Kazakhstan deepens relations with Europe

By Robert M Cutler

Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbaev has just completed a two-day official visit to Belgium, the present chairman-in-office of the European Union Council. Kazakhstan it itself president-in-office of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and has convinced OSCE leaders to permit it to host, in Astana at the beginning of December, the first top-level OSCE summit in 11 years.

Nazarbaev’s visit to EU headquarters in Brussels early in the week also allowed for bilateral Kazakhstani-Belgian meetings on state-to-state relations, and it was followed by a visit to France for developing bilateral relations with France. Brussels is also where one finds the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), and Nazarbaev did not miss the opportunity for high-level meetings there either, where the organisation's secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, accepted an invitation to attend the OSCE summit in Astana.

Nazarbaev's visit to Europe had another important dimension. The International Monetary Fund expects Kazakhstan's economy, which grew only 1.2% in 2009, to expand by 5.4% in the current year and by 5.1% in 2011. Accordingly, one of the president's chief goals in visiting Brussels was to seek foreign direct investment, particularly in accord with the so-called "Path to Europe" government program in Kazakhstan that seeks to institutionalise legal and economic reforms that would dovetail with EU standards.

Kazakhstan signed a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) with the EU in 1995 that entered into force in 1999 for an initial period of 10 years, so that it is therefore now up for renewal and revamping. Both sides look forward to enhancing this arrangement. As Nazarbaev told New Europe, changes over the past decade have necessitated "work on a new basic agreement [that] is now ongoing" so that "in the 21st century we will strengthen our strategic interaction on addressing modern problems."

On the EU side, these negotiations will be guided by the organisation's "New Partnership" concept-strategy for Central Asia, adopted in June 2007, which seeks to strengthen bilateral and regional relations in all areas of cooperation. This strategy posited that future European assistance to the region at large would focus on reform in the political, economic, and judicial spheres, social reform, infrastructure building, and energy cooperation.

Indeed, as early as in November 2006 the EU and Kazakhstan signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the energy sphere. This was followed in 2009 by an MoU on cooperation over transport issues. In April this year, Kazakhstan signed a cooperation agreement with the European Investment Bank that was followed up during the current trip by a declaration of intent on a series of energy-related projects. (Two-thirds of EU investment in Kazakhstan already goes to the energy sector.) It is expected that a new "PCA Implementation Plan" will be submitted for approval to the Joint Cooperation Committee in Brussels in December.

Trade between the two sides reached 20 billion euros (US$27.6 billion) in 2009, and has reached nearly three-quarters that amount in just the first half of 2010. The EU's trade volume with Kazakhstan exceeds that with all other Central Asian countries put together.

That being so, in light of Kazakhstan's growing energy and commercial with China and traditional long-standing ties with Russia, former EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson told the Wall Street Journal that a failure by the EU to engage Kazakhstan, "a resource-rich country with an economic base that's ripe for modernisation and diversification", would mean "missing a very big opportunity to do a lot of business, to deepen trade and investment links".

European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso stated after the conclusion of the two-day meetings that the EU would support Kazakhstan's application for membership of the World Trade Organisation.

Numerous bilateral contracts were signed in Brussels, including one between the leading nuclear research centres of the two countries to cooperate on the study of peaceful applications of nuclear energy and its sustainable development.

Still larger trade agreements were reached with France during Nazarbaev's visit there, in an amount exceeding 2 billion euros. The highest-profile of these includes the sale of locomotives and helicopters by the French industrial group Alstom to Kazakhstan's national railroads. Also Atrium, a subsidiary of the European space and defence group EADS, will participate in the construction of an aerospace center in Kazakhstan for the assembly, integration, and testing of space satellites. The French nuclear group Areva and the Kazakhstani state firm Kazatomprom signed an industrial cooperation agreement as well.

Specific energy cooperation agreements were also reached or discussed during Nazarbaev's sojourn in Paris, even though nothing was specifically announced in this respect. The French energy major Total participates with a 16.8% share in the consortium exploring and developing of the offshore Kashagan deposit.

A year ago, a French consortium composed of Spie, Manesmann-France, Europipe, GTS, and Arcelor-Mittal signed an agreement to negotiate terms of construction of the Eskene-Atyrau pipeline that is planned as part of the Kazakhstan-Caspian Transport System to take Kashagan oil overland inside Kazakhstan to a place from where it can be either shipped or moved by pipeline across to Baku for insertion in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil export pipeline to world markets.

Whether any further agreements are announced will be of no little moment. Progress on the Eskene-Atyrau project in particular may need further attention. At a minimum, the two presidents, who attended the original signing ceremony together a year ago, would have reviewed developments and sought to provide an additional impetus to negotiations. Kazakhstan will need, indeed already needs, additional export routes for its oil production, the current level of which does not match its actual capability due to the shortage of such routes.

Pakistani Flag a Symbol of Freedom In India

U.S.-China Currency War?

A Colonel, corporate planner, and established author, Jeff Barnett is running for Congress in Virginia's 10th Congressional District.  Mr. Barnett retired from the military 11 years ago and worked for Toffler Associates until last November.  Beginning on September 3, Jeff Barnett launched an 80-mile walk across the 10th District, which began near the West Virginia border and ended in McLean.  Barnett used the walk to attract media attention and to make the point and pledge that if elected, he'll make the same walk every two years.  Will Jeff Barnett unseat Frank Wolf, who has been in Congress since 1981?

Guest:  Jeff Barnett, Democratic Candidate for Virginia's 10th District

Segment 2:  U.S.-China Currency War?

Burgeoning tensions between the United States and China threaten a trade and currency cold war.  The U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says China's refusal to rapidly increase the value of its currency is hurting America's economic recovery.  China has rejected the claims, saying Washington is wrong to blame China for its economic woes.  The rhetoric is intensifying as U.S. midterm elections approach with the Congress considering tough new trade laws aimed directly at China.

Arundhati or BJP: Who is the real separatist?

By Emmenay

After proving their fanaticism against Muslims and Christians the Bharatiya Janata Party is now flaming hatred against the Hindus of India too. The venom of religious vitriol let loose by the Hindu extremists united under BJP's banner, against well known English author, Arundhati Roy, just because she spoke for the rights of the Muslim living in Occupied Kashmir is worldwide news yesterday (Wednesday).
The unjustified criticism against Arundhati, by the BJP and its cohort of mythical militants, was published in a well known Indian newspaper on Wednesday: Some of the comments made by the extremist party's elements, especially the ignominious M Venkiah Naidu expose exactly what every religious opportunist does, when an opportunity to muffle up and throttle the voice of just and fair speech is fanned up. For instance Naidu lashes out at Arundhati as if she had done him a personal wrong or insulted him in some unparliamentary manner — which she did not. Arundhati only spoke of allowing the Kashmiri Muslims the fundamental right and that is: to speak out freely and make themselves heard against the Indian government's policies in the held region.
To prove this point it would not be unwise to give Naidu's remarks a cursory reading: — "The UPA government take the strongest possible action against writer activist Arundhati Roy for her "seditious" remarks on Kashmir and asked the Centre to spell out its policy vis-a-vis Kashmir and the separatists."

