1. No category

Revue de Presse Hebdomadaire
Lcl (H) CONVERT
Semaine 2014-04
Les documents en rouge sont des PDF … parfois longs. Ce sont généralement des documents de
fond, dont bon nombre viennent du Service de Recherche du Congrès, un « Think Tank » interne qui
propose aux législateurs des monographies sur tous les thèmes d’actualité dont ils peuvent avoir à
traiter.
Faits Marquants
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Afghanistan : Preuve de vie d’un militaire US prisonnier des Taliban (le seul), et refus de négociation
des mêmes Taliban avec les US. Joe Biden propose une approche radicale si aucun accord n’’est
trouvé : on s’en va.
Afrique : reconnaissance de l’arrivée d’un nouveau partenaire, le continent Africain.
Terrorisme : Forte baisse du niveau de piraterie, qui se déplace de la côte Est de l’Afrique vers la
côte Ouest (Golfe de Guinée). Et de nouveau, un ex pensionnaire de Guantanamo retrouvé en
activité.
Chine : la construction d’un second porte avion est lancée, et un plan à moyen terme annoncé (4
porte-avions).
Cyber warfare : encore un hack massif de données bancaire, cette fois ci en Corée. Il pourrait
concerner près de la moitié de la population.
Drones : les emplois civils, plutôt en location, démarrent aux US, ralentis par les incertitudes vis-à-vis
de la Navigation Aérienne qui tarde. Principaux clients, les autorités comme la police, la police des
frontières, les douanes, …
Egypte : des attaques contre les forces gouvernementales dans le Sinaï, crainte de fermeture du
Canal de Suez (l’une des - maintenant rares - vaches à lait de l’Egypte), et attaque d’infrastructures
gazières.
Etudes : … : Israël refuse la banalisation du mot « Nazi », associé à la Shoah. Traiter quelqu’un de
Nazi pourra être puni en justice.
Europe : Engagement dans certaines crises, comme la Syrie (conférence de paix) et la RCA
(troupes).
Histoire : décès du dernier « soldat perdu japonais ». Il avait vécu 29 ans dans la jungle, ignorant la
fin de la guerre.
Irak : la crise de Fallujah se renforce. Les US, après beaucoup d’hésitations, et en se déclarant
« déçus » des capacités militaires irakiennes, consent à apporter de l’armement léger et des
munitions.
Iran : Difficile de résister à la tentation : une affaire d’espionnage découverte, cette fois ci aux US, et
au profit de l’Iran : des plans du F-35 qui s’envoleraient … pas le F-35, les plans. Et, suite à des
déclarations israéliennes sur l’accord possible, un « lapsus » d’une politicienne US, disant que ce
n’était pas à Israël de faire la politique étrangère des US.
Japon : Document de sécurité et stratégie nationale.
Lybie : toujours de l’activité autour de l’attaque de l’ambassade à Benghazi, sous le règne d’Hillary
Clinton en tant que SecState. Cette dernière semble se positionner pour 2016. Cette activité ne
serait-elle pas en vue de lui « savonner » la planche d’envol ?
Mali : La brigade franco-Allemande sur le départ.
Russie : les US offrent leur concours à la sécurité des JO de Sotchi et se préparent au cas où … Le
DoD fait bien remarquer que la Russie n’a rien demandé … Jusque maintenant.
Suisse : Il y aura finalement une consultation populaire concernant l’achat du Grippen (18 Mai 2014)
Syrie : les services de renseignement occidentaux dialoguent discrètement avec leurs homologues
syriens. Pas de paix ou de guerre, mais du nombre de leurs ressortissants présumés actifs dans les
forces rebelles, et surtout islamistes. De nombreux chiffres circulent. Récemment Valls a fait état des
estimations françaises. Une association française est en train de se monter, à l’initiative d’un père de
deux victimes sur place, pour favoriser leur retour, et en particulier pour qu’ils ne passent pas
directement de la case djihad à la case prison en France. Le nombre de ressortissants de l’Europe de
l’Ouest serait en train d’exploser : multiplication par 3 entre Mai et Décembre 2013. Et maladresse
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diplomatique : l’Iran a été invité à participer à la prochaine phase de négociation. Mais les iraniens,
qui jusque maintenant n’y participaient pas, ne reconnaissent pas les conclusions des phases
antérieures. Du coup, ils ne sont plus invités. Et donc, la seule question qui reste, ce n’est pas de
savoir si la conférence va se « planter » ou pas, mais uniquement comment.
UK : les derniers commentaires de Robert Gates sur les capacités britanniques entrainent une
réaction en chaine. Et on pourra trouver toute une série de documents de fond concernant une
éventuelle sécession écossaise, exposant les conséquences, pour l’Angleterre, comme pour
l’Ecosse.
Ukraine : l’affaire semble « pliée ». Des violences ont été commises par les forces de l’ordre. On va
créer une commission d’enquête. Pas besoin de ressortir le fameux mot de Clémenceau ….
US, Sécurité : Discours d’Obama sur la NSA … des appréciations très diverses. Depuis « ça, c’est
un chef », jusque « noyer le poisson » et incapable. Affaire de Sœur Megan Rice bien
embarrassante: en juillet 2012, cette religieuse « dynamique » de 83 ans, avec deux autres
personnes « dynamiques », sans autre équipement que des marteaux et des coupe boulon (face à
des mitrailleuses), a réussi à s’introduire dans une enceinte militaire de fabrication d’armements
nucléaires, à y pénétrer relativement loin (3 niveaux de grillage de sécurité) pour y faire des tags à la
bombe à peinture avant d’être finalement arrêtée. Elle risque 30 ans de prison.
US DoD : des bisbilles entre l’active et la réserve. Devant la diminution des crédits, l’active veut
sauvegarder ses budgets, quitte à ne pas laisser grand-chose à la réserve.
US Navy : le numéro 2 sur le départ, pour « conduite inappropriée » envers une subalterne.
US 2016 : la candidature à la candidature d’Hillary Clinton est de plus en plus évidente. Et on ressort
les vieux dossiers … Benghazi (voir plus haut) et aussi un vote malvenu sur l’engagement en Irak, il y
a si longtemps …
Vatican : un ancien responsable des finances pontificales accusé de blanchissement d’argent
Yemen : Al Qaeda pas bien loin de l’affrontement frontal avec les forces gouvernementales
Tour d’horizon rapide
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Afghanistan : Preuve de vie d’un militaire US prisonnier des Taliban (le seul), et refus de négociation
de ces mêmes taliban avec les US. On parle de l’avenir de Karzai, après les élections. La constitution
lui interdit de se représenter. Et plusieurs documents (voir mini dossiers) sur la lutte contre la drogue,
où le SIGAR s’arrache les cheveux.
Afrique : reconnaissance de l’arrivée d’un nouveau partenaire, le continent Africain.
Terrorisme : Forte baisse du niveau de piraterie, qui se déplace de la côte Est de l’Afrique vers la
côte Ouest (Golfe de Guinée). Et de nouveau, un ex pensionnaire de Guantanamo retrouvé en
activité.
Australie : un vieux document de fond (2010) – livre blanc : la défense de l’Australie au siècle de
l’Asie-Pacifique … Force 2030.
Chine : la construction d’un second porte avion est lancée, et un plan à moyen terme annoncé (4
porte-avions). Petite démonstration médiatique du groupe aéronaval chinois. Analyse de
spécialistes : où sont les navires logistiques ? Et que fait ce croiseur côtier sur la photo ?
Cyber warfare : encore un hack massif de données bancaire, cette fois ci en Corée. Il pourrait
concerner près de la moitié de la population. La théorie de l’attaque à outrance … aussi peu valable
en guerre cybernétique qu’en guerre conventionnelle.
Drones : les emplois civils, plutôt en location, démarrent aux US, ralentis par les incertitudes vis-à-vis
de la Navigation Aérienne qui tarde. Principaux clients, les autorités comme la police, la police des
frontières, les douanes, mais aussi la recherche de personnes, première reconnaissance de
l’ampleur d’une catastrophe …
Egypte : des attaques contre les forces gouvernementales dans le Sinaï, crainte de fermeture du
Canal de Suez (l’une des - maintenant rares - vaches à lait de l’Egypte), et attaque d’infrastructures
gazières. Document de fond US sur les relations avec l’Egypte. Et dilemme des autorités US : les
grands principes (démocratie, un homme, une voix) contre les grands sentiments (efficacité et ordre)
…
Etudes : … : Israël refuse la banalisation du mot « Nazi », associé à la Shoah. Traiter quelqu’un de
Nazi pourra être puni en justice. Les risques majeurs de 2014. Le risque d’attaque biologique aux
US. Le rôle des services secrets, par le n° 1 français : réduire le niveau d’incertitude des décideurs.
