http://www.todayszaman.com/news-294578-turkey-syria-trade-artillery-fire-for-5th\
-day.html


Today's Zaman
October 7, 2012


Turkey, Syria trade artillery fire for 5th day


Another mortar shell from Syria struck Turkish territory on Sunday, prompting a
fifth straight day of...artillery fire by the Turkish military.

An Associated Press video journalist said Turkish artillery fired toward Syria
minutes after a Syrian shell landed on Turkish territory.

The Syrian shell landed some 200 meters (200 yards) inside Turkey, near the
border town of Akçakale. A short time later, at least six mortars could be
heard fired from Turkey. It was the fifth day in a row that Turkey returned
fire.

Abdulhakim Ayhan, the mayor of Akçakale, confirmed that Turkish artillery
immediately returned fire. 

...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/military-forces-increased-on-border-after-pyd-c\
reates-protection-units-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=31831&NewsCatID=338


Hurriyet Daily News
October 7, 2012


Military forces increased on border after PYD creates protection units


ISTANBUL: Turkey has been reinforcing its position along the Syrian border after
the Democratic Union Party (PYD), a group in northern Syria with purported ties
to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), announced the establishment of
Popular Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syrian towns, daily Zaman has
reported.

The Turkish military alerted and deployed additional forces in eastern province
of Şanlıurfa’s Suruç district, which is located opposite from the Syrian
town of Ayn al-Arab, which is controlled by the PYD.

Numerous multiple missile launchers and more than 20 tanks are poised for
possible danger in Suruç, while the number of soldiers has also been increased
in the region, the reports said.

The border is being watched 24 hours a day and all crossings between Suruç and
Ayn al-Arab have reportedly been cut since the conflict in Syria began 17 months
ago.

The PYD previously established camps for fighters in Ayn al-Arab and Afrin,
which are both near Turkey.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://en.trend.az/regions/iran/2073993.html



Trend News Agency
October 7, 2012


Iranian official: NATO preparing the ground for intervention in Syria



NATO is preparing the ground for military intervention in Syria under the
pretext that the security of Turkey, which is a NATO member, has been
threatened, according to Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to Iran's Supreme
Leader, MNA reported.

Velayati made the remarks in Tehran on Saturday in reference to the recent
exchange of artillery fire between Syria and Turkey, the Persian service of the
Fars News Agency reported.

On Wednesday, NATO condemned the Syrian attack on the town of Akcakale, in
southeastern Turkey, in which five Turkish citizens were killed and nine others
were injured when artillery shells landed on the town, the Anadolu Agency
reported.

Velayati, who formerly served as Iran's foreign minister, said, "Today, NATO is
ready to issue a threat against Syria and intends to enter Syria under the
pretext that one of the members of this organization... the neighboring country,
has been threatened."

Certain Western countries are seeking to drag NATO into regional issues, he
stated, adding, "The West is digging a hole so that Turkey, Syria, and the
entire region will become stuck in it and the Islamic Awakening will be
overshadowed. Regional countries, including Syria, Turkey, and Iraq, should
remain vigilant because the United States and its allies have plots for regional
countries."

Velayati added that the first pretext provided by the West for interference in
Syria's internal affairs was that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was not
responding to legitimate public demands.

"(But) when the West came to the conclusion that the people are supporters of
the government, they decided to dispatch foreign mercenaries to Syria and also
encouraged neighboring countries to support them," he said.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Velayati mentioned the remarks that Burhan Ghalioun,
the former chairman of the Syrian National Council, made on November 30, 2011,
in which he said that "there will be no special relationship with Iran" if
members of the council come to power in Syria.

"These remarks revealed the hands of the Westerners in Syrian developments," the
Leader's advisor stated.

On Iran's stance toward Syria, Velayati said, "We have helped and are helping
and will support Syria's territorial integrity and the interests of the people
and the government, provided that the reforms continue."
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http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=25321


Civil Georgia
October 5, 2012


Commander of U.S. Marine Corps in Europe Meets Ivanishvili


Tbilisi: Bidzina Ivanishvili, whose Georgian Dream coalition won the
parliamentary elections, said Georgia, which has two battalions stationed in the
Helmand province of Afghanistan, would “definitely continue” cooperation
with the U.S. over Afghanistan.

He made the remarks on October 5 after meeting with commander of the U.S. Marine
Corps in Europe, Lt Gen John M. Paxton, who is visiting Georgia.

“Georgia has been a very valuable and trusted ally for many years; we work
very closely together in Afghanistan, particularly in Helmand province and we
have enjoyed a great relationship trying to develop NCO leadership, officer
skills and work on enhanced security cooperation,” Lt Gen Paxton said after
the meeting.

“We are here to congratulate Mr. Ivanishvili and to wish him a smooth
transition of power. We are here to just reaffirm that the United States stands
by Georgia,” he said and added he was looking forward not only to working
relationship in Afghanistan but also to continued good relations in years ahead.

“This was my first meeting with the U.S. military, who have provided huge
assistance in the establishing of the Georgian army and to its reforms in line
with the NATO standards,” Ivanishvili said. “I knew it, but I was very glad
to hear that Georgian [troops] have special importance in the NATO forces [in
Afghanistan] and that together with the U.S. [troops] are [performing combat
duties] in difficult areas”

“Of course we should do everything possible in order to [continue] our
partnership with the United States in Afghanistan and in such hotspots,”
Ivanishvili said and added that Georgia was playing “a role of a real junior
friend” to the United States and “we will definitely continue cooperation in
the future too.”

The Commander of U.S. Marine Corps in Europe met on October 5 with Chief of
Joint Staff of the Georgian armed force Lt Gen Devi Chankotadze.

“The sides focused on an enhanced military cooperation between the countries.
Chief of JS underlined that Georgia will continue cooperation with the United
States in the same format and stressed the role the U.S. plays in modernization
of the Georgian army and in developing interoperability with NATO,” the
Georgian Ministry of Defense said. “Lt Gen Devi Chankotadze affirmed that
Georgia stands ready to continue cooperation with NATO and the United States in
the post-ISAF period too.”

Also on October 5, the Commander of U.S. Marine Corps in Europe visited National
Training Centre, Krtsanisi, outside Tbilisi where he attended training of the
Georgian servicemen, who are gearing up for the Afghan deployment.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=25319


Civil Georgia
October 5, 2012


Ivanishvili Meets NATO Liaison Officer


Tbilisi: Georgian Dream leader, Bidzina Ivanishvili, met with NATO Liaison
Officer in Tbilisi, William Lahue, and reiterated his coalition’s commitment
to NATO integration.

He said after the meeting that agenda of Georgia-NATO relations were discussed
“in details” and added that the NATO representative “assured us that we
have a good chance of joining NATO.”

“Problems and questions mainly are related to democratic institutions, which
are not on a level on which they should be. In this respect I have explained
that in the nearest future, very soon, we will manage to bring a genuine
breakthrough in addressing issues of human rights, judiciary,” Ivanishvili
said after the meeting.

“NATO is a political-military structure and only military training is not
enough; we have also discussed this issue and we will address problems remaining
in this area and we will make progress [in this area] too,” he said.

“I think that we will really manage – not superficially like our authorities
have been talking about – to quickly become a NATO member country,”
Ivanishvili added.

The NATO Liaison Officer said that “the mechanisms for pursuing”
NATO-Georgia relationships were discussed.

“We are very, very pleased to hear Mr. Ivanishvili’s commitment to NATO
values and the reforms that Georgia is undertaking to become a member of NATO.
This process is extremely important and we were assured of his support for
continuation of this support and eventual membership of Georgia in NATO,”
Lahue said.

“When NATO membership will occur, of course, we cannot say at this time, but
the critical issue is that Georgia to continue its process of reforms to become
a member of the European community and to continue its commitment to the values
enshrined in the North-Atlantic treaty, which are human rights, rule of law,
democracy and individual liberty.”

“Mr. Ivanishvili has assured us that these values will be supported by this
government and we are quite comforted by his plans also to reform the government
and to put in new officials who will support these issues strongly,” NATO
Liaison Officer

On October 4 the NATO Liaison Office in Tbilisi released a statement
congratulating the Georgian people for “historic parliamentary election.”

“The peaceful conduct of this election is an important demonstration of the
belief of the Georgian people in democratic values. As the final votes are
counted, it is equally important that the Georgian people continue to
demonstrate their commitment to democratic processes and the rule of law by
supporting the legal procedures for vote counting and dispute resolution,” the
NATO Liaison Office said.
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======================================================================

Voice of Russia
October 8, 2012


Video:
http://rt.com/news/taliban-us-nato-afghanistan-869/



With Western-backed President Hamid Karzai ascending to power, some 130,000
troops from 50 countries have been sent to support his government. But instead,
a surge of violence, especially in the last five years, followed.

This resulted in a total of 3,199 NATO soldiers being killed in fighting.

Over 2,100 of this number are Americans, according to icasualties.com.

The war also came at a high cost to the Afghan people. The UN estimates that
over 13,000 civilians were killed in the conflict between 2007 and mid-2012. If
the count were to be started at the beginning of the invasion in 2001, most
experts put the death toll at over 20,000. 

“Most arguably the only accomplishment, dubious as it is, is that opium
production has skyrocketed,” international affairs commentator Rick Rozoff
told RT. “In terms of the Afghan people, who suffered indignities, bombing and
helicopter gun attacks, unspeakable massacres of the sort that occurred in
Kandahar in March of this year, they certainly have nothing to be grateful to
NATO for.”

Many analysts also believe that the Taliban will quickly recapture power in
Afghanistan no sooner than the core of the foreign combat forces leaves. By the
end of this year, only 108,000 allied troops, including 68,000 from the US, will
remain. Their main task is to train the Afghan National Security Forces that are
to replace them after a total withdrawal in 2014.

Washington and NATO hope Afghan forces will take over the fight against the
Taliban after 2014. But many analysts see a multi-factional civil war ahead. 

“Whether the Afghan National Army is capable of providing security in the
country – it is not even questionable. They simply will not,” says Rick
Rozoff. But, he reminds, NATO is not really leaving Afghanistan. Bases with
limited contingents will remain after 2014...

[T]his is the longest running war for the US. Although Obama has pledged that
most US combat troops will leave by the end of 2014, allied troops are still
dying in Afghanistan at a rate of one a day, the AP estimates. The outcome of
the war hangs in the balance, with the outcome of the America’s presidential
elections likely to hold some sway, but Rick Rozoff doubts US military boots
could go back to the heated Afghan soil.

“I don’t think that the American public has a stomach for that, or any
politician in this country, be it Barack Obama after he is reelected or Mitt
Romney if he takes his place, would dare such a move,” he told RT.
====================================================================
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======================================================================

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_10_08/The-US-and-its-allies-are-wary-of-Syrian-backf\
ire/



Voice of Russia
October 8, 2012


The US and its allies are wary of Syrian backfire
Boris Volkhonsky


====

[Recent] reports only demonstrate the double-minded policy the US is pursuing in
the Middle East (in fact, everywhere). While trying to position itself as a
"good cop" it encourages all kinds of proxies to do the dirty job of a "bad
cop".