"When there is an elected government in Kashmir as the result of free and fair elections, how can someone say the state is not an integral part of India? Its nothing but sedition,": senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu. The country's unity and integrity cannot be allowed to be challenged in the name of freedom of expression and asserted that the crisis-hit state was an integral part of India. Parliament had adopted a unanimous resolution that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India. Nobody is above the law, however big she or he may be. We demand the strongest possible action against Roy."
-- "Such incidents advocating separatism "should be nipped in the bud."
-- "The BJP demands a clear-cut policy from UPA vis-a-vis Kashmir and the separatists."
-- Any inaction on the part of the government will embolden further separatist elements."
And all these statements were made by the BJP politician just because it is the belief of his party partners and supporters that only BJP stands for the so-callled unity of India. And this belief is further augmented and strengthened by these men and women of the extremist party even more by castigating all those sane and intelligent, well-educated and enlightened Hindu liberals and moderates, who support not just the Kashmiri demand to have their future decided in accordance with their majority of wills, fairly and justly, peacefully and amicably; but the BJP lava of hatred engulfs those Indians even tighter, who happen to support the rights of the Indian Muslims and their fundamental rights an enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights after the end of the Second World War.
Now it is left up to the readers to sift who is the separatist of the two: Arundhati Roy or the BJP extremist leader? It does not need a very high I.Q. level to make out that Arundhati is the nationalist-minded Indian representative of all those millions worldwide, who believe and strive for ensuring the implementation, guaranteed protection and unequivocal suppporting of the basic and undeniable human rights as outlined very clearly in the United Nations Charter.
And it is also "elementary" my dear reader (With due thanks to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes) to observe that it is people like Naidu and other like-minded men and women of the BJP who stand out as the real separatists.

Central Asia - Battlefield of powers

 By Shiraz Paracha

Energy resources of Central Asia, the containment of Russian and Chinese influence in the region, and the monitoring of Iran are the main motives of the United States and the NATO presence in Afghanistan and in parts of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Moscow considers Central Asia as Russia's backyard and to China, Central Asian energy reserves are the closest and most easily accessible sources of energy that can keep the awesome growth of China's formidable economy.

Indeed in the early years of the 21st century, Central Asia, of which Afghanistan is a part, has become a battlefield for world's major powers. The region possesses huge amounts of natural resources and some Central Asian countries have strategic locations.

Russia, the United States, China and the European Union (EU) are the key players in Central Asia. Turkey, India, Iran and Israel are also active in the region. The eastward expansion of the US and NATO and the latter's presence in Afghanistan have forced Russia and China to forge an informal strategic alliance. The unstated aim of the alliance is to counter the US influence in the region. The creation of the Shanghai Corporation Organisation (SCO) in 2001 was one manifestation of that aim.

The United States and the EU are desperate to secure alternative energy resources; however, as the energy supplies are tightening, the race to secure new resources has resulted in different approaches adopted by the US and the EU towards former Soviet republics, especially Russia. Unlike Britain and the United States, European countries such as Germany, France and Italy have opted to do business with Russia despite the US criticism. Russia is the major supplier of natural gas to Europe and it also controls main energy supply lines to Europe. Moscow's relations with London and Washington, on the other hand, have been uneasy and complex, particularly under the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

The latest decision by Russian President Dmitri Medvedev to attend NATO's November summit in Lisbon is a sign of growing cooperation between Russia and the two European giants - Germany and France. President Medvedev made the announcement to attend the summit at the end of his talks with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the northern French seaside town of Deauville in mid-October. The Russian leader also said that he would consider joining the planned European missile defence shield that was proposed by former US president George W. Bush.

Russia had staunchly opposed the proposed defence shield. The reasons of Russia's change in mind regarding the defence shield are yet to be explained but by announcing such a gesture during meetings with his European counterparts, the Russian leader has successfully sent a message that now it is not the United States alone which leads or influences Europe. Germany and France are obliged to act independent of the United States due to their dependence on Russian hydrocarbons. Medvedev's surprise announcement in France can be interpreted as a response to the US efforts of undermining Sino-Russian relations. Russia is also wary of the US sponsored activities in Central Asia and the CIS.

In Central Asia, Kazakhstan is the most developed and rich state. Kazakhstan is larger than the whole Western Europe. Not only does the country own huge oil and gas reserves, but also possesses 15 percent of world's uranium that makes Kazakhstan the second largest producer of uranium. Besides, Kazakhstan has the second largest reserves of chromium, lead and zinc. It also has the third largest manganese reserves and the fifth largest copper reserves. Kazakhstan is a large producer of gold, iron and coal, too.

Turkmenistan, the other resource-rich Central Asian state, possesses vast reserves of natural gas and oil. Estimated gas reserves of Turkmenistan exceed 23 trillion cubic meters. Uzbekistan has substantial reserves of gold and gas, while Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have strategic importance.

The United States is keen to get foothold in the CIS by pursuing a multi-fold policy. One aim of the US policy appears to be finding and magnifying any rifts in the Russian-Chinese relationship. At the same time, the US is courting Central Asian states to undermine Russian influence in the region. Playing on Central Asian fear of China is another card used by the United States. Similarly, oil-rich Azerbaijan, which is culturally close to Iran, is important to the United States as it can be used as a launchpad against Iran.

The US is concerned about the growing cooperation between Russia and China. In the 1960s, China distanced itself from the Soviet Union due to border disputes and differences over ideology. During the 1970s and 80s, China feared the Soviet Union. It even supported the US proxy war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 1980s. However, in the last decade of the 20th century, when the Soviet Union collapsed and China emerged as a world economic power, a new chapter of Sino-Russian relations began.

China's relationship with Russia became deeper when Vladimir Putin took charge of Russia. Under his leadership, Russia recovered from the post Cold War trauma and started to emerge as a significant player in the global politics. Since the mid 1990s, China and Russia have resolved their border disputes and have signed several agreements. Until recently, China has been the largest buyer of Russian military hardware and weapons. Both countries are also cooperating in the energy sector and have signed a deal under which Russia will supply 300,000 barrels of oil per day to China from 2011 to 2030. China is also the main benefactor of the under-construction Russian Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean oil pipeline. Indeed China is investing heavily in extracting natural resources in Russia.

Besides, Russia and China have developed strong business and cultural links. The year 2006 was the Year of Russia in China and 2007 was marked as the Year of China in Russia. Both states organised exhibitions and cultural programmes. Trade talks and state visits were held as well.

The United States is China's biggest trade partner but the US considers China as a threat. A strong and rich Russia is deemed as a potential danger for the US interests; therefore, any strategic alliance between Russia and China is seen as an obstacle by Washington to the US global hegemony.

