Text Fwd: Japan's agreement with four Caucasus countries

* Text informed by M. S. Japan on Feb. 9, 2011


Recently, informed by Stop NATO, it is dawning to me that Japan's administration
has been signing some agreements with GUAM ( not Guam, but Georgia, Ukraine,
Azerbaijan, and Moldova in Caucasus), financially assisting those countries,
and behind such moves, discussing military assistance as well, at least now, with Georgia.

It derives of course both form Japan's corportate interests in BTC pipeline run nearby
and from the U.S.' strategic demands, perhaps.


This is the strategy of western states over natural gas supply, as you know,
and also might concern U.S.-Japan future sales/deployment of missilt 'offense ' as well, I guess.

But more importantly, besides that, Tokyo is now trying to elicit
some commitment from those GUAM states, in exchange of financial assistance,
that they will support Japan's plan to reform the UN security council--to expand it--.
Tokyo's intention is, I bet 100%, to have it expanded and to have Japan included in it, and finally, to abandon the Article 9 of Japan's constitution, based on the obligation of
the UN Security Council state members, stipulated in Article 42 of the UN Charter,
as to intervention as last resort in regional conflicts, with force via land, air, sea.

Before, the U.S. prevented Japan from the similar move for the UN Security Council reform,
out of its own political interest, but this time, it might not. Japan donated huge money to IMF ($100 billion) from its foreign currency reserve, and including Japan in the Security Council
might now concord with the U.S. strategic interest against Russia, and so ready is Japanese military now, regrettably.

Text Fwd: [SOA Watch] Speaking Truth to Power

* Text sent from SOA Watch on Nov. 26, 2010

Speaking Truth to Power David Omondi and Father Louis Vitale Sentenced to Six Months in Federal Prison -- Incarcerated in Georgia Jail

Four human rights activists were in court on Tuesday, November 23 after being arrested and charged with federal trespassing at Ft. Benning, Georgia on November 20 and 21. During their arraignment before U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen Hyles, Nancy Smith and Christopher Spicer pled not guilty. Their trial is set for January 5. Franciscan priest Fr. Louis Vitale, OFM and David Omondi of the Los Angeles Catholic Worker Community pled no contest and put the SOA on trial through their statements in court. Fr. Louis and David were sentenced to the maximum 6 months in jail. While nonviolent resisters are being sent to prison, those responsible for the use of torture manuals at the SOA have never even been charged for their crimes. Father Louis and David are presently in a Georgia county jail.

Write to the prisoners:
Because they may be transferred at any time, cards and letters to David may be sent to his community for forwarding: David Omondi, c/o The Los Angeles Catholic Worker, 632 N. Brittania St., Los Angeles, CA 90033. Louis' mail may be sent to the Nuclear Resister for forwarding at P.O. Box 43383, Tucson, AZ 85733.

Click here to read the letter that vigil speaker Father Alberto Franco wrote to all the prisoners of conscience from the November vigil and please feel free to ad your own message to the prisoners in the comment section below the letter text!

On Saturday, November 20, twenty-two others were arrested on city and state charges, including unlawful assembly, failure to disperse, and parading without a permit. Two were charged but not taken into custody. Some were blockading the highway leading into Fort Benning with a sign that read, "Stop: This is the End of the Road for the SOA". Many of those arrested were not intending to risk arrest but were swept up as they walked back to their cars after they left the permitted protest following the vigil on Saturday. These included journalists and a Columbus, Georgia resident who came out of a barber shop to take a photo of the protest. The SOA Watch Legal Collective is collecting testimony and photos of the indiscriminate arrests that took place on Saturday afternoon. Stay tuned!

On Sunday, November 21, Columbus Recorder's Court Judge Michael Cielinski found 21 of the 24 who were arrested by the city guilty on all charges. Two were convicted in a state court the next day. All were released from jail by Monday, with fines and bonds as high as $4,152.50. The SOA Watch community stepped up in a big way, supporters maxed out their credit cards at ATMs to ensure that no one had to stay another day in the Muscogee County Jail. Those who were arrested still have to answer state charges, and expect to be arraigned in January.

For more information about the Ft. Benning protest, visit www.SOAW.org.