The case of Syria...should be looked upon in a much broader context than just
one particular country-case. It is an integral part of a broader assault in
which the ultimate objective is not Syria or Bashar al-Assad, but Iran, which,
in turn, is the last remaining obstacle in the region for the US to establish
its dominance over the Great Middle East from Morocco to Pakistan.

====



On Saturday, the New York Times published a lengthy article dedicated to the
ambiguous situation in which the Persian Gulf monarchies have found themselves
in regard to their aid to Syrian rebels.

"For months," states the paper, "Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been funneling
money and small arms to Syria’s rebels but have refused to provide heavier
weapons, like shoulder-fired missiles."

One of the reasons they refrain from doing so is the fact that they have been
discouraged by the United States, which fears the heavier weapons could end up
in the hands of terrorists.

As a result, the story goes on, the rebels have just enough weapons to maintain
a stalemate, the war grinds on and more jihadist militants join the fray every
month.

Still, Saudis and Qataris do not abandon hope that they will persuade their
trans-Atlantic mentors and the latter will finally give their approval to arming
the Syrian rebels with heavier weapons, because this, according to Qatari state
minister for foreign affairs Khalid al-Attiyah, "has to happen."

Also on Saturday, the Associated Press reported that the US Defense Secretary
Leon Panetta, who was visiting Peru, expressed his worries that the continued
exchange of artillery fire between Syria and Turkey raises additional concerns
that the conflict may escalate and spread to neighboring countries.

Indeed, both reports only demonstrate the double-minded policy the US is
pursuing in the Middle East (in fact, everywhere). While trying to position
itself as a "good cop" it encourages all kinds of proxies to do the dirty job of
a "bad cop".

The case of Syria, therefore, should be looked upon in a much broader context
than just one particular country-case. It is an integral part of a broader
assault in which the ultimate objective is not Syria or Bashar al-Assad, but
Iran, which, in turn, is the last remaining obstacle in the region for the US to
establish its dominance over the Great Middle East from Morocco to Pakistan.

Achieving this goal needs a lot of evasive maneuvering, and this is where Saudi
Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and Israel come into the picture. Harnessing the four so
distinctly different countries into one carriage of US Middle Eastern policy may
seem a difficult task, but the common Iranian scarecrow helps a lot.

In fact, for the US there are several obstacles that do not allow it to openly
support arming Syrian rebels with heavy weapons. One (the minor one) is the
traditional intention of the modern Western governments to appear as humane and
compliant with the "universal values" and principles of "human rights" as
possible even when they launch the bloodiest aggression against those who
allegedly do not observe those values and principles. But this, after all, can
be disregarded.

What is more important is the fact that the direct US involvement in Syrian
internal matters would become untimely at this particular moment. While the war
in Afghanistan remains one of the biggest pains in the neck of the current
administration and seriously mars the prospects of Barack Obama's reelection,
stepping into another venture in the volatile region would only add to the US
public's irritation. This is something that President Obama and his cronies
cannot afford.

And the third consideration relates to the fact that most probably Washington
strategists have begun to realize that the foes of their foes do not necessarily
become their friends. The recent events in Libya where the Islamist rioters
attacked the US embassy and killed Ambassador Chris Stevens is the most
outstanding of such backfires.

The countries of the region which either go on insisting that Syrian rebels
should be supplied with heavier weapons, or venture on direct military actions
against the Syrian government. But while toying with the idea that they can
"prevent the weapon from falling into the wrong hands" and may be able to
control its future use, those countries should take into account only one
possibility. If a major fire flares up, the neighbors now so recklessly fanning
it will inevitably be affected themselves.

Boris Volkhonsky, senior research fellow, Russian Institute for Strategic
Studies


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======================================================================

http://rt.com/politics/russia-us-nato-missile-defense-898/


RT
October 8, 2012


‘Russia capable of neutralizing US missile defense threat’
Robert Bridge


====

The US missile defense system has neither geographical nor technological
limitations, and this has some military observers warning that Russia could
eventually find itself surrounded by a ring of NATO radar and missiles.

Last year it was reported that Washington was planning a “major expansion”
of missile defenses in Asia, which are ostensibly intended to guard against an
unpredictable North Korea, but are most likely being planned with China and
Russia in mind.


====




Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov is confident that Russia has the means to
protect itself against the sprawling US missile defense system, which is not
just limited to Russia’s neck of the woods.

"We are closely monitoring the work of our colleagues and understand its
vector,” Serdyukov said in an interview published in Itogi journal.

“Russia’s state military program, which looks ahead until 2020, solves many
tasks and will help neutralize threats created by the US global missile defense
network.”

The United States, as the military powerhouse behind the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO), has refused Russia’s assistance in building the latest
leg of it global missile defense system, which Russia warns could spark another
arms race without some sort of agreement.

Last year, former President Dmitry Medvedev announced plans to deploy Iskander
missiles in Russia’s westernmost Kaliningrad Region in order to counter the
threat posed by the US system.

The US missile defense system has neither geographical nor technological
limitations, and this has some military observers warning that Russia could
eventually find itself surrounded by a ring of NATO radar and missiles.

Last year it was reported that Washington was planning a “major expansion”
of missile defenses in Asia, which are ostensibly intended to guard against an
unpredictable North Korea, but are most likely being planned with China and
Russia in mind.

The US military in 2006 placed a powerful early-warning radar, known as an
X-Band, in Aomori Prefecture in northern Japan, with further plans to expand the
radar to the Philippines.

When asked whether Russia had the military tools for meeting the challengers of
any possible aggressor, Serdyukov’s answer was simple and straightforward: "We
have them.”

When pressed for more information, the defense minister responded: “I would
rather not go into details, but I can assure you that, in addition to our
nuclear deterrent, which is in a very good shape, [Russia is researching]
significant high-precision arms projects, among others.”

“We feel confident," Serdyukov concluded.

The unfortunate side of the controversy over the US missile defense system is
that it exposes the cynicism behind the Russia-US reset.

Like other unfulfilled promises made by the presidential administration of
Barack Obama, including the failure to close Guantanamo Bay detention center,
the idea of a reset seems to have been part of a ploy to reduce anxiety – both
in Russia and Europe – over its missile defense plans.

While Washington was holding out flowers with one hand, it seems to have been
concealing a club behind its back in the other.

Fortunately, Moscow was not fooled by the ruse.
====================================================================
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======================================================================

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/736976.shtml



Global Times
October 8, 2012


US reassurance needed to allay growing missile defense worries
By He Yun*


====

At the moment, the US missile defense system is not yet effective enough to
intercept ICBMs from China and Russia. However, according to US President Barack
Obama's Phased Adaptive Approach, the missile defense system to be completed by
2018, featuring SM-3 Block IIA interceptors, will be able to intercept
intermediate-range missiles.

A further development in phase IV, featuring SM-3 Block IIB interceptors, will
be able to cope with not only medium- and intermediate-range missiles, but also
longer range missiles, including ICBMs.

China and Russia will inevitably have to face the prospective threats posed by
US missile defense systems to their nuclear deterrent.

====


US missile defense is a long-standing concern of both Russia and China, stemming
back to worries over the US "Star Wars" program initiated in the 1980s. In
recent years, US initiatives to place missile defense systems in Japan, Poland,
and elsewhere have caused concern in both Moscow and Beijing.

On the US side, official voices have spoken of "growing global cooperation on
ballistic missile defense," as suggested by, among others, US ambassador to
Russia Michael McFaul on September 10, who stated "in the future NATO and Russia
might work together on missile defense." But current reality offers a stark
contrast to this talk of cooperation.

US-Russian cooperation on missile defense effectively stalled after NATO
rebuffed the Russian offer of a "sectoral" missile defense that would allow
Russia to take charge of building missile defenses against Iran for the defense
of Europe.

Hopes for effective early warning data sharing between Moscow and Washington
have also diminished. Although the US and Russia conducted a joint threat
assessment of the Iranian missile issue, there is no agreement as to what should
be done.

In Asia, the US is expanding its missile defense efforts, planning to deploy a
powerful X-band early warning radar system in southern Japan to supplement the
existing X-band radar that the US has already positioned in Aomori Prefecture in
northern Japan.

There are also discussions about a third radar to be deployed in Southeast Asia,
possibly in the Philippines. Recent territorial disputes between China and its
neighbors, in which some Chinese analysts see the hand of the US, add additional
tension to these possible placements.

The US Department of State claims that these new radars are designed to counter
the North Korean missile threat, and not directed at China. However, a closer
look says otherwise. Early warning radars need to be placed as close as possible
to the missile launch site. For that purpose, these radars would work most
effectively if placed near a potential North Korean missile launch trajectory,
such as in Northern Japan.

Since the US has already deployed an early warning system in that area, China
has understandable questions over other deployments in southern Japan and the
Philippines.

Taiwan claims that the early warning radar it purchased from the US is nearing
completion. If Taipei and Washington enter a data-sharing agreement, Taiwan will
be covered by these early warning radars, which will provide extensive
information of any conventional missile launches and therefore greatly undermine
the mainland's conventional deterrent toward Taiwan.

Another concern that the US has failed to address is the future deployment of
missile defense systems.

At the moment, the US missile defense system is not yet effective enough to
intercept ICBMs from China and Russia. However, according to US President Barack
Obama's Phased Adaptive Approach, the missile defense system to be completed by
2018, featuring SM-3 Block IIA interceptors, will be able to intercept
intermediate-range missiles.

A further development in phase IV, featuring SM-3 Block IIB interceptors, will
be able to cope with not only medium- and intermediate-range missiles, but also
longer range missiles, including ICBMs.

So far, the US has rejected Russian requests of a legally binding guarantee on
posing "military-technical criteria" to limit future missile defense
development. Given this decision is unlikely to be reversed, it means that
though, at the moment, US missile defense could only be reasonably used against
North Korea and Iran, in the long run, China and Russia will inevitably have to
face the prospective threats posed by US missile defense systems to their
nuclear deterrent.

This is especially the case for China, whose nuclear stockpile is considerably
smaller than either of the other powers. It is in nobody's interests for China
to be pushed into spending energy, time, and money on building up a greater
reserve of ever more sophisticated nuclear weapons in order to maintain a
credible deterrent.

But there is still hope, and areas for cooperation, provided that the US is
willing to take steps to reach out and assuage fears in Moscow and Beijing.
Capabilities are latent, but intentions are not. The US can persuade Russia and
China of its benign intentions, if not capabilities, through a variety of
potential confidence building measures.

For instance, to dissuade China's current worries about US early warning radars
in Japan, Washington could invite experts from Beijing to visit these sites and
assess their capabilities. Washington could also disclose certain non-crucial
information about its ballistic missile defense system, such as burn-out
velocity, to prove that at least the present missile defense system does not
pose any real threat to China's ICBMs.

These measures may induce good reactions in China, and prompt reciprocation in
ways that may increase China's nuclear transparency.

There is no better defense than cooperation. The US, Russia and China need to
cultivate a spirit of cooperation and discussion, thinking beyond the immediate
security benefits to the longer term stability and peace of our world.


*The author is a Fulbright fellow at the Center for International and Security
Studies, University of Maryland.