For the last 10 years, US experts such as former national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski and some US think tanks have been promoting theories that claim that the Chinese-Russian relationship is fraught and imbalanced. The focus of this propaganda is that Russia has become a junior partner in the Sino-Russian relationship and that China is using Russia to pursue a Chinese agenda. US commentators claim that Chinese and Russian interests diverge and therefore both countries cannot build a long-term alliance. American experts say that China is working against Russian interests in Central Asia and the Chinese are taking over control of Central Asian natural resources and businesses.

But the reality is different from what the claims. China and Russia, together, have engaged Central Asian states in constructive and positive partnerships. Kazakhstan has allowed construction of a 10,000 kilometre-long oil pipeline to pass through its territory. The pipeline, which has been completed this year, supplies oil from Turkmenistan to China via Kazakhstan.

The United States is also playing on Central Asian fears. Central Asian states are ethnically diverse and in the post Soviet era ethnic tensions exist in parts of Central Asia. Russia accuses the US and the West for fanning religious and ethnic tensions in former Soviet republics. Russia sees Western hand in conflicts in Chechnya, Dagestan and South Caucasus.

In Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan suffered from the latest round of ethnic conflict which involved Uzbek and Kyrgyz people. Interestingly, since 2005, the United States and Russia are testing their muscles in Kyrgyzstan. The country hosts American and Russian military bases. Kyrgyzstan also borders the western Chinese province of Xinjiang.

Uighurs, a Muslim ethnic group, is spread in western China, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Earlier this year, tensions between the Uighurs and ethnic Chinese in western China led to violence. The Western media and US based rights groups overplayed and overreacted to the ethnic violence to squeeze China. Incidents in western China also caused fears in bordering Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.

After years of the Soviet ban on religion, many people in the independent states of Central Asia use religion as their main identity. Almost all Central Asian states are afraid of militant movements and have been pursuing strict policies regarding religion. Religious preaching is discouraged in Central Asia; however, some Central Asian states are soft on Christian missionaries.

Kazakhstan, for example, is the only Central Asian state that has opened its doors to Western businesses and organisations, including missionaries, by relaxing work and visa regulations for North American and European citizens. Kazakhstan is a very large country with a small population of only 16 million. That population comprises of 130 ethnic groups. Nearly 60 percent of Kazakhstanis are Muslim and the remaining follow other faiths. Such demographic composition makes Kazakhstan vulnerable to ethnic or religious unrest; however, the Kazakh government has been very wisely promoting religious and ethnic tolerance.

Some circles in Central Asia see Christian missionaries as a counterweight to militants groups. But for US-based Christian groups this is an opportunity to influence Central Asian public through religion. Thousands of missionaries from the United States have arrived in Central Asia where they present Christianity as a religion of peace. Hundreds of Kazakhs, for instance, have converted to the Christian faith. Christian missionaries target schools and universities to change minds of the Central Asian youth. Drama, theatrical performances and music are common tools of missionaries to attract young Central Asians.

Volunteers of the US Peace Corps are also very active in Central Asia. They teach English language or work with NGOs in rural areas of the region. Some of them have joined local universities as students. US-funded organisations such as Freedom House, Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia, Soros Foundation as well as USAID all have extensive networks in some countries of the region.

It is difficult for US organisations to work in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan but they operate in Kazakhstan with ease, nevertheless, Kazakhstan is walking on a tight rope. The country is the Chair of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) for 2010. The OSCE summit will be held in the Kazakh capital of Astana on December 1-2. Western human and media watchdogs have been criticising Kazakhstan to keep the country under pressure. Kazakhstan shares long borders with Russia and China and it has good relations with both, particularly with Russia. Keeping a balance in relations with its Western and Eastern partners is a serious challenge for Kazakhstan.

In reality, new and inexperienced Central Asian states are dealing with powers that are cunning and conniving. These powers pursue complex diplomatic operations to push their interests. United States, for example, under the mask of friendship wants to foothold in Central Asia to secure alternative sources of energy and to compete, contain and even encircle Russia and China through NATO.

shiraz_paracha@hotmail.com

Obama’s hawk policy in India

By Farzana Versey

The most telling aspect of President Barack Obama’s trip to India in early November is his planned visit to all the sites targeted in the Mumbai attacks of November 28, 2008. He will also stay at the Taj Hotel. Commentators have been quick to gloat that this move will corroborate American support to India’s battle against terror.

This is the vile game that the US is so adept at. Its one major encounter with terrorism has been transformed into a metaphor for world militancy. It is a myopic and inadequate example if we take note of the different kinds of terrorism being unleashed in various parts of the world, including by the American establishment under the garb of ‘support for democracy’. This has often translated in ruining thriving societies or pushing them into ‘backward’ mode as a reaction to the US standard McDonald idea of franchising its version of liberty.

Obama’s personal history remains on the backburner to signify simmering discontent within the supposed melting pot that America flaunts. The multi-culturalism that it permits within its shores, much in the manner of the patronage of old feudal communities, is what it makes certain to upset in the countries it interferes in. There is a deliberate attempt at creating ghetto nations so that they are easily identifiable to the simplistic US polity.

India is ostensibly a difficult proposition, although a potential ghetto exists beneath the global Valhalla. For the Obama administration this is manna, for its current economic desperation will find sustenance through just such an Indian upbeat financial cocoon that seeks to camouflage its contemporary social flaws. However, this is not how the Obama mechanism will be set in motion.

The importance of Indo-US relationship will be akin to straws in beaks. The White House Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs, said, “Look, just from a viewpoint economically, we understand ...what we have to do to create jobs, to grow our exports, to ensure that it just doesn’t fall on American consumers to drive world demand. That’s a lot of what you’ll hear the President talk about on that trip, and we’ll hopefully have some tangible results from it.”

This essentially means upsetting the call-centre apple cart and ensuring that the American free market is bullish rather than bearish. The outsourcing will now also be about exporting manpower, given the dismal economic situation. As a superpower and the keeper of the world’s consumerist conscience, Obama cannot afford to expose these chinks. It follows that world demand – conceived in the American laboratory – has to bear the burden of being a guinea pig for products and services that will keep the US always on top.

Among these goods and services comes an ideological baggage. For a country with a nascent history, it has to seek the destruction of old civilisations or maul them out of shape. Terrorism has been a boon for America. It has given it a reason to flash its contemporaneity and completely ignore its record of slavery. In fact, it has introduced new chattels in the form of puppet regimes and Disneyworld caricatures.

Obama could well be spending time in Orlando rather than India, except that in the latter he won’t have to pay for the rides; he will be in charge of running those rides. India, like much of the subcontinent, suffers from the mentality of subservience. Years of colonial rule have been embedded in the mindset. It manifests itself in how even the lower middle class person treats domestic helps not to speak about the hierarchy in the highest echelons of bureaucracy. It is the exchange of money that has to a large extent driven the class as well as caste divide.