Text Fwd: SOA Protest - 26 People Arrested and Held in the County Jail on Multiple Charges [ 스쿨 오브 아메리카 시위자들]26명이 체포되고 많은 기소로 현재 감옥에 있음

* See also Organizing Notes blog, 'MEDIA ARRESTED AT SCHOOL OF AMERICAS PROTEST,' Nov. 22, 2010(click)

'In addition to civilians who intended to engage in civil disobedience, police arrest Russia Today Press, bystanders, and targets some civilians not participating in the civil disobedience at the School of the Americas (renamed WHINSEC) at Fort Benning, Georgia.'
__________________________________________________

* Text fwd from Hendrik Voss, SOA Watch on Nov. 21, 2010

Thousands Converge at the gates of Fort Benning for 20th Anniversary of November Vigil to Close the SOA

26 PEOPLE ARRESTED AND HELD IN THE COUNTY JAIL ON MULTIPLE CHARGES

Nonviolent Civil Disobedience Action Followed by Indiscriminate Arrests and Targeting of Journalists. Among those arrested by Columbus Police were three Journalists, including TV News Crew from RT America and Unrelated Bystanders.

Thousands of human rights activists, torture survivors, veterans, faith-based communities, union workers, students, musicians and others from across the Americas are gathered today at the gates of the U.S. military base Fort Benning to call for the closure of the School of the Americas (renamed Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation).

Following the SOA Watch rally, human rights activists brought their nonviolent witness to close the SOA into the street leading onto the military base. The activists briefly shut down the road with a large sign that said, "Stop: This is the End of the Road for the SOA." Their action is part of a longstanding tradition of creative civil disobedience to call attention to the atrocities committed by graduates of the School of the Americas. 10-12 people were arrested, and others charged, including the 90-year old Jesuit priest Bill Brennan, and ordained Catholic priest Janice Sevre-Duszynska.

Two human rights activists crossed onto Fort Benning through the highway entrance. They have been charged with federal trespass and face up to six months in federal prison and a fine up to $5,000.

When the rally participants tried to leave the vigil area, the police blocked off all exit points. After a few minutes, the police allowed people to leave on the sidewalk, only to follow them, indiscriminately arresting people who had neither committed any crimes nor engaged in civil disobedience. Among those arrested was the RT America TV crew, who was filming the police misconduct and bystanders. All arrestees are currently being held in the Muscogee County Jail for up to a $5,500 bond.

SOA Watch is a nonviolent grassroots organization that works for the closing the
School of the Americas and a change in U.S. foreign policy - www.SOAW.org

Text Fwd: North Korean arms plane 'has links to New Zealand'

* Image source: same as the link below

'(Rungroj Yongrit/EPA)
The impounded missile plane'

* Imformed at the Information Clearing House

Times Online
Dec. 17, 2009
Anne Barrowclough in Sydney

The mystery surrounding the missile-laden plane seized in Bangkok en route from North Korea deepened today as it emerged that the aircraft had links to a company based in New Zealand.

Officials in Georgia, where the plane is registered, told AFP news agency that the aircraft, which was carrying 35 tonnes of missiles and explosives, including rocket propelled grenades, was leased from its owner, Air West, by SP Trading, in Auckland.

The plane’s crew, from Kazakhstan and Belarus, were arrested last Friday after they made an emergency refuelling stop at Bangkok airport. They claimed that the plane was carrying oil drilling equipment but a tip-off from foreign intelligence services prompted a search of the plane that revealed the weapons. The five crew members continue to deny any knowledge of the weapons.

The Georgian director of Air West, Nodar Kakabadze, told AFP that his company had signed a contract with SP Trading on November 4 to “carry out some flights”.

He said: “I know nothing more about the company and we’d never worked with them before.”

The Wall Street Journal today reported that the lease agreement between Air West and SP Trading, a copy of which it had seen, listed a Lu Zhang as SP Trading’s director.

New Zealand Companies Office records seen by The Times confirm this and show that SP Trading was registered as a company in July.

A spokeswoman for the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade told The Times: “We are aware of the claims about this company and we are looking into them.”

SP Trading is registered through a company called GT Group Offshore, which has offices in Auckland but appears to be based in Vanuatu. On its website it offers “an extensive range of offshore company services for privacy, legal tax avoidance, asset protection, financial independence and freedom”.

