense Committee, Yang said the three Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile batteries will be used to boost the country’s defense capability. The PAC-3 missile batteries, part of a US$6.4 billion arms package supplied by the United States in recent years, will be deployed in southern Taiwan, he said.

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Conflict, News, Paramilitary April 30, 2013

FSA may soon launch counterattack on Hezbollah, says Jordanian ex-army official

The Free Syrian Army (FSA) may soon be planning to launch retaliatory attacks on “elite Hezbollah forces” reportedly fighting in Syria, retired Jordanian major-general Fayez al-Doueiri told Al Arabiya on Monday night. Doueiri, who is now a military analyst, said the reported continuing battles between the FSA and Hezbollah fighters could be a “positive development for the FSA as it is managing to inhibit Hezbollah’s elite forces.” This may mean the “FSA is preparing to launch reverse operations to gain back what it lost in the past few weeks,” he added.

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Development, Economy, News, Paramilitary April 30, 2013

German Bundeswehr soldiers ‘for hire as mercenaries’

German soldiers are moonlighting illegally at private security firms while off-duty, a newspaper revealed on Monday. Working as heavily armed guards on freighters or in war-zones, some do it for the cash and others for the adrenaline kick.

As members of the German army, Bundeswehr, soldiers are not allowed to work as mercenaries for private companies – yet many are doing it, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) found out. Exact figures on how many of Germany’s soldiers, or former soldiers, work the private security circuit are unknown. According to the FAZ’s research, the field is growing and critics are warning of a “mercenary renaissance”.

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Analysis, Military, News, War Crimes April 30, 2013

5 Weapons of Mass Destruction the U.S. Military Uses Every Day

When most of us think of weapons of mass destruction, we think of nuclear bombs, or nerve gas, or biological agents. So it was surprising to see accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev charged with using a weapon of mass destruction after he and his brother allegedly detonated a bomb made from a pressure cooker.

Heinous as the Boston bombing is, a pressure cooker does not fit the commonly used definition of a WMD. In fact, by its own definition, the U.S. government is using WMDs every day.

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Intelligentsia, News, Rigging April 30, 2013

S. Korean spy agency raided over presidential election scandal: Report

South Korean prosecutors raided the country’s spy agency as part of a probe into allegations that it meddled in the presidential election in December, a news report said. Prosecutors raided the country’s spy agency as part of a probe into allegations that it meddled in the presidential vote. A team of about 25 prosecutors and investigators from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office seized digital files and documents from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) in the capital, Yonhap news agency said. The agency’s anti-North Korea psychological warfare team allegedly posted a slew of politically sensitive comments on the Internet against the opposition candidate to influence public opinion ahead of the December poll.

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Analysis, Conflict, Military, News April 29, 2013

INSIGHT: Creating a ‘No Move’ Zone in Syria

This may be a template for a possible plot for “The Expendables 3” but it is a truly bad real-world military operation. Creating limited protection zones for what are now millions of potential refugees would commit the United States to unstable half-measures – and the open-ended use of force to defend them – with the risks of either a continuing civil war or an unplanned process of escalation without allied commitments or support and the reality that the people in such zones would need massive amounts of emergency relief. As Libya showed, “no fly” zones are not enough to end a civil war or halt ground movements and escalation in the use of artillery, missiles, and carefully managed atrocities by competing ground forces.

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Military Buildup, News April 29, 2013

French Air Force in the Baltic states

The Frenchmen will start their shift on April the 30th, and will use the base in Šauliai as their central base. So far, for last four month it was possible to see in Baltic sky F – 16 fighters that were in use by the Danish air forces that were in the region since January first. So far, since the Baltic countries became to be members of NATO forces, 14 different NATO members sent their air forces to protect the Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian air borders. The Baltic countries are not able to built their own strong air forces, therefore they are under protect of the other NATO members.

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GeoPolitics, Integration, News April 26, 2013

Turkey and Shanghai Cooperation Organization to be dialogue partners

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu Friday said that the memorandum of understanding signed with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) was a declaration of “common destiny” as well as the beginning of a long journey that the organization and Turkey would walk hand in hand. Turkey and SCO signed a memorandum of understanding in the Kazakh city of Almaty. Davutoglu, who was on a formal visit to Kazakhstan met with Secretary General of the SCO Dmitri Mezentsev, and signed the MoU in regards to the cooperation to be carried out between Turkey and the organization as “dialogue partners.”

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Analysis, GeoPolitics, Military, News April 25, 2013

NATO looks for allies to station military contingent in Central Asia

Not much time is left until 2014, when the withdrawal of NATO anti-terrorism coalition troops from Afghanistan is expected to take place; however, it still remains unknown what type of military contingent will remain in Afghanistan and Central Asia thereafter and which countries of the region will be selected by the West for this purpose.

The fact that military contingents will remain not only in Afghanistan but also in the region is doubtless and is openly stated by officials. On Tuesday, the U.S. Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia Robert Blake said the fact of the coalition’s presence in Central Asia is unequivocal, adding that it is still not decided on what other transit points and bases will be maintained in the region.

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Analysis, Conflict, Flashpoints, Military, News April 25, 2013

U.S. Marine rapid response force deploying to Spain base

The first of 500 Marines have begun deploying to Spain as part of a new rapid reaction force to respond to threats against U.S. citizens, government personnel or installations in Africa. The new task force is based at Moron Air Base in southern Spain, which provides quick access especially to northern Africa, where security concerns have grown since the September 2012 attack on a U.S. government facility in Benghazi, Libya, a Pentagon official told CNN. When fully operational, the unit will be required to be airborne within six hours of receiving orders, providing the type of rapid response that the Pentagon says was not possible during the Benghazi attack. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans died during the assault at the U.S. mission and CIA annex.