The US ambassador to India, Timothy J Roemer, has stated, “Obama will be spending more time in India than he had spent in any other country so far. It signifies the growing strategic importance of India in the eyes of the US.” The strategic importance is two-pronged – to utilise India’s huge market and to play up its uncomfortable relationship with Pakistan. The United States is doing what the British did as colonisers by using an economic route to get into a commanding position and divide and rule.

America cannot lose Pakistan and all its tough talk is to embolden its Af-Pak policy and ensure that Afghanistan remains a democratic knave and Pakistan is always on the edge of military rule. The current trip by the president has smartly mentioned that he will visit Pakistan in 2011 and delinked it with the India trip. The purpose of this declamation is to make both sides tense.

It is not the American media or policy makers who will be keeping tabs on the visit as much as the Indian and Pakistani media and governments. Overtly, the king is granting favours but in real terms he is the one taking back goodies. He said, “So when it comes to the sphere of our work, building a future of greater prosperity, opportunity and security for our people, there is no doubt; I have to go India. But even more, I am proud to go to India, and I look forward to the history that we will make together, progress that will be treasured not just by this generation but by generations to come.”

This does not qualify even as aphorism; it reeks of puerile opportunism. India has already sold out to the US in the nuclear energy stakes, that too for its least vocal population – the villagers. For getting peanuts we now have a monkey sitting on our trees.

America has sanctified a few Indians in top positions, which is like canonising those with miraculous clout. The real deal is to flatter India into somnolence. A sleepwalking retail therapy obsessed country will only bare its creamy layer. The US is more than willing to take this, which in turn will hawk its indigenous markets. Add to that a dollop of ‘war on terror’ and you have Indo-US history being made.

Pakistan is told that India is not a threat and it has to worry about its internal strife. NATO positions itself to help bring ‘peace’ within. The country is constantly on the verge of a marionette performance to please the US string-pullers.

The end game is simple: India glows for being legitimised as a cash-rich buyer; Pakistan gets a reprieve by being bought out. The American salesman once again sells an empty dream.

Farzana Versey is a Mumbai-based columnist and author of ‘A Journey Interrupted: Being Indian in Pakistan’

Policy on Kashmir visa unchanged: China

Rejecting New Delhi's assertions that Beijing should respect India's sensitivities on Kashmir, China today said that its policy of issuing stapled visas to Kashmiris would remain unchanged, in crucial comments ahead of a meeting between Prime Ministers of the two countries.
Ma Zhaoxu, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said at his bi-weekly briefing, "As for the Indian Kashmir visa our policy is consistent and has stayed unchanged." He was replying to questions whether the issue would come up for discussions at the meeting between Singh and Wen.
The comments come ahead of this week's meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao on the sidelines of East Asia Summit in Hanoi, Vietnam.
The issue of stapled visa is likely to figure prominently at the talks.
He said officials of both the countries were in "touch" with each other to arrange the meeting. Indian officials expect the meeting to take place on October 30.
Ma declined to comment on the just concluded visit of Singh to Japan and the Indian Prime Minister's talks with his Japanese counterpart, Naoto Kan in which China figured prominently.
"We usually do not comment on leaders meeting from other countries. Our friendly position with India remains unchanged. Meanwhile we value strategic relations with Japan," Ma said.
China has been issuing stapled visas to residents of Jammu and Kashmir since 2008.
The policy had its biggest fall out when China recently declined to grant visa to Lt.Gen. B S Jaswal, the Chief of Indian Army's northern command for official talks here on the ground that he headed troops of a disputed area.
The move prompted India to put on hold all defence exchanges with China, even though Beijing played down the move saying that defence ties are intact.
Earlier China stapled visa policy coupled with references of Gilgit and Baltistan which are part of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, (POK) as Northern Areas Pakistan by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson created an impression that China changed its neutral stand on the status of Kashmir.
However, an official online map released by China to rival Google displayed the Line of Control, (LOC) in Kashmir region acknowledging the both sides of the areas respectively under the control of India and Pakistan. It also recognises the Northern Areas of Gligit and Baltistan as part of the "Pakistan controlled" Jammu and Kashmir.
The stapled visa issue has emerged as an irritant in Sino-Indian ties at a time when bilateral trade is set to cross USD 60 billion target set for this year.

India’s Aggressive Policy

 Obama should take congnizance of  the fact that Indo-US defence pact is likely to initiate a dangerous arms race in the region as China and Pakistan will be compelled to give similar response to New Delhi.
 ____________________________________________________________

By Sajjad Shaukat 

After learning positive lessons from the past conflicts, especially World War1 and World War 11, in the modern era of new trends like renunciation of war as a state policy, peaceful settlement of disputes and economic development, it is expected that unlike the non-state actors, state actors will behave with responsibility when controversy arises between them or two countries over any issue. Quite contrarily, Indian irresponsible civil and military leaders are still acting upon aggressive policy towards Pakistan and China. 

In this connection, Indian present Army Chief General VK Singh has said on October 15, 2010 that China and Pakistan posed a major threat to India’s security, while calling for a need to upgrade country’s defence. Notably, General Singh after taking over the charge on March 30 had said in his first strategic statement, “Indian Army is well prepared to face any threat from China.” Before him, Indian former Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor had vocally revealed on December 29, 2009 that Indian Army “is now revising its five-year-old doctrine” and is preparing for a “possible two-front war with China and Pakistan.” 
While India is no match to China in conventional and nuclear weapons, but the statements of its two army chiefs clearly show that Indian rulers are ready to go even to the extent of war against Beijing. That is why India’s war-mongering policy continues against China.

Notably, in May 1998, when India detonated five nuclear tests, the then Defense Minister George Fernandes had declared publicly that “China is India’s potential threat No. 1.” India which successfully tested missile, Agni-111 in May 2007, has been extending its range to target all the big cities of China. 
As regards Indian new military build up against China, on May 31 last year, after 43 years, New Delhi re-opened its Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) airbase in northern Ladakh, which overlooks the strategic Karakoram Pass and is only 8 km south of the Chinese border-Aksai Chin area. 

India has also erected more than 10 new helipads and roads between the Sino-Indian border. In this context, Defence Ministry planners are working on building additional airfields and increasing troops raising two new mountain divisions to be deployed along the 4,057-kilometer Line of Actual Control (LAC). New Delhi has also announced to develop immediately 1,100 kms of strategic roads on the Indo-Tibetan border.

With the help of Israel and America, on 26 February 2008, India conducted its first test of a nuclear-capable missile from an under sea platform after completing its project in connection with air, land and sea ballistic systems.

On May 10, 2009, Indian Navy Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta had disclosed that New Delhi “will soon float tenders to acquire six submarines”. Mehta also accused Beijing and explained that the “Indian Navy would keep a close watch on the movements of Chinese submarines which are operating out of an underground base in the South China Sea” and “wish to enter the Indian Ocean”. However, under the pretension of Chinese threat, Washington, New Delhi and Israel are plotting to block the sea lanes of the Indian Ocean for their joint strategic goals.