The listed owner of SP Trading is an Auckland-based company called Vican, which, in turn, is owned by GT Group, according to the Companies Office records.

However, attempts to contact the organisation proved fruitless. When The Times rang Ian Taylor, listed as GT Group’s marketing manager, his phone rang out and he did not return messages. An Auckland phone number for Michael Taylor, who completed Lu Zhang’s form applying for directorship of SP Trading is no longer obtainable.

The Auckland number for GT Group no longer works and workers in the office block listed as its address said that they had never heard of the company. A woman who answered the Vanuatu number listed for the group insisted that no one who worked for the company was at that number.

In an email to New Zealand’s National Business Review newspaper, Michael Taylor denied that GT Group had anything to do with SP Trading and claimed that it was incorporated into the group on instruction from a UK-based company, which he did not name.

The founder of GT Group, Geoffrey Taylor, was born in Cleethorpes, South Humberside. According to his website, Mr Taylor is also a director of a corporate services company, Global Fin Net, which offers help on company formations as well as other financial services. Global Fin Net has offices in the UK, as well as Australia, New Zealand and New York. Mr Taylor did not respond to messages from The Times.

The weapons seizure is the largest since tighter UN sanctions were passed in June to curtail North Korea’s lucrative arms trade. It is thought that North Korea earns millions of dollars a year from arms trading and security experts hope that the Thailand case will shed light on how Pyongyang moves weapons around the world.

By Wednesday evening Thai officials had finished opening around 140 crates from the plane. A Thai government spokesman, Panitan Wattanayagorn, said that they would publish a report within a few days detailing what they had found. The weapons haul included surface to air missiles and tube launchers with computerised weapon controls, he said.

There are still no clues about the plane’s destination but Thai officials have said that the plane landed in Bangkok en route to Pyongyang before returning to Bangkok to refuel. Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban admitted that, when tipped off about the plane’s illicit cargo, officials tried to keep the plane out of Thai airspace to “avoid possible complications”.

Thai officials have previously said that the plane was due to fly to Sri Lanka next but Sri Lankan officials have denied knowledge of the flight. Security experts believe that the plane’s final destination was more likely to be the Middle East or Africa.

Earlier this week a respected Swedish think-tank linked the cargo plane, an Ilyushin-76, to two notorious East European arms dealers, the Serbian Tomislav Dmanjanovic and the Russian Viktor Bout, currently in a Thai jail awaiting extradition to the US on arms charges.

* Related article

Yonhap News
2009/12/19 03:57 KST
N. Korean weapons seized in Bangkok were headed for Middle East: intel chief
By Hwang Doo-hyong

* Related blog

http://nobasestorieskorea.blogspot.com/2009/12/text-fwd-us-pleased-to-see-n-korean.html
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Text Fwd: U.S. pleased to see N. Korean weapons seizure in Thailand: Clinton

Text Fwd: U.S. pleased to see N. Korean weapons seizure in Thailand: Clinton

Yonhap News
2009/12/15 05:46 KST
(LEAD) U.S. pleased to see N. Korean weapons seizure in Thailand: Clinton
By Hwang Doo-hyong

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday that the U.S. welcomes Thailand's seizure of North Korean weapons on their way to a third country in violation of a U.N. arms embargo.

"We were very pleased to see the strong action taken by the Thais," Clinton said in a joint press availability with Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos. "I think the actions by the Thai government to detain the plane that is apparently carrying significant amounts of weapons demonstrates the importance of international solidarity behind the sanctions that were adopted at the United Nations earlier this year."

Thai authorities seized 35 tons of explosives, rocket-propelled grenades and missile parts on a Georgia-registered flight Saturday when the plane landed in Bangkok for refueling.

Thai authorities reportedly said that they were tipped off by the U.S.

They said they confiscated the North Korean arms under U.N. resolutions adopted after North Korea's nuclear and missile tests earlier this year.

The resolutions call for an overall arms embargo and financial sanctions and interdiction of cargo on the high seas to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons, missiles, other weapons of mass destruction and conventional arms.

Arms sales are one of the major sources of revenue for North Korea, which has long been under international financial sanctions led by the U.S.

"I don't think anyone should be surprised that North Korea is continuing to attempt to evade the sanctions and export around the world, because that is their principal source of foreign currency," Clinton said. "They have a need to continue to sell the one thing that they can export."