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http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2012/10/09/turkey-plotting-nato-attack-on-syria/


Stop NATO
October 8, 2012


Turkey Plotting NATO Attack on Syria
Rick Rozoff


A maelstrom is sweeping the Middle East and Turkey is in the center of it; is in
fact the cause of it.

The only member of the U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization military bloc
in Asia, and one moreover bordering Syria, Iran, Iraq, Georgia, Armenia and
Azerbaijan, it is intensifying military attacks inside Syria and Iraq and
threatening to plunge the entire region into destabilization and war.

Having shelled targets inside Syria daily for a week after a mortar shell landed
inside its southeastern territory on October 3, which Ankara blamed on the
Syrian military, the Turkish armed forces have again, as they did two months
ago, moved tanks, armored personnel carriers, missile defenses and troops to the
border and have deployed 25 warplanes to a base in Diyarbakir in the Kurdish
region of the country, both actions allegedly targeting the Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK) though in fact part of a general military mobilization that will not
be limited to strikes against that group's fighters and supporters.

Turkey's Doğan News Agency reported that 25 F-16 fighter jets and other
aircraft arrived at the air base on October 8 and Today's Zaman announced that
12 F-16s struck what were identified as PKK sites on Mount Qandil on the
Iraqi-Iranian border.

The following day Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh denounced the
violation of his nation's sovereignty, stating "These Turkish attacks on Iraqi
territories are not acceptable and we will take the necessary diplomatic
measures" and adding, "We do understand the reasons behind such acts, yet we do
not tolerate such breaches."

Recently the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Iraqi parliament announced its
intention to demand Turkish military forces leave the north of the country where
committee member Safia al-Suhail stated there were 16 Turkish military bases
inside Iraq near the two countries' border.

Revealingly, on October 8 Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki arrived in
Moscow where he visited the foreign ministry and will meet with Prime Minister
Dmitry Medvedev to discuss closer ties in the military and energy spheres.

A week ago the top military commander of NATO, Admiral James Stavridis, paid an
unannounced visit to the Turkish capital to meet with Chief of General Staff
General Necdet Özel and Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz.

According to the Turkish press:

"The Allied Air Command in İzmir came under scrutiny during the discussions.
The command in İzmir was most recently on the public agenda during the debates
over NATO’s early warning system in Kürecik, Malatya, which is a part of
NATO’s missile defense shield. The Kürecik radar system was installed to
observe Iranian skies for any missile threat."

After the incident of October 3, NATO's main civilian governing body, the North
Atlantic Council, met in Brussels on Turkey's prompting to discuss a joint
strategy against Syria.

A statement issued after the unprecedented late-night meeting confirmed that,
"In view of the Syrian regime’s recent aggressive acts at NATO’s
southeastern border, which are a flagrant breach of international law and a
clear and present danger to the security of one of its Allies, the North
Atlantic Council met today, within the framework of Article 4 of the Washington
Treaty..."

In language more evocative of the military bloc's Article 5 war clause, the
statement added: "In the spirit of indivisibility of security and solidarity
deriving from the Washington Treaty, the Alliance continues to stand by Turkey
and demands the immediate cessation of such aggressive acts against an Ally..."

Ahead of a two-day meeting of NATO defense chiefs, including the Pentagon's Leon
Panetta, to convene on October 9, Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen
proclaimed “I can assure you we have all necessary plans in place to defend
and protect Turkey, our ally.”

On the same day Turkey's head of state, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
threatened: "The state that is not ready for war at any moment is not fully
developed. Turkey must be ready for war in any case."

Hürriyet Daily News cited an unnamed Turkish official as confirming that NATO
"was active on the issue [the escalating military conflict with Syria]  behind
the scenes," with his comments paraphrased as follows:

"NATO has increased its military presence in the region with vessels patrolling
in the Mediterranean Sea under Operation Active Endeavor and routine flights
heading to its operations to Afghanistan, but these moves were not announced
officially to avoid a reaction."

Last week, only hours before the shelling incident that has provided Turkey the
occasion for authorizing ongoing military attacks inside Syria, Russian Deputy
Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told reporters in Moscow that his country had
warned NATO and its allies in the Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait,
Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) against conspiring to
manufacture pretexts for military intervention inside Syria such as demanding
so-called humanitarian corridors or buffer zones inside the latter nation and
launching armed provocations on the Turkish-Syrian border.

He said, "In our contacts with our partners both in NATO and in the region,
including on international forums, we have called on them not to look for
pretexts in order to carry out a [military] operation."

The next day just such an incident occurred.

On October Ali Akbar Velayati, former Iranian foreign minister and current
senior adviser to Ali Khamenei, accused NATO of laying the groundwork for war
against Syria, stating, “Today, NATO is ready to issue a threat against Syria
and intends to enter Syria under the pretext that one of the members of this
organization [Turkey] has been threatened.” 

Turkish is harboring, arming and training thousands of so-called Free Syrian
Army forces while conducting major air strikes inside Iraq and near the Iranian
border and massing troops and military hardware on the Syrian border in a
campaign to exterminate the PKK, a lawless rampage fully supported by the U.S.
and NATO.

Turkey and its NATO allies have lit a short fuse to a large powder keg.

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http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2012-10/09/content_15802163.htm


China Daily
October 9, 2012



Missile pact opens channel for US
By Zhou Wa�
Edited by RR


====

[T]he ROK military has budgeted 2.4 trillion won ($2.15 billion) for the planned
deployment, while still waiting for parliamentary approval for 500 billion won
in spending from next year. The ROK military did not confirm the report.

The extended range can now cover all territory of the DPRK and reach China,
Russia and Japan, and will trigger great concern from those countries, according
to media reports.

====



The Washington-Seoul agreement on extending the range of Seoul's ballistic
missiles offers another channel for the United States to boost its military
presence in Northeast Asia, analysts said, warning of possible tensions brought
about by the updated agreement.

Seoul plans to deploy the new ballistic missiles in five years, the country's
media reported on Monday, after the Republic of Korea and the US pledged to
extend the range of Seoul's ballistic missiles from 300 kilometers to 800 km on
Sunday.

With the agreement, the US has attempted to increase its own military presence
in Northeast Asia by improving the ROK's military power, said Jin Canrong, an
expert on global affairs at the Renmin University of China.

Domestic economic problems at home and ongoing tensions with Arab countries have
put further pressure on the US in its efforts at increasing its presence in the
Asia-Pacific region, so Washington is seeking support from its allies in the
region, he said.

Qu Xing, president of the China Institute of International Studies, added that
the US hopes the ROK can share the burden of a large defense budget, while
increasing Washington's military presence in the region.

As a result, he warned of the possibility of an escalation in military tension
on the Korean Peninsula between the ROK and the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea.

The ROK plans to deploy new ballistic missiles with a range of 550 km and 800 km
in five years, reported ROK's Yonhap News Agency, citing an anonymous official
on Monday.

According to the unnamed source, the ROK military has budgeted 2.4 trillion won
($2.15 billion) for the planned deployment, while still waiting for
parliamentary approval for 500 billion won in spending from next year. The ROK
military did not confirm the report.

The extended range can now cover all territory of the DPRK and reach China,
Russia and Japan, and will trigger great concern from those countries, according
to media reports.

Wang Junsheng, an expert on East Asian studies with the Chinese Academy of
Social Sciences, said the agreement will worsen already tense relations between
the ROK and the DPRK.

Qu added that the extension of the missile reach would further accelerate the
arms race on the Korean Peninsula, and feeling the imbalance of military power,
the DPRK would accordingly increase counter-military measures, which will bring
more difficulties to the denuclearization and disarmament of any ballistic
missiles.

...

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said on Monday at a regular news
briefing that China does not wish to see an escalated military confrontation on
the Korean Peninsula.

It is an obligation of all parties involved to maintain peace and stability on
the peninsula, realize denuclearization and avoid the proliferation of weapons
of mass destruction, Hong said.

He reiterated China's stance of solving issues concerning the peninsula through
dialogue, and called for all parties to make greater efforts to ease the
situation.

...
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http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_10_09/Asia-on-the-brink-of-a-new-missile-crisis/



Voice of Russia
October 9, 2012


Asia on the brink of a new missile crisis
Vladimir Fiodorov


====

By provoking a new missiles race on the Korean Peninsula, the United States is
clearly playing for high stakes. By allowing Seoul to increase the range of its
missiles, they made another anti-Chinese move, as the new South Korean missiles
are able to reach central areas of China.

[This] is another step on the way of founding the Eastern US ABM defense system.
The North Korean missile threat is only an excuse for its creation. First of
all, it is aimed at deterring and nulling Chinese missile potential.

====


Asia is on the brink of a new nuclear crisis. North Korea has warned its
potential enemies that in case of aggression they would not be able to escape
from its strategic missiles. Their cruising radius includes not only South Korea
and American military bases located there, but Japan and even the United
States’ territory as well. Such was Pyongyang’s reaction to Seoul’s
statement about its intention to develop ballistic missiles with a range of up
to 800 kilometers and put them on combat duty.

These missiles would be able to reach any point of DPRK territory, analyst of
the Institute of Oriental Studies of the RAS Alexander Vorontsov has noted in
this respect.

“This is a concrete, tangible step aimed at increasing the offensive military
potential of the Republic of Korea. Quite naturally, it causes anxiety and
concern in Pyongyang, which has already pointed out the increasing intensity of
military manoeuvres of South Korea and the United States on its borders,
considering them as war preparations. The DPRK’s reaction is quite adequate.
Unfortunately, there is a real basis for such a reaction.”

In order to demonstrate that North Korean missiles exist not only on paper, its
military representative has even indicated the place of their deployment -
Kangdong County near Pyongyang. The strategic missile headquarters is located
there, and leader of the DPRK Kim Jong-un visited it on March 3.

It is for the first time that Pyongyang publishes such an information about its
military potential, thus making it clear that it regards the new missile
agreement between the US and South Korea as a preparation for war. According to
the previous agreement between the US and South Korea, South Korean missile
flight range was limited to 300 kilometers. The revision of this agreement will
destabilize the situation in the region, Alexander Vorontsov believes:

“It’s not by chance that the United States has long hesitated whether or not
to give their consent to South Korea's persistent requests of possessing up to
800 kilometers range missiles. And Washington was well aware that such a sharp
reaction on the part of the DPRK was inevitable.”

Washington has struck a bargain with Seoul despite the fact that it violates the
international regime of missile technologies’ limitation. At present, 34
countries have acceded to this regime. They undertook to limiting the cruising
radius of their missiles to 300 kilometers. By provoking a new missiles race on
the Korean Peninsula, the United States is clearly playing for high stakes. By
allowing Seoul to increase the range of its missiles, they made another
anti-Chinese move, as the new South Korean missiles are able to reach central
areas of China.

The United States has also revealed their intention of supplying the South
Korean air defense system with information from American satellites and drones.
And this, in fact, is another step on the way of founding the Eastern US ABM
defense system. The North Korean missile threat is only an excuse for its
creation. First of all, it is aimed at deterring and nullifying Chinese missile
potential.
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http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_10_09/NATO-invasion-of-Syria-coming-soon-rated-X/


Voice of Russia
October 9, 2012


NATO invasion of Syria: coming soon, rated X
John Robles



The stage is set, NATO forces are in position and authorization has been given;
now all it will take is a little spark to ignite the powder keg that is the
Middle East. The West needs a middle-man, a reason to invade Syria, and Turkey
is that tool. Statements by both NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen
and the Turkish parliament serve as proof.