It is notable that in order to conceal its covert activities, India has always blamed China for backing Maoist uprising. In this respect, instead of addressing the root causes of the Maoist uprising, Indian government has recently intensified its blame game against China, alleging for supplying arms to these insurgents.

Besides, peace-loving country like China, Pakistan is also particular target of India’s aggressive policy. In this regard, during the terrorist’s attack on the Indian parliament and during the Kargil crisis, Indian rulers had left no stone unturned in intimidating Islamabad through war-like approach coupled with concentration of troops on the Pak-Indian border. 

It is mentionable that in the aftermath of the Mumbai carnage of November 26, 2008, New Delhi again acted upon aggressive policy. In wake of a continued rising tension between the two nuclear states regarding the culprits of Mumbai tragedy, Pakistan proved itself as a responsible state actor. On February 12, 2009, Islamabad submitted its report to India after lodging FIR against the nine suspects and taking six accused persons into custody. Pakistan’s positive behaviour was greatly appreciated by the foreign officials and media, while on the other side, New Delhi along with its media anchors took it as a surprise because India has, itself, been acting upon a reckless policy regarding Pakistan which is still being pursued through a threatening style.

However, since November 26, 2008, setting aside our ruler’s views that non-state actors were linked to the Mumbai mayhem, India’s blindly rejection of Islamabad’s offer of joint investigation, various contradictory statements of Indian military and civilian leadership such as calling Pakistan the epicenter of terrorism, emphasizing to hand over the fugitives to New Delhi, take action against them inside Pakistan, terrorism is state policy of Islamabad and all options are open for India including military one�deployment of Indian military troops across the international border have shown that India is a reckless state actor. Despite Islamabad’s optimistic reaction, India had not ruled out surgical strikes on selective targets of our country.

The fact of the matter is that Islamabad’s realistic reply has proved, without any doubt, that some non-sovereign entities in Pakistan, India and even in some western countries had planed Mumbai catastrophe, but New Delhi wanted to unilaterally blame Islamabad in that respect in order to conceal Indian culprits because its real anti-Pakistan designs would be exposed through a genuine probe. In that regard, Islamabad also raised 30 questions in the report, reciprocally seeking information about Indian officials involved in Malay villages and Samjotha Express blasts in which Indian mastermind Lt. Col Srikant Purohit was found guilty in targeting Muslims and details on the death of Indian Anti-terrorist Squad Chief Hemant Karkare during Mumbai tragedy. 

Question arises as to why there is no international pressure by the sole superpower or UN on Indian government to handing over Lt. Col. Purohit, other similar criminals and especially Ajmal Kasab to Pakistan. And why India avoided joint probe in this serious matter. In fact, India has only been exploiting the Mumbai events to fulfill some covert aims against our country. First, New Delhi wants to divert the attention of US President Barack Obama from the thorny issue of Kashmir as earlier he had recognised an inter-relationship between war against terrorism in Afghanistan and this dispute. Second, India wants to use delaying tactics in relation to the composite dialogue or any result-oriented talk in resolving any issue with Pakistan. Third, New Delhi intends to continue creating unrest in Pakistan by supporting insurgency in Balochistan and Pakistan’s other regions from Afghanistan where it has established a terror-structure with the help of Indian army and intelligence agency, RAW. Fourth, India, with the backing of America, wants to contain China with a view to thwarting Sino-Pak cooperation, especially in the Gwadar seaport.

The most alarming point, however, is that Indian all clandestine designs as part of its aggressive policy are not only directed against Pakistan and China but also against Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. There is no doubt India’s aggressive policy will ultimately weaken the federation of India itself as non-state actors or insurgents are present almost in every state of India. Nevertheless such an aggressive policy will further embolden Hindu terrorists who already keep on massacring Muslims and Christians intermittently.

In November 2010, President Obama will visit India to sign a number of agreements with New Delhi. Most likely India is going to ask purchase of C-17 and F35 aircrafts along with latest defence-related equipments from the US. It seems that America will further encourage India in its hot pursuit policy in one or the other way. In fact, while playing an opportunist role, India wants to extract maximum benefits from the US. 

It is the right hour that Obama should take cognizance of the fact that Indo-US defence pact is likely to initiate a dangerous arms race in the region as China and Pakistan will be compelled to give similar response to New Delhi. American president should know that Indian regional hegemonic designs are a potent threat to the global peace. US president must take serious notice of Indian gross human rights violations in Kashmir, against Maoists, Christians, Muslims and Sikhs. Washington must also force India to resolve Kashmir dispute with Pakistan for the sake of regional peace. 

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations. Email: sajjad_logic@yahoo.com   

Arms-hungry India to exploit Obama visit’

 Delhi eyes weapon`s deals during Medvedev, Obama, Sarkozy sojourns: India`s anti China hysteria soaring.........
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Arms-hungry India is expected to hand out a raft of military deals worth billions of dollars during an upcoming rush of presidential visits from the United States, France and Russia.
The biggest-ticket item is the scheduled signing of an estimated 30 billion-dollar stealth fighter co-production agreement when Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visits in late December.Medvedev’s trip will follow those of President Barack Obama and President Nicolas Sarkozy, both of whom will be pushing existing US and French tenders for lucrative military contracts.

Fuelling India’s drive into the international arms market are growing, hysterical concerns over China’s military strength and its expanding sphere of regional influence.“China would like to have a foothold in South Asia and we have to reflect on this reality,” Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in his usual anti-China rhetoric in September.
“There is a new assertiveness among the Chinese. It is difficult to tell which way it will go. So it’s important to be prepared,” Singh said.Reflecting on the Indian unfounded fixation with China, Siemon Wezeman, an analyst from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, said: “China is becoming more of an issue in India.” “The word ‘threat’ is now repeatedly used when officials talk about China, and Indian military strength along the disputed India-China border has been significantly increased, as has that of the Indian navy,” Wezeman said.

The staggered visits by the presidents of three top military powers come as India’s defence sector is about to embark on what global consultancy firm KPMG described as “one of the largest procurement cycles in the world.”Between now and 2016, India is expected to spend 112 billion dollars on capital defence acquisitions, which will in turn create opportunities for domestic industry worth 30 billion dollars, KPMG said in a report published last week. It will also destabilise the balance of power in the region at a point when India is using excessive force against the unarmed Kashmiris.