North Korea is suspected of being behind nuclear and missile proliferation in Syria, Iran, Pakistan and several other countries in the Middle East.

The United Arab Emirates in July seized a Bahamian-flagged ship carrying North Korean rocket-propelled grenades and other conventional weapons labeled as machine parts, the first seizure of its kind since the Security Council adopted Resolution 1874 in June after North Korea's nuclear test in May.

India seized a North Korean ship off its coast in early August only to find no weapons aboard.

In late June, a North Korean cargo ship, possibly on its way to Myanmar, returned home after being closely tracked by U.S. Navy vessels.

At a daily news briefing, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the U.S. does not know the intended destination of the most recent North Korean shipment.

"The investigation of the incident is ongoing," he said. "And part of that investigation is to determine where exactly the shipment was headed."

Another State Department official, asking anonymity, said, "It's not unreasonable to suspect it is going to a neighboring country," apparently referring to Myanmar, a suspected North Korean client and a short hop from Thailand.

Kelly commended the Thai officials "for their swift and efficient action" in implementing U.N. resolutions.

"The next step here will be to report this incident to the U.N.'s North Korea Sanctions Committee, the so-called 1718 committee, which has a mandate to investigate and take appropriate action in response to incidents like this," he said.

The seizure comes as the United States has broken diplomatic ice with North Korea.

Stephen Bosworth, special representative for North Korea policy, made his first visit to Pyongyang last week to persuade North Korea to come back to six-party talks on ending the North's denuclearization.

Bosworth said that he failed to obtain the North's commitment to return to the six-party talks, but added the sides have "identified some common understandings" on the need to restart the six-party talks. The talks involving the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan have been deadlocked since the U.N. sanctions.

A 2005 six-party deal calls for the North's nuclear dismantlement in return for massive economic aid, the normalization of ties between the North and the U.S. and Japan, and the establishment of a peace regime to replace the armistice signed at the end of Korean War in 1953.

Clinton last week described Bosworth's meeting, the first since the inauguration of President Barack Obama in January, as "quite positive," stressing the need for "strategic patience" in dealing with the reclusive communist state.

Philip Crowley, assistant secretary of state for public affairs, said last week Washington is ready to have another high-level meeting with North Korea toward reopening the six-party talks.

Crowley also said that the U.S. will continue sanctions, and expressed confidence Pyongyang will eventually return to the six-party talks "because, otherwise, the alternative is we will continue to aggressively enforce sanctions through continued consultations with the other partners in the six-party process."

Asked on the possible impact on the North Korean weapons seizure on the international efforts to revive the six-party talks, a State Department official, asking anonymity, said, "We are going to robustly implement 1874. At the same time, we want North Korea to return to six-party talks to discuss this real priority of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula."

On the reports that the U.S. has agreed to have four-party talks, which also includes South Korea and China, to forge a peace treaty to replace the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War, the anonymous official said, "We can look at a number of different ways of engaging with them on non-nuclear issues within the context of the six-party talks."

"Once we get the six-party talks going again, there is a mechanism to have bilateral talks," he said. "However, we are not going to go to step two before we get to step one."

hdh@yna.co.kr

Text Fwd: Georgian Foreign Minister: “US, Czech Republic, Japan and Baltic states will become GUAM partners soon”

* StopNATO
Georgian Foreign Minister: “US, Czech Republic, Japan and Baltic states will become GUAM partners soon”
[ 09 Nov 2009 19:57 ]
Azeri Press Agency
November 10, 2009

Tbilisi. Nizami Mammadzadeh – APA. “Some countries use to say that GUAM would be dissolved soon. But our organization extended, developed. Our regional relations and democracy continue to exist”, Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze said, APA’s Georgia bureau reports. He said GUAM feels well.
“We have already started implementing concrete projects. In New York together with my Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov and other ministers we reached interesting and all-round agreements on tourism, agriculture, automobile transport and tourism. Our relations are extending, new partners appear. US, Czech Republic, Japan and Baltic states will become GUAM partners soon, they will participate in the economic projects with us,” he said.