Remember about a month ago when US President Barack Obama phoned Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Erdogan and they spoke about Syria and Obama was photographed
sitting behind his desk holding a baseball bat? Well it was a sign, and from
sign to action takes time. After all, we are talking about invading a sovereign
nation to eradicate its leader. Well the time is coming, all the signs are
there.

One of them is the recent authorization by the Turkish parliament granting
Erdogan the power to send Turkish troops into “foreign” countries, meaning
Syria. Another is the now open bombing by Turkey of its Syrian neighbor and yet
another are statements and preparations by NATO and the West.

Rick Rozoff at Stop NATO cites one such statement by NATO Secretary General
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who stated: “I can assure you we have all necessary
plans in place to defend and protect Turkey, our ally.” This came after an
unprecedented late-night meeting after Turkey began its cross-border bombing of
Syria, after which NATO stated: "In view of the Syrian regime’s recent
aggressive acts at NATO’s southeastern border, which are a flagrant breach of
international law and a clear and present danger to the security of one of its
Allies, the North Atlantic Council met today, within the framework of Article 4
of the Washington Treaty..."

According to Rick Rozoff at Stop NATO, “A week ago the top military commander
of NATO, Admiral James Stavridis, paid an unannounced visit to the Turkish
capital to meet with Chief of General Staff General Necdet Özel and Defense
Minister İsmet Yılmaz.” All of this and the mobilization of what is becoming
an invasion-size force along the Syrian border leaves little doubt about what is
soon to come.

The Iranian media is filled with reports of NATO’s intentions, with the FARS
News Agency reporting that Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to Iran's
Supreme Leader, stated that: “NATO is preparing the ground for military
intervention in Syria under the pretext that the security of Turkey, which is a
NATO member, has been threatened.”

The Trend News website quotes Ali Akbar Velayati as saying: “Certain Western
countries are seeking to drag NATO into regional issues. The West is digging a
hole so that Turkey, Syria, and the entire region will become stuck in it and
the Islamic Awakening will be overshadowed. Regional countries, including Syria,
Turkey, and Iraq, should remain vigilant because the United States and its
allies have plots for regional countries."

In an interview for the Voice of Russia, Rick Rozoff also made it point to
underline the fact that: “only hours before the shelling incident that has
provided Turkey the occasion for authorizing ongoing military attacks inside
Syria, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told reporters in Moscow
that Russia had warned NATO and its allies in the Gulf Cooperation Council
(Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates)
against conspiring to manufacture pretexts for military intervention inside
Syria such as demanding so-called humanitarian corridors or buffer zones inside
the latter nation and launching armed provocations on the Turkish-Syrian
border.”

The fact that NATO and the West are known to openly wish to invade a country
under any pretext should set off alarm bells and cause an international uproar,
but after they got away with it in Afhgnaistan, Iraq and Libya, it seems that
the world has become calloused and accustomed to such crimes against humanity.

Why does the United States and its surrogate want to invade Syria and take
control of countries like Iran, Iraq, Libya and even Venezuela (and even the
Arctic)? It has nothing to do with democracy or human rights or removing
despotic dictators. It has to do with oil.

As Michael Collins at OpEdNews said, despite the situation being a complex one,
the US and NATO countries are the world’s biggest oil addicts and they will do
anything to keep their dealers happy and ensure that they get their fix.
====================================================================
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http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/indepth/2012-10/09/c_131895686.htm


Xinhua News Agency
October 9, 2012


War with Syria would be great mistake for Turkey
By Shi Zhuying


  • Turkey Parliament authorized a mandate last week, enabling further military
action against Syria.
  • Turkey and Syria have been exchanging cross-border artillery fire for
almost a week.
  • Turkish analysts worry that it would be great mistake for Turkey to get
involved in a war with Syria.


====

Turkey desperately needs to develop trade with its energy-rich neighbors at a
time when economic ties with European countries have worsened due to the EU
financial crisis.

Not many Turks want to see Turkey at full-scale war with Syria, not even within
Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

According to the latest poll in Turkey, 76 percent of the people oppose to
Turkey's unilateral intervention in the Syrian conflict.

====


ISTANBUL: Turkey and Syria move closer than ever to the verge of war after
Syria's latest mortar shelling killed five Turkish civilians.

The Turkey Parliament has authorized a war mandate last week, enabling further
cross-border military action against Syria.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan talked about the war twice within a
week, saying that Turkey was not far away from war and called on his people to
be prepared.

Turkey and Syria have been exchanging cross-border artillery fire for almost a
week. In this sense, Turkey has already started fighting.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said last Saturday that conflict between
Turkey and Syria may escalate and spread to neighboring countries.

However, many Turkish analysts worry that it would be a great mistake for Turkey
to get involved in a war with Syria, which could bring serious consequences to
this country.

"If Turkey starts a war with Syria, it would be detrimental for both countries.
Turkey's social stability, economic development and democratization process
would all be badly affected," Aykan Erdemir, a Turkish MP from the opposition
Republican People's Party (CHP), told Xinhua.

"Moreover, a war between Turkey and Syria would spill over into riots in
neighboring countries in this region, dragging the sectarian and war-torn Middle
East into greater chaos," Erdemir added.

...

Tension between Turkey and Syria has already resulted in significant damage to
Turkish exports to neighboring countries such as Iran and Iraq.

A full-scale war with Syria would mean greater economic cost by rising military
expenditures, according to Prof. Seyfettin Gursel, director of Center for
Economic and Social Research of Turkey's Bahcesehir University.

Turkey desperately needs to develop trade with its energy-rich neighbors at a
time when economic ties with European countries have worsened due to the EU
financial crisis.

Not many Turks want to see Turkey at full-scale war with Syria, not even within
Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

According to the latest poll in Turkey, 76 percent of the people oppose to
Turkey's unilateral intervention in the Syrian conflict. Only 17 percent support
a Turkish military action against the Assad regime.

Turkey's Syria policy proves to be a complete fiasco, said Emre Uslu, a
prominent political analyst and superintendent of Turkey. Turkey lacks reliable
and correct intelligence about Syria which has caused wrong calculations of
Assad's fall, failed prediction of Kurdish state establishment in north Syria
and exaggerated expectation of Syrian oppositions, Uslu said.

Uslu argued that the false intelligence and short-sighted analysis were the most
detrimental in Turkey's Syrian policy. "Given this lack of foresight and vision,
Ankara must avoid waging a war."

At the beginning of Syrian crisis, Turkey assumed that just like Hosni Mubarak
and Muammar Gaddafi, Assad wouldn't last long.

Both Erdogan and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Assad would soon
go away.

However, the Syrian civil war has lasted for more than 19 months now, bring
Turkey nearly 100,000 Syrian refugees and a growing national security risk.

Attacks from militants of Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) are on the rise since
Turkey and Syria relations deteriorated. PKK, listed by the Turkish government
as a terrorist organization, has established a Kurdish state in northern Syria.

...

The Turkish government overestimated the power of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and
failed to see that the Syrian opposition couldn't unite due to the same weak
strategic analysis, according to Uslu.

His opinion was shared by Erdemir from another perspective. "Another problem is
the Turkish government only supports a narrow segment of the opposition. It is
close to Syria's Muslim Brotherhood, which is from the same Sunni Islam
background with AKP, while neglecting the other communities such as Christian,
Jewish and secular groups in Syrian society," Erdemir said.

"This policy would deepen the sectarian divide within Syria," Erdemir added.

Many analysts also doubt the ability of oppositions to form a united and stable
Syria after the fall of Assad.
====================================================================
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http://rt.com/news/nato-mortar-syria-turkey-954/

Misfire: NATO mortar �gift� from Turkey to Syrian rebels � newspaper

Published: 09 October, 2012, 01:58
   Edited: 09 October, 2012, 06:59

The mortar used to attack the Turkish town of
Akcakale is a design specific to NATO and was
given to Syrian rebels by Ankara, according to
Turkey�s Yurt newspaper. The mortar killed one
adult and four children from the same family on Wednesday.

An article by the paper�s Editor-in-Chief, Merdan
Yanardag, states that the newspaper received
information from a reliable source, which claimed
that Turkey itself sent the mortars to rebels in the so-called "free army."

[...]

http://indrus.in/articles/2012/10/03/ric_needs_to_reinvent_itself_18101.html


Russia & India Report
October 4, 2012


RIC needs to reinvent Itself
Rajeev Sharma


====

The RIC needs to pack a punch and make itself a truly formidable body in world
affairs.

Russia has been pro-active in coaxing both India and China to forge closer ties
between them...

====


Russia, India and China (RIC) have now been engaged trilaterally at the foreign
ministers’ level since 1996, but this triangular relationship has not been as
free-wheeling as a 16-year-old engagement should have been. Intra rivalries,
suspicions and doubts are responsible for this.

This is reflected by two things:

(I) The RIC annual engagement hasn’t been consistent even at the foreign
ministers’ level as they have been able to hold just eleven such meetings in
16 years;

(II) Even after such a long tenure of this relationship, the RIC summit meeting
hasn’t even been tried.

Even the 12th round of foreign ministers’ meeting is not planned this year
because the eleventh round which took place on April 13, 2012 in Moscow was due
in 2011 and held almost a year late, Indian diplomatic sources told RIR. The
12th round, to take place in India, won’t be held before next year.

The main idea behind the Russia-India-China axis, as envisaged by the Russian
Federation’s first President Boris Yeltsin in 1993 and Russian Prime Minister
Yevgeny Primakov in 1996, was to construct a multi-polar world after the Cold
War.  Each of the three countries in this triangle has engaged with the other
two rather intensively over the past two decades. But then this has got nothing
to do with the loose grouping of RIC as such, if RIC can be called a grouping in
the first place.

The RIC needs to pack a punch and make itself a truly formidable body in world
affairs. Simply put, the RIC needs to reinvent itself. This is eminently
possible but it requires a political push at the highest level in all three
countries. Sadly, this verve is not visible – not yet.

Indian diplomats who have been steering the RIC ship for a while say that they
find the ‘format’ rather useful as it serves as a convenient platform to
discuss political issues. Even the WTO-related and climate change issues have
political overtones and require political mandate from the respective
governments. These issues have already started figuring at the RIC foreign
ministers’ meetings and are likely to get on to the front burner in future.

The RIC plate is already chock-a-bloc with issues as diverse as disaster relief,
agriculture, public health, academia and business. A concrete development that
has taken place during RIC foreign ministers’ deliberations is that
theme-based subsidiaries like RIC Trilateral Experts Meeting on Disaster
Management, Trilateral Business Forum, and Trilateral Academic Scholars Dialogue
have come up over the years.

The Difficult Part of RIC

Now coming back to the earlier point of the need for RIC to pack a punch and
reinvent itself, this is very much doable. RIC is different from BRIC or BRICS,
not just because RIC is minus Brazil or South Africa. It is because of the
geopolitics of the three countries where Brazil and South Africa have
comparatively been fringe players as they have not been so tightly interwoven as
Russia, India and China have been.