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Ah qu’en termes choisis ces choses-là sont dites !!! Le New York Times est-il objectif ? Et des
jugements contrastés sur l’aptitude d’Obama à conduire le pays, et en particulier sa politique
étrangère. Et nos djihadistes en Syrie Qu’en faire à leur retour ?
France, vue de l’étranger : et pas toujours en anglais … Un peu de « french bashing » … au vu des
évènements récents, nos copains rigolent bien de nous.
Europe : Engagement dans certaines crises, comme la Syrie (conférence de paix) et la RCA
(troupes).
Histoire : décès du dernier « soldat perdu » japonais. Il avait vécu 29 ans dans la jungle, ignorant la
fin de la guerre. Le DoD lance un fond numérique (images, films, etc...)
Irak : la crise de Fallujah se renforce. Les US, après beaucoup d’hésitations, et en se déclarant
« déçus » des capacités militaires irakiennes, consentent à apporter de l’armement léger et des
munitions.
Iran : Difficile de résister à la tentation : une affaire d’espionnage découverte, cette fois ci aux US, et
au profit de l’Iran : des plans du F-35 qui s’envoleraient … pas le F-35, les plans. Et, suite à des
déclarations israéliennes sur l’accord possible, le « lapsus » d’une politicienne US, disant que ce
n’était pas à Israël de faire la politique étrangère des US, fait pas mal de bruit. L’Iran a annoncé
disposer, photos à l’appui, d’un avion furtif. Principaux commentaires : merci Photoshop !!!!
Israël : le problème des arabes israéliens … et disparition d’Ariel Sharon … après 8 ans de coma. Il
était en fait disparu des radars de la politique depuis longtemps.
Japon : Documents de sécurité et stratégie nationale. Et une étude un peu polémique : le japon est-il
condamné à mort par sa démographie ?
Koweït : et si le Ministre de la Justice était proche des extrémistes.
Lamentable : Rubrique très rarement utilisée … une officine française catalogue comme
« Nazillons » tout ce qui a l’heur de lui déplaire, et en particulier les fameux « quenellards » où
certains ne voient que des protestataires contre un certain ordre … qui interdit ce geste, dont souvent
ils ne connaissent pas la portée supposée. Jusqu’à rendre photos et identités publiques, ad vitam
aeternam – web – et se flatter de les avoir fait virer de leur travail. On peut se reporter à la rubrique
« Israël », un peu plus haut, qui réagit contre la banalisation du terme Nazi ….
Lybie : toujours de l’activité autour de l’attaque de l’ambassade à Benghazi, sous le règne d’Hillary
Clinton en tant que SecState. Cette dernière semblant se positionner pour 2016, cette activité ne
serait-elle pas en vue de lui « savonner » la planche d’envol ?
Mali : La brigade franco-Allemande sur le départ.
Matériels et équipements, Aviation : au fil de la navigation internet, quelques monographies
d’appareils, en service ou en développement.
Matériels et équipements, marine : les cinq meilleurs sous-marins de tous les temps.
Matériel et équipements, Armements : toujours au fil du web. Un nouveau missile balistique russe
en étude. La Chine se lancerait dans les munitions cinétiques à haute énergie (mach 10). Pas l’air
d’être si dangereux, selon un rapport US.
Mer de Chine du Sud : la pression chinoise ne faiblit pas
Moyen Orient : Israël démolit (blasts) le plan Kerry. Crépuscule des accords Sykes-Picot, qui ont
présidé au découpage du Moyen orient entre les français et les brits … et que certains accusent
d’être à l’origine de certaines difficultés d’aujourd’hui.
Pour sourire : un drone cible (BQM-74, en fait un missile de croisière antinavire … sans charge
explosive) manqué par l’artillerie high tech de bord se plante sur le navire. Pas de pertes, mais des
dégâts … Et comment la technique (de la retouche photo) permet à l’Iran d’afficher un avion furtif.
Personne ne l’a encore vu, même pas les US … et pour cause.
République Centre Africaine : exode des musulmans vers le Tchad – qui participe au
rétablissement de l’ordre. Peut-on réellement reconstruire un Etat ? L’ONU s’inquiète de possibles
prémices de génocide.
Russie : Document de fond US sur les relations russo-américaines. Et l’insécurité dans le sud de la
Russie conduit à se poser des questions.
Russie, Sotchi : les US offrent leur concours à la sécurité des JO de Sotchi et se préparent au cas
où … Le DoD fait cependant bien remarquer que la Russie n’a rien demandé … Jusque maintenant.
Forces de sécurité affichées par les Russes : 44 000 hommes.
Suisse : Il y aura finalement une consultation populaire concernant l’achat du Grippen (18 Mai 2014)
Syrie : les services de renseignement occidentaux dialoguent discrètement avec leurs homologues
syriens. Pas de paix ou de guerre, mais du nombre de leurs ressortissants présumés actifs dans les
forces rebelles, et surtout islamistes. De nombreux chiffres circulent. Récemment Valls a fait état des
estimations françaises. Une association française est en train de se monter, à l’initiative du père de
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deux de victimes sur place, pour favoriser leur retour, et en particulier éviter qu’ils ne passent pas
directement de la case djihad à la case prison en France, en cas de retour. Le nombre de
ressortissants de l’Europe de l’Ouest serait en train d’exploser : multiplication par 3 entre Mai et
Décembre 2013. Et maladresse diplomatique : l’Iran a été invité à participer à la prochaine phase de
négociation. Mais les iraniens, qui jusque maintenant n’y participaient pas, ne reconnaissent pas les
conclusions des phases antérieures. Du coup, ils ne sont plus invités. Conséquence, la seule
question qui reste, ce n’est pas de savoir si la conférence va se « planter » ou pas, mais uniquement
comment. Document de fond US sur le conflit. Implication du Hezbollah … Il se confirme qu’Assad
pourrait bénéficier d’une embellie, avec la priorité donnée par ses opposants à s’entre tuer.
UK : les derniers commentaires de Robert Gates sur les capacités britanniques entrainent une
réaction en chaine. Rappel d’un document de doctrine pas si ancien (2010) concernant la grande
Bretagne à l’ère de l’incertain. Et, comme pour beaucoup de pays européens, le problème des
apprentis djihadistes en Syrie.
UK, Ecosse : Et on pourra trouver toute une série de documents de fond concernant une éventuelle
sécession écossaise, exposant les conséquences, pour l’Angleterre, comme pour l’Ecosse.
Ukraine : l’affaire semble « pliée ». Des violences ont été commises par les forces de l’ordre. On va
créer une commission d’enquête. Pas besoin de ressortir le fameux mot de Clémenceau ….
US : rappel d’un document (2010) de stratégie en matière de sécurité nationale. De nouvelles
directives présidentielles concernant les livraisons d’armes, le SIGINT … et rappel de la liste des
directives présidentielles en la matière. Encore un document de fond : la sécurité de l’immigration.
US, Sécurité : Discours d’Obama sur la NSA … des appréciations très diverses. Depuis « ça, c’est
un chef », jusque « noyer le poisson » et incapable. Affaire de Sœur Megan Rice bien
embarrassante: en juillet 2012, cette religieuse « dynamique » de 83 ans, avec deux autres
personnes « dynamiques », sans autre équipement que des marteaux et des coupe-boulon (face à
des mitrailleuses), a réussi à s’introduire dans une enceinte militaire de fabrication d’armements
nucléaires, à y pénétrer relativement loin (3 niveaux de grillage de sécurité) pour y faire des tags à la
bombe à peinture avant d’être finalement arrêtée. Elle risque 30 ans de prison. On trouvera bien
entendu le discours d’Obama, accompagné de très nombreuses exégèses. On trouvera aussi de très
nombreux documents sur le sujet, et en particulier un certain nombre sur les capacités supposées de
la NSA (on ne prête qu’aux riches). Et en changeant de sujet, un document de fond sur les
technologies de contrôle de la non-prolifération nucléaire.