“These visits are driven by the opportunity of profiteering,” said Alex Neill, an analyst with Britain’s Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think-tank.“There is a global financial depression and the US and Russian interests in selling to the Indian military sector are driven by the commercial opportunity available,” Neill said.
Wezeman, however, sounded a note of caution, citing India’s notorious reputation for arms deals that can take years to come to fruition.“Indian procurement is a slow process, and while Indian officials keep saying that decisions are close, often massive delays occur,” he added.
US firms are hoping to pick up 10-12 billion dollars in contracts or assurances during Obama’s trip in early November, including India’s purchase of 10 Boeing military transport planes for around 5.8 billion dollars.European aerospace giant EADS, which makes the Eurofighter, is competing with five other aeronautical firms from the US, Russia, France and Sweden to sell 126 fighter jets to India for 12 billion dollars next year.
“President Sarkozy’s visit (in December) will definitely help European companies which are doing business here,” Marie-Agnes Veve, CEO of the Indian arm of EADS unit Eurocopter, said in New Delhi.EADS is looking to sell 197 helicopters worth 600 million dollars to India, while France hopes to clinch a 2.1-billion dollar deal to upgrade India’s Mirage-2000 jets.
Medvedev’s visit will be capped by the scheduled signing of the pact to co-produce 250-300 stealth war jets by 2020.Moscow-based analysts say the project has come as a life-saver to Russia’s cash-strapped armament companies. But the world powers selling arms to India should consider the impact of these sales in the overall perspective given the track record of India on human rights and its hegemonic designs that threaten the security of geographically smaller nations.
“Russia needs the Indian money like it needs air to accelerate the production of fighter jets for its own military,” said Ruslan Pukhov, head of the Moscow-based Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies.

Drones ever-closer to militants

Qari Hussain Mehsud, whose specialty was training suicide bombers, is the latest in a string of high level militants to be killed in tribal areas in attacks by unmanned United States drones.
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Syed Saleem Shahzad

These mounting casualties show that the net is tightening on the militants and their al-Qaeda colleagues now concentrated in North Waziristan on the border with Afghanistan. There is also much debate as to where the US is getting its information to carry out an increasing number of successful strikes - from intelligence networks integrated into the local population or from high-tech surveillance, or a combination of both.

The latest reports indicate that 1,863 people, including civilians, have been killed in 184 US drone attacks targeting militants in Pakistan since June 2004. Significantly, though, 749 people have been killed in 89 drone attacks in 2010 and September witnessed 16 operations, the maximum in a month, followed by 11 attacks in January.

Mehsud is reported to have been killed in Mir Ali in North Waziristan on October 4. Initially, a spokesman for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (Pakistani Taliban - TTP) - to which Mehsud was associated - denied the report.

However, a high-level leader of the TTP as well as a senior counter-terrorism official confirmed to Asia Times Online that Mehsud had died in the attack.

Apart from other incidents, Mehsud had claimed responsibility of suicide attacks on Shi'ites in the cities of Lahore and Quetta last month in which scores of people were killed. He was a cousin of Hakimullah Mehsud, the chief of the PTT who was also killed in a drone strike and who in turn had succeeded another drone victim, Baitullah Mehsud.

Luck finally runs out Qari Hussain Mehsud had previously been reported killed, notably after his house was destroyed in January 2008. He was later said to have died in a June 2009 air strike in South Waziristan, but he telephoned reporters to prove he was alive.

The government had placed a 50 million rupee reward for Mehsud's killing or capture, along with similar rewards for other TTP commanders.

Mehsud escaped at least 12 attempts on his life because either the information passed on to the US was incorrect, or he had moved before an attack took place.

The frequency of the operations against Mehsud increased after the deadly suicide attack he helped orchestrate on Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost, Afghanistan in December 2009.

Seven US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operatives, including the station chief, died when Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi blew himself up. Jordanian Balawi had been trained by Mehsud.

Mehsud worked with Ilyas Kashmiri and his 313 Brigade, which infiltrated the ranks of the Afghan National Army at the base.

In a report released this week, CIA director Leon Panetta concluded "systemic failure" had led to Balawi being allowed onto the base even though Jordanian intelligence had warned he might be a part of an al-Qaeda trap.

The drone attacks on Mehsud escalated further after Faisal Shahzad was arrested following his failed attempt on May 1 this year to detonate a car bomb in Times Square, New York. He and his nine-member cell in Islamabad had been recruited by Mehsud and trained at one of his suicide camps in North Waziristan.

On October 5, Shahzad was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to a 10-count indictment that included charges of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting an act of terrorism.

Mehsud's flirtation with death by drone missile attack finally came to an end this month. On October 4, after being pin-pointed in the Muzaki sub-district of Mir Ali in North Waziristan, a drone struck, leaving Mehsud injured and three of his guards dead.

Mehsud was immediately moved, but he was again tracked down in the sub-district of Khushali in Mir Ali and on October 7 he was killed when his station wagon was hit by a drone's missile.

Dropout to danger man

Mehsud, born in South Waziristan in about 1988, moved to Karachi to further his Islamic studies, from where he dropped out to join the Laskhar-e-Jhangvi.

He then moved back to South Waziristan and soon won notoriety for brutally killing anti-Taliban figures and for introducing the practice of slitting the throats of Pakistani soldiers. He developed his own network and began training people for suicide attacks.

When the first battle in the Swat between the Taliban and the military broke out in 2007, Mehsud joined the fray, along with his suicide squad. He established a reign of terror across the valley that had once been know for its tranquility, beauty and peace-loving residents.

One of his more gruesome habits was to teach valley militants how to slit a throat with a rusty knife, film the incident and then distribute it on a video recording.

By now the small-fry sectarian agitator had evolved into a national terror ringmaster. Although he was considered a part of the TTP, he often took his own initiative for attacks in Pakistan.

The military operations in South Waziristan last year dislodged the TTP from its traditional region, forcing it to relocate to North Waziristan, where it was welcomed with open arms by al-Qaeda and other militant groups.

TTP members were given space in Mir Ali, home to a large section of al-Qaeda's global headquarters. The TTP and al-Qaeda had coordinated in the past, but the migration brought the two organisations closer together than ever before.

This new relationship was soon reflected when the TTP - which previously had only been known for anti-Pakistan army operations - and 313 Brigade planned the attack on the CIA base in Khost.

That such a wily operator as Mehsud could be tracked down, and that the US is clearly determined to maintain the intensity of its drone attacks, indicate that the going will get even tougher for the militants and their al-Qaeda colleagues now gathered in their last remaining bastion in North Waziristan.

Time not right for anti-Taliban assault

Only 10pc of Orakzai needs to be cleared; Bajaur, Mohmand to take six months to be purged of

militants: Corps commander Peshawar

Pakistan Army will consider mounting an anti-Taliban offensive in North Waziristan only when other tribal areas are stabilised, a senior military officer said on Tuesday, a position likely to anger ally Washington.

Islamabad has resisted mounting US pressure to launch a major operation in North Waziristan to eliminate the Haqqani Taliban faction, one of the most dangerous forces fighting American troops over the border in Afghanistan.

Military officials say the operation broke the back of the Taliban and only 10 percent of Orakzai still needs to be cleared. That may not be easy, given the Taliban's resilience.

Lt Gen Asif Yasin Malik, corps commander Peshawar, said it would take at least six months to clear militants from Bajaur and Mohmand agencies, described as global hubs for militants.

"What we have to do is stabilise the whole area. I have a very large area in my command," he told reporters on a trip to Orakzai agency. "The issue is I need more resources."