All three RIC countries are declared nuclear weapon states, unlike Brazil and
South Africa. None of the RIC countries share borders with Brazil and South
Africa while China shares a border with both Russia and India. This is the
historical and geographical fact that makes RIC stands apart from other bodies
like BRIC or BRICS or even IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa) and other
bodies involving RIC member countries.

While India and Russia have never fought a war – on the contrary, the two have
had a 20-year-long military pact which envisaged that an attack on either would
be construed as attack on the other – China and India have fought a
full-fledged war in 1962 over a border dispute which is still lingering. China
and the erstwhile Soviet Union too witnessed a seven-month border conflict in
1969 which was finally resolved with future border demarcations.

Russia and India have been very close since the Cold War era. The two countries
have got a new impetus in their bilateral relationship since the advent of the
Vladimir Putin era in Russia. Similarly, Russia-China ties have also become
stronger and smoother over the years. The real problem in the RIC triangle is
the India-China relationship – a difficult and tad awkward relationship where
mutual suspicions and perceived threats from one another still remain
deep-seated.

The Road Ahead

RIC can become a truly vibrant and effective body if India-China bilateral
relations improve and the border dispute between them is resolved amicably to
the mutual satisfaction of the two sides. India and China have been labouring
hard since the 1980’s to smoothen out the rough edges between them. The
magical turnaround in their bilateral relationship came after their 1993 accord
which invigorated their economic relations. Russia has been pro-active in
coaxing both India and China to forge closer ties between them, but somehow it
still remains work in progress.

To make this happen, the RIC countries have to build further on their
convergences and diminish the red lines among them. But then this is easier said
than done. One specific way forward is to start trade among themselves in local
currencies rather than dollar. This idea is already being given a shot at the
BRICS level. Here the BRICS have an edge over RIC because the idea of trading
with each other in local currencies has come up at the summit level.

Before BRICS thrashes out broad contours of trade in local currencies agreement,
RIC can implement it much faster. But then out-of-the-box ideas such as these
can become realities only when these are discussed at the summit level; and
hence the need for a RIC setting up an institutionalised mechanism of annual
summits.

The writer is a New Delhi-based journalist-author and a strategic analyst.
====================================================================
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http://en.rian.ru/mlitary_news/20121010/176528130.html



Russian Information Agency Novosti
October 10, 2012



NATO At Fault Over Arms Talks Stalemate - Lavrov


MOSCOW: Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused NATO on Wednesday of
increasing armed forces and weaponry disparity in Europe, while demanding Moscow
fulfils its obligations under the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty (CFTE),
which Russia withdrew from in 2007.

"NATO's efforts to increase the disparity in the sphere of conventional weapons
in its favor and take control of conventional weapons in Europe in the name of
conflict resolution have killed off the CFTE," he said during his address to
Russia's Federation Council.

"Now, our NATO partners, talking about the need to revive control over arms in
Europe, demand that we recognize Georgia's sovereignty over its pre-2008 borders
as a precondition for talks, and return to the CFTE which we left because its
implementation was sabotaged by NATO members," he said.

Lavrov said that these “absolutely unrealistic conditions, in this context,
render joint work on the problems of conventional armament controls pointless."

The CFTE was signed in Paris in 1990, and an amendment to it was signed in
Istanbul at an Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe (OSCE) summit
in 1999.

The adapted treaty was signed by only four nations: Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia
and Ukraine.

Russia suspended its participation in the treaty in 2007 "while NATO countries
have still not ratified the adapted treaty and have not started conscientiously
implementing the treaty" Lavrov noted.

Moscow's exit from the CFTE treaty was met with a negative reaction from NATO
and several other countries entering the alliance at that time.

Moscow also fails to understand the purpose of NATO continuing to carry out
large-scale military exercises, he added.

"It's clear that today it is impossible to speak of any military attack threat
to NATO countries involving conventional weapons," he said. "So the aim of these
exercises is, indeed, unclear."
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http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=367044


Interfax
October 10, 2012


NATO should not interfere in Syria on pretext of defending Turkey - Iraqi PM


MOSCOW: NATO should not interfere in the Syrian conflict under the pretext of
defending Turkey, as nothing threatens Turkey itself, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri
al-Maliki said.

"All these stories about Syrian planes dropping bombs on Turkish territory are
really exaggerating things, even if something of the sort did happen," al-Maliki
said in an interview with Interfax.

"It would be wrong to foment war over this and involve an entire organization
such as NATO for the sake of defending Turkey. Nothing is threatening Turkey,"
he said.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.agi.it/english-version/world/elenco-notizie/201210081156-pol-ren1041-\
iraq_s_maliki_in_moscow_with_syria_top_of_the_agenda


Agenzia Giornalistica Italia
October 8, 2012


Iraq's Maliki in Moscow, with Syria top of the agenda


Baghdad: Marking the first official visit in more than three years, Iraqi
premier Nouri al-Maliki is visiting Russia upon president Vladimir Putin's
direct invitation.

As well as seeking to intensify political, economic and military relations, the
two heads of government will be addressing the Syrian escalation. Both countries
have been accused by members of the international community [sic] of backing the
Assad regime. The Iraqi premier leads a high-level government delegation,
including the foreign, defence, oil and trade ministers as well as the chairman
of the state agency for foreign investments.
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http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=177396


Online News
October 10, 2012


NATO has no future in Asia: Experts


====

NATO will facilitate joint US-European operations despite the lack of UN
mandates that prevents collective NATO action. With the rise of China, NATO’s
importance will increase as China’s rise will force much closer US-European
cooperation.

====


Islamabad: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and United States (US)
commitment is a transatlantic bargain. The US provides security and gains
influence; and in return Europe provides access, capacity and legitimacy and
gains security.

Professor Dr. Sten Rynning, University of Southern Denmark NATO, stated [this]
while presenting a lecture on the topic of “After Afghan Combat: Does Atlantic
Alliance have an Asian Future” at the Institute of Strategic Studies, (ISSI).

...

Regarding Pakistan, he said that Pakistan should go to Brussels, speak to NATO
and make its presences in shaping NATO's agenda and engage with NATO. He said
that a multilateral debate will not provide an immediate solution but a
beginning for what the region need.

...

Dr. Peter Viggo Jakobsen (Royal Danish Defense College, Copenhagen), in his
presentation under the title “Global NATO after Afghanistan,” explained the
concept of NATO and also highlighted NATO’s role in Asia after Afghanistan.

While defining NATO, he said...that preventing a renationalization of the
European NATO members defence forces since 1989 has been a major stabilizing
factor in Europe. Regarding NATO’s future in Asia he said that NATO has a
bright future in Asia. NATO naval presence in Asian waters and important sea
lines of communication (SLOCs) is only possible through deeper partnerships with
interested and likeminded countries such as Japan, South Korea, Australia and
New Zealand.

While concluding, Dr. Peter said that NATO will facilitate joint US-European
operations despite a lack of UN mandates that prevents collective NATO action.
With the rise of China, NATO’s importance will increase as China’s rise will
force much closer US-European cooperation.
====================================================================
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http://en.trend.az/news/politics/2075141.html



Trend News Agency
October 10, 2012



MP: Turkish army can reach Damascus for three hours
R. Hafizoglu



Baku: In the event of a war with Syria, the Turkish army will need only three
hours to reach the country's capital Damascus, Turkish TV channel Beyaz TV
quotes MP from the ruling Justice and Development Party Samil Tayar as saying on
Wednesday.

MP emphasized that Ankara is fully ready for military actions.

...

Last week the Turkish parliament approved issuing a mandate for cross-border
military operations against Syria in response to the shelling of the Turkish
city of Sanlıurfa by the Syrian army.

...
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http://en.rian.ru/world/20121010/176540076.html


Russian Information Agency Novosti
October 10, 2012



Turkish Jets Force Down Syrian Passenger Plane - TV



Ankara: Turkish F-16s forced down an Airbus A320, which was flying from Moscow
to Damascus, over suspicions it has prohibited cargo on board.

The plane, which took off from Moscow’s Vnukovo airport, landed in Ankara at
5:15 p.m. local time, CNN-Turk reported.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu confirmed that a Syrian plane with 30
passengers on board was diverted to Ankara and forced to land by Turkish fighter
jets on Wednesday.

“There is information that the plane had cargo on board that does not meet the
requirements of civil aviation,” Davutoglu told TGRT television in Athens,
where he is on a visit.

“Measures are currently being undertaken as provided under current legislation
and international law,” he said.

Tensions between the two countries boiled over late last Wednesday when a mortar
round apparently fired from Syria killed five civilians in the Turkish border
town of Akcakale.

Turkey responded with artillery strikes against targets in violence-wracked
Syria and the Turkish parliament authorized the government to order more strikes
as necessary.

Although Damascus apologized for the incident, Turkish and Syrian artillery
exchanged fire a number of times over the ensuing six days.
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http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/iraq-warns-turkey-not-to-drag-nato-in\
to-syria/article3984962.ece


The Hindu
October 10, 2012


Iraq warns Turkey not to drag NATO into Syria
Atul Aneja


====

“Turkey is being presumptuous, you could say, as if it were taking
responsibility for solving the Syrian conflict instead of the Syrian people and
wants to impose its own solution. For this reason the international community
needs to stop Turkey from intervening.”

The Turkish government has strengthened its military presence by deploying 25
F-16 fighter jets at its Diyarbakir base, only 100 km from Syria. The United
States has also sent a 150-member task force to Jordan...only 56 km from the
Syrian border.

====



In the midst of a visit to Russia, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has
warned Turkey not to blow-up its differences with Syria and drag NATO into the
conflict.

Visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s veiled support for the Syrian
government came soon after Baghdad revived its military ties with Moscow. Mr.
Maliki’s three-day visit to Russia was crowned on Tuesday with the
announcement of a $4.2-billion weapons deal — a throwback to the era of Saddam
Hussein when both sides enjoyed a robust military relationship.

The hefty deal was announced near Moscow after talks between Mr. Maliki and his
Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev. The contract includes transfer of attack
helicopters and missiles, reports said.

Iraq is apparently buying 30 Mi-28 attack helicopters and 42 Pantsir-S1
surface-to-air missile systems, and negotiating for MiG-29 fighter jets,
armoured vehicles and other weapons.

The deal also marks a bold return to West Asia by Russia, which already has a
naval base in Syria and is collaborating to build Iran’s first nuclear power
plant.

Mr. Maliki, a close ally of Iran, asserted that Syria was not threatening
Turkey, which should not seek NATO’s intervention. “Turkey is being
presumptuous, you could say, as if it were taking responsibility for solving the
Syrian conflict instead of the Syrian people and wants to impose its own
solution. For this reason the international community needs to stop Turkey from
intervening,” he said.

Coinciding with Mr. Maliki’s barbs, Russian President Vladimir Putin seemed to
snub the Turkish leadership by deciding to postpone his visit to Ankara, Russia
Today reported citing the Kremlin press office.