US DoD : des bisbilles entre l’active et la réserve (en fait Réserve + Garde Nationale). Devant la
diminution des crédits, l’active veut sauvegarder ses budgets, quitte à ne pas laisser grand-chose à la
réserve. La « maladie » des missiliers stratégiques US … on pourrait retrouver la chanson de Brel …
« je m’appelle … et je suis capitaine … au fort de … qui domine la plaine … d’où l’ennemi viendra
… ». Des années à attendre un ordre qui ne vient jamais, c’est usant. Il y a bien des contrôles, mais
on arrive à se débrouiller en truandant les épreuves. Et il faut bien occuper le temps, éventuellement
avec un peu « d’herbe » … Une histoire de ce genre a couru au moment de la prise de fonction de
Jimmy Carter. Son entourage fort galonné lui a présenté un boitier « anti panique ». En appuyant sur
le bouton, il était censé provoquer dans les 5 minutes l’irruption d’un commando bien armé, et dont la
mission était de l’exfiltrer vite fait de la Maison Blanche. Comme il était le Boss, il a appuyé … et rien
ne s’est passé avant plusieurs heures … Et truander les contrôles est une tradition, pas
nécessairement uniquement française. Il y a plusieurs années, le corps d’inspection des installations
nucléaires, d’abord très satisfaits des performances d’un établissement célèbre (Livermore ?), qui
passait tous les tests haut la main, est devenu soupçonneux. Finalement, le pot aux roses a été
découvert. Le labo avait accès au thème du contrôle. Sur, passer un examen, c’est bien plus facile
quand on connait le sujet. Une bonne partie du test était faite par simulation – difficile de lancer une
attaque frontale par un commando extérieur, sans risquer des pertes, qui n’auraient rien de collatéral,
devant le niveau de protection de ces installations – quoique … voir l’histoire de Sœur Megan Rice.
Le recrutement se passe toujours bien. Mais ça pourrait ne pas durer.
DoD Budget : les incertitudes sur le budget ne facilitent pas la disponibilité... Et, par la baisse des
crédits de recherche, notre supériorité technologique n’est plus si certaine.
US Air Force : encore des gags concernant les missiliers et les codes d’activation. De mauvaises
langues prétendent que le code « 00000000 » aurait été récemment changé en « 12345678 » … sur
tous les missiles et toutes les têtes. Démenti catégorique des autorités compétentes.
US Army : avec la baisse prévue des effectifs, les forces US sont-elles toujours capable d’aller à la
guerre (pour la gagner, bien sûr).
US Marines Corps : document de fond sur la baisse des effectifs.
US Médecine … : La psychiatrie devient un domaine fondamental. Comment réduire les pertes sur le
champ de bataille ? Comment améliorer la probabilité de survie des blessés ? Le programme
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controversé des LCS est revu à la baisse … 32 au lieu de 52. Et un drone « cible » manqué vient
s’écraser sur un navire.
US Navy : le numéro 2 sur le départ, pour « conduite inappropriée » envers une subalterne.
US Veterans : nombreuses réactions à la suite de la diminution de certains avantages propres aux
vétérans
US 2016 : la candidature à la candidature d’Hillary Clinton est de plus en plus évidente. Et on ressort
les vieux dossiers … Benghazi (voir plus haut) et aussi un vote malvenu sur l’engagement en Irak, il y
a si longtemps …
Vatican : un ancien responsable des finances pontificales accusé de blanchissement d’argent
Yemen : Al Qaeda pas bien loin de l’affrontement frontal avec les forces gouvernementales
Must read
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Source: Missing U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl seen in video
Official Urges Support for Afghan Counternarcotics Efforts
Biden Seeks Deep Cut in U.S. Afghan Force
Grabbing the wolf’s tail
Remarks of spokesman of Islamic Emirate regarding demands by America
SIGAR/ Future U.S. Counternarcotics Efforts in Afghanistan
African Peace And Security Architecture (APSA) 2010 Assessment Study
The African Arms Market: A Growing Player
Moins de piraterie maritime en 2013, selon le Bureau maritime international
Defence (AU) White Paper 2009: Defending Australia in the Asia Pacific Century: Force 2030
Reports: China Starts Building 2nd Aircraft Carrier
China Flaunts First Carrier Battle Group Photo Op
Cult of the Cyber Offensive
Border patrol drones being borrowed by other agencies more often than previously known
Egypt: Background and U.S. Relations
Attacks in the Suez: Security of the Canal at Risk?
US-Egypt Relations: When Ideals and Interests Collide
Top Risks 2014
The Biohacker: A Threat to National Security
"La DGSE, outil de réduction de l'incertitude?" (Revue Défense Nationale - janvier 2014)
De-Trivializing the Nazis
Is the New York Times Biased?
Obama's Foreign Policy to Nowhere
EU citizens fighting in Syria pose threat of terror attacks when they return home, says
domestic affairs chief
French Bashing : l’ambassade de France à Londres ne laisse rien passer
Hiroo Onoda Dead: Last Japanese WWII Soldier To Come Out Of Hiding Dies At 91
Baghdad on the Brink
CTC Perspective: The Islamic State Returns to Fallujah
U.S. Preparing Small Arms, Ammunition Support for Iraq
Did Iran’s spies try to steal us stealth planes secrets
Feinstein Under Fire For Israel Comments
Eight Ways You're Wrong About Iran's Nuclear Program
Israel's Arabs: Not Zionists, But Israelis
NATIONAL (JP) DEFENSE PROGRAM GUIDELINES for FY 2014 and beyond (SUMMARY)
National Security Strategy Dec, 17 2013
Defense Programs and 2014 Budget of Japan
The Strategic Implications of Japan's Resurgence
New Kuwaiti Justice Minister Has Deep Extremist Ties
Senate.gov/ Review of the terrorist attacks on US. facilities in Benghazi, Libya, September 1112,2012 together with additional views
Bundesregierung bereitet Afrika-Einsatz vor
The Five Best Submarines of All Time
China’s WU-14 Hypersonic Vehicle: Not So Fast
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China continues pressing territorial claims in East and South China Seas
The Twilight of Sykes-Picot
High-Tech Defense Gun Misses as Navy Accidentally Blasts Own Ship
CENTRAFRIQUE : A Bangui, l’heure de l’exode pour les musulmans
Central African Republic: 'seeds of genocide' being sown, warns UN
Russian Political, Economic, and Security Issues and U.S. Interests,
Russia's Homegrown Terror Threat
U.S. Military Offers Antiterrorism Support at Sochi Winter Olympics
Creating My Digital Self
Top Tech: Zero-Power Bathythermograph Sensors
Neutralizing Chemical Weapons
Switzerland Replacing Old F-5 Fighters with New Gripen-E
Insiders: Western Intel Services Coordinate With Assad
Gag Order
Armed Conflict in Syria: Overview and U.S. Response
Hizb Allah at War in Syria: Forces, Operations, Effects and Implications
Analysis: Shifting dynamics of rebel infighting in Syria
Are the Syria peace talks headed for disaster
Iran and the Stumble Toward Geneva II
Military cuts mean 'no US partnership', Robert Gates warns Britain
British Military 'Could Become Hollow Force'
A Strong Britain in an Age of Uncertainty: The National Security Strategy (2010)
If the MoD can't name the enemy, it shouldn't buy the weapons
Indépendance de l'Ecosse?
Scotland analysis: Defence
Scotland analysis: EU and international issues
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NATIONAL US SECURITY STRATEGY (2010)
Whitehouse.gov/Presidential Policy Directive 27. United States Conventional Arms Transfer
Policy
Presidential Policy Directives [PPDs] Barack Obama Administration
PRESIDENTIAL POLICY DIRECTIVE/PPD-28: Signals Intelligence Activities
Border Security: Immigration Inspections at Port of Entry
Spy court judge : these aren’t the reforms you’re looking for
Hill Intel Leaders Downplay Need for NSA Reforms
Obama is not about to reform the NSA insiders say
Follow Barack Obama's speech on NSA surveillance on our live blog
5 Things Obama Failed to Address in the NSA Speech
Restoring Trust in Internet Privacy and Data Security
Blackphone : un prochain smartphone anti-NSA
NSA worked on iPhone spyware to remotely monitor users, leaked documents show
Nun Faces up to 30 Years for Breaking Into Weapons Complex, Embarrassing the Feds
"Assessment of Nuclear Monitoring and Verification Technologies,"
Trouble Brewing Between US Army's Active Duty and Guard Forces
First drugs now cheating. The Air Force nuke scandal just got bigger
Recruiting On Track, But Officials Worry About Future
Kendall: Military Technological Superiority Not Assured
The U.S. Air Force For Dummies
Exclusive Air Force insists it never used painfully simple nuke code
Cheating on tests at nuclear facility was common, ex-officers say
The US military is slated to shed 150000 soldiers can it still go to war ?