There are already six brigades in North Waziristan which carry out daily operations, he said.

In March, troops launched an offensive in Orakzai, which officials described as the nerve centre for Pakistan's Taliban, which included training camps.

Officials said 654 militants were killed in what they described as a successful campaign that ended in June. Militants often dismiss official death tolls. Nearly 70 soldiers were killed.

Islamabad says a series of army offensives severely weakened homegrown Taliban. But militants often melt away, set up strongholds elsewhere or try to return to areas they lost.

At a military camp in Orakzai, weapons and bomb-making equipment captured from Taliban hideouts were on display for the media. These included machineguns, rows of AK-47 assault rifles and a suicide vest stuffed with ball bearings.

Officials say militants are no longer capable of staging major operations and are resorting to sniper attacks and roadside bombings. Militants attacked a checkpost manned by paramilitary soldiers in Orakzai on Tuesday, killing one soldier, local officials said

The army is getting villagers involved in efforts to keep the Taliban from returning by providing some of them with rifles.

"By 2012 things should have turned around totally," said Malik. -

Arabian Sea: Center Of West's 21st Century War

The West, America and its NATO allies, are escalating military operations across the area, from Asia to Africa to the Middle East. The theater of operations has recently brodened from South Asia to the Arabian Peninsula with drone and helicopter attacks in Pakistan air and cruise missile strikes in Yemen.
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by Rick Rozoff   


A quarter of the world's nuclear aircraft carriers will soon be in the Arabian Sea.

The Nimitz class nuclear-powered supercarrier USS Abraham Lincoln arrived in the region on October 17 to join the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, which in turn had arrived there on June 18 as part of a regular rotation.

The Charles de Gaulle, flagship of the French navy, the country's only aircraft carrier and the sole non-American nuclear carrier, will soon join its two U.S. counterparts. The U.S. possesses half the world's twenty-two aircraft carriers, all eleven supercarriers (those displacing over 70,000 tons) and eleven of twelve nuclear carriers.

Regarding the unscheduled deployment of a second American aircraft carrier to the region, a CBS News report stated:

"Air strikes in Afghanistan are up 50 per cent and now Defense Secretary Gates has ordered a second aircraft carrier, the USS Lincoln, into the fight. 
"Two carriers operating off the coast of Pakistan means about 120 aircraft available for missions over Afghanistan. And that's not counting U.S. Air Force missions flown out of Bagram and Kandahar." [1]

The countries bordering the Arabian Sea are Somalia, Djibouti, Yemen, Oman, Iran, Pakistan, India and the island nation of Maldives.

USS Lincoln and USS Truman are currently assigned to the Fifth Fleet's area of responsibility, which encompasses the Northern Indian Ocean and its branches and offshoots: The Arabian Sea, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the eastern coast of Africa south to Kenya, the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf.

The nations on the Red Sea and Persian Gulf are, in addition to those mentioned above, Egypt, Eritrea, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Sudan and Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, respectively.

The Fifth is the first fleet established in the post-Cold War period, recommissioned in 1995 after being deactivated in 1947. (Similarly, the Fourth Fleet, which is assigned to the Caribbean Sea and Central and South America, was reactivated two years ago after being decommissioned in 1950.)
It shares a commander and headquarters with U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (CENTCOM) at Manama, Bahrain, across the Persian Gulf from Iran. CENTCOM was the last regional military command launched by the Pentagon during the Cold War (1983) and its area of responsibility stretches across what has been referred to as the Broader Middle East from Egypt in the west to Kazakhstan, bordering China and Russia, to the east.

The Fifth Fleet and Naval Forces Central Command are jointly in charge of five naval task forces operating in and near the Arabian Sea which patrol several of the most strategic chokepoints on the planet: The Suez Canal linking the Mediterranean Sea, where the U.S. Sixth Fleet and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization' s Operation Active Endeavor hold sway, to the Red Sea. The Bab Al Mandeb connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden. The Strait of Hormuz between the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf.

Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150) is a multinational naval group established in 2001 with logistics facilities in the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti and operates from the Strait of Hormuz to the Gulf of Aden and past the Bab Al Mandeb to the Red Sea and south to the Indian Ocean nation of Seychelles. Last year the Pentagon secured a military facility in Seychelles, its second in an African nation, where it has deployed Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), PC-3 Orion anti-submarine and surveillance aircraft, and 112 Navy personnel. Other nations currently contributing ships and personnel to CTF-150 are Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Pakistan, South Korea and Thailand. Recent participants also include Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, Spain and Turkey.
Combined Task Force 151 (CTF-151) was launched in January of 2009, operates in the Gulf of Aden and the Somali Basin and covers an area of 1.1 million square miles. Twenty nations are scheduled to participate in the U.S.-led task force and Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Singapore, South Korea and Turkey have already enlisted. Its commanders to date have been from the U.S., Britain, South Korea and Turkey.

Combined Task Force 152 (CTF-152) operates from the northern Persian Gulf to the Strait of Hormuz, between the areas of responsibility of CTF-150 and CTF-158, and is part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Combined Task Force 158 (CTF-158) operates in the northern-most part of the Persian Gulf, is also part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and consists of British and Australian as well as U.S. ships. Its main tasks are to oversee Iraqi oil installations and to create an Iraqi navy under the Pentagon's control.

The U.S. has divided the world between six regional military commands and six navy fleets. The Arabian Sea is covered by three of the Pentagon's overseas military commands - Central Command, Africa Command and Pacific Command - to provide an indication of the importance attached to the region.
In addition to the Fifth Fleet's and Naval Forces Central Command's headquarters in Bahrain, Central Command also maintains command, forward deployment, air and training bases and facilities in Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in the Persian Gulf in addition to 56,000 troops and air, naval and infantry bases in Iraq.

Several months before the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City and on the Pentagon, the U.S. signed an agreement with the small nation of Djibouti (with a population of 725,000) to take over a former French base, Camp Lemonnier, which is now a United States Naval Expeditionary Base hosting the Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa, assigned to Africa Command since the latter was activated two years ago. The Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa's area of responsibility takes in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Yemen, with the Indian Ocean nations of Comoros, Mauritius and Madagascar effectively included.
In early 2002 the U.S. deployed 800 special operations troops to Camp Lemonnier to conduct covert operations in Yemen across the Gulf of Aden from Djibouti. There are now in the neighborhood of 2,000 U.S. troops in the country and 3,000 French troops there in what has been described as France's largest overseas military base. In the beginning of this decade Germany deployed 1,200 troops to Djibouti along with forces from Spain and the Netherlands. Britain added troops in 2005.