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Military Buildup, News April 25, 2013

Belarus, Russia gearing up for radioelectronic warfare

In 2013 Belarus and Russia will launch a program to prepare army units and a system to train control agencies and troops for radioelectronic warfare as part of the regional military force. The information was released by Belarusian Defense Minister Yuri Zhadobin after the session of the joint board of the Belarusian Defense Ministry and the Russian Defense Ministry on 23 April, BelTA has learned. According to the official, the session tabled the progress in implementing the second phase of the creation and development of the united radioelectronic warfare system.

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GeoPolitics, Intelligentsia, News April 25, 2013

Zimbabwean Minister: CIA and BND trained our security services

STATE security minister Sydney Sekeramayi has said it was ironic that the West was leading calls for so-called security sector reforms having helped train the country’s defence and security establishment for more than 20 years. He said: “The British Military Advisory and Training Team left the country in 2001 after a 20-year stint with our army. They did not complain then, why now? “In the same vein, the President’s Department held various exchange programmes with other Western intelligence services among them CIA, BND (Germany intelligence) and M16.”

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GeoPolitics, Military, News April 25, 2013

Belarus may sell S-300 systems to Syria

Four S-300 systems, which will be shipped to Belarus by Russia, may be re-sold to pariah countries. This is how general Valer Fralou commented for the charter97.org web-site in the shipment of air-to-surface missile systems S-30 and the deployment of a Russian aviation base in Belarus. “Any military forces based in Belarus increase the potential of the Belarusian army. But this is only from the military point of view. One should not forget that Belarus is still a part of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, and we have a union state with Russia”, – the general noted.

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Diplomacy, Military, News, Strategic Interests April 24, 2013

US looks to allies to secure Arabian Gulf

“It is our hope that the Gulf Cooperation Council, the GCC, can play an important role in the future providing security for this region,” he told an audience at the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies Research. Across the board, he said, Washington is urging allies to build local capacity. “That’s what we’re doing for the UAE and that’s what we’re doing with other countries. Yes, we give them the help they need, we give them assistance, but the fact is that they have to help provide for their security.” For months, many commentators from Riyadh to Doha to Manama have sensed and relayed this shift in US policy.

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Development, Military Buildup, News April 23, 2013

China Deploys Carrier Killer Missile Near Taiwan

Beijing has deployed near Taiwan a powerful missile designed to take out U.S. aircraft carriers as Beijing strengthens its ability to prevent U.S. forces from aiding Taiwan. The missile, designated the DF-21D, is one of a “growing number of conventionally armed” new weapons China is deploying to the region, adding to more than 1,200 short-range missiles opposite the island democracy, Flynn, the Defense Intelligence Agency director, told the Senate Armed Services Committee. The Dong Feng-21D is intended to give China “the capability to attack large ships, particularly aircraft carriers, in the western Pacific,” the Pentagon’s 2012 China report said.

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Border Incursion, Crisis, Military, News April 22, 2013

Indian Army matches China man-for-man on the border

As the Army’s Military Intelligence (MI) and Military Operations (MO) directorates study the Chinese troop incursion into Indian territory at Daulat Beg Oldi, below the towering Karakoram Pass in Ladakh, military analysts are also scanning a newly-released Chinese document for information that might be of help.

Indian military planners who prepare for eventualities like the current PLA incursion spiraling out of control, perhaps even into actual fighting, focus less on total numbers than on the units and formations that can quickly come into action. The White Paper fully corroborates the Army’s estimates of Chinese formations on the Sino-Indian border.

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Military Buildup, News, Strategic Interests April 21, 2013

Nimitz Strike Group Departs for Western Pacific Deployment

The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) with embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 11 and Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 11 departed Naval Air Station North Island April 19 and will join up with San Diego-based guided-missile cruiser USS Princeton (CG 59) for a scheduled Western Pacific deployment, the U.S. Navy said.

Nimitz left its homeport of Naval Station Everett, Wash., March 29 to join Princeton and CVW 11 for a Sustainment Exercise (SUSTEX) in preparation for their deployment. The Commander, U.S. Third Fleet-led exercise ensured the deployment readiness of key operational components of the strike group after a delay in deployment as a result of an emergent maintenance requirement.

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Drill, Military Buildup, News April 19, 2013

UK’s Carlisle airport becomes war zone as Dutch invasion force moves in

Attack helicopters circled as soldiers prepared for an invasion – at Carlisle Airport. Heavily-armed, camouflage-clad troops were loaded into the back of a Chinook helicopter, supported by the Apache gunships ready for a battle over the border. The battleground scenes were played out at the airport, but there was no reason for people nearby to be alarmed – it was all just an exercise. The Royal Netherlands Air Force were conducting a training exercise from airfield as they went through an imaginary scenario. The story read something like a video game – a central European country had invaded a another country over waters, and the Dutch Air Force were in the separation zone ready to strike.

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Development, Drill, Military, News April 19, 2013

Pentagon, NATO allies witness missile defense test in skies over Central New York

Military leaders from the Pentagon, Italy and Germany were in Central New York this week to witness a classified test of a missile defense system. As part of the test, a small plane and a simulated tactical ballistic missile were detected and tracked by the Medium Extended Air Defense System, or MEADS, its developers said today. MEADS, developed in part by Lockheed Martin with partners in Italy and Germany, was tested using radars placed at Lockheed’s test range in Cazenovia and on its campus at Electronics Park in Salina. MEADS and Lockheed Martin officials said they could not release photos or videos of the test because of the classified nature, nor could they disclose the names of the NATO officials who witnessed the demonstration.