Marine Corps Drawdown, Force Structure Initiatives, and Roles and Missions: Background
and Issues for Congress,
Medical Fellowship Program Seeks to Reduce Battlefield Deaths
Disaster Psychiatry Emerges as DOD Field of Study
Pentagon Said to Order Cutting Littoral Ships by 20
High-Tech Defense Gun Misses as Navy Accidentally Blasts Own Ship
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Cuts to Military Retirement Outrage Veterans Nationwide
Hillary Clinton's Iraq War Vote Still Matters
Vatican Priest Charged With Money Laundering
AQAP overruns Yemeni army base, seizes armored vehicles
Mini Dossiers
Afghanistan : l’otage aux mains des taliban
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Source: Missing U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl seen in video
Military Remains Focused on Finding Bergdahl
Afghanistan : la lutte contre la drogue
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Official Urges Support for Afghan Counternarcotics Efforts
SIGAR/ Future U.S. Counternarcotics Efforts in Afghanistan
Syrie : Djihadistes occidentaux … et européens
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EU citizens fighting in Syria pose threat of terror attacks when they return home, says
domestic affairs chief
European Spies Reach Out to Syria
Insiders: Western Intel Services Coordinate With Assad
The Spanish Foreign Fighter Contingent in Syria
Des jeunes jihadistes britanniques se battent dans le nord de la Syrie
Syrian Foreign Fighters: 10 Questions for Government
France vue de l’étranger : Pour sourire (parfois jaune) avec les quelques monuments du french bashing
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French Bashing : l’ambassade de France à Londres ne laisse rien passer
The Economist/ The time-bomb at the heart of Europe
So much to do, so little time
The Fall of France
France’s failed socialist experiment is turning into a tragedy
Quand «Foreign Policy» met la France en rouge !
«French-Bashing»: la riposte de l'ambassade de France agit le Royaume-Uni
Comment les pantalons taille basse ont ruiné Paris (en anglais)
The New Sick Man of Europe: the European Union - on parle aussi de la France
L'arrogance suprême des Froggies
Iran : le programme nucléaire iranien
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Feinstein Under Fire For Israel Comments
What North Korea Says About the Iran Talks
Understanding Iran's Nuclear Goals
Eight Ways You're Wrong About Iran's Nuclear Program
Matériels : quelques aéronefs …
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F-35B Ship Suitability Testing - YouTub
Sukhoi PAK FA
Eurocopter AS332 Super Puma
Bell UH-1 Iroquois
Eurocopter AS350
Aérospatiale Alouette III
Eurocopter EC145
Robinson R44
Syrie : les négociations de paix
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Gag Order
Statement from Zawahiri's representative shows Syrian rebel group tied to al Qaeda
Are the Syria peace talks headed for disaster
Iran and the Stumble Toward Geneva II
UK : effet Gates
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Military cuts mean 'no US partnership', Robert Gates warns Britain
British Military 'Could Become Hollow Force'
Our security is built on a strong and stable Army
A Strong Britain in an Age of Uncertainty: The National Security Strategy (2010)
Britain's freedom depends on military strength
If the MoD can't name the enemy, it shouldn't buy the weapons
US, Sécurité : Réorganisation des services de renseignement
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Spy court judge : these aren’t the reforms you’re looking for
Obama is not about to reform the NSA insiders say
Hill Intel Leaders Downplay Need for NSA Reforms
Follow Barack Obama's speech on NSA surveillance on our live blog
WHAT, ME WORRY?
Obama to balance privacy and security concerns in speech on surveillance, aides say
Obama bans spying on leaders of U.S. allies, scales back NSA program
5 Things Obama Failed to Address in the NSA Speech
Scoring Obama's NSA Speech, Point by Point
US, NSA : On ne prète qu’aux riches
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NSA collects millions of text messages daily in 'untargeted' global sweep
Dishfire presentation on text message collection – key extracts
The Guardian/The NSA Files
La NSA lit peut-être vos textos
Revealed: UK and US spied on text messages of Brits
La NSA surveille aussi des ordinateurs non connectés à internet
N.S.A. Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers
La NSA planchait sur la prise de contrôle à distance d'appareils électroniques
NSA : un câble sous-marin et un pan entier d'Internet espionnés
Restoring Trust in Internet Privacy and Data Security
Blackphone : un prochain smartphone anti-NSA
US, Nuclear Strategic Forces: le blues des missiliers
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US suspends 34 nuclear missile officers over exam cheating
Department of Defense Press Briefing on the Status of Air Force Investigations into Allegations of
Illegal Drug Possession from the Pentagon
First drugs now cheating. The Air Force nuke scandal just got bigger
ICBM Retesting Continues, Hagel Open to Incentives for Missileers
Exclusive Air Force insists it never used painfully simple nuke code
Cheating on tests at nuclear facility was common, ex-officers say
Articles
Afghanistan
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Karzai’s future and the afghan elections …… "...With President Hamid Karzai due to step down,
after reaching his constitutional limit of two full terms, the country is approaching what political
scientists say is always important in a young democracy: the first attempt at a peaceful, constitutional
transfer of power. And believe it or not, so far, so good. Most news reaching the United States about
Afghanistan is troubling, but the election campaign is going reasonably well. Though much could, of
course, still go wrong, the initial period of campaigning and preparation has been fairly promising...
How can we be sure that Karzai will really have the confidence to support the upcoming election and
its outcome? It is hard to know. But one possibility is to find a way for him to play a prominent role in
Afghanistan even after he steps down from office."
Source: Missing U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl seen in video The U.S. military has obtained new
video apparently made by those holding the lone American prisoner of war, Army Sgt. Bowe
Bergdahl. A U.S. military official told CNN the clip shows the Wood Valley, Idaho, native in
diminished health from the effects of close to five years in captivity.
Official Urges Support for Afghan Counternarcotics Efforts A senior Defense Department official
has warned about the growing threat of narcotics originating in Afghanistan and has urged continued
support for efforts to eradicate production.
Military Remains Focused on Finding Bergdahl The U.S. military will do everything it can to ensure
that Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is returned from enemy captivity and reunited with his family, said
Rear Adm. John Kirby, Pentagon press secretary.
Biden Seeks Deep Cut in U.S. Afghan Force Vice President's Renewed Bid to Limit Presence
Reflects Growing Frustration With Karzai. WASHINGTON—Vice President Joe Biden has resumed a
push to withdraw virtually all U.S. troops from Afghanistan at year's end, arguing for a far-smaller
presence than many military officers would like to see, said officials briefed on the discussions. The
White House convened a meeting of top national-security officials on Thursday to discuss the war
and the future of the U.S. troop presence. Mr. Biden has lost previous debates...
Grabbing the wolf’s tail ….. 'The Taliban are still here,' a pharmacist who sells medicine to remote
villages in the southeast told me last month in this shabby frontier town. 'People are anxious about
2014 because the troops are leaving.' ….. After his customers started to understand recently that the
United States and its allies will pull out most of their forces this year, he said, his sales of medication
for anxiety, depression and insomnia increased 30-fold. Fear of a Taliban resurgence is so
widespread that it is hurting property prices and the value of Afghanistan's currency, scaring investors
away and impelling Afghans to seek foreign asylum. Worries about the year ahead are a kind of
pathology here. Yet if Afghans are too scared about the withdrawal of American troops, the United
States government may not be scared enough. In its latest report to Congress, the Pentagon said that
fighting had eased in 2013, reporting a 12 percent drop in security incidents over the previous
summer. Kicker: "There is no other option, according to a local journalist in Gardez. 'Fighting in
Afghanistan is like grabbing a wolf's tail,' he said. 'While you hold on, you're worried it will bite you.
But if you let go, you are sure it will bite you.'
Remarks of spokesman of Islamic Emirate regarding demands by America After a series of
recent attacks against foreign invaders in Afghanistan, the latest of which was a martyrdom operation
inside Kabul targeting high ranking American and other foreign invaders in which tens where handed
retributive justice for their actions, America was compelled to ask the Islamic Emirate to hold peace
talks with the Kabul regime and lay down their arms, also stating that the American invaders are
supposedly working for a better future of Afghanistan!!?? While failing to mention anything regards its
own recent savagery in Siyah Gerd district!!! We strongly reject the American demand. America
wants to turn a blind eye from a manifest reality and conveniently skip over the primary reason for the
problems of Afghanistan.
