Keyword: nato

Keyword: nato http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/nato/ en-us Mon, 4 Jan 2010 10:32:21 GMT Focus Forum 15 Blasts kill 4 US, one UK soldiers in Afghanistan http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420447/posts Four American soldiers and one British soldier have been killed in two separate explosions in southern Afghanistan. The dead soldiers, who were serving under NATO's International Security Assistance Force, were killed on Sunday, NATO said in a statement Monday. The US soldiers died following an improvised explosive device strike, the statement said without giving more details. Meanwhile, a British soldier was killed in another roadside bomb blast in southern Afghanistan, according to British forces. The British soldier, from 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment, died after the blast hit a foot patrol in Helmand province. Regarding US casualties in Afghanistan,... Press tv http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420447/posts#comment Mon, 4 Jan 2010 10:32:21 GMT German fighters fled in front of Russians, Finns to the rescue (translation) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2415087/posts German fighters patrolling the territory of Estonia are prosecuted by the Russian Su-27. Assistance to NATO by Finns. This is not a scenario of military maneuvers or war movie, but the real incident, which took place September 15. Informed about the military industry magazine "Loyal". According to him, two German machine Eurofighter approached the Baltic Sea west of Tallinn to czterosilnikowego jet aircraft Beriew A-50, trying unsuccessfully to establish radio communication with him. One of the German pilots photographed intruder. Then suddenly toward the German planes flew at a speed of two supersonic Su-27 fighters, but no one opened fire.... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2415087/posts#comment Fri, 25 Dec 2009 22:09:48 GMT Polish cipher officer worked for Chinese intelligence? http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413228/posts Polish cipher officer worked for Chinese intelligence? 22.12.2009 12:39 Stefan Zielonka, a cipher officer who mysteriously disappeared in April 2009, might have betrayed Poland and worked for the Chinese secret service. For many years Zielonka coded messages of Polish military intelligence. He had a unique knowledge of code names of Polish officers working abroad and access to secret sources of information. Zielonka also knew NATOs codes. So far military intelligence linked his disappearance to suicide or accidental death, but the most probable scenario seems to be high treason. Zielonka is suspected of a long-term cooperation with the Chinese secret service.... thenews.pl http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413228/posts#comment Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:00:28 GMT NATO says no deadline for Afghan troop withdrawal (Obama the irrelevant) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413156/posts KABUL (Reuters)  The head of NATO said on Tuesday there would be no deadline for the exit of allied troops from Afghanistan, as fears grow among Afghans that foreign forces will leave before their own troops are able to guarantee security. Reuters via Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413156/posts#comment Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:42:34 GMT Afghanistan, World's Longest War Has Only Just Begun http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411692/posts Afghanistan, World's Longest War Has Only Just Begun Politics / Afghanistan Dec 20, 2009 - 07:22 AM By: Rick_Rozoff The higher number of Defense Department contractors, 160,000, added to over 100,000 troops - with the likely prospect of both numbers climbing yet more - will result in over a quarter of a million U.S. personnel serving under the Pentagon and NATO. The latter has 42,000 non-U.S. troops fighting under its command currently and pledges of 8,000 more to date, with thousands in addition to be conscripted after the London conference on Afghanistan next month. Approximately 35,000 U.S. soldiers are also... The Market Oracle<b> http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411692/posts#comment Sun, 20 Dec 2009 16:04:25 GMT US asks Bulgaria to house Guantanamo detainees http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2407429/posts The United States has asked NATO member Bulgaria to house detainees from its prison camp at Guantanamo in Cuba, Bulgaria's Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said on Saturday. bdnews24.com/Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2407429/posts#comment Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:50:55 GMT The Donkeys http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2404384/posts The Taliban continue to adapt to new NATO tactics for detecting roadside bombs in Afghanistan. The current trend is to rely on more elaborate methods of deception. One troubling trend (especially for animal lovers) is the use of pack animals. These are common throughout rural Afghanistan, especially donkeys. In this case, the goods the animal carries is mostly explosives. A donkey can carry at least a hundred pounds of explosives, even counting material to hide the true nature of the load. Wheelbarrows and