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Page 1 Daily News
by Gail Helmer
Friday, January 19, 2001
Jane's Defence Weekly
NATO forces react to depleted uranium backlash
Despite the long-known health risks linked to depleted uranium (DU) munitions, European defence ministries and NATO headquarters appeared to have been caught off-guard last week by the groundswell of criticism from national legislatures concerning the use of DU during the Bosnia and Kosovo conflicts.
Concern over gaps in EU force requirements
The EU's plan to build an autonomous rapid reaction force may have to be backed by equipment orders in a number of key areas, senior sources in the planning process have told Jane's Defence Weekly.
Corrosion causes Canadian MLVW withdrawal
The Canadian armed forces have withdrawn its fleet of 2.5 ton trucks from service because of corrosion in the wheel assemblies.
Chirac warns on impact of major budget cuts
French conservative President Jacques Chirac has warned that any substantial reduction in defence spending in the country's next military spending plan for 2003-08 could hit France's standing on the European stage.Ts).
Slump hits BAE Systems
Delays to a number of key military aviation procurement and upgrade programmes culminated on 10 January with BAE Systems issuing a profit warning to the London Stock Exchange for its next two years of operations, while also announcing a series of cost overruns to its current projects.
Report urges stronger Israeli missile defence
A report commissioned by the Israeli Ministry of Defence has recommended that Israel increase its air power and missile defence capabilities to confront the increasing prospect of a multi-level, multi-front conflict.
China upgrades Dinghai naval base
The Chinese People's Liberation Army/Navy (PLAN) has been upgrading its Dinghai naval base to accommodate two Project 956E Sovremenny-class destroyers obtained from Russia.
RAAF forced to put combat training system on hold
Despite a substantial increase in the Australian Defence Force budget over the next 10 years, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has been forced to defer plans for a new air combat training range because of lack of funds.
Portugal rejects Cougar in favour of EH 101
EH Industries' EH 101 has emerged as the leading contender for Portugal's new search-and-rescue helicopter. Defence officials in Lisbon last week released an executive summary of a 200-page report of the evaluation.
First satcoms systems for UK forces
The British Army has received the first of five satellite communications (satcoms) systems destined to enhance communications for UK forces serving with the NATO-led Stabilisation Force in Bosnia and the Kosovo Force
DoD shelves F-22 LRIP decision
The US Department of Defense (DoD) has moved a critical review of the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor air-superiority fighter programme off the table, seemingly ending the chances that the aircraft will enter low-rate initial production before the administration of President-elect George Bush assumes power on 20 January.
Jane's Foreign Report
Russia squeezes Georgia
INDEPENDENT-MINDED Georgia had a bleak Christmas and faces an uncertain New Year thanks to new pressure from its assertive Russian neighbour. A dispute last December over control of the area bordering Chechnya led to Georgia becoming the first member of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Russian-led grouping of former Soviet republics, to have a visa regime imposed on its citizens' travel to Russia. On January 4th this year, Russian gas supplies to Georgian power plants were cut. Meanwhile, Russian negotiators are back-tracking on commitments to withdraw forces from sensitive areas of Georgian territory.
An odd assignment
ISRAELI army commandos have, in recent weeks, launched a number of attacks designed to kill leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, two Palestinian fundamentalist organisations, and Fatah, the mainstream faction of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, led by President Yasser Arafat. So far they have executed, in a variety of ways, about 15 Palestinian leaders.
New US policy for Asia
George W. Bush is not arriving in Washington alone. Hundreds of Republicans, and non-party specialists acceptable to them, are moving into the nation's capital with a wealth of new ideas about how to run the country and eager to put them into practice. There will be changes, not least over policy toward Asia. FOREIGN REPORT reveals what is envisaged.
Jane's Intelligence Watch Report and Jane's Terrorism Watch Report
Leader: Bin Ladin's al-Qa`ida finally on trial Just as in a classic high-stakes courtroom drama, the men in white hats are finally getting to face down the arch bogeyman of Muslim fundamentalism as the trial against the so-called embassy-bombers opened in the first week of January. The events around which the trial is fixed concern the two "mega-attacks" against US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that occurred in 1998. The prosecution's argument will be that the bombers (Khalfan Khamis Muhammad, Muhammad Saddiq Odeh, Muhammad Rashid Da'ud Owhali, and the only US citizen: Wadih Hage) are the foot-soldiers of Saudi millionaire Usama bin Ladin who has established a global network of terrorists operating in a dozen countries with the mission to kill US citizens wherever they may be.
Europe
Russia: Democratic or Invulnerable?
JUST when matters were seeming to quieten down in the Caucasus and the focus of international attention is zooming in on democratic developments in Belgrade and the concomitant fight in the Presevo valley of Kosovo, it appears that Moscow is again losing the fight to win over incalcitrant republics or make convincing strides towards democratic state stability.
Free speech and democracy threatened in Spain As the drum roll of murder by bomb and bullet echoes across Spain, the strategy of ETA, the Basque separatist movement, becomes clear. It aims to render democratic political life in the Basque regions impossible; to spread fear and force the centre-right Popular Party (PP) government of José Maria Aznar to surrender to its demands.
Middle East: Algeria: The Civil Concord's discordant aftermath
IN September 1999, the people of Algeria voted overwhelmingly to accept President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's referendum for a 'Civil Concord' in the hope that it would bring an end to the violence that erupted in 1992 after the army forced the government to cancel legislative elections when it seemed certain they would be won by the extremist Islamic Salvation Front (FIS). The concord offered the FIS a partial amnesty in return for an end to the 'armed struggle'. President Bouteflika also held out the promise - still unrealised -that the banned FIS would be able to resume legal political activity and that the party's imprisoned leaders would be released.
Asia:
Kashmir's 'cease-fire' under pressure Sustaining the cease-fire against Muslim militants in northern India's disputed Kashmir state is straining the 'tolerance threshold' of the security forces who have lost over 65 personnel since it came into effect last November. The cease-fire has since been extended by another four weeks to January 26. "If the present rate of casualties continues, the morale of the security forces, already at a low ebb, will take a further beating" an army commander said. He said militants were successfully carrying out "stand off" attacks against the army, paramilitary and local police with rockets, grenade launchers and mines without fear of reprisal. Over 2,300 security forces personnel, have died in Kashmir's 11-year long civil war for an Islamic homeland which has claimed nearly 30,000 lives.
Nepal:
Theatre for Maoists and Islamists In a political neighbourhood marked for its turbulent fissiparous impulses, Nepal is presenting an increasing problem for regional security. That some serious trouble has been brewing in landlocked Nepal -sandwiched between big neighbours China and India - is all too clear. The facts speak for themselves: Seizures of 120 kgs of RDX in three years (1997-2000) besides a heavy haul of smuggled gold, drugs and explosives; the killings of an estimated 1050 civilians and 300-odd Policemen since 1996 in Maoist-related violence - and the growing nexus that has been seen as emerging between ministers/officials of the Nepal Government, functionaries of the Pakistan embassy at Kathmandu and the leaders/promoters of Islamic terrorism based in India, Pakistan, Dubai and other Middle-East countries.
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