Iraq and Russia have aired their discomfort with Turkey at a time when tensions
seemed to be escalating close to the Syrian border. The Turkish government has
strengthened its military presence by deploying 25 F-16 fighter jets at its
Diyarbakir base, only 100 km from Syria. The United States has also sent a
150-member task force to Jordan as part of contingency plan in case Syria loses
control over its chemical weapons. According to the New York Times, the team
would be deployed at a base, which is only 56 km from the Syrian border.


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http://rt.com/news/panetta-syria-jordan-troops-111/


RT
October 10, 2012


Confirmed: Pentagon deploys military forces to Jordan-Syria border


Video at URL above


US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has confirmed that US troops have been
dispatched to the Jordan-Syrian border to help bolster the former’s military
capabilities in case violence escalates in the volatile region.

“We have been working with Jordan for a period of time now…on a number of
issues that have developed as a result of what’s happening in Syria," Panetta
said. He said chief among those issues were the “humanitarian needs” that
has developed as a result of the refugee influx into Jordan.

“We have also been working with them in the effort to monitor the CBW
(Chemical-Biological Weapons) sites to determine how best to respond to any
concerns in that area," Panetta continued.

“And we’ve also been working with them to help them develop their own
military and operational capabilities in the event of any contingency there, and
that’s the reason we have a group of our forces there. They’re working to
help them build a headquarters there and to ensure that we make the relationship
between the United States and Jordan a strong one so that we can deal with all
of the possible consequences of what is happening in Syria,” he added.

Panetta’s comments came during a NATO conference of defense ministers in
Brussels on Wednesday, where he said the US had been working with Jordan to
monitor chemical and biological weapons sites in Syria and help the country deal
with Syrian refugees crossing over the border.

Earlier in the day Jordan’s military had denied the US military was helping
the kingdom deal with the influx of Syrian refugees and other security related
issues.

"News reports that the United States is helping Jordan deal with the Syrian
refugees or face dangers related to chemical weapons are not true," state-run
Petra news agency cited a Jordan Armed Forces spokesperson as saying.

The US has previously used Jordan as a base for other Syria-related military
activities. In May of this year, Washington held military drills in Jordan
dubbed ‘Operation Eager Lion,’ which saw around 12,000 troops from several
nations participate in undisclosed training exercises.

A US defense official in Washington said the forces were composed of 100
military planners and other personnel who had stayed on in Jordan after
attending the annual exercise in May. Several dozen more had subsequently been
flown in, and they are operating from a joint US-Jordanian military center north
of the capital, the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AP.

...

“We have been working closely with our Jordanian partners on a variety of
issues related to Syria for some time now,” Pentagon Press Secretary George
Little said. Citing Washington’s concern over Syria’s stockpiles of chemical
and biological weapons, he said that the US has been planning “various
contingencies, both unilaterally and with our regional partners.”

The US has long maintained concerns about the Assad government’s  arsenal of
chemical and biological weapons. In August, US President Obama said the movement
or utilization of chemical weapons would constitute a “red line” which would
change Washington’s “calculus” towards Damascus. In July Syria warned it
would use chemical and biological weapons to repel "external aggression."

...

Jordanian riot police deployed tear gas to disperse Syrian refugees at a camp in
the north of Jordan earlier this month after they set their tents on fire and
destroyed property to protest their living conditions.

US and Jordanian officials had previously discussed the possibility of setting
up a humanitarian buffer zone on the Syrian side of the border, the New York
Times reported Wednesday, but have made no moves to implement the plan.

...
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http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2012/10/10/spain-us-sign-accord-to-dep\
loy-anti-missile-shield/



EFE
October 10, 2012


Spain, U.S. sign accord to deploy anti-missile shield


====

Besides Spain, countries such as Poland, Romania, The Netherlands and Turkey
will host installations and components of the NATO anti-missile system.

The adjustments will facilitate the arrival at the Mediterranean base of Rota
starting in 2013 of some 1,200 U.S. military personnel and about 1,400 of their
family members.

====



Spain and the United States on Wednesday at NATO headquarters here signed an
agreement that will allow the deployment of an anti-missile shield at Spain's
Rota naval base.

"This accord is important for NATO and very important for Spain," said Spanish
Defense Minister Pedro Morenes, who signed the pact with his U.S. counterpart
Leon Panetta at the close of the NATO ministerial meeting devoted, among other
things, to Afghanistan.

Morenes said, at a press conference, that the signing of the agreement gives
Spain "important international credibility," and he emphasized that the country
is thus contributing to NATO security.

"Here an important procedure is established against complex situations of
massive arms proliferation...in different political-geographic environments,"
the minister said.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon chief expressed his gratitude to Spain and to Morenes
for their willingness to host the AEGIS-equipped U.S. Navy vessels at Rota.

The Spanish Cabinet authorized the signing of the pact last week, a year after
Spain announced it would take part in the project.

It was then-Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero who offered Spain's
participation during a meeting in Brussels in October 2011.

The deployment of the missile-defense system requiring modification to Spain's
existing defense agreement with the United States.

The adjustments will facilitate the arrival at the Mediterranean base of Rota
starting in 2013 of some 1,200 U.S. military personnel and about 1,400 of their
family members.

The United States will handle all the expenses of the construction work needed
to adapt the Rota base to the new situation, Spanish Deputy Prime Minister
Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said last Friday.

In that regard, Morenes said that the United States will invest 2 million euros
($2.58 million) to outfit the Rota docks to attend to the needs of the navy
vessels.

The accord, the minister added, "has benefits for Spain besides those of
security," a reference to the economic activity that the presence of the U.S.
Navy vessels and personnel will bring.

Besides Spain, countries such as Poland, Romania, The Netherlands and Turkey
will host installations and components of the NATO anti-missile system.
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http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=118164


U.S. Department of Defense
October 10, 2012


Panetta: DOD Works with Jordan, Turkey on Syria Repercussions
By Cheryl Pellerin
Edited by RR


====

“We’ve...been working with [Jordan] to try to develop their own military and
operational capabilities in the event of any contingency there,” Panetta
added.

For that reason, he said, “we have a group of our forces there, working to
help them build a headquarters and to ensure that we make the relationship
between the United States and Jordan a strong one so we can deal with all of the
possible consequences” of the war in Syria.

====


WASHINGTON: The Defense Department is working with Jordan and Turkey to help
with collateral humanitarian and security issues affecting them because of the
brutal war that continues in Syria, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said here
today.

During a news conference held at the close of a NATO defense ministers meeting,
Panetta described U.S. efforts in the Syrian border countries of Jordan and
Turkey...

“We have been working with Jordan for a period of time now on a number of the
issues that have developed as a result of what’s happening in Syria,”
Panetta said.

...

Pentagon officials...have been working with Jordan in the effort to monitor
Syrian chemical and biological weapon sites and to try to determine how best to
respond to any concerns in that area, he said.

“We’ve also been working with [Jordan] to try to develop their own military
and operational capabilities in the event of any contingency there,” Panetta
added.

For that reason, he said, “we have a group of our forces there, working to
help them build a headquarters and to ensure that we make the relationship
between the United States and Jordan a strong one so we can deal with all of the
possible consequences” of the war in Syria.

The U.S. presence in Jordan consists of about 150 mostly Army special operations
forces, some of whom have been in Jordan for several months, a senior defense
official said.

The United States also has reached out to Turkey on humanitarian and chemical
and biological weapons issues, the secretary said.

“They’re obviously concerned about the CBW sites as well,” Panetta said,
“so we’ve worked with them to do what we can to monitor that situation.”

On the U.S. approach to the situation in Syria, Panetta said the nation, in
addition to working with allies to apply as much diplomatic pressure as
possible, operates in three important areas.

...

The third area involves assisting the opposition, the secretary added, including
providing nonlethal support.

“I know there are countries in the region that are providing lethal
support,” he said, “but our effort is aimed at trying to work with the
opposition in every way possible to...try to develop their capabilities as
well.”
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http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=367140


Interfax
October 10, 2012



Iraq and Russia are opposed to foreign interference in Syria - Premier al-Maliki


NOVO-OGARYOVO, Moscow region: Russia and Iraq have agreed to make efforts to
prevent instigation of outside interference in developments in the Middle East
and in Syria, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has said.

"We have agreed to avoid such scenarios as far as the settlement of the Syrian
crisis without any foreign interference is concerned and to support the mission
of the new UN/LAS envoy," he said after talks with President Vladimir Putin.

He stressed that Russia and Iraq reached an understanding "that should amount to
seeking and finding a peaceful settlement to the Syrian domestic crisis that
would fully satisfy the entire Syrian nation."

Additionally, an understanding was reached at the talks regarding the need to
make efforts for the democratic and free development of peoples in the Middle
East using peaceful means and "doing the utmost to avert instigation, avoid
foreign interference in the affairs of the region and prevent various scenarios
of military solutions."

Speaking of his visit to Russia, the Iraqi prime minister said that all the
talks "fully reflected the willingness and readiness of both sides to move
forward in building up the entire complex of bilateral interaction."

He said progress was achieved in such sectors as oil and gas, investment
cooperation, transport and political processes.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.ninanews.com/english/News_Details.asp?ar95_VQ=GDMELK


National Iraqi News Agency
October 10, 2012


Maliki from Moscow: Iraq will not become part of the fire near its borders with
Syria


Baghdad: Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, said that Iraq will not become part of
the fire near its borders with Syria.

In a speech on Monday, Oct. 8, in a round table conference organized by Foreign
Affairs Magazine attended by Russian Foreign Undersecretary Michael Bogdanov,
Maliki said that Iraq, after having experienced past sectarian commotion that
some countries tried to export to Iraq, began taking balanced steps in
establishing relations with all countries.

He added, "after the blows extremist organizations received, unfortunately they
have revived in some countries."

Maliki went on saying, "We reject the principle of interference in others'
affairs and reject attempts by some countries to stretch into other countries.
Iraq will not become part of the flaring fire near our borders in Syria."

Maliki arrived in Moscow before noon Monday, Oct. 8, in an official visit to
Russia on the invitation of Russia's president, Vladimir Putin.

In statement to the press before leaving Iraq, Maliki said that he will conclude
agreements and memos of understanding with the Russian side dealing with
armaments and energy, clarifying that armament agreements will be for combating
terrorism.

Maliki pointed out that Iraq meets with Russia on the necessity to find a
peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis.

In his visit, that will take him to the Czech Republic too, Maliki is
accompanied by a delegation consisting of the ministers of Oil, Trade,
Electricity and Defence, in addition to a number of officials.
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http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/indepth/2012-10/11/c_131900710.htm


Xinhua News Agency
October 11, 2012


Interview: Japanese militarism on rise, says Russian veteran

��� � � � � � � ���
Moscow: Japan's recent illegal moves to "purchase" China's Diaoyu Islands show
militarism is on the rise in that country, according to a Russian war veteran.

Vasili Ivanov, deputy head of the Russia-China Friendship Society's Central
Office, told Xinhua that Japan's refusal to recognize China's sovereignty over
the Diaoyu Islands, which was stipulated in post-war documents, showed a
"resurrection of the samurai."

The 91-year-old, who fought Japanese troops in northeast China during World War
II, said some Japanese, especially right-wingers, did not recognize the
country's unconditional and voluntary surrender in the war.

"Japan's refusal to recognize the war results means they will demand the return
of all they had before the war - lands, islands they illegally occupied and
lost," Ivanov said.