bicycles are also used, and carry about the same load of explosives. These bombs usually are left... The Strategy Page http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2404384/posts#comment Thu, 10 Dec 2009 07:48:13 GMT U.S. hopes Canadian troops 'stay as long as they possibly can' http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2400738/posts WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama's national security advisor said on Friday the United States hopes Canadian troops will "stay as long as they possibly can" in Afghanistan and encouraged NATO nations to avoid "summary announcements of total withdrawal" from the war zone. But retired General James Jones did not say if Washington had asked Ottawa to extend the Canadian combat mission past July 2011, the date on which the U.S. expects to start withdrawing its forces. "Canada has made such a huge contribution to the mission in Afghanistan for so long that it is a charter member of the effort. So... Canwest News Service via National Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2400738/posts#comment Sat, 5 Dec 2009 03:21:21 GMT Nato pledges 7,000 more troops for Afghanistan http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2400464/posts Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Nato Secretary General, said he had received commitments from 25 countries and details would be announced in the coming weeks. He said he also expected more pledges to follow an international conference on Afghanistan in January. Yesterday's meeting of Nato ministers in Brussels raised an extra 3,200 troops on top of the 3,800 soldiers pledged in the last month, including 500 from Britain and 1,000 from Italy. It came as Hillary Clinton, the United States Secretary of State, called on the alliance to rally behind the American-led surge of troops planned in 2010. "This is our fight,... The Telegraph http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2400464/posts#comment Fri, 4 Dec 2009 20:39:10 GMT Canada Stabs Russia in the Back (Cool) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2400023/posts The relations between Russia and NATO have been put to the test. One of the members of the North Atlantic Alliance  Canada  blocked the approval of all documents which were supposed to be discussed at the meeting of foreign ministers of Russia and NATO members on December 4... Pravda http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2400023/posts#comment Fri, 4 Dec 2009 10:07:08 GMT Poland plans to add 600 more troops in Afghanistan http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2399614/posts Poland plans to add 600 more troops in Afghanistan By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA (AP)  1 day ago WARSAW, Poland  Poland plans to send 600 more troops to Afghanistan next year, officials said Wednesday. The new troops would serve in combat, reconnaissance missions and in training Afghan forces, said Defense Minister Bogdan Klich. The decision, which still requires the government's and president's approval, was in response to calls for help by President Barack Obama's administration, said Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski. Obama on Tuesday asked Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to contribute additional troops to the military effort in Afghanistan as... AP via Google News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2399614/posts#comment Thu, 3 Dec 2009 20:44:08 GMT Europe's Secret Nuclear Weapons: What Should NATO Do? http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2399022/posts Is Italy capable of delivering a thermonuclear strike? Could the Belgians and the Dutch drop hydrogen bombs on enemy targets? And what about Germany - a country where fear of atomkraft is so great that the last government opposed all civilian nuclear power? Germany's air force couldn't possibly be training to deliver bombs 13 times more powerful than the one that destroyed Hiroshima, could it? It is Europe's dirty secret that the list of nuclear-capable countries extends beyond those - Britain and France - who have built their own weapons. Nuclear bombs are stored on air-force bases in Italy, Belgium,... Time Magazine http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2399022/posts#comment Thu, 3 Dec 2009 04:01:16 GMT Europe unlikely to respond fully on Afghan troops http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2397168/posts BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama's European allies are unlikely to send as many troops as he wants to Afghanistan but some analysts say this could rally support at home for his expected pledge to dispatch more U.S. troops. Obama is widely expected to announce on Tuesday he will send 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan to help quell violence that has reached its deadliest level since the Taliban's overthrow in 2001. Pentagon officials hope NATO member-states will supplement the buildup with up to 10,000 of their own troops and trainers, to make up the shortfall on the 40,000... Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2397168/posts#comment Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:31:20 GMT Russia Unveils Proposal For European Security Treaty http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2397000/posts (RFE/RL) -- Moscow has released a draft of a proposal for a new European security agreement the Kremlin says should replace outdated institutions such as NATO and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The text, posted on the Kremlin's website on November 29, comes more than a year after President Dmitry Medvedev first formally raised the issue. Speaking in Berlin in June 2008, Medvedev said the new pact was necessary to finally update Cold War-era arrangements. "I'm convinced that Europe's problems won't be solved until its unity is established, an organic wholeness of all its integral parts,... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2397000/posts#comment Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:24:24 GMT Are the EU and Russia becoming the new global power? http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2396473/posts Russian President, Dmitry Medvdev, has sent a security proposal to European security agencies, including NATO and the EU. The draft calls for all nations that agree, to the final writing, will follow the principle indivisible, equal and undiminished security. The proposal includes these few ideas of joint security. That parties do not undertake, support or participate in actions that can jeopardize the security of another party to the treaty". The sides also agree not to allow the use of its territory with the purpose of attacking their partners. The draft suggests that every party to the agreement is entitled to... Huntington Political Examiner http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2396473/posts#comment Sun, 29 Nov 2009 21:29:49 GMT France shows off cutting-edge navy ship in Russia http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2392987/posts ST. PETERSBURG, Russia  A cutting-edge French warship sailed into St. Petersburg Monday to show off its capabilities to potential buyers in the Russian navy, whose pursuit of an amphibious assault capacity is frightening some neighboring countries. Russia's once-mighty navy was severely degraded after the fall of the Soviet Union and it currently has no big ship with the power to anchor in coastal waters and deploy troops onto land. Russian officials announced this year that they were planning to make their first arms deal with a NATO country by buying a French vessel like the Mistral, a 23,700-ton (21,500-metric... AP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2392987/posts#comment Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:32:44 GMT When the cat's away ... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2392964/posts United States Defense Secretary Robert Gates is the Mephistopheles of the Barack Obama administration - not because of his gift for intrigue, which is slender, but because of his capacity to personify non-being. "Everything that arises goes rightly to its ruin," said Goethe's devil to Faust, "so it would be better for nothing to arise." In his November 20 keynote speech to the German Marshall Fund's (GMF's) International Security Forum on Friday in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Gates portrayed the man who wasn't there. That is the secret of his longevity in public office. Several hundred attendees, including defense ministers and... Asia Times Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2392964/posts#comment Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:02:14 GMT Azerbaijan military threat to Armenia http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2392273/posts Azerbaijan and Armenia held a presidential summit on Sunday amid warnings that a full blown war is brewing over a festering territorial dispute. Azerbaijan and Armenia held a presidential summit yesterday amid warnings that war was brewing between the countries over a festering territorial dispute. Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, said the negotiations in Munich were a final attempt to avert a military confrontation. They were convened by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe as part of efforts to find a peaceful solution to a problem that has divided the two former Soviet republics since the 1991... The Telegraph http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2392273/posts#comment Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:34:43 GMT British troop levels in Germany may be cut, say Tories http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2391566/posts UK troops could be withdrawn from Germany if the Tories win power, the shadow defence secretary has said. Liam Fox said maintaining the current presence of more than 20,000 was "no longer necessary". Other Nato member states should take up the UK's responsibilities in Germany, allowing British troops to deploy elsewhere, he told the Daily Telegraph. The Ministry of Defence says the number of forces personnel in Germany has fallen and is under constant review. "Following the Cold War, we've drawn down our troops in Germany to reflect the changed strategic context. The UK always looks to share responsibility proportionally... bbc http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2391566/posts#comment Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:49:41 GMT EXCLUSIVE: CIA Secret 'Torture' Prison Found at Fancy Horseback Riding Academy http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2389339/posts EXCLUSIVE: CIA Secret 'Torture' Prison Found at Fancy Horseback Riding Academy ABC News Finds the Location of a "Black Site" for Alleged Terrorists in Lithuania By BRIAN ROSS and MATTHEW COLE Nov. 18, 2009  The CIA built one of its secret European prisons inside an exclusive riding academy outside Vilnius, Lithuania, a current Lithuanian government official and a former U.S. intelligence official told ABC News this week. Where affluent Lithuanians once rode show horses and sipped coffee at a café, the CIA installed a concrete structure where it could use harsh tactics to interrogate up to eight suspected al-Qaeda... ABC News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2389339/posts#comment Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:49:15 GMT NATO Chief Predicts Substantially More Troops in Afghanistan http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2388582/posts WASHINGTON, Nov. 17, 2009  NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen today predicted the alliances future mission in Afghanistan will entail a counterinsurgency approach with substantially more troops. The NATO chief, speaking to the alliances Parliamentary Assembly, said he expects NATO will reach a troop-level decision in a few weeks for the International Security Assistance Force it leads in Afghanistan. Im confident it will be a counterinsurgency approach, with substantially more troops, and will place the Afghan population at the core of ISAFs collective effort by focusing on their safety, and by supporting reconstruction and development, he said. Rasmussens remarks... American Forces Press Service http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2388582/posts#comment Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:55:10 GMT IEDs Move East http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2387270/posts In Afghanistan, IEDs (Improvised Explosive Device, a roadside, or suicide car bomb) now cause over 70 percent of NATO casualties. It has also been discovered that there was one big difference between the IEDs in Iraq and Afghanistan; the explosives used. In Iraq, there were thousands of tons of munitions and explosives scattered around the country after the 2003 invasion was over. This was the legacy of Saddam Hussein, and the billions he spent on weapons during his three decades in power. The Iraqi terrorists grabbed a lot of these munitions, and used them for a five year bombing campaign.... The Strategy Page http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2387270/posts#comment Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:11:24 GMT NATO seizes bomb-making materials in Afghanistan (250 Tons .. enough to make buku roadside bombs) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2383226/posts KABUL  International troops and Afghan police seized 250 tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer  enough to make up to a couple hundred roadside bombs, the Taliban's most lethal weapon in what has been the deadliest year of the war, NATO announced Tuesday. Separately, video footage emerged of insurgents brandishing what appears to be limited stocks of U.S. ammunition in a remote area of eastern Afghanistan where eight Americans died in a battle last month. NATO officials hoped Sunday's raid in the southern city of Kandahar would hurt Taliban militants, whose homemade bombs have become the biggest killer of U.S.... AP on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2383226/posts#comment Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:05:52 GMT Obama's Afghan Plan: About 40K More Troops http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2382559/posts (CBS) Tonight, after months of conferences with top advisors, President Obama has settled on a new strategy for Afghanistan. CBS News correspondent David Martin reports that the president will send a lot more troops and plans to keep a large force there, long term. The president still has more meetings scheduled on Afghanistan, but informed sources tell CBS News he intends to give Gen. Stanley McChrystal most, if not all, the additional troops he is asking for. McChrystal wanted 40,000 and the president has tentatively decided to send four combat brigades plus thousands more support troops. A senior officer says... CBSNews.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2382559/posts#comment Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:07:24 GMT NATO, Afghans claim to kill 130 Taliban in Kunduz (including eight Taliban commanders) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2382132/posts KUNDUZ, Afghanistan (Reuters)  NATO and Afghan officials claimed on Monday their forces had killed at least 130 Taliban fighters in a major operation over the past week in an area of Afghanistan's north where militant activity has surged. A combined force of 700 Afghan troops and 50 NATO soldiers cleared villages of fighters, killing more than 130 insurgents including eight Taliban commanders during a five-day operation, NATO spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Todd Vician said. Kunduz province governor Mohammad Omar told Reuters the combined force had killed 133 fighters during the operation, which took place in and around Kunduz's Char Dara... Reuters on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2382132/posts#comment Mon, 9 Nov 2009 15:59:18 GMT