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Nato takes over Libya no-fly zone

March 25, 2011 Comments off

www.bbc.co.uk

Nato has agreed to take command of enforcing the no-fly zone over Libya from the US.

But Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen made clear that other aspects of the operation would remain in the hands of the current coalition for now.

Nato has been locked in dispute about whether to take charge of the mission to enforce a UN resolution.

It is believed there are differences of opinion whether attacks on ground troops should form part of the action.

Coalition raids on Libya are meanwhile continuing for a sixth consecutive night.

Mr Rasmussen has insisted there is no split on the military handover, saying Nato is still considering whether to take on the “broader responsibility”.

The handover of the no-fly mission could come as early as this weekend.

Mr Rasmussen said all Nato members had agreed to the move, including Turkey, which had expressed Read more…

Categories: Libya, NATO Tags: , , , , , , ,

U.S., NATO worry about European defense cuts

February 28, 2011 Comments off

www.twincities.com

BERLIN — First, Germany announced that it would suspend its draft, ending one of the touchstones of its post-World War II society. Then Britain and France, frequent rivals since at least the Norman Conquest, announced plans to share military equipment and research. And smaller countries across Europe are cutting defense budgets and shrinking militaries that were never large to begin with.

European policymakers say that the cuts are necessary given their financial straits, and that training, not sheer numbers, is what matters in a post-Cold War world.

But some top officials, including the U.S. defense secretary and the NATO secretary general, worry that the changes could burden the United States by reducing the number of European troops available for NATO missions and other military efforts around the world. NATO’s ability to function as a collective defense pact may be Read more…

Categories: Europe, NATO, United States Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

NATO Warns of Food Crisis and More Unrest, Prices Increase 15% in Four Months

February 21, 2011 Comments off
The potential of high food prices to act as a trigger for social and political changes has been evident across North Africa and the Middle East in 2011. Higher food prices, coupled with a financial downturn, have impacted hard on the region’s people. Those hit hardest are the poor, who spend a higher percentage of their money on food. 

The World Food Program’s representative in one of the countries which has seen protests, Yemen, recently stated: ‘There is an obvious link between high food prices and unrest.’

Credit: NATO

The 2008 food crisis was a warning of things to come. More recently, food prices rose by 15% in just the period October 2010 to January 2011, according to the World Bank’s Food Price Watch.

This time, the impacts have been felt more keenly in political and security circles. The President of Read more…

Categories: 2011, 2012, Coming Events, Droughts, Food Crisis, NATO Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Russia threatens NATO with nukes

January 27, 2011 Comments off

Press TV                                     

The Russian president has called on NATO to clarify Moscow’s role in a European missile system, warning if no agreement is reached, Russia will be forced to deploy “offensive” nuclear weapons.

“So this is not a joking matter. We expect from our NATO partners a direct and unambiguous answer,” Dmitry Medvedev said during a meeting with Russia’s NATO envoy Dmitry Rogozin.

“In either case, we are either together with NATO, or we separately find an adequate response to the existing problem,” he said.

Under former US President George W. Bush the United States proposed a plan to deploy a missile system in Poland and the Czech Republic — a plan which was fiercely opposed to by Russia. Moscow said it would deem such a deployment a threat to its sovereignty and would properly respond to it.

US President Barack Obama later scrapped the plan proposing Russia to join the missile system.

Russia and NATO agreed to cooperate on a joint missile system plan in Europe during a NATO-Russia Council meeting in Lisbon in November last year.

The parties agreed to formulate terms for cooperation on the missile system by June 2011.

“Either we agree to certain principles with NATO, or we fail to agree, and then in the future we are forced to adopt an entire series of unpleasant decisions concerning the deployment of an offensive nuclear missile group,” Medvedev was quoted by AFP as saying.

Categories: Europe, NATO, Russia Tags: , , , , ,