"All their escapades, including the recent one against China, are meant to
confirm their right to these lands," he said.

"We, along with other participants in the war against Japan, are categorically
against the return of Japanese militarism," the veteran said.

Ivanov said the Diaoyu Islands had never belonged to Japan and China was
recognized as the rightful owner by binding post-war legal documents, such as
the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation.

The two documents stipulated Japan should return all the territories taken from
China, including Taiwan and its surrounding islands, he said.

However, under agreements with the United States, Japan illegally occupied the
Diaoyu Islands and now even tried to claim them.

Japan might go further with its territorial ambitions, keeping its relations
with China, Russia, South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on
edge, the veteran warned.

He urged closer cooperation among those countries in opposing Tokyo's rising
militaristic ambitions.

"Leaders (of those countries) ought to give a due rebuff to Japanese ultra-right
forces. They should tell the ultra-right wingers this is it - all is settled and
recognized by the whole world. No changes can be made now," Ivanov said.

The Japanese right wingers should know their farces would come to naught, the
veteran said.
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http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2012-10/11/content_15808953.htm



China Daily
October 11, 2012



US, ROK play risky missile game



====

[The U.S.] wants the ROK to take on more of its defense responsibilities.
Washington hopes Seoul would gradually increase its weaponry...help strengthen
the US' anti-missile system in Asia to fulfill America's strategic goal of
containing China and Russia.

[B]allistic missiles with a range of 800 km, which will cover the entire DPRK,
Northeast China, Russia's Far East, and parts of Honshu, Japan's largest
island...will make neighboring countries feel more insecure, which are bound to
take corresponding measures to improve their security and defense capabilities.
This would upset the military and strategic balance in Northeast Asia, and
exacerbate geopolitical instability, shifting the balance of power in the US'
favor and thus undermining peace and stability in the region.

====



In contrast to the intensifying islands disputes between Japan, on the one hand,
and China, the Republic of Korea and Russia, on the other, the situation on the
Korean Peninsula has been unusually calm and stable for a few months. But this
relative calm and stability on the Peninsula could be broken by US and the ROK
unilateral actions.

On Sunday, ROK National Security Adviser Chun Yung-Woo said the country has
negotiated a revised pact with the United States that allows Seoul to extend the
range of its ballistic missiles from 300 to 800 kilometers. The US and the ROK
also agreed to maintain the maximum payload for a ROK-developed ballistic
missile at the current level of 500 kilograms. But a reduction in the missile's
range is inversely proportional to an increase in its payload.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea responded on Tuesday, saying that its
rockets can hit the US mainland. The DPRK National Defense Commission said the
country was prepared to counter any US military threat, according to the KCNA
news agency.

Although the ROK's Hyunmu-3 cruise missile with a range of 1,500 km can strike
missile bases or other strategic facilities in the DPRK, compared with ballistic
missiles cruise missiles are slow, less destructive and can be intercepted more
easily. Perhaps that's why the ROK is desperate to extend its ballistic
missiles' range. The agreement, which more than doubles the existing range of
the ROK's missiles, shows a major shift in Seoul's efforts to strengthen its
weaponry and gradually free itself of US dependence.

Given its prolonged economic downturn and cuts in defense spending, the US also
wants the ROK to take on more of its defense responsibilities. Washington hopes
Seoul would gradually increase its weaponry against perceived threats from
Pyongyang and help strengthen the US' anti-missile system in Asia to fulfill
America's strategic goal of containing China and Russia.

The agreement that allows the ROK to develop longer-range ballistic missiles is
a dangerous move, which will have a series of negative effects on the security
situation in Northeast Asia, especially on the Korean Peninsula.

First, ballistic missiles with a range of 800 km, which will cover the entire
DPRK, Northeast China, Russia's Far East, and parts of Honshu, Japan's largest
island, can improve the ROK's security and alleviate the military pressure on
the US. But it will make neighboring countries feel more insecure, which are
bound to take corresponding measures to improve their security and defense
capabilities. This would upset the military and strategic balance in Northeast
Asia, and exacerbate geopolitical instability, shifting the balance of power in
the US' favor and thus undermining peace and stability in the region.

Second, the DPRK is indeed making great efforts to develop the economy and
improve its people's living standards, but the possession of longer-range
missiles by the ROK could prompt it to step up the development of its own
long-range ballistic missiles or conduct more nuclear tests to strengthen its
security.

In view of the dispute over the Dokdo Islands (Takeshima Islands in Japanese)
between the ROK and Japan, the development of longer-range ballistic missiles by
Seoul will prompt Tokyo to ask Washington to ease restrictions and allow it to
improve its own ballistic missile technology to strengthen its offensive and
defensive capabilities. This would pose a serious threat to the security of
neighboring countries. Given the belligerence of Japan's right-wing forces, this
would cause great concern and anxiety among countries - including the US - that
once suffered the horrors of Japanese aggression.

Finally, the US' agreement to extend the ROK's ballistic missile range would
trigger a new round of an arms race in Northeast Asia. Countries in the region
will spend more funds to develop sophisticated long-range ballistic missiles,
and thus create greater economic and psychological pressure on each other. The
using of a DPRK military threat to blindly support some of its neighboring
countries is a cunning way for the US to get involved in the Korean Peninsula
issue, strengthen its military presence and play a leading role in the
Asia-Pacific region. Though the US hopes the DPRK would give up its nuclear
program completely, it is also worried that if the Peninsula issue is resolved
once and for all, it will have no excuse to deploy its troops in the ROK and
Japan. Therefore, the US wants to keep the Peninsula issue under control without
resolving it completely.

For now, the US military's focus in the Asia-Pacific is on the ROK, and the
situation on the Peninsula is developing in favor of Seoul, Washington and
Tokyo. This will seriously weaken Pyongyang's position in negotiations and halt
the denuclearization process on the Korean Peninsula.

China has been working relentlessly to help denuclearize the Korean Peninsula
and succeeded, to a large extent, in reasoning with the DPRK, for which it has
been praised by the international community. But if the US and the ROK continue
to play their military deterrence game, the DPRK might be forced to take
military action to counter it.

To maintain peace and stability on the Peninsula, the US and the ROK should
focus on the overall situation, annul the agreement to extend the range of
ballistic missiles, enhance communication with the DPRK, avoid provoking the
DPRK on sensitive issues and offer it humanitarian assistance. Only in this way
can long-term peace and stability reign remain on the Korean Peninsula.

The author is an associate research scholar at the Center for Northeast Asian
Studies, a research institution in Jilin province.
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http://rt.com/news/nobel-peace-prize-controversy-213/


Voice of Russia
October 11, 2012



A tale of ignoble peace laureates


One man introduced indefinite detention and expanded the deadly global drone
war. Another was the architect of the deliberate mass killing of civilian
populations in Indochina. What do they have in common? Both are Nobel Peace
laureates.

­Gandhi never got one. Al Gore did. In one of the stranger ironies befitting of
both Kafka and Orwell, sometimes the makers of permanent war are awarded for
bringing temporary peace. Sometimes they don’t even get that far.

With the winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize set to be announced in Oslo, Norway on
Friday, the shadow of Barack Obama still looms large. In 2009, the committee
awarded the current US president "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen
international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." Nominations for the
award are due by February 1, meaning Obama had served as America's executive for
less than two weeks when the Norwegian Nobel Committee selected him. Perhaps it
was wishful thinking.

Since then, Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act into law, making
it legal to indefinitely detain US citizens. There are also the deadly drone
wars in Yemen and Pakistan, the war waged in Libya, the Afghan surge and a
secret "kill list” which literally grants a select few US officials the option
to mark national security threats for death. Ironic, yes, but they never could
have known.

Even attempts for the committee to play it more conservatively have backfired.
Last year, the committee decided to recognize three women for their role in a
non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full
participation in peace-building work. The three women included a Yemeni
activist, Liberian President Johnson Sirleaf and her fellow citizen and civil
society activist Leymah Gbowee.

On Wednesday, Gbowee publically lambasted Sirleaf for failing to fight
corruption and nepotism in Liberia.

Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission even put Sirleaf on a list of 52
people who should be sanctioned for committing war crimes for supporting former
Liberian warlord and President Charles Taylor in the late 1980s.

Taylor, who infamously campaigned on the slogan "He killed my ma, he killed my
pa, but I will vote for him” during the 1997 general election that followed a
war that killed over 200,000 people, fortunately did not win a Nobel Prize.

The post-Obama rehabilitation of the prize might not have gone as smoothly as
hoped, but the prize’s history is replete with examples of questionable
choices, to say the least.

Chief among them was the 1973 prize awarded to North Vietnamese leader Le Duc
Tho and Henry Kissinger. Tho rejected the prize, telling Kissinger that peace
had not been restored in South Vietnam. Kissinger for his part accepted the
prize “with humility.”

Before, during and after his acceptance of the prize, Kissinger would be
implicated in assassination, war crimes and the slaughter of civilians in a
large swath of countries: East Timor, Pakistan, Greece, Cyprus, Chile,
Argentina, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

This year’s winner(s) will be drawn from 231 different nominations, 188 of
whom are individuals, while the rest are organizations.

Among them are Russia’s own radio station Ekho Moskvy, which Putin accused of
a very literal smear campaign, and the Memorial Human Rights center.

Also on the list is Myanmar's President Thein Sein, who might be recognized for
his role in moderating Myanmar’s notoriously repressive military regime. But
even Sein has been implicated in confiscating land from paddy farmers which was
later sold to an officer from the effectively paramilitary United Wa State Arm,
who then used the land for the production of amphetamines.

Even if Sein were to win, it might cause a scandal. But it certainly wouldn’t
be the biggest shock in the prize's hundred-plus years.
====================================================================
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http://www.pajhwok.com/en/2012/10/11/russia-backs-regional-role-resolving-afghan\
-crisis


Pajhwok Afghan News
October 11, 2012


Russia backs regional role in resolving Afghan crisis
By Ahmad Quraishion


====

[Kabulov renewed] Moscow’s aversion to foreign military presence in
Afghanistan. “Russia doesn’t want foreign military bases there, even if the
Afghan people support them.”

...

“We want to improve political, economic, social and cultural cooperation among
Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, India, China and Central Asian countries through
regional interactions,” he maintained.





=====



MOSCOW: Moscow is trying to promote regional cooperation to resolve the Afghan
crisis and boost its relations with Islamabad, a Russian official said on
Thursday.

Speaking to Afghan journalists in Moscow, Russia’s special representative for
Afghanistan and Pakistan pointed to 40 years of Cold War differences with
Islamabad.

But the former superpower is now seeking to expand its ties to Pakistan, Zamir
Nabiyevich Kabulov said, arguing that frigid relations had not been in the
interest of Afghanistan.

Russia desired to strengthen cooperation with Pakistani through direct
negotiations, involving no other country, the diplomat explained.

The current crisis in Afghanistan was a regional issue that negatively affected
other countries of the region, Kabulov said. “That’s why we went to resolve
it at a regional level without the involvement of other states.

“Countries outside the region can only support our initiative that will
finally lead to good relations and the resolution of disputes among different
states,” the envoy continued.