The end of an era in Kabul: Taliban attack on cherished restaurant shatters illusion of oasis
SIGAR/ Future U.S. Counternarcotics Efforts in Afghanistan I appreciate this opportunity to
discuss the perilous state of the U.S. counternarcotics effort in Afghanistan. On my last trip to
Afghanistan, I met with U.S., Afghan, and international officials involved in implementing and
evaluating counternarcotics programs. In the opinion of almost everyone I spoke with, the situation in
Afghanistan is dire with little prospect for improvement in 2014 or beyond. Afghan farmers are
growing more opium poppies today than at any time in their modern history. The UN Office of Drugs
and Crime (UNODC) estimates the value of opium plus its heroin and morphine derivatives produced
by Afghanistan at nearly $3 billion—or the equivalent of about 15 percent of Afghanistan’s Gross
1
Domestic Product (GDP)—in 2013. This was a substantial increase over 2012 when the value of
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Afghan opiates totaled about $2 billion and equaled about 11% of Afghanistan’s GDP. The narcotics
trade is poisoning the Afghan financial sector and fueling a growing illicit economy. This, in turn, is
undermining the Afghan state’s legitimacy by stoking corruption, nourishing criminal networks, and
providing significant financial support to the Taliban and other insurgent groups. There are already
signs that elements within the Afghan National Security Forces are reaching arrangements with rural
communities to allow opium poppy cultivation, or even encouraging production, as a way of building
3
local patronage networks and to establish rent seeking opportunities.
Afrique
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African Peace And Security Architecture (APSA) 2010 Assessment Study - This report
assesses progress made by the African Union (AU), the Regional Economic Communities (RECs)
and Regional Mechanisms in the Operationalization of the African Peace and Security Architecture
(APSA). It tracks and most importantly, identifies progress in the operationalization of APSA by the
aforementioned institutions. Additionally, it identifies specific gaps, needs and priorities with a
particular focus on the key components of the APSA i.e. the Peace and Security Council (PSC), the
Continental Early Warning System (CEWS), the African Standby Force (ASF), the Panel of the Wise
and the Peace Fund. The build-up of the APSA at the AU and the RECs/RMs has made varying
degrees of progress and achieved a certain level of operational readiness. - . The report makes the
following conclusions and findings based on the assessment criteria developed for the study. The
findings are broken down into the following categories: Vertical and Horizontal Coordination;
Sustainability; Subsidiarity; Coherence and Partnership.
The African Arms Market: A Growing Player 2014-01-17 Africa is starting to evolve into an
attractive customer in the international arms market due to strong economic growth, providing
opportunities for both international and African defense companies, according to Forecast
International. Over the next decade, the gross domestic product (GDP) among African countries is
expected to rise by an average of 6% a year, according to Forecast International. This concrete and
sustainable growth will allow for ample economic opportunities on the continent, including for
defence companies. Traditionally, Africa’s overall arms market has been driven primarily by a small
handful of key players with more established economic environments. However, smaller market
countries are increasingly taking positive steps toward democracy, human rights and overall stability,
allowing governments to focus more on creating strong economies. Given this bright outlook,
Forecast International is projecting that defense spending among African nations will
surpass $46 billion by 2018.
Al Quaeda, terrorisme, piraterie, guerilla, radicalisme …
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Moins de piraterie maritime en 2013, selon le Bureau maritime international Le Bureau maritime
international (BMI) a répertorié 264 actes de piraterie maritime dans le monde en 2013, le plus bas
niveau depuis sept ans, ce qui s'explique par l'effondrement du nombre d'attaques au large des côtes
somaliennes. Le niveau de la piraterie mondiale a ainsi baissé de 40% depuis 2011, année au cours
de laquelle les attaques au large de la Somalie avaient atteint un sommet avec 237 épisodes, indique
le rapport annuel du BMI. En 2013, seuls 15 incidents ont été enregistrés au large des côtes
somaliennes, contre 75 en 2012. À cet égard, l'Union européenne mène depuis 2008 une opération
militaire pour contribuer à la dissuasion, à la prévention et à la répression des actes de piraterie et de
brigandage au large des côtes de la Somalie. Cette opération a eu de nombreux succès
Twitter suspends a new account of al Qassam Brigades
Turkish authorities arrest ex-Gitmo detainee in raids against al Qaeda cells Turkish counterterrorism
forces reportedly arrested Ibrahim Sen, a former Guantanamo detainee, during raids against
suspected al Qaeda members in six different provinces on Jan. 14. Press reports identify Sen as a
senior al Qaeda member and even al Qaeda's "deputy leader" in the Middle East. The latter
description is most likely an exaggeration, but according to multiple sources Sen was allegedly
involved in an al Qaeda facilitation network. According to Hürriyet, Sen and the other detained
suspects have been accused of sending jihadists "to fight in Syria," facilitating the travel of al Qaeda
members coming from Afghanistan and Pakistan, "collecting money to help al Qaeda," and "providing
and distributing aid and weapons to be used in attacks in Syria, Pakistan and Afghanistan."
Australie
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Defence White Paper 2009: Defending Australia in the Asia Pacific Century: Force 2030
Defence planning is, by its very nature, a complex and long-term business. Defence planning is one
area of public policy where decisions taken in one decade have the potential to affect, for good or ill,
Australia's sovereignty and freedom of action for decades to come. The Government must make
careful judgements about Australia's long-term defence needs. Such judgements are even more
important in times of fiscal or strategic uncertainty. The global economic crisis is the most
fundamental economic challenge facing this Government. At times such as these, the Government
must be fiscally responsible. It would be reckless to commit substantial new resources to Defence
while uncertainty surrounding the crisis remains. This new Defence White Paper explains how the
Government plans to strengthen the foundations of Australia's defence. It sets out the Government's
plans for Defence for the next few years, and how it will achieve those plans. Most importantly, it
provides an indication of the level of resources that the Government is planning to invest in Defence
over coming years and what the Government, on behalf of the Australian people, expects in return
from Defence.
Bolivie
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Bolivia to acquire Super Puma helos
Chine
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Reports: China Starts Building 2nd Aircraft Carrier China has started constructing the second of
four planned aircraft carriers, a top government official said according to media reports on Saturday.
The ship is under construction in the northeastern port of Dalian and will take six years to build, the
reports said quoting Wang Min, Communist Party chief for Dalian’s Liaoning province. The country’s
first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, was completed in September 2012 in a symbolic milestone for the
country’s increasingly muscular military. Another two are in the pipeline, according to Wang, in a
projection of power that could be seen as contradicting Beijing’s long-stated policy of arming itself
strictly for self-defense.
China Flaunts First Carrier Battle Group Photo Op Impressive images include hints of naval
limitations; China’s first aircraft carrier Liaoning has returned to her home port of Qingdao on the Chinese
east coast, wrapping up a month-long exercise that saw the refurbished Soviet-built flattop and her escorts
sail south to the waters near Taiwan for the first time—oh, and also risk war by almost ramming an
American cruiser.
Colombie :
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State Department Fact Sheet on Colombia
Cyberwarfare, cyberespace, virus, etc …
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Cult of the Cyber Offensive Why belief in first-strike advantage is as misguided today as it was in
1914 ? P.W. Singer and Allan Friedman, writing on FP, argue why the belief in "first-strike
advantage" is as misguided now as it was in 1914. "In military circles 100 years ago, whatever
the question was, attack was always the answer. Attaque à outrance, or 'Attack to excess,' was a
concept that took hold in European military circles at the turn of the 20th century. The idea was that
new technologies like the railroad and telegraph gave an advantage at the strategic level to
whichever nation could mobilize first and go on the offensive, while new technologies like the fastfiring cannon, machine guns, and rifles meant at the tactical level that the troops who showed the
greatest offensive élan (a concept that combined both willpower and dash) would always carry the
day on the battlefield. The philosophy gained huge popularity. In Germany, it drove the adoption of
the Schlieffen Plan (which envisioned a rapid mobilization of the army to first knock out France to its
west with a lightning offensive and then swing back to face Russia to the east), while in France it
was actually written into military law in 1913 that the French army "henceforth admits no law but the
offensive.'"
Almost 40% of South Korea Hit in Major Credit Card Hack A lone hacker has leaked data from the
credit cards of 20 million in South Korea, meaning the personal data of about 40% of the country's
population has been compromised. A contract IT worker for Korea Credit Bureau, the office that
produces credit scores in that country, stole the data. That contractor has since been arrested, and
the three CEOs of the affected credit card companies — KB Kookmin Card, Lotte Card and NH
Nonghyup Card — have publicly apologized.
Drones, robots
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Border patrol drones being borrowed by other agencies more often than previously known
Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies are increasingly borrowing border-patrol drones
for domestic surveillance operations, newly released records show, a harbinger of what is expected
to become the commonplace use of unmanned aircraft by police. Customs and Border Protection,
which has the largest U.S. drone fleet of its kind outside the Defense Department, flew nearly 700
such surveillance missions on behalf of other agencies from 2010 to 2012, according to flight logs
released recently in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the Electronic Frontier
Foundation, a civil-liberties group. The records show that the border-patrol drones are being
commissioned by other agencies more often than previously known. Most of the missions are
performed for the Coast Guard, the Drug Enforcement Administration and immigration authorities.
But they also aid in disaster relief and in the search for marijuana crops, methamphetamine labs and
missing persons, among other missions not directly related to border protection."