Video fwd: GOOD OVERVIEW OF OBAMA FOREIGN POLICY

Bruce Gagnon blog
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
GOOD OVERVIEW OF OBAMA FOREIGN POLICY

Text Fwd: CHECKMATE DANGER

Bruce Gagnon blog on Juy 21, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
CHECKMATE DANGER

The run-away-train called Georgia is at it again poking a stick at Russia. V-P Joseph Biden will visit there this week and the New York Times is reporting that Georgia intends to invite the US to send troops to help patrol the borders near the conflicted breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. You might remember that last summer Georgia attacked Russian peacekeepers in those two republics and a hot war ensued. (South Osseti and Abkhazia want to be autonomous - Russia long ago has recognized them and Georgia has not.)

A member of the Georgian National Security Council told the Times, that US troops in the conflict zone would make it “politically very costly to Russia to do anything on the ground.”

The newspaper went on to report, "Mr. Biden intends to make it clear, on this trip, that the United States will not abandon its allies in deference to Russia, said one of his senior advisers."

If you are thinking - "Gee, would this be the equivalent of Canada inviting Russian troops to set up shop right along the border with the US?" - then you are indeed right on the money. It's a chess move but an extremely dangerous one at that. During the Cold War this would have been the spark that would have ignited nuclear war between the two superpowers. Today the US arrogantly thinks it can get away with such moves without a hitch.

This all could be a trial balloon. But it appears the US is determined to use the Georgia-Russia border to continue to sow seeds of disharmony in the region. Please remember that I've previously written that the Rand Corporation a couple of years ago suggested that Russia should be broken up into three separate countries so the US-British oil corporations would have an easier time getting their hands on Russia's supplies of natural gas - the most in the world by the way. The US and NATO "balkanized" the former Yugoslavia and while in the Senate, Joseph Biden, suggested we break Iraq up into three countries for the same purpose of easier control of their oil. There is a dangerous pattern at work here.

So what will happen to the US-Russia nuclear negotiations if Obama first moves to put US troops on the Georgia-Russian border? Fa-get-about-it!

By the way, did you happen to notice that pesky little Caspian Sea popping up again in the map above? What could be going on here?

VIDEO Fwd: NATO exercises provoke Russia.

* Text and video informed by Agneta Noberg, May 18, 2009

VIDEO: NATO exercises provoke Russia
By F. William Engdahl
Global Research, May 14, 2009
The Real News Network - 2009-05-13



'The Real News Network spoke to William F. Engdahl, economist and author of Full Spectrum Dominance. Engdahl says that the NATO exercises in Georgia are provocative to Russia because of the uncovered fact that Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was behind the offensive in South Ossetia last August, while he was in the process of applying for NATO membership. Engdahl also says that the NATO countries are interested in securing alternatives to the Russian stronghold over European oil and explains that the missile defense program NATO wishes to install in Eastern Europe and Georgia has less to do with Iran than Russia.'

Text Fwd: (Correct) Pentagon Preparing For War With The Enemy: Russia

* Text Fwd by Rick Rozoff
Stop NATO
May 14, 2009
Pentagon Preparing For War With The Enemy: Russia
Rick Rozoff

"Today the situation is much more serious than before August
2008....[A] possible recurrence of war will not be limited to the
Caucasus.

"The new President of the United States did not bring about any
crucial changes in relation to Georgia, but having a dominant
role in NATO he still insists on Georgia's soonest joining of
the Alliance. If it happens, the world would face a more serious
threat than the crises of the Cold War.

"Under the new realities, Georgia's war against South Ossetia
may easily turn into NATO's war against Russia. This would be
a third world war."


On May 12 James Mattis, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Transformation [ACT] and commander of the U.S. Joint Forces Command, spoke at a three-day symposium called Joint Warfighting 09 in Norfolk, Virginia, where NATO's Allied Command Transformation is based, and stated: "I come with a sense of urgency. The enemy is meeting like this as well." [1]

A local newspaper summarized his speech:

"Mattis outlined a future in which wars will not have clearly defined beginnings and ends. What is needed, he said, is a grand strategy, a political framework that can guide military planning." [2]

He failed, for what passes for diplomatic reasons no doubt, to identify who "the enemy" is, but a series of recent developments, or rather an intensification of ongoing ones, indicate which nation it is.

Last week the head of the U.S. Strategic Command, Gen. Kevin Chilton, told reporters during a Defense Writers Group breakfast on May 7 "that the White House retains the option to respond with physical force - potentially even using nuclear weapons - if a foreign entity conducts a disabling cyber attack against U.S. computer networks...."