He went on to renew Moscow’s aversion to foreign military presence in
Afghanistan. “Russia doesn’t want foreign military bases there, even if the
Afghan people support them.”

Despite their consent for foreign bases, the Afghans should not threaten the
security of their neighbours, the official said.

“We want to improve political, economic, social and cultural cooperation among
Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, India, China and Central Asian countries through
regional interactions,” he maintained.

Over the past 10 years, Afghanistan has been unable to stabilise its economy,
with its army and police not strong enough to ensure the country’s security on
their own, Kabulov believed.

Continued assistance, big infrastructure projects, such as road networks and
power supply schemes, could save the International Security Assistance Force
mission in Afghanistan from ending on an unsuccessful note, he suggested.

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http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=180557


Azeri Press Agency
October 12, 2012


Second jet crisis arises between Russia and Turkey


====

“Forcing the Syrian plane to land in Ankara implicitly shows that Turkey and
Syria are at war. Turkey can escape unharmed only if Ankara proves that the
cargo on board is non-civilian and that the Syrian passenger plane carried
military communications equipment from Russia. Otherwise, Russian authorities
will harshly criticize Turkey’s operation carried out on the Syrian plane late
Wednesday.”

Leonid Ivashov, head of the Russian Academy of Geopolitical Issues, however,
sharply blamed Ankara, saying that Turkey is behaving extremely aggressively
against Syria in the region and that Russia has the right to retaliate against
Turkish aircraft. According to Ivashov, Putin’s delayed visit to Ankara is
also due to Turkey’s aggressive policies towards Syria.

====


Baku: Turkish-Russian relations, which have been developing over the last ten
years, have entered a tense period because of the Arab Spring, especially due to
the escalating Syrian crisis, APA reports quoting Today’s Zaman.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has delayed a trip to Turkey. Although the
reason given was Putin’s busy schedule, it is clear that it is because of the
Syrian crisis. Diplomatic sources close to the Kremlin said Moscow is waiting
for Nov. 6, the date of the presidential election in the US. In June, Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan paid a visit to Moscow where he made an offer
concerning a solution to the Syrian crisis, and Putin is reported to have
subsequently considered the initiative. However, due to the uncertainty over who
will be elected as president in Washington, taking concrete steps on the Syrian
crisis during discussions with Turkey is impossible, which led the postponement
of the official visit.

During all these developments, a Syrian aircraft that had departed Moscow was
forced to land at the airport in Ankara on Wednesday, increasing tension in the
region. During the first jet crisis in which a Turkish jet was downed in late
June in international waters by Syrian forces with the alleged cooperation of a
Russian naval base, Moscow kept its silence; but the second jet crisis on
Wednesday caused Moscow to react with a harsh statement.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement
that Turkey was jeopardizing the security of 17 Russian citizens on board, that
communication between the Russian embassy in Ankara and the Russian passengers
was disrupted for eight hours and that the passengers were not given any food.
Russia has demanded that Turkey give an immediate explanation and stated that it
should prevent similar incidents in the future.

According to Moscow, there are no circumstances that require the transportation
of military equipment in a civilian jet. Moscow would never use civilian
passenger planes to export arms and weapons to Syria; if necessary, legal access
by sea is already open, says a senior official of a Russian arms export company.

Talking to Today’s Zaman, Gumer Isayev, the head of the St. Petersburg Middle
East Research Center, said there were no weapons on board, as Russian
authorities pointed out, adding that determining if the communication equipment
onboard was military or not is controversial. Isayev said that assessing these
kinds of materials as military communications equipment is incorrect. “Forcing
the Syrian plane to land in Ankara implicitly shows that Turkey and Syria are at
war. Turkey can escape unharmed only if Ankara proves that the cargo on board is
non-civilian and that the Syrian passenger plane carried military communications
equipment from Russia. Otherwise, Russian authorities will harshly criticize
Turkey’s operation carried out on the Syrian plane late Wednesday,” Isayev
said, underlining that the interception of the Syrian aircraft by Turkish jets
is within the interest of certain groups who are concerned by the fast-growing
Russian-Turkish
  relations.

Andrey Yashlavski, foreign news editor at the Moskovskiy Komsomolets daily, said
the recent jet crisis might seriously affect bilateral relations between Russia
and Turkey, as there were also Russian passengers onboard the Syrian passenger
aircraft, and it departed from Moscow. A number of experts have evaluated the
recent jet crisis as an anti-Russia act, and Yashlavski stressed that Turkey has
the right to provide its own security.

Leonid Ivashov, head of the Russian Academy of Geopolitical Issues, however,
sharply blamed Ankara, saying that Turkey is behaving extremely aggressively
against Syria in the region and that Russia has the right to retaliate against
Turkish aircraft. According to Ivashov, Putin’s delayed visit to Ankara is
also due to Turkey’s aggressive policies towards Syria.
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http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2012/10/nato-turns-radars-toward-syria-\
as-turkey-fears-attacks.html


Al-Monitor
October 12, 2012



NATO Turns Radar Toward Syria As Turkey Fears Attacks (sic)
By Okan Muderrisoglu
Translated by Timur Goksel
Edited by RR


...Ankara has developed a multifaceted new strategy. After convening the NATO
Council on Sept. 3 in a sign of alliance solidarity, and after obtaining
parliamentary authorization on Sept. 4 to consolidate its political and military
deterrence, Ankara has now taken another critical step.

NATO was asked to activate its technical capacity to boost Turkey’s defenses
by orienting its radar at Kurecik to Syria.

Military risk analysis

Turkey’s military command is updating military plans in view of the tension
with Syria and is engaged in comprehensive risk analysis. The Syrian air force
and air-defense systems are assessed as relatively strong points, and studies
were made of the threats they may pose to Turkey.

Missile systems and chemical-warfare stocks in Syria were seen as elements of a
major threat. This is when the decision was made to make use of NATO facilities.

Kurecik on line

Upon Turkey’s request, NATO reviewed its mechanisms and made two important
declarations.

First, it described the Akcakale shelling as an attack against NATO’s
southeast borders, instead of the Syria-Turkey border. Then, NATO emphasized the
indivisibility of security among NATO allies and put it on record that it will
not tolerate military aggression against Turkey.

Finally, a strategic dimension was added to diplomatic moves by turning the
Malatya-Kurecik radar of the NATO missile shield toward Syria.

Anti-missile measures

With the integrated radar system at Kurecik, the missiles that make up Syria’s
air-defense and offensive capacities are now under NATO surveillance....Turkish
F-16s kept on standby will be tasked...

[I]ntelligence obtained from NATO AWACS early-warning aircraft may be utilized
and Patriot missile interception systems can be deployed.

Missile shield project

The missile shield project Turkey joined in 2011 was initially set up with
American technical and military input. The base at Kurecik was later put under
Turkish military control.

At the beginning of the year, American experts were sent to the radar base. In
defense of the system criticized by Russia and Iran, NATO said that all data to
be obtained by the radar will be used in defense of all allies...

Command in Germany

The Kurecik missile shield system, which can detect aerial vehicle and
missile-launcher movements in real time, is commanded from the NATO air base at
Ramstein, Germany.

The system is controlled from the NATO air base at Geilenkirchen, Germany, which
also monitors all aerial moves. A Turkish general and his team are working in
the command center in Germany. This general is recognized as a fully authorized
representative of Turkey.
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http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=367782


Interfax
October 12, 2012


Cargo aboard Syrian plane detained in Turkey legal, sender demands its return -
Lavrov


NOVO-OGARYOVO: The Russian sender of the cargo transported by a Syrian plane,
which has been detained in Turkey, will demand the cargo be returned as shipping
documents and cargo characteristics are not violating any laws, Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov said after the president had met with Russian Security Council
members on Friday.

The minister stressed that Russia was expecting a Turkish reply to its question
why Russian diplomats were denied access to Russian citizens who stayed aboard
the plane at the moment of its detention.

"Concerning speculations on the Syrian jet incident, I would like to say we have
no secrets," the minister said.

"We have verified the case: the transportation of any armaments by that plane
was out of the question," he said.

"The plane was transporting cargo sent by a legal Russian supplier to a legal
client in a legal way," the minister said.

"It was electro-technical equipment for a radar station; the equipment had dual
use but it was not banned by any international conventions," he said.

"Shipping documents fully complied with the requirements," Lavrov said.

"The transportation of such cargo by civilian aircraft is a customary practice,
which is confirmed by the fact that before the Syrian plane entered the Turkish
airspace, the Turkish authorities had offered it either to change the route or
to land in Ankara," Lavrov said.

"The pilot preferred to land; he knew he had nothing illegal on board," he said.

"As far as we know, the sender will demand the return of the cargo - its
property," Lavrov said.

"We are expecting an official answer from Turkey on why Russian diplomats were
not allowed to meet with the Russian citizens aboard that plane," he said.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/544115.html


Itar-Tass
October 12, 2012


Syria plane intercepted by Turkey did not carry illegal cargo


The Syrian plane that was forced to land by the Turkish authorities was not
carrying prohibited cargoes, the Syrian Foreign Ministry stated.

“The cargo contents are specified in the documents, the plane was not carrying
any weapons or anything else illegal. This corresponds to the Syrian Air
airline's reputation that is internationally recognised,” the Syrian Foreign
Ministry said in statement quoted by the SANA news agency on Thursday. “The
Syrian government calls upon Turkish authorities to return the rest of the
plane's contents intact.”

According to the document, “There might be articles in the international laws
and agreements that allow a state to search planes passing through its airspace,
but the problem is the Turkish government's flagrant violation of these laws and
agreements through forcing the plane to land despite the fact that the pilot did
not refuse to modify the flight course which exposed the safety of the plane and
the passengers to threats because of the sudden appearance of the Turkish
warplanes without warning, not to mention the inhuman locking the civilian
passengers for many hours and assaulting the crew.”

Turkey’s actions the Syrian Foreign Ministry emphasised “endangered the
airliner and its passengers.”

The Syrian Foreign Ministry stated that “the hostile Turkish behaviour is
additional evidence of the aggressive policy adopted by Erdogan’s government,
taking into account the training and harbouring of gunmen and facilitating their
infiltration through its borders and bombing Syrian territories.” The Ministry
concluded that “despite the condemned hostile behaviour of the Turkish
government, this will not affect our commitment to friendship relations between
the Syrian and Turkish peoples which are greater and much more important than
any government.”

The Airbus A-320 airliner of Syrian Air at 15:26 MSK Wednesday took off from
Moscow’s Vnukovo airport. After it entered the Turkish airspace the F-16
fighters of the Turkish Air Force intercepted the airliner and forced it to land
at the Turkish capital’s airport. The Airbus had 37 people, including
crewmembers and 17 Russians with children, on board. After a nine-hour detention
the plane continued its flight to Damascus. The Russian Foreign Ministry said in
connection with the incident that “Turkey’s actions have put at risk the
lives of Russians that were on board the plane” of Syrian Airlines, and Moscow
demanded explanations. Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said that “the
Turkish authorities without explaining the reason and in violation of the
bilateral Consular Convention did not allow the diplomats to meet with the
Russian citizens.”

According to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, there was a cargo of
military equipment and ammunition on board the Syrian aircraft.
====================================================================
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