Egypte
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Egypt: Background and U.S. Relations, January 10, 2014 This report provides an overview of the
key issues for Congress related to Egypt and information on U.S. foreign aid to Egypt. The United
States has provided significant military and economic assistance to Egypt since the late 1970s. U.S.
policy makers have routinely justified aid to Egypt as an investment in regional stability, built
primarily on long-running cooperation with the Egyptian military and on sustaining the March 1979
Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty. Successive U.S. Administrations have publicly characterized Egypt’s
government as generally influencing developments in the Middle East in line with U.S. interests. U.S.
policy makers are now debating complex questions about the future of U.S.-Egypt relations, and
these debates and events in Egypt are shaping consideration of appropriations and authorization
legislation in the 113th Congress.
Attacks in the Suez: Security of the Canal at Risk? Egypt’s Suez Canal is one of the world’s
busiest petroleum shipping channels.[1] An estimated 2.2 million barrels of oil and liquefied natural
gas (LNG) from the Persian Gulf pass through the Suez Canal every day bound for markets in
Europe and North America.[2] In addition, more than 1,500 container ships, headed to Europe and
Asia, traversed the canal in the second quarter of 2013.[3] With Egypt mired in political instability,
however, a terrorist group sharing al-Qa`ida’s ideology—the Furqan Brigades—attacked vessels
traversing the canal in 2013, and have vowed to conduct similar attacks in the future.[4] In the wake
of these attacks, there is concern that militants could successfully disrupt shipments through the
Suez Canal, such as by sinking a large vessel and blocking the canal for a period of time.
Sinai gas pipeline attacked for first time in 2014 Islamist militants detonated explosives along a
natural gas pipeline in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula today. The latest attack took place near the "a village
in central Sinai called el-Riysan," the Associated Press reported.
Washington's Hard Egypt Lesson We appear to have come full circle in Egypt. With the passage of
a new constitution in a referendum which in terms of how it was conducted (and in light of a nearlyunanimous yes vote) strongly resembles how balloting was conducting during the days of Hosni
Mubarak, the old regime has essentially been restored, three years after the start of the Tahrir
Square uprising. The path is now clear for General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the current defense minister
and de facto head of the interim authority that took power after the military deposed Mohamed Morsi
from the presidency of Egypt, to seek the presidential office.
US-Egypt Relations: When Ideals and Interests Collide Rarely has the tension between ideals
and interests in U.S. foreign policy collided more spectacularly than regards the Middle East in
general, and Egypt in particular. The result has been two countries that have talked past each other
in recent years, with Washington focused on the ideal of democracy promotion, while most
Egyptians are seemingly interested in putting food on the table and commuting to work without being
waylaid by another massive street protest. Last week the Egyptians voted in favor of a new
constitution, which will give both Washington and Cairo another opportunity to talk past each other.
Neither seems likely to pass it up. By U.S. reckoning, Egypt has deviated off the path of democracy
ever since the Egyptian ilitary overthrew the elected government of former President and Muslim
Brotherhood official Mohamed Morsi in July, 2013. The coup came amid massive street protests
against Morsi’s brand of Islamist authoritarianism, and was cheered by millions of Egyptians.
Etudes, réflexions et débats
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Some Bombs Can Be Tossed I read Adam Lowther and Hunter Hustus’s January 2 reply to me,
“Don’t Toss the Bomb,” with great interest. But they fail to make a persuasive case against my points
in “Fewer Nukes Don’t Mean More Danger.” The United States has substantial room to reduce its
nuclear arsenal, without risk to U.S. or allied security interests.
Creative Disruption: Task Force on Strategy, Technology and Global Defense Industry
Revue Défense Nationale.Éditorial de l’Amiral Jean Dufourcq, de l’Académie de Marine Rédacteur en chef. Aborder une nouvelle année stratégique, c’est faire un point à la fois sur ce
qui vient de se passer et sur ce qui est attendu, mais aussi essayer de scruter l’avenir pour se
préparer à ce...
Dempsey: Leaders Can Make a Difference in Challenging World Now is the best time for leaders to
make a difference in a challenging world, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey told students and faculty at
the National Defense University here Jan. 14.
Top Risks 2014 Since 2008, the world’s biggest risks have been economic. None of the feared
crises was as likely to take place as expected (because of underlying political stability!), but from
eurozone meltdown to fears of Chinese soft/medium/hard landings to the US debt crisis, analysts
have spent the past five years worrying about how to stave off financial implosion. That’s over. In
2014, big-picture economics are stable if not yet comforting. The EU has clawed its way out of
recession. Japan has, improbably, discovered economic leadership. The economic performance of
China’s new government is strong. And the US rebound is sufficiently robust for the markets to shrug
off New Year’s tapering resolutions. But geopolitics is very much in play. The realities of a G-Zero
order, a world of geopolitical creative destruction without global leadership, are evident. There are
tensions between China and Japan in the East China Sea, elite-level executions in North Korea,
Russia flexing its muscles in neighboring Ukraine and beyond, and everyone fighting with everyone
else in the Middle East (some things don’t change). All of which is changing the geopolitical map
quite aside from the role of the world’s only superpower.
The Biohacker: A Threat to National Security Biological warfare has existed for centuries, with
one of the earliest known examples occurring in 1155 when Emperor Frederick Barbarossa poisoned
water wells with human bodies in the siege of Tortona, Italy.[1] In 1972, the Convention on the
Prohibition of the Development, Production, and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin
Weapons and their Destruction was signed and adopted by the United Nations Office for
Disarmament Affairs for enforcement.[2] The treaty aims to prevent the development of offensive[3]
biological weapon (BW) agents and eliminate existing stockpiles; however, it only applies to the 170
nation-states that signed the convention and does not affect the actions of the 23 non-signatory
states, such as Chad, Israel and Kazakhstan,[4] or independent groups and individuals that seek to
employ such weapons. The 2001 anthrax letters in the United States demonstrated that the 1972
BW convention limits only one aspect of the problem. Weapons of mass destruction (WMD), once
previously under the sole control of nation-states, now could be maintained and deployed by an
individual.[5] In 2010, it was concluded that these letters, which were mailed to political leaders and
media outlets across the United States, constituted a terrorist attack[6] and were sent by Dr. Bruce
Ivins, a trained microbiologist employed by the U.S. Department of Defense.[7]
"La DGSE, outil de réduction de l'incertitude?" (Revue Défense Nationale - janvier 2014) Les
grands vainqueurs de la Seconde Guerre mondiale s’étaient partagé le monde en deux pôles. Ce
partage n’était certes pas sans menaces ni périls mais il n’en demeurait pas moins stable dans la
confrontation essentielle des deux camps. Il apportait finalement un ordre et une prévisibilité
rassurants, loin des incertitudes d’aujourd’hui. Depuis la fin de la guerre froide, les menaces se sont
multipliées, diversifiées, déplacées. Plus changeantes que naguère, elles émanent de groupes
terroristes, d’organisations criminelles, d’États et de réseaux proliférants, de pirates. Elles prennent
leur source dans des conflits déstabilisateurs et des États faillis, autour de tensions sur les
ressources énergétiques et les ressources naturelles, sans parler des cybermenaces – nouvelles et
en plein développement – et de l’espionnage – vieille menace toujours aussi active. À cela, il ne faut
pas manquer d’ajouter les crises migratoires, sinon militaires, qui naîtront peut-être de prochains
dérèglements climatiques. Enfin, même infime, subsiste la possibilité de guerres interétatiques. Ce
monde, devenu complexe, incertain, mouvant, imprévisible, a profondément modifié nos
perspectives stratégiques, qui ont été redéfinies en 2008 dans le Livre blanc sur la défense et la
sécurité nationale et confirmées par le Livre blanc de 2013. La connaissance et l’anticipation sont
depuis lors jugées essentielles pour notre capacité d’action et notre crédibilité internationale. Le
renseignement est nécessaire à la décision pour l’anticipation et l’appréciation des risques, crises et
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conflits internationaux. Il est devenu pour notre pays une priorité stratégique parmi les plus hautes
parce que l’identification même des menaces,
De-Trivializing the Nazis This week the Israeli Knesset took the first step toward enactment of a
bill that poses difficult questions for the legislators because it to some degree abridges free speech
but does so for benign purposes. The bill would criminalize derogatory use of the word Nazi or
related terms as applied to people other than the real Nazis, or to use symbols related to the
Holocaust for purposes other than educational ones. Penalties for violation would include fines and
up to six months imprisonment.