In total, there are as many as 8-10,000 military personnel from NATO nations in Djibouti. The Pentagon has used Camp Lemonnier, the port of Djibouti and the country's international airport for attacks in Yemen and Somalia, and French troops in the country assisted Djibouti in its armed conflict with neighboring Eritrea in 2008. France uses the country to train its troops for the war in Afghanistan and the Pentagon used it to support the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia in 2006.
The U.S. Fifth Fleet ordinarily has one aircraft carrier, serving as the nucleus of a carrier strike group, assigned to it. With USS Lincoln joining USS Truman in the Arabian Sea this month it now has two. USS Lincoln is accompanied by a guided missile destroyer and "brings more than 60 additional aircraft to the theater in support of Operation Enduring Freedom." [2]

USS Truman's strike group includes four Aegis class destroyers equipped for Standard Missile-3 anti-ballistic missiles, a guided missile cruiser and the German frigate FGS Hessen. Carrier Wing 3 attached to the aircraft carrier includes three strike fighter squadrons, a Marine fighter attack squadron, and airborne early warning, electronic attack and helicopter anti-submarine squadrons.

Since passing though the Suez Canal on June 28 until late last month Carrier Wing 3 had "completed more than 3,300 aircraft sorties and logged more than 10,200 flight hours, with more than 7,200 of those hours in support of coalition ground forces in Afghanistan. " [3] There are 7,000 sailors and marines attached to the USS Truman carrier strike group.
Beforehand, shortly after entering the Mediterranean Sea in May, USS Truman engaged in joint interoperability exercises in Marseille with its French fellow nuclear aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. French warplanes landed on the Truman's deck and American ones on Charles de Gaulle's.

The French carrier was returned to port for repairs on the day it set sail for "a four-month mission to support the fight in Afghanistan, " but "will recover lost time at sea and its itinerary is not likely to change."

Its new mission, the first since 2007, "is to take it to join the fight against piracy off Somalia in the Indian Ocean and the NATO mission in Afghanistan.

"The new mission of the ship is to join the fight against pirates that is taking place off the coast of Somalia in the Indian Ocean [where a] NATO mission is ongoing." [4] Nuclear aircraft carriers are a curious choice for contending with piracy.

The NATO deployment in question is Operation Ocean Shield, inaugurated in August of 2009 and extended to the end of 2012. Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 and Standing NATO Maritime Group 2, which have also visited Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates and participated in joint naval maneuvers with Pakistan on the eastern end of the Arabian Sea, rotate for the operation in the Gulf of Aden.
The U.S.'s Operation Enduring Freedom encompasses sixteen nations in all - Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Cuba (Guantanamo Bay), Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, the Philippines, Seychelles, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkey and Yemen - and NATO's efforts parallel and reinforce the Pentagon's across the width of the Arabian Sea from the Horn of Africa to South and Central Asia.

At its summit in Istanbul, Turkey in 2004, NATO launched the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative to build military partnerships with the six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - and has conducted military exchanges and cooperation with them in the interim. [5] The United Arab Emirates has supplied NATO with troops for the war in Afghanistan and hosts a secret air base for the transit of troops and equipment to the war zone.

In May of 2009 French President Nicolas Sarkozy opened a military base in the United Arab Emirates, the first permanent French base in the Persian Gulf and the first overseas base in 50 years. Including a navy and air force base and a training camp, it was seen at the time as a show of force against Iran which contests the Abu Musa island in the Persian Gulf with the Emirates.
NATO forces also operate out of bases in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The North Atlantic Alliance has launched several helicopter gunship attacks inside Pakistan since late last month and on September 30 killed three Pakistani soldiers.

There are 120,000 troops from almost 50 nations serving under NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

This year NATO has airlifted Ugandan troops to Somalia for the armed conflict there.

The Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier en route to the Arabian Sea to support the war in that country as well for operations off the coast of Somalia was commissioned in May of 2001. Seven months later it sailed to the Arabian Sea to support Operation Enduring Freedom and the war in Afghanistan. On December 19 of that year Super Étendard attack jets and Rafale Ms fighters took off from its deck to conduct bombing and reconnaissance missions, in all over 140.
The following March Super Étendard and Mirage warplanes assigned to Charles de Gaulle carried out air strikes before and during the U.S.-led Operation Anaconda.

When the French carrier arrives in the Arabian Sea this month it will be accompanied by two frigates, an attack submarine and a refuelling tanker, 3,000 sailors and 27 aircraft: Ten Rafale F3 fighters, 12 Super Étendard attack jets, two Hawkeye early warning planes and three helicopters.

According to the commander of the group, Rear Admiral Jean-Louis Kerignard, "the force would help allied navies fight piracy off the coast of Somalia and send jets to support NATO in the skies above Afghanistan.

"The ships will also train alongside allies from Saudi Arabia, India, Italy, Greece and the United Arab Emirates and make two stopovers at the French base in Djibouti before returning to France in February 2011." [6]

With USS Lincoln and the USS Truman carrier strike group, there will be three carriers, ten other ships, an attack submarine and as many as 150 military aircraft in the Arabian Sea. That is in addition to the five warships of the NATO Maritime Group 1 in theater, 14-15 ships with CTF-150 and perhaps dozens more with CTF-151, CFT-152 and CTF-158. A formidable armada covering the sea from one end to the other.
In the north of the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Oman and into the Persian Gulf, on October 21 the U.S. announced a $60 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia for advanced fighter jets, helicopters, missiles and other weaponry and equipment," according to a Western news agency "the largest US arms deal ever." [7]

Last month the Financial Times disclosed that Washington plans to sell $123 billion worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. This January reports surfaced of White House plans to sell Patriot missile batteries to Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The U.S. Navy also patrols the Persian Gulf with Standard Missile-3 interceptor missile-equipped warships. [8]

On the eastern end of the Arabian Sea, on October 23 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced a $2 billion, five-year military aid package for Pakistan, and President Obama's scheduled visit to India next month is reported to include massive arms deals that will effect the U.S. supplanting Russia as India's main weapons supplier.

The monumental expansion of arms sales and the buildup of naval and air power in the Arabian Sea region are unprecedented. They are also alarming to the highest degree.
The West, America and its NATO allies, are escalating military operations across the area, from Asia to Africa to the Middle East. The theater of operations has recently broadened from South Asia to the Arabian Peninsula with drone and helicopter attacks in Pakistan and air and cruise missile strikes in Yemen.

A war that started at the beginning of the century is in its tenth year and gives every indication of being permanent.

1) CBS News, October 18, 2010
2) Navy NewsStand, October 17, 2010
3) Navy NewsStand, September 26, 2010
4) Associated Press, October 14, 2010
5) NATO In Persian Gulf: From Third World War To Istanbul
Stop NATO, February 6, 2009
http://rickrozoff. wordpress. com/2009/ 08/26/nato- in-persian- gulf-from- third-world- war-to-istanbul
6) Expatica, October 13, 2010
7) Deutsche Presse-Agentur, October 21, 2010
8) U.S. Extends Missile Buildup From Poland And Taiwan To Persian Gulf
Stop NATO, February 3, 2010
http://rickrozoff. wordpress. com/2010/ 02/03/u-s- extends-missile- buildup-from- poland-and- taiwan-to- persian-gulf