The nuclear-powered USS Nimitz has anchored off the South Korean’s port of Busan on Saturday. The ship will take part in search and rescue operations and sea maneuvers from Monday to Tuesday off the country’s eastern coast, the South Korean Defense Ministry announced.Pyongyang’s cross-border affairs ministry branded the deployment as a “grave military provocation” that would heighten tension in the Korean Peninsula.”The joint naval drill involving the latest weaponry including the nuclear aircraft carrier is a wanton blackmail against us and demonstrates… that their attempt to invade us has reached an extremely reckless level,” the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said in a statement on Saturday night.The Carrier Strike Group Eleven, of which Nimitz is the flagship, includes eight warships (including the aircraft carrier itself), four surface action group destroyers and three escort ships. Nimitz also has 64 combat aircraft stationed on board.The group’s commander, Rear Admiral Mike White, said the arrival was scheduled and not a response to the period of heightened tension in the region. “This is not a response to any particular event, but part of our continuous engagement, much like we shared for 60 years,” he said.The US and its military ally South Korea conduct over a dozen joint military drills annually, some of which include tens of thousands of troops and some of world’s most powerful military hardware. Currently, a joint anti-submarine warfare exercise is underway in the Yellow Sea.North Korea regularly denounces such war games as provocative, claiming they are cover for a possible attack. The latest exercise, during which the US deployed its nuclear-capable stealth bombers, was met with a flurry of threats from Pyongyang, which said it would use its nuclear arsenal against American and South Korean troops if attacked.Washington is flexing its military might in response to North Korea’s third nuclear test in February. The move was condemned internationally, and led to the UN Security Council issuing new sanctions against Pyongyang.However, North Korea insists that it needs nuclear weapons to defend its national sovereignty from Washington and Seoul, and defies the UNSC’s resolutions requiring it to halt development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile technology. … Read More
Russia suspects international PR to justify use of force in Syria intervention
“Moscow is concerned by the signs of preparing the public opinion in the world to the possibility of intervention using force into the lingering internal conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic,” reads Monday statement by the ministry’s spokesman Aleksandr Lukashevich.He also noted that the situation in Syria and around aggravated sharply in past few days.“A lot of reasoning appeared in a number of Arab and other international mass media regarding the use of chemical weapons in the standoff between the government forces and the opposition guerillas,” Lukashevich warned.The Russian side again drew the attention of the international community to the statement made by Carla Del Ponte, a member of the independent commission for investigation of human rights abuse in the republic. Del Ponte claimed that the UN expert possessed some data that could testify for the possible use of chemical weapons by anti-Assad rebels and not the government troops.“From our side we persistently call to stop the politicizing of this exceptionally serious issue and the inflating of the anti-Syrian atmosphere ,” Lukashevich emphasized.He added that Moscow deemed unacceptable the postponing of the reaction to the address of the Syrian government to the United Nations regarding the reported use of chemical weapons by armed units of the opposition in the settlement of Khan al-Asal on March 19 this year. … Read More
Inside Syria – Jordan: Straddling Syria sensitivities
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Border clashes raise Afghan-Pakistan tensions
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US Navy gets their first squadron of drones
On Thursday the Navy inaugurated the Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 35, or the “Magicians,” a fleet made up of both manned and unmanned vehicles that will accompany US warships into battle across the world. Included in that fleet are eight traditionally piloted helicopters and a yet to be determined number of Fire Scout MQ-8 B drones, each capable of being operated at a distance of 110 miles away and maintaining flight for half-a-day straight.Until this week, the Pentagon has only allocated unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, to the US Air Force. According to the AP, most Navy drones in use until this point have been operated by contractors overseen by military personnel.The Navy’s brand new fleet will be unveiled at the Naval Air Station North Island base on Coronado, near San Diego, California on Thursday, but the Associated Press quotes Lt. Aaron Kakiel as saying that the “Magicians” will only start appearing on one of the force’s new littoral combat ships in about a year.One of those so-called LCS boats, the USS Freedom, was just two months ago deployed to Southeast Asia where it will likely spend the remainder of 2013 off the coast of Singapore. According to a press release issued by the Navy, “lessons learned from logistics and maintenance support during the transit and port visits will inform follow-on rotational deployments as well as the overall LCS program.”The addition of drones to the Navy’s arsenal comes 100 years after that division of the US military first used air detachment vehicles, but also comes amid escalating public outcry over the use of unmanned aircraft. Despite being tied to upwards of thousands of civilian casualties, the Pentagon continues to stand by the use of drones in oversea antiterrorism operations, and just last week Air Force Major General H.D. Polumbo confirmed that US drones will remain in Afghanistan even after the last American troops are expected to leave in 2014.Meanwhile, the UK used an armed drone for the first time on Thursday. Just days earlier roughly 400 anti-war demonstrators marched in Lincolnshire to protest the opening of the British Royal Air Force’s drone program. … Read More
Welcome, please don’t come: UK encourages Afghan interpreters not to seek asylum
There are some 450 Afghans working as interpreters for the British troops left in the country. Some politicians and military in the UK call have been calling to treat those people similarly to Iraqis, who used to work with the British deployed there. The Iraqis were offered either one-off financial packages or asylum in Britain, with some 900 of the interpreters opting for the latter.Britain indicated that this would be the case in mid-March. Gen Lord Dannatt, former Chief of the General Staff, said: “British forces would not have been able to do their work effectively without the invaluable help of translators.”While each case should be looked into on its own merits, there should, nevertheless, be a presumption to grant such residence in the UK or a third-party country, if one can be found.”But between seeing the Afghans as new residents on British soil and signing them a hefty goodbye check, the latter seems preferable to Cameron. On Wednesday he told Radio 4′s World at One program, “I do think when we think of all that we have spent and all the cost in money and human lives we have put into Afghanistan, we should do everything we can to encourage talented Afghans to stay in their country and contribute to it.”The PM added that he had asked UK officials to reconsider the package offered to Afghans who want to stay, to make it “really generous”.Afghan interpreters working with the British are paid high wages compared to most of their compatriots, but the job carries high risk with it. As many as 20 of these workers were killed in action and dozens have been injured.But those people are also seen as collaborators by the Taliban. They and their families risk retaliation attacks even now, and the fear is that after the NATO-led coalition withdraws most of its troops from Afghanistan in 2014, their lives would be under a greater threat.Currently Afghan interpreters’ requests for asylum are dealt with on a case-by-case basis. … Read More
Sunday show round-up: “Boots on the ground” in Syria
This week’s Sunday shows focused on how America will respond to the Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons. Here are the highlights:On Syria:Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said on CBS’ Face The Nation that without some international involvement in Syria, ”the whole region’s gonna fall into chaos.”Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., argued that the solution is not sending American troops to Syria, because that would be the “worst thing America could do right now.”“I think that the American people are weary,” McCain said on NBC’s Meet The Press. “They don’t want boots on the ground. I don’t want boots on the ground.”But Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said we can’t rule anything out. ”I don’t think you want to ever rule it out,” she said on Face the Nation. “Obviously, we don’t want to do that unless it’s absolutely necessary.” Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., who appeared with McCaskill, disagreed: ”I would go even beyond that, I would say no” boots on the ground. “We don’t need to put boots on the ground but we need to enable their neighbors, the neighbors of Syria, to bring some sort of peaceful resolution to this.”On the Boston bombings:Continue Reading… … Read More