Is the New York Times Biased? Let’s play a little game. We’re going to imagine three scenarios
that could play out in American politics, and then we’re going to discuss which one of the three is
best suited for a feature-length movie, staggering amounts of media attention, and particularly upset
New York Times editorials. And then we’ll see if the world works the way we think it does.
Obama's Foreign Policy to Nowhere Sir Hew Strachan, an advisor to the Chief of the British
Defense Staff, made some ripples across the pond with his judgment on the U.S. president’s foreign
policy. “Obama has no sense of what he wants to do in the world,” Strachan said. Coming from a
world-class military historian, it was a stunning rebuke.
Is a Deal with Iran Bad for Turkey? The interim agreement finalized last week by Iran and the six
major powers seeking to prevent Iran’s acquisition of a nuclear weapon represents a major victory
for international diplomacy and promises significant benefits for Iran’s neighbors, especially Turkey.
But while Turkey has much to gain, economically and politically, from a peaceful resolution to the
decade-long dispute over Iran’s atomic ambitions, the accord may become yet another challenge to
Turkey’s quest for regional influence, leadership and primacy.
Misreading Obama Vali Nasr doesn’t think very highly of Barack Obama’s foreign policy. In his book
Dispensable Nation, Nasr charges the President with foreign-policy malpractice, flouting basic
standards of American international leadership. To catch an administration in this kind of flagrant
incompetence is quite scathing stuff, and especially juicy coming from one who served in that very
government.
Europe et Union Européenne
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Soutien à la conférence de paix sur la Syrie et lancement d’une opération militaire de l’UE en
Centrafrique Le 20 janvier 2014, les 28 ministres des Affaires étrangères de l'Union européenne ont
apporté leur soutien à la conférence de paix pour la Syrie qui se tiendra le 22 janvier 2014, à
Genève. Ils ont rappelé que l'objectif de la conférence était de former par consentement mutuel un
Conseil de transition qui sera doté des pouvoirs exécutifs, comprenant les domaines de sécurité,
militaire et de renseignement. Les ministres ont évoqué également la situation en Afghanistan. Enfin,
ils ont approuvé le lancement d'une opération militaire de l'Union européenne en Centrafrique, en
appui aux forces africaine et française, avec des soldats qui seraient chargés d'aider à la sécurisation
de Bangui
EU citizens fighting in Syria pose threat of terror attacks when they return home, says
domestic affairs chief European governments risk more terror attacks at home unless they tackle
the growing threat from extremist groups and radicalised individuals, including some of the 1,200 EU
citizens believed to be fighting in Syria, the bloc’s domestic affairs chief has warned. So concerned
are EU nations about the threat the fighters pose upon their return that some intelligence agencies
have held secret meetings with officials from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, according to
the Wall Street Journal.
France vue de l’étranger
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French Bashing : l’ambassade de France à Londres ne laisse rien passer Le «French
Bashing» («le fait de taper sur les Français») est à la mode dans la presse anglo-saxonne. Mais
trop, c’est trop ! Pour l’ambassade de France à Londres, l’article du très libéral «City A.M.», affirmant
que dans l’Hexagone, «l’échec de l’expérience socialiste tourne à la tragédie», a été la goutte d’eau
qui fait déborder le vase. Elle a décidé de réagir dans une déclaration bien sentie.
The Economist/ The time-bomb at the heart of Europe Why France could become the biggest
danger to Europe’s single currency. THE threat of the euro’s collapse has abated for the moment,
but putting the single currency right will involve years of pain. The pressure for reform and budget
cuts is fiercest in Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy, which all saw mass strikes and clashes with
police this week (see article). But ahead looms a bigger problem that could dwarf any of these:
France.
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So much to do, so little time France is slowly heading towards a crisis, says John Peet. Can the
country be reformed before it is too late?
The Fall of France It’s a stretch, but what is happening today in France is being compared to the
revocation of 1685. In that year, Louis XIV, the Sun King who built the Palace of Versailles, revoked
the Edict of Nantes, which had protected French Protestants – the Huguenots. Trying to unite his
kingdom by a common religion, the king closed churches and persecuted the Huguenots. As a
result, nearly 700,000 of them fled France, seeking asylum in England, Sweden, Switzerland, South
Africa and other countries.
France’s failed socialist experiment is turning into a tragedy FRANCE is still France – and that,
tragically, is why that great country and its wonderful people are doomed to decline further this year,
and why even more successful French business folk, entrepreneurs and professionals will move to
London over the next 12 months. While many other countries are recovering strongly, France is
sinking again, its economy shrinking at an accelerating rate. I was born and grew up in France and
so feel especially strongly about its catastrophic misgovernment.
Quand «Foreign Policy» met la France en rouge !
«French-Bashing»: la riposte de l'ambassade de France agit le Royaume-Uni
Comment les pantalons taille basse ont ruiné Paris (en anglais)
The New Sick Man of Europe: the European Union French Dispirited; Attitudes Diverge Sharply
from Germans. The European Union is the new sick man of Europe. The effort over the past half
century to create a more united Europe is now the principal casualty of the euro crisis. The European
project now stands in disrepute across much of Europe.
L'arrogance suprême des Froggies Les Français s'attribuent la palme du peuple européen le plus
arrogant, selon un sondage du Pew Research Centre. De quoi clouer le bec au Daily Telegraph. Ou
presque….
Histoire, traditions et retrospectives
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Irak
News report from 1981 about the Internet
Hiroo Onoda Dead: Last Japanese WWII Soldier To Come Out Of Hiding Dies At 91 Hiroo
Onoda, the last Japanese imperial soldier to emerge from hiding in a jungle in the Philippines and
surrender, 29 years after the end of World War II, has died. He was 91. Onoda died Thursday at a
Tokyo hospital after a brief stay there. Chief government spokesman Yoshihide Suga on Friday
expressed his condolences, praising Onoda for his strong will to live and indomitable spirit. "After
World War II, Mr. Onoda lived in the jungle for many years and when he returned to Japan, I felt that
finally, the war was finished. That's how I felt," Suga said.
?
Teruo Nakamura Private Teruo Nakamura (中村 輝夫 Nakamura Teruo , October 8, 1919 − June
15, 1979) was a Taiwan-born soldier of the Imperial Japanese Army from the indigenous Amis tribe,
who fought for Japan in World War II and did not surrender until 1974. He is the last known
Japanese hold-out to surrender after the end of hostilities in 1945……. He was flown to Jakarta and
hospitalized there. News of his discovery reached Japan on December 27, 1974. Nakamura decided
to be repatriated straight to Taiwan, bypassing Japan, and died there of lung cancer five years later
in 1979.Nakamura's repatriation and his perception in the Japanese public at the time differed
considerably from that of earlier holdouts, such as Hiroo Onoda, who had been discovered only a
few months earlier. One reason for this was the question of his nationality. Born on Taiwan,
Nakamura was ethnically Amis and legally stateless; questions of nationality were of considerable
importance in the Japanese public at the time, and while the Japanese embassy in Jakarta offered to
repatriate him, there were also diplomatic questions over how to treat him in case he wanted to go
[2]
back to Taiwan. At the time of his capture, he spoke neither Japanese nor Chinese. Secondly,
while Onoda had been an officer, Nakamura's rank as a private from a Japanese colony did not
excite the public imagination and was likely to raise questions about the role of Japanese colonialism
during the war instead.
DOD to Preserve Historic Images The Defense Imagery Management Operations Center recently
signed a $5 million agreement to digitize, store and provide access to hundreds of thousands of
historical images. DIMOC is the Defense Department's central repository for visual imagery. It exists
to preserve visual records first for the DOD, and then for other agencies and members of the public,
said Mike Edrington, DIMOC director. Those images are then made available via
defenseimagery.mil.
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Baghdad on the Brink In a sign that Iraq’s security continues to deteriorate in the midst of an
assault by al Qaeda forces in parts of the country, the Obama administration recently decided to
quietly send the Iraqi security forces an order of seventy-five Hellfire missiles, ten small
reconnaissance drones, and a fleet of another forty-eight drones by the end of 2014. The arms sale,
news of which was published by The New York Times late last month, came a few days after the
spokeswoman from U.S. State Department acknowledged in a statement that the al Qaeda affiliate
in Iraq was attempting to regain some of the territory that it lost to U.S. and Iraqi forces several years
earlier.