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Human Rights, News April 18, 2013

Bangladeshis get bullets for asking for unpaid wages in Greece

Greek police were hunting three foremen yesterday who were suspected of shooting and wounding more than 20 migrant workers at a strawberry farm. The supervisors were believed to have opened fire on Wednesday at a crowd of about 200 mostly Bangladeshi immigrants who were demanding wages that had not been paid, police said. The wounded were taken to hospital but none of the injuries was serious. Anti-foreigner sentiment has been rising in Greece, where one in four workers is unemployed after five years of recession.

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Economy, Intelligentsia, News April 18, 2013

Former Israeli Intelligence Operatives Now Working For Hedge Funds

A company staffed with former operatives of Israel’s top intelligence agencies and founded with the help of the former head of the Mossad is being used by hedge funds looking for an edge in the financial markets. Kela Israeli Intelligence has increasingly become a popular service on Wall Street. The firm employs about 40 former intelligence operatives and analysts, most of them ex-members of the Israeli army’s secretive 8200 unit, which is often described as Israel’s equivalent to the National Security Agency and believed to be behind the Stuxnet computer worm that attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities.

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Conflict, Military Buildup, News April 17, 2013

US to deploy troops in Jordan for possible military intervention in Syria

The Pentagon is sending about 200 soldiers from a U.S. Army headquarters unit to Jordan to assist efforts to contain violence along the Syrian border and plan for any operations needed to ensure the safety of chemical weapons in Syria, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told Congress Wednesday.

The decision to dispatch the 1st Armored Division troops of planners and specialists in intelligence, logistics and operations comes as several lawmakers pressed the Obama administration for even more aggressive steps to end the two-year civil war.The Pentagon leaders made clear that the situation is extremely complicated and they must be certain of the endgame before any military step to try to end the bloodshed.

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Integration, Military, News April 17, 2013

Experts at Abu Dhabi summit want GCC military integration

International defence experts have called on Arabian Gulf countries to establish military command systems able to exchange and share information at the click of a button. The calls were made yesterday at the C4ISR Summit (Command, Control, Communication, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) in Abu Dhabi. The GCC secretary general, Dr Abdullatif Al Zayani, told the summit that the GCC was politically in unison and called for the countries’ militaries to follow suit. “GCC countries have to be able to be integrated and interoperable to share intelligence and information and be ready to work together at a higher and more complete level,” he said.

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Intelligentsia, News April 16, 2013

CIA Obtains False IDs From Washington Dept. Of Licensing

In recent years, the state of Washington has issued nearly 300 fictitious driver licenses to the CIA. That’s according to public records initially disclosed, but now withheld, by state officials. The state’s cooperation with the nation’s premier spy agency has been a secret for years — unknown to lawmakers and even the governor.

Inside Washington’s Department of Licensing is a special office called the License Integrity Unit. This is where police officers who are going undercover can come to get a fake identity. It’s a valid Washington driver license, but with a fictitious name, birthdate and address. It’s known as the confidential driver license program. It’s operated for decades, but without legislative approval.

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Military Buildup, News April 16, 2013

China has 1.48 mn troops minus missile forces: white paper

Disclosing its strength for the first time, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the world’s largest active military, today said its troops totalled 1.483 million, excluding its missiles division. An annual white paper revealing the details of the 2.3 million strong PLA’s actual number of troops in the army, navy and air force, omitted the number of personnel in its Strategic Command Division, the Second Artillery Force, which handled its nuclear and ballistic missiles. Defence analysts who scrutinised the document said here that 2.3 million is stated to be a realistic figure as the paper did not include the numbers of PLA’s Second Artillery, the main missile unit of the Chinese military that comprises of large personnel and mobile missile units.

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GeoPolitics, Intelligentsia, News April 15, 2013

Putin’s spies target German embassy staff

Over 25 years after his stint as a spy in Dresden for the Soviet KGB, Russian President Vladimir Putin is increasing surveillance of the German government as the Kremlin ratchets up its anti-German rhetoric, Der Spiegel magazine reported on Monday. After several years of relatively relaxed relations between Russia and Germany, cracks in their strategic friendship are appearing once again, wrote the magazine. In the latest incident, the Kremlin’s intelligence service, the FSB, began squeezing Russian employees of the German embassy in Moscow for information.

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Crisis, News, Risks, Sectarian Violence April 12, 2013

Myanmar police struggle to adapt to post-junta era

After decades in the shadow of the military, Myanmar’s ragtag police force has found itself thrust onto the security frontline – and under fire for failing to stop a wave of religious unrest. Under the former junta that ruled the country also known as Burma for almost half a century, any sign of unrest was quickly quelled by soldiers.

But since a new reformist government took power two years ago, the job of maintaining order has been largely left to police who lack basic equipment and only have about a year of training. “The police were never well-equipped,” said an officer with 20 years in the force who did not want to be named.

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Analysis, GeoPolitics, Military, News April 12, 2013

Inside China: PLA strategist reflects military’s mainstream

One of China’s most influential military strategists has made headlines by saying that a new, lethal strain of bird flu is a “U.S. bio-psychological weapon” conspiracy designed to harm China.

Senior Col. Dai Xu, an air force officer in the People’s Liberation Army, has written several best-sellers, mostly on U.S. military strategy toward China, and enjoys a national following. He is a prominent voice inside China on military strategy and national security.Though many in the West view him as an aberration, Col. Dai is a core member of China’s strategic community and his views are backed by a huge following in Chinese military circles.

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Intelligentsia, Military, News April 12, 2013

Encrypted broadcast system links IDF brass to intel

‘Castle of the Lake’ intelligence command and control system being developed to deliver military decision-makers information from every possible source.In a hypothetical yet plausible situation, a very senior IDF commander is sitting at home, when he is alerted of a developing threat over the border.

As he makes his way to IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv to meet with army brass, the commander pulls out a handheld military communications device, which sends and receives highly encrypted broadcasts.

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Military Buildup, News, Sci/Tech April 10, 2013

Why the U.S. is Racing to Shoot Down Iranian UAVs With Lasers by Next Summer

After successful demonstrations of UAV shootdowns by the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy, the Navy looks to put laser systems to the test in the real world, installing a laser defense system on the U.S.S. Ponce. The U.S.S. Ponce is an amphibious transport dock class vessel used in joint land-sea operations with the U.S. Marines. The vessel was originally commissioned in 1971, built by Lockheed’s Lockheed Shipbuilding unit (which closed prior to Lockheed’s merger to become Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)).

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GeoPolitics, News April 9, 2013

EU to deploy over 100 election observers in Pakistan

European Union will deploy an Election Observation Mission constituting 11 experts, 52 long-term observers and 46 short-term observers to monitor the May 11 elections.The announcement was made by Chief Observer of the mission, a German Member of the European Parliament, Michael Gahler, in a press conference organised on Monday. The mission, established after invitation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will cover pre-election preparations, election day including polling, counting and tabulation of results, and post-election day activities.

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Military, News April 8, 2013

Navy Deploying Laser Weapon Prototype in Persian Gulf

The Navy is going to sea for the first time with a laser attack weapon that has been shown in tests to disable patrol boats and blind or destroy surveillance drones. A prototype shipboard laser will be deployed on a converted amphibious transport and docking ship in the Persian Gulf, where Iranian fast-attack boats have harassed American warships and where the government in Tehran is building remotely piloted aircraft carrying surveillance pods. The laser is designed to carry out a graduated scale of missions, from burning through a fast-attack boat or a drone to producing a nonlethal burst to “dazzle” an adversary’s sensors and render them useless, without causing any other physical damage.

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Analysis, GeoPolitics, News, Policy, Powerplay April 5, 2013

European ‘shadow state’ faces growing resistance

Which cruel ruler is continually forcing new rounds of austerity measures on the Greeks? And which dark power managed to break the resistance of Cypriots in just a few days? The answer is not Germany. It is the eurozone’s shadow state.

“Within this euro shadow state is a shadow government, the European Council,” Mayer said at a recent lecture at the Academy for Civic Education in Tutzing, southern Germany. “There’s a shadow executive, the Eurogroup. And there’s a task force to implement discipline that was grossly infringed upon. That’s the troika.”

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Analysis, GeoPolitics, Military, News April 3, 2013

Algeria: A giant afraid of its shadow

“In Algeria, power likes to hide,” says a political scientist in Algiers. “The military and security forces have come to the conviction that they have to work in a hidden way, that they have to practise power but never in the light, and they try to resolve all domestic and international problems using secret services rather than going through public institutions.” The intellectuals’ story of the origins of the old men who run Algeria goes some way towards explaining the intensity with which the country’s murky elite remain absorbed in their own power games.

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Development, Military Buildup, News March 29, 2013

Pakistan Navy commissions 3rd Marine battalion at strategic Gwadar port

In order to further strengthen the defence of Gwadar Port and to enhance the security of vital PN assets and installations along the western coasts, Pakistan Navy has achieved a significant milestone by commissioning the 3rd Pak Marines Battalion. The commissioning ceremony was held today at Gwadar. Vice Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Muhammad Shafiq was the chief guest on the occasion. Addressing the ceremony, the chief guest said that at present the country is faced with internal and external threats, which makes security today’s main concern.

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Military, News, Policy March 29, 2013

Russia Mulls Establishing Bases in Afghanistan

“We will look into various options of creating repair bases on Afghan territory,” the head of the Defense Ministry’s department of international cooperation, Sergey Koshelev, told the press. He added that the maintenance of weapons and military hardware in Afghanistan remains a top priority, as any instability in the country would affect Russia’s own security, as well as the security of other European nations. Russian NATO envoy Aleksandr Grushko also said that Moscow was not excluding the possibility of broader cooperation with the military bloc.

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Flashpoints, Military, News March 29, 2013

North Korea puts rocket units on standby to attack US military bases

North Korea put its rocket units on standby on Friday to attack US military bases in South Korea and the Pacific, after the United States flew two nuclear-capable stealth bombers over the Korean peninsula in a rare show of force.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed off on the order at a midnight meeting of top generals and “judged the time has come to settle accounts with the US imperialists in view of the prevailing situation”, official KCNA news agency said. Pyongyang has also cancelled an armistice agreement with the United States that ended the Korean War and cut all communications hotlines with US forces, the United Nations and South Korea.

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Integration, Military, News March 29, 2013

Canada takes its turn defending only NATO country without an army, Iceland

In mid-March, six CF-18s and more than 160 Canadian Forces personnel bunked down at a Cold War-era base just outside Reykjavik to kick off Operation Ignition, a periodic mission in which Canada takes its turn defending the island nation, which is the only NATO member without a single soldier or pilot on the payroll. Canadians will monitor radar, escort “unauthorized” aircraft out of Icelandic airspace and practice scrambling jets to “intercept and identify unknown airborne objects,” according to a statement by the Department of National Defense.

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News March 28, 2013

US deploys B-2 stealth bombers over South Korea

Two nuclear-capable US B-2 stealth bombers flew what the US military described as “deterrence” missions over South Korea on Thursday, in a move sure to further inflame tensions with the North. The two planes, flying out of Whiteman Air Force base in Missouri, flew the 13,000 mile round-trip in a “single continuous mission,” dropping dummy ordnance on a target range in the South, the US military said in a press release. “This …. demonstrates the United States’ ability to conduct long range, precision strikes quickly and at will,” the statement said.

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News March 28, 2013

US military soon to be outfitted with Daredevil-like radar sense that can pinpoint and identify incoming threats

One of the world’s largest military contractors, Raytheon, has developed a system that gives soldiers superhuman hearing. The system, called 3-D Audio, essentially allows soldiers to hear exactly where threats are coming from, and what kind of threat it is — a rocket, gunfire, a Molotov cocktail — just like Marvel Comics’ Daredevil’s radar sense.

The system also gives some kind of auditory clue as to the type of threat, though again we don’t have any details. It might be as simple as different threats generating different tones, or perhaps the system actually recreates the sound of the incoming projectile.

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Military, News, Sci/Tech March 23, 2013

Science-fiction turns real: Genetically engineering animals for war

Whether it’s rescue rat-bots or bomb-sniffing beetle drones, electronics are helping us create new beasts of burden, allowing us to conscript creatures into the modern animal workforce. These animals’ brains are being taken hostage, their nervous systems forced to cooperate with our plans. As Maharbiz wrote in an account of his research, “[W]e wanted to be sure we could deliver signals directly into the insect’s own neuromuscular circuitry, so that even if the insect attempted to do something else, we could provide a countercommand. Any insect that could ignore our commands would make for a crummy robot.”

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News March 20, 2013

Flashpoint Asia: Japan, US Drafting Plan to Defend Disputed Islands

Japan and the United States will draft a plan to counter any Chinese military action to seize disputed islands in the East China Sea. A U.S. defense official in Washington told VOA Wednesday that Japan’s General Shigeru Iwasaki, the chief of staff of the Japanese Self Defense Forces Joint Staff, is meeting in Hawaii this week with the commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, Admiral Samuel Locklear, to discuss a plan to retake the islands, should China invade.

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Conflict, Flashpoints, Military, News March 19, 2013

U.S. commander: NATO makes plans for involvement in Syria

The top U.S. military commander in Europe said Tuesday that NATO is conducting contingency planning for possible military involvement in Syria and American forces would be prepared if called upon by the United Nations and member countries.

The Syrian civil war marked an ignominious two-year milestone this week with no sign that President Bashar Assad is close to giving up power. Adm. James Stavridis, commander of U.S. European Command, told a Senate panel that the United States is “looking at a variety of operations.” “We are prepared if called upon to be engaged,” Stavridis told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

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GeoPolitics, Military Buildup, News March 7, 2013

Visegrád States to Form EU Battle Group

Polish, Hungarian, Slovak and Czech defense ministers on Wednesday signed a letter of intent to form a battle group with soldiers from the Visegrád countries, which is to be a part of the European Union Rapid Reaction Force, Polish Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said. The agreement was signed during the Visegrád Group (V4) summit in Warsaw, also attended by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande. The Visegrád battle group will have 3,000 servicemen, including 1,200 contributed by Poland.

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Military, News, Resources March 5, 2013

NATO’s oil pipeline in Turkey to be opened for civilian use

The NATO oil pipeline in Turkey, which has so far been used solely for NATO purposes, will opened for civilian use, according to a source in the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources who prefers to remain unnamed. The goal of expanding the use of the pipeline is to deal a harsh blow against oil smuggling. The legal procedures and amendments to regulations concerning limits on the pipeline’s use are expected to be completed soon. The pipeline is roughly 3,000 kilometers long. The ministry source told Today’s Zaman that at present only 20 percent of its capacity has been utilized.

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ISR, Military, News March 4, 2013

China: one step closer to ‘superpower’ status

By the year 2020 China’s satellite navigation system “Beidou” will become global, making it one step closer to becoming a superpower. E. Peitzyan, a member of the All-Chinese Committee of the People’s Political Consultative Congress of China, had made an announcement to this effect. The Chinese Beidou will become a real competitor for the Russian GLONASS and the US GPS. The Beidou system will be able to service its clients all over the world in the area of positioning, navigation and timing with a great degree of precision and reliability.

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Crisis, Development, News, Protest February 28, 2013

Tear Down This Wall – Trapped Inside The New Barricades Of A Divided Cairo

It just happened one day, without prior notice. On Jan. 26, Moheddin Marwan lowered the iron curtain of his grocery store at lunchtime. When he came back to work the next day, he just stood there petrified, as motionless as the new barricade that blocked the access to his shop.

Stacked up like Lego bricks, the concrete blocks literally cut Cairo’s Sheikh-Reyhan Street in two – erected by authorities to protect official buildings from protesters. As if the center of the city wasn’t disfigured enough after two years of clashes between protesters and police forces.

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Economy, News, Resources February 26, 2013

Oil-rich Gabon in East Africa charm offensive

Gabon, the oil rich central African state, has embarked on a charm offensive to strengthen its trade relations with Kenya and Tanzania as it seeks to sell its expertise on oil and management of natural resources to the region. In exchange, Gabon hopes to tap into knowledge on wildlife management, expertise in information and communications technology (ICT) and agriculture from the two states. In an interview with The EastAfrican, Andre William Anguile, Gabon’s ambassador to Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia said the Central African state is weighing the option of setting up an embassy in East Africa’s economic hub.

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Conflict, GeoPolitics, News February 25, 2013

Russia and China Oppose Military Intervention in North Korea

Russia and China said on Friday they would oppose any foreign military intervention in North Korea over its recent nuclear test. The two countries’ foreign ministers condemned last week’s test but said any action against North Korea had to be agreed at the United Nations, where Russia and China have the right of veto as permanent members of the Security Council. “We are against the carrying out of a nuclear test in North Korea,” Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told a joint news conference after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.

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GeoPolitics, Military Buildup, News February 25, 2013

Membership of ‘EU defence club’ costs millions

THE cash-strapped Ministry of Defence was under fire last night after Britain renewed its membership of a European army agency at a cost of £3.3million. That is enough to run a battalion of more than 1,200 soldiers for a year or pay for the immediate repair of 300 decrepit Army homes.The decision has dumbfounded ­analysts and senior soldiers. Colonel Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, said: “Throwing £3.3million away on European defence when we are part of Nato and have no wish to ever join a pan-European army is indefensible in this age of austerity.

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Military Buildup, News February 25, 2013

US X-Band Radar to Bolster Missile Defense over the Pacific Ocean

Japan and the United States have discussed installing an X-band early-warning radar system in Kyoto Prefecture to counter North Korea’s missile threat, informed sources have said.

The Air Self-Defense Force’s Kyogamisaki base in Kyotango has been selected as a candidate site for the deployment of the second X-band missile defense radar system in Japan, according to the sources. The first X-band system was installed at the ASDF’s Shariki base in Tsu-garu, Aomori Prefecture.

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GeoPolitics, Military Buildup, News February 24, 2013

‘Dagger’ brigade readies for AFRICOM missions

Some 4,000 Soldiers of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, out of Fort Riley, Kan., are training for realignment to U.S. Africa Command, expected later this year. The 2nd BCT, or “Dagger” Brigade as it is known, will be the first brigade to be regionally aligned to U.S. Africa Command, or AFRICOM. U.S. Pacific Command has had units regionally align to its area of responsibility with similar training at Fort Irwin earlier this year.

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News, Sci/Tech February 21, 2013

Temporary Tattoos Could Make Electronic Telepathy, Telekinesis Possible

Temporary electronic tattoos could soon help people fly drones with only thought and talk seemingly telepathically without speech over smartphones, researchers say. Commanding machines using the brain is no longer the stuff of science fiction. In recent years, brain implants have enabled people to control robotics using only their minds, raising the prospect that one day patients could overcome disabilities using bionic limbs or mechanical exoskeletons. His team is developing wireless flexible electronics one can apply on the forehead just like temporary tattoos to read brain activity.

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Military, News February 20, 2013

Yale will train US Special Forces in interrogation techniques using immigrants

Following a flurry of media attention concerning a possible military training center at the Yale School of Medicine, the University issued a statement Tuesday afternoon maintaining that the potential program would meet appropriate academic standards but also denying that it has yet been formally proposed.

School of Medicine psychiatry professor Charles Morgan told the News in January that he hopes to propose the creation of a center at the Medical School in cooperation with the U.S. Army Special Operations Forces called the U.S. Special Operations Command Center of Excellence for Operational Neuroscience, which would teach soldiers interview techniques.

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News, Resources February 19, 2013

‘Land Grabbing’: Foreign Investors Buy Up Third World Farmland

A number of developing nations have sold or leased much of their farmland to foreign investors. The list is led by Liberia, whose arable land is 100 percent under foreign ownership.

The process is known as “land grabbing,” and it is affecting countries in Africa, South America, Asia and Eastern Europe. Around half of the farmland of the Philippines is owned by foreign investors. In Ukraine, American companies have secured over one-third of the country’s farmland. Population growth in countries like India and Brazil is driving up demand for cereal crops, and investments in farmlands offer the chance of solid returns.

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GeoPolitics, News, Policy February 19, 2013

Privatization of water in Europe controversial

So far, Germany’s water supply has fallen under the responsibility of local authorities. Most town and city councils manage water supply systems, maintaining water pipes, ensuring that there are enough pipes for every home to be hooked to the water supply system and managing the quality of tap water. Sometimes councils grant concessions to private companies. But only in rare cases, is the operation of the water supply sectors entirely in private hands. Profit orientation leads to lower water quality

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Military Buildup, News February 18, 2013

Britain’s arms deals with emerging dictatorship Sri Lanka revealed

Small arms weaponry, ammunition and various other military equipment were among millions of pounds’ worth of goods exported last year from Britain to Sri Lanka under licences for arms and other closely regulated exports.

Statistics taken from the British government’s own database for strategic export controls show items ranging from assault rifles and shotguns through to weapons sights, pistols and ammunition were sold last year to the South Asian nation’s government, which has been accused of extensive human rights violations in relation to its treatment of its Tamil minority and the suppression of armed separatists, who have also been acused of abuses.

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Human Rights, Military, News February 15, 2013

Burma police used incendiary weapons against mine protesters, report says

Activists in Burma have demanded action against officials who were responsible for the use of incendiary weapons against peaceful protesters at a copper mine, causing serious burns to dozens of people including Buddhist monks.

Lawyers and others who investigated the crackdown at the Letpadaung copper mine in November said President Thein Sein must share responsibility and ensure justice was achieved. Launching a report on the incident, they said police used shells containing white phosphorus, an incendiary munition, to disperse the protesters.

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Black Market, News, NGO February 13, 2013

Booming Black Market: Illicit Finances Flow in and out of Russia in Post-Soviet Era

The Russian economy hemorrhaged more than $200 billion to illicit financial outflows from 1994 through 2011, a new research report by Global Financial Integrity found.

The report estimates that Russia’s underground economy comprised about 46% of gross domestic product over the 18-year period. Illicit financial flows drive the domestic underground economy, which includes, among other things, drug smuggling, arms trafficking and human trafficking, the report said.

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Crisis, Flashpoints, Military, News February 13, 2013

S. Korea deploys cruise missiles on N. Korean border

South Korea has deployed cruise missiles on the North Korean border, missiles that can hit targets anywhere in North Korea. This came in a statement for journalists by an official of the South Korean Defence Ministry, Kim Min Sok.

According to him, Seoul will also speed up the development of ballistic missiles with an effective range of 800 kilometres and will set up a national missile defence system. The statement came in the wake of Pyongyang’s underground nuclear test on the February 12. North Korea’s test has triggered bitter criticism from several countries, as well as the UN Security Council.

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Black Market, News February 13, 2013

Afghanistan’s growing number of child drug addicts

They play badminton, kick a ball around and huddle over computer games just like normal children. Except that they are recovering drug addicts aged around three to 12, representing a growing proportion of drug users in war-torn Afghanistan.

In response, increasing numbers of rehabilitation centers are weaning such children off their addiction and giving them a new appetite for life in a country that produces 90 percent of the world’s opium used to make heroin. While there are no statistics for kids, the rate of relapse is high for their parents, experts say.

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Black Market, Flashpoints, News February 12, 2013

Lords of war: Arms trade networks in Yemen, Iran fueling Somalia conflict

Islamist militants in Somalia are receiving arms from Yemen and Iran, Western diplomats told Reuters. Most of the weapons enter Somalia via the two northern autonomous regions of Puntland and Somaliland before being transported south to Al Shabaab rebels. The monitors found the North Korean- and Iran-made weapons at a base of the U.N.-backed African Union (AU) peacekeeping force in Somalia, which raises the question of the possibility of arms smuggling networks operating within the AU force. The weapons are said to include improvised bombs and Russian-designed PK machine guns.

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Flashpoints, News, Paramilitary February 11, 2013

Bigger than the army: South Africa’s private security forces

There are nearly 9,000 companies and 400,000 registered active private security guards. That’s more than the police and army combined, according to South African officials.

“The security industry is bigger than what it has ever been in South Africa,” says Zinn. “I think the growth in the industry is definitely attributed to the fact that, let’s call it a weak policing or ineffective policing, and it created the opportunity for private individuals to move into the market.” Some of those individuals have a military background.

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ISR, News February 11, 2013

Seattle Mayor Tells Police To Permanently Down The Drones

As concern mounts over the U.S. government’s use of aerial drones, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn on Thursday sent a clear message to his police department: whatever the government does, the Seattle police will not use the unmanned airplanes. McGinn’s decision to order an end to the program came after protests from residents and privacy advocates. Seattle is now one of about a dozen places in America where the use of these unmanned security vehicles are being challenged. Eleven states have already proposed anti-drone bills asking for a limit on such surveillance technology.

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Conflict, Flashpoints, Military, News February 11, 2013

Lebanese military seals off a town involved in Syrian rebellion

Lebanon, an important hub of support for rebel Syrian groups battling the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as well as home to the militant Shiite Hezbollah organization which is a staunch ally of Mr. Assad.

A tense standoff prevails between the Lebanese government and army on one side and the Sunni residents of Arsal on the other. Lebanese special forces troops have deployed around the town and the government is demanding the surrender of the gunmen who fought the army. But the town’s residents are refusing to hand them over until an independent investigation is conducted into the incident.

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Human Rights, News, Sci/Tech February 8, 2013

Philadelphia Courts Begin Using Computer Forecasts to Predict Future Criminal Behavior, Determine Jail Time

Judges in the Philadelphia court system are now taking advantage of powerful new computer models to help determine how much jail time an offender should get. Computers have been forecasting weather and economic trends for years, but applying algorithms to human behavior is relatively new. University of Pennsylvania professor Richard Berk, a pioneer in the field, his forecasts, which use an algorithm to predict whether someone will offend again, have been used by city probation and parole officers for about three years, to decide how much supervision a defendant needs.

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Economy, GeoPolitics, News, Policy February 8, 2013

TRANSATLANTIC RELATIONS: EU and US plan world’s biggest trade bloc

The world’s two largest economic powers would like to join forces via a free-trade agreement. Yet the hurdles are high. The EU and US are aiming not just for a small trade solution, but for the largest proposal of all.

Economists, politicians and entrepreneurs are practically foaming at the mouth. The planned all-encompassing free-trade agreement between the US and EU would spur growth on both sides of the Atlantic. It would also ensure that the global economic rules of the future are put in place by western countries – and not China.

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Economy, News February 8, 2013

EU Fire Sale: Chinese buy property in Cyprus to gain EU permanent residence

To obtain permanent residence in Cyprus, investors from outside the EU have to spend at least €300,000 (HK$3.1 million) on a property. They must also prove that they have no criminal record and are in good financial standing and agree to deposit €30,000 for a minimum of three years in a local bank account. Their permit normally arrives in about 45 days.

Cyprus is not the only EU state to be exploring this way of reinvigorating a stagnant property market. Last year, Ireland and Portugal also offered residency to foreigners who bought property worth more than a certain amount. In November Spain’s trade minister said his country was intending to follow suit in an attempt to clear his country’s vast backlog of unsold homes.

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News, Resources, Strategic Interests February 6, 2013

France’s Total joins Cyprus energy rush

Cyprus on Wednesday signed an agreement with French energy major Total to conduct exploratory drilling for gas and oil in two blocks off its southern shore. The deal comes as Cyprus aspires to become a regional energy hub with the prospect of oil as well as natural gas being tapped beneath the sea bed. Total signed a deal to exploit blocks 10 and 11 that are adjacent to a large natural gas find in block 12 and said it seeks to proceed in drilling for oil as well as gas reserves in the said blocks.

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ISR, Military, News February 4, 2013

Mini Drones: British Army Deploys Tiny Helicopters

British troops are using a nano drone just 10cm long and weighing 16 grams on the front line in Afghanistan to provide vital information on the ground.

They are the first to use the state-of-the-art handheld tiny surveillance helicopters, which relay reliable full motion video and still images back to the devices’ handlers in the battlefield. The Black Hornet Nano Unmanned Air Vehicle is the size of a child’s toy, measuring just 10cm (4 ins) by 2.5cm (1 inch), and is equipped with a tiny camera.

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News, Sci/Tech February 4, 2013

Euro boffins plan supercomputer to simulate the human brain

The European Commission has selected the Human Brain Project (HBP) as one of its Future and Emerging Technologies and will send it up to €1.19b over ten years so it can build a supercomputer capable of simulating the human brain.

The HBP wants to build a simulated brain because we don’t know enough about our grey matter. The project’s web site says we lack even a “casual understanding of the way [brain] events … produce cognition and behaviour,” while more than a century of research has yielded little understanding of “how changes in the synapses between neurons help us to remember important events in our past”.

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Human Rights, Military, News January 31, 2013

Israel Using Deadly ‘Less-Lethal’ Crowd Control Weapons ‘Unlawfully’

The Israeli army is systematically using crowd control weapons and live ammunition unlawfully against Palestinians in the West Bank, signaling a widespread breach of military regulations and an alarming culture of impunity, a leading Israeli human rights group has warned.

At least ten Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army’s use of crowd control weapons in so-called “disturbance of the peace” situations in the West Bank since 2005, Israeli group Btselem stated in a new report, titled ‘Israel’s Use of Crowd Control Weapons in the West Bank’. Additionally, Israeli soldiers killed 46 Palestinians with live ammunition in the same time period.

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Intelligentsia, News, Sci/Tech January 30, 2013

‘US can spy on Cloud documents without a warrant’

All personal information stored by British internet users on major “cloud” computing services including Google Drive can be spied upon routinely without their knowledge by US authorities under newly-approved legislation, it can be disclosed.

Cloud computing has exploded in recent years as a flexible, cheap way for individuals, companies and government bodies to remotely store documents and data. According to some estimates, 35 per cent of UK firms use some sort of cloud system. But it has now emerged that all documents uploaded on to cloud systems based in the US or falling under Washington’s jurisdiction can be accessed and analysed without a warrant by American security agencies.

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News, Sci/Tech January 30, 2013

Physicists create world’s first multiverse of universes in the lab

Researchers at the University of Maryland, College Park and Towson University are reporting that they have created multiple universes inside a laboratory-created multiverse — a world first.

To be exact, the researchers created a metamaterial — like those used to fashion invisibility cloaks — that, when light passes through it, multiple universes are formed within it. These universes, called Minkowski spacetimes, are similar to our own, except they more neatly tie up Einstein’s theory of special relativity by including time as a fourth dimension.

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Flashpoints, Integration, News January 29, 2013

Turkey: With EU Talks Stalled, Erdogan Suggests Ankara May Join SCO

Speaking on Turkish television the other night, the PM was asked about his country’s stalled and troubled European Union membership drive. Erdogan’s blunt bombshell of an answer suggested Turkey is considering dropping its EU bid in favor of joining the China- and Russia-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). “When things go so poorly, you inevitably, as the prime minister of 75 million people, seek other paths. That’s why I recently said to Mr. [Vladimir] Putin: ‘Take us into the Shanghai Five; do it, and we will say farewell to the EU, leave it altogether. Why all this stalling?’”

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News, Sci/Tech January 25, 2013

DARPA Robots Learning How To Bring Satellites Back From the Dead

It’s ever so hard to not write about DARPA when it keeps doing so much cool stuff. Today, we’ve got an update on the Phoenix program, which aims to create a new network of communications satellites by sending up robots to harvest body parts from old communications satellites. Insert space zombie joke here.*

A big part of the reason that satellites are so expensive is that getting them from Earth into space takes rockets, and rockets don’t come cheap. And not matter how carefully you build your hardware, sooner or later it’s going to fail or go obsolete, and from that point on, your space-based investment is useless to everybody.

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News, Sci/Tech January 25, 2013

This DNA Gun Will Tag Felons for Weeks

This startlingly orange gun isn’t something from a sci-fi film set. Instead, it’s a new firearm, from UK-based Selectamark, that fires non-lethal pellets—and marks its targets with DNA for later identification.

Designed for use by police and military, the gun fires soft little green pellets, pictured below. Weighing just one gram, when they hit a target they leave an enduring biological mark.

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