An account of his talk added "the general insisted that all strike options, including nuclear, would remain available to the commander in chief in defending the nation from cyber strikes."

Chilton "said he could not rule out the possibility of a military salvo against a nation like China, even though Beijing has nuclear arms," [3] though the likely first target of alleged retaliation against equally alleged cyber attacks would be another nation already identified by US military officials as such: Russia.

In late April and early May of 2007 the government of Estonia, which was inducted into NATO in 2004 and whose president was and remains Toomas Hendrik Ilves, born in Sweden and raised in the United States (where he worked for Radio Free Europe), reported attacks on websites in the country which were blamed on Russia.

Over two years later no evidence has been presented to substantiate the claim that Russian hackers, much less the government itself, were behind the attacks, though it remains an article of faith among US and other Western officials and media that they were.

The response from American authorities in the first place was so sudden and severe, even before investigations were conducted, as to strongly suggest that if the attacks hadn't been staged they would need to be invented.

Right afterward Secretary of the Air Force Michael W. Wynne stated, "Russia, our Cold War nemesis, seems to have been the first to engage in cyber warfare."

The US Air Force news source from which the above is quoted added that the events in Estonia days earlier "did start a series of debates within NATO and the EU about the definition of clear military action and it may be the first test of the applicability of Article V of the NATO charter regarding collective self-defense in the non-kinetic realm." [4]

NATO's Article 5 is a collective military defense provision, in fact a war clause, one which first and to date for the only time has been used to support the protracted and escalating war in Afghanistan.

References to it, then, are not to be taken lightly.

On a visit to Estonia last November Pentagon chief Robert Gates met with the country's prime minister, Andrus Ansip, and "discussed Russian behavior and new cooperation on cyber security...."

It was reported that "Ansip said NATO will operate under the principle of Article 5 of the alliance’s treaty, which states that an attack on one
ally is treated as an attack on all," and "We are convinced that Estonia, as a member of NATO, will be very well defended.” [5]

That the repeated mention of NATO's Article 5 continued a year and a half after the alleged cyber attacks when none had occurred in the interim is revealing.

At the beginning of this month the Pentagon announced that it was launching what it called a "digital warfare force for the future," at Fort Meade in Maryland under the control of the U.S. Strategic Command, whose chief, Gen. Kevin Chilton, was quoted earlier as threatening the use of force up to and including nuclear weapons.

The initiative was characterized in a news report as follows:

"Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander, also the Pentagon's leading cyber warfare commander, said the U.S. is determined to lead the global effort to use computer technology to deter or defeat enemies...." [6]

The Pentagon is a synecdoche for the Department of Defense and everything related to its activities is cloaked in the same euphemism, so when pressed the US will insist its new cyber warfare project is intended for defensive purposes only. Any nation which and people who have been on the receiving end of US Defense Department actions know better. The new US cyber warfare command, its rationale based on a supposed Russian threat emanating from a non-military incident in the Baltics over two years ago, will be used to cripple the computer systems of any nation targeted for direct military assault, thus rendering them defenseless, and will be particularly effective for space-based and Star Wars (missile shield, interceptor missiles) first strike plans.

On the same day the report of General Alexander's pledge to "defeat enemies" appeared another news item reported that "A quasi-classified satellite that will serve as an engineering trailblazer for ballistic missile tracking technologies flew into space Tuesday [May 12]." [7]

It was a Space Tracking and Surveillance System Advanced Technology
Risk Reduction (STSS-ATRR) satellite, which "is part of a space-based system for the Missile Defense Agency.

"Sensors aboard the STSS-ATRR satellite and on the ground will communicate with other systems to defend against incoming ballistic missiles." [8]

A few days earlier the California-based manufacturer Ducommun in a news report titled Ducommun Incorporated Announces Delivery of Nanosatellites to U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command announced that "its Miltec Corporation subsidiary delivered flight-ready nanosatellites to the U.S. Army pace and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command (USASMDC/ARSTRAT) in Huntsville, Alabama on April 28, 2009."

The delivery was "the completion of the first U.S. Army satellite development program since the Courier 1B communications satellite in 1960."[9]

Military satellites used for neutralizing the potential of a rival nation not so much to launch a first strike but to respond to one blur the distinction between so-called Son of Star Wars missile shield projects and full-fledged militarization of space.

A recent Russian commentary saw it in just that manner:

"Withdrawal from the 1972 ABM Treaty signified a switch to the testing and deployment of a global missile defense system, with a view to fully removing the deterrent potential of China, and partially that of Russia.

"Washington [is] still trying to eliminate international legal restrictions on the formation of a system, which would theoretically make it invulnerable towards an act of retaliation, and even a launch-under-attack strike." [10]

Added to which is another "quasi-classified" subterfuge related to a prospective resumption of Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) talks between the US And Russia.

American Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller stated this week "that the US is not prepared to cut warheads removed from delivery means and kept in storage." [11]

So in addition to US plans to deploy ground-, sea-, air- and space-based anti-missile systems primarily around and against Russia (Poland, the Czech Republic, Norway, Britain, Japan and Alaska to date), the Pentagon will hold in reserve nuclear warheads for activation without a monitoring mechanism provided to Russian inspectors and arms reduction negotiators.

On May 6 Euronews conducted an interview with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who warned, "The way it [the US anti-ballistic missile shield] is designed has nothing to do with Iran's nuclear program. It is aimed at Russian strategic forces, deployed in the European part of the Russian Federation." [12]

To add to the concerns of Russia and other nations, On April 30 the US established a Navy Air and Missile Defense Command (NAMDC) at the Naval Support Facility at Dahlgren, Virginia.

"NAMDC is the lead organization for Navy, joint and combined Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD). NAMDC serves as the single warfare center of excellence to synchronize and integrate Navy efforts across the full spectrum of air and missile defense to include air defense, cruise missile defense and ballistic missile defense." [13]

The past two weeks has been a fertile period for stories in this vein and, to bring attention nearer the Earth, the US-based Strategy Page reported from a Russian source that "The United States has bought two Su-27 fighter jets from Ukraine" to "be used to train American military pilots, who may face opponents in them" and that the "US military will use them to test its radar and electronic warfare equipment." [14]

This was at the very moment that the US client in Ukraine, President Viktor Yushchenko, his national poll ratings plummeting to near 1%, signed a directive to prepare for full NATO membership and a few days after a US military delegation visited the country to inspect a tank unit and to plan "reforming the system of combat training...." [15]

In terms of US training for warfare against the Russian Air Force, the Ukrainian development is only the latest in a number of such activities.

Immediately following the nation becoming a full member of NATO, the US 81st Fighter Squadron flew to Constanta, Romania (in which nation the Pentagon has acquired four new bases since) to engage in combat training against Russian MiG-21s.

According to one US pilot present, “It was pretty neat - you’re sitting in a MiG-21 that will be airborne with a MiG-21 pilot within days. This was an arm of the Soviet Union. These pilots were flying before the Soviet Union fell. They have quite a bit of perspective.” [16]

In July of the next year the US 492nd Fighter Squadron was deployed to the Graf Ignatievo Air Base in neighoring Bulgaria to insure the opportunity for "Air Forces from multiple nations to learn about each other’s aircraft tactics and capabilities.

"The pilots of the F-15E Strike Eagles and the MIG-29s and MIG-21s are sharing knowledge of aircraft and tactics as the exercise wraps up its first week of training."

A US Air Force colonel was quoted as saying, “Only two of the 38 aircrew members have had a chance to fly against MIGs. By the time the exercise is over, everyone will have had a chance to either fly in a MIG or fly against one.” [17]

A month afterward the US Air Force 22nd Expeditionary Fighter Squadron arrived in Romania for the Viper Lance exercises which "marked the first time U.S. F-16 pilots have trained in Romania" and "where "MiG-21 and F-16 pilots [flew] integrated formations to conduct basic fighter maneuvers, dissimilar air combat training and air-to-ground strike missions...." [18]

This time the quote is from an F-16 Fighting Falcon pilot:

"My flight in the backseat of a Lancer [MiG-21] is a good opportunity to look at different aircraft and it's a real privilege and an honor. I want to see what they see from their cockpit, and view a new angle of understanding against our adversaries." [19]

Two weeks ago a US Air Force fighter squadron flew to the Bezmer Air Base in Bulgaria where an American airman said, "This is the first time a USAFE [United States Air Forces in Europe] fighter squadron has deployed to this location....The most rewarding part of this experience is knowing that I am helping the pilots train for war." [20]

To prepare the US for air combat against the full range of Russian military aircraft, India was invited to the annual Red Flag air combat exercises in Alaska in 2007, war games "meant to train pilots from the US, NATO and other allied countries for real combat situations.

"This includes the use of 'enemy' hardware and live ammunition for bombing exercises." [21]

India provided six Sukhoi SU-30MKI fighters which were "particularly interesting to the exercise as [they are] Russian-made, thus
traditionally considered 'hostile.'" [22]

May 1st, on the occasion of the Czech Republic taking over the six-month NATO air patrol rotation in the Baltic skies over Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - five minutes flight from Russia's second largest city of St. Petersburg - a Czech official boasted "The area we are protecting is about three times larger than that of the Czech Republic. This is a NATO outpost."

Lithuanian Air Force Commander Arturas Leita announced that "the Baltic countries would probably ask for the prolongation of the air force mission within NATO until 2018." [23]

From June 8-16 Sweden will host a NATO drill, Loyal Arrow, described as "biggest air force drill ever in the Finnish-Swedish Bothnian Bay," [24], also not far from St. Petersburg, with a British aircraft carrier and more than 50 fighter jets participating.

That exercise will begin exactly a week after the US-led NATO Cooperative Lancer 09 war games end in Georgia on Russia's southern flank.

In speaking of the dangers of the last-named but with equal application to all that has preceded it, the South Ossetian Ministry for Press and Mass Media website recently quoted political scientist Irina Kadzhaev as warning:

"Today the situation is much more serious than before August 2008. The then threat endangered only South Ossetia and Abkhazia, but after Russia's recognition of these states' independence and the conclusion of agreements envisaging the presence of Russian armed forces on their territories, a possible recurrence of war will not be limited to the Caucasus.

"The new President of the United States did not bring about any crucial changes in relation to Georgia, but having a dominant role in NATO he still insists on Georgia's soonest joining of the Alliance. If it happens, the world would face a more serious threat than the crises of the Cold War.

"Under the new realities, Georgia's war against South Ossetia may easily turn into NATO's war against Russia. This would be a third world war."
[25]


1) Virginian-Pilot, May 13, 2009
2) Ibid
3) Global Security, May 12, 2009
4) Air Force Link, June 1, 2007
5) U.S. Department of Defense, November 12, 2008
6) Associated Press, May 5, 2009
7) Space Flight Now, May 5, 2009
8) Pratt & Whitney, May 5, 2009
9) Ducommun Incorporated, April 29, 2009
10) Russian Information Agency Novosti, May 7, 2009
11) Russia Today, May 5, 2009
12) Euronews, May 6, 2009
13) Navy News, April 30, 2009
14) Moscow News, May 11, 2009
15) National Radio Company of Ukraine, April 29, 2009
16) Air Force Link, August 2, 2005
17) U.S. Air Forces in Europe, July 24, 2006
18) Stars and Stripes, August 26, 2006
19) Air Force Link, August 17, 2006
20) Air Force Link, April 28, 2009
21) Indo-Asian News Service, November 26, 2007
22) Avionews (Italy), November 28, 2007
23) Czech News Agency, May 1, 2009
24) Barents Observer, May 7, 2009
25) Ministry for Press and Mass Media of the Republic of South Ossetia, April 27, 2009

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Text & Video Fwd: TRIGGER FOR WW III NOW BEING LOADED

* Video informed at Bruce Gagnon's blog
Thursday, May 07, 2009
TRIGGER FOR WW III NOW BEING LOADED



More at The Real News

'This is an excellent overview video about the crisis (and I mean severe crisis) now underway in Georgia.

The US has for some time now been undertaking a strategy to break Russia up into three separate countries so that corporate globalization can better get their hands on Russia's natural gas (the worlds largest supply) and their significant stocks of oil.

Imagine how the US would react if Russia was saying that the US should be broken to pieces. We'd be freaking out!

If there is to be a WW III it very well could begin here as the US prods and pokes its way into the region trying to get Georgia into another war with Russia and to expand US military bases right on Russia's southern border.

Watch this video and learn what is really going on.

See Part One of this Georgia series here

See Part Three of the Georgia series here.'