CTC Perspective: The Islamic State Returns to Fallujah Nine years after U.S. troops wrested
Fallujah away from al-Qa`ida in Iraq (AQI), the terrorist group’s successor has returned to secure
nearly full control of the city. For Americans who fought to evict al-Qa`ida from the city, the group’s
return is difficult to swallow. But the revival of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in
Fallujah, and beyond, is more complicated than an organization rebuilding capability and marching
on a city. Three factors are key. First, al-Qa`ida in Iraq was not as weak as it was often portrayed
following the U.S. surge and Sunni Awakening in 2007, so the rebound is not as dramatic as media
tends to paint it. Second, the ISIL’s success remains deeply conditional on tribal support for or
acquiescence to its activities, so its revival is as much about Iraq’s political context as it is about the
group itself. Third, the ISIL’s expansion in Syria—which itself was predicated on the organization’s
resilience in Iraq following the surge—has offered a tremendous platform to recruit, train, and
fundraise in ways that positioned the group to both stoke and exploit sectarian tensions in Iraq.
Dempsey Disappointed by Setbacks in Iraq The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is disappointed
the Iraqis have not done more with the chance they were given by the men and women of the U.S
military. "The young men and women who went to Iraq won their fight – they did exactly what we
asked them to do.," Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey said. Dempsey told NPR's Tom Bowman that the
images of al-Qaida affiliates raising their flags over the embattled city of Fallujah triggers "the same
thing that runs through any veterans' mind who served there, which is disappointment."
U.S. Preparing Small Arms, Ammunition Support for Iraq The Defense Department is preparing
small arms and ammunition for shipment to Iraq in response to a request from that country's prime
minister, Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren said today. Nouri al-Maliki asked for the
help as extremists have launched devastating attacks throughout the country.
Abdullah al Janabi openly preaches in Fallujah mosque Abdullah al Janabi, the former emir of the
Mujahideen Shura Council in Fallujah, an umbrella group that was formed by al Qaeda and was the
precursor to the Islamic State of Iraq, has returned to Fallujah and is openly preaching at a large
mosque there. Janabi is leading the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham in Fallujah, and has even
established a "Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice." From Reuters, which
details how the ISIS and its tribal allies are in firm control of the city:
Iran
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Did Iran’s spies try to steal us stealth planes secrets : "The apparent downfall of Mozaffar
Khazaee began at a freight company in Long Beach, Calif. It was there in November that customs
officers cracked open two shipping crates that the 59-year-old allegedly was sending to Iran. Inside,
authorities say, was a massive trove of documents for the United States' next-generation fighter
plane, the $392 billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Now Khazaee, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Iran,
faces a slew of criminal charges, up to 10 years in prison, and a $250,000 fine. Khazaee, a former
defense contractor who worked on the high-tech stealth plane, was arrested Jan. 9 at Newark
Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, where he was in between legs on an international flight.
He already had flown from his home in Indianapolis to Newark, and was waiting to catch a
connecting flight to Frankfurt, Germany. His final destination? Tehran, authorities say. Already, the
case has raised questions about whether more criminal charges may be filed against Khazaee or
people with whom he associated."
Feinstein Under Fire For Israel Comments California Senator Dianne Feinstein faced criticism
Wednesday after expressing her opposition to language in proposed Iran sanctions legislation.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein faced criticism Wednesday for
comments that some thought implied a new Iran sanctions bill could put Israel in charge of U.S.
foreign policy. Feinstein objected to moving forward on a new Iran sanctions bill sponsored by 59
senators, including 16 Democrats, and co-authored by Sen Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Mark Kirk
(R-IL). The California senator said the bill could imperil ongoing negotiations between Iran and the
West, harm U.S. diplomatic credibility, break up the current international sanctions coalition, and
allow Tehran to argue “we are interested in regime change.” “Candidly, in my view, it is a march
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toward war,” she said, echoing the White House argument that senators who support the Iran
sanctions bill have a secret pro-war agenda.
What North Korea Says About the Iran Talks With recent reports of growing momentum behind the
Senate’s sanctions bill and President Obama’s sobering admission that developing a permanent
deal to end Iran’s nuclear program is “50/50,” the U.S. domestic front of the Iran nuclear negotiations
is shaping up to be costly and divisive. Unfortunately, the international front is no better given
challenges such as working within the timeframe agreed on during the Geneva negotiations, as well
as larger issues involving the negotiating framework and the region. While many have compared,
and continue to compare, North Korea to Iran to highlight potential difficulties and justify certain
actions, this discourse has overlooked the larger implications of the case study, such as the
importance of the negotiating platform and, more importantly, the role of deeper security concerns of
U.S. allies. Therefore, the U.S. should look to the North Korean example to learn how it can
formulate a larger strategy that reinforce the U.S. international front by addressing allied concerns, to
ensure the overall effectiveness of negotiations and implementation of any resultant nuclear
agreement.
Understanding Iran's Nuclear Goals The West may be implementing an interim nuclear deal with
Iran. But it still doesn’t get what makes Iran tick. Why does Iran want a nuclear program? What does
it seek as it negotiates? If the United States and its allies can’t answer those
Eight Ways You're Wrong About Iran's Nuclear Program Oft repeated but false assertions about
Iran's nuclear program—and the recent deal to tamp it down—may end up being more dangerous
than the program itself. These wrong statements reinforce each other, get amplified in the media,
and are fueling a march to military action. Such use of force would further inflame the Middle East
and could push Iran to start a full-scale nuclear weapons project. US national security would further
erode as a result—just like it has with the Iraq debacle. The 'aluminum tubes', 'mobile biologicalweapons labs', and 'yellow cake from Niger' memes fueled the march to that war. Let's examine
some of the current false Iran nuclear memes before we’re led down the yellow-cake road again:
Meme 1: “If the world powers fail to reach a deal with Tehran the alternative is bombing.”
L’avion furtif iranien Qaher-313 vole… grâce à un logiciel de retouche d’image
Iranian us citizen Mozaffar Khazaee — The iran project Federal prosecutors have charged Mozaffar
Khazaee, 59, with trying to smuggle thousands of pages of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter [...].
Israël
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Israel's Arabs: Not Zionists, But Israelis If the tens of thousands of mostly Serb residents of
northern Kosovo were asked whether they would like to see their region annexed to and become an
integral part of Serbia or would prefer to remain part of Kosovo, there is little doubt that a huge
majority of them would vote for joining the Serbian homeland instead of co-existing with the Albanian
majority in the unitary state of Kosovo, and that the Serbian people would enthusiastically support
the idea of annexing northern Kosovo to their state. In fact, irredentism, the drive to annex territories
and people governed by another state on the grounds of common national, ethnic, or religious ties
even if means redrawing existing borders, has been a powerful force in world politics, with the most
historically explosive case being the annexation of the German-speaking Sudetenland in
Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany in 1938. So how does one explain the rejection by the majority of
Israel’s Arab minority, as well as by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, of the
proposal that some of the county’s Arab towns and villages near the border of the future Palestinian
state be handed over to Palestine in exchange for parts of the West Bank where Jewish settlers live?
The plan applies to about 200,000 Israeli Arabs who live in the towns and villages along the 1967
cease-fire line (Green Line) between Jerusalem and Ramallah, also known as the Triangle.
The Last Lion of Israel Even as Israeli president Shimon Peres eulogized former prime minister Ariel
Sharon recently as a man who defended Israel 'like a lion,' there’s reason to believe that the curtain
hasn’t fallen completely on Israel’s 1948 generation. Many commentators are calling Sharon, who
died Saturday after eight years in a coma, the last of Israel's founding fathers, with others openly
wondering if Sharon was the last Israeli leader with the ability to bring about a lasting peace between
Israel and its Palestinian neighbors.
Israel exposes Hamas-linked group's West Bank terror plot Israeli authorities today announced that
they have successfully thwarted a plot by imprisoned Palestinians to establish a terror cell to carry
out a kidnapping plot against Israelis in the West Bank. The latest terror plot was exposed in
December, but only cleared for publication today.
Italie
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State Department Fact Sheet on Italy
Japon
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NATIONAL DEFENSE PROGRAM GUIDELINES for FY 2014 and beyond (SUMMARY) [Global
Security Environment] - As interdependence among states expands and deepens, there is a growing
risk that unrest or a security problem in a single country or region could immediately spread over the
entire international community. - As a result of change in the balance of power due to the
development of countries such as China and India and the change of relative influence of the United
States, multi polarization of the international community has been progressing. At the same time,
however, the United States is expected to continue to play a role in maintaining world peace and
stability. - Among states, the number of so-called “gray-zone” situations is increasing over such
issues as territory, sovereignty and maritime economic interests. - In the maritime domain, in
addition to piracy acts, coastal states have been unilaterally asserting their rights and have taken
action, thereby unduly infringing the freedom of the high seas. - Securing the stable use of outer
space and cyberspace is becoming a significant security challenge for the international community,
against the backdrop of rapid technological innovation.
National Security Strategy Dec, 17 2013
Japan’s first National Security Strategy Last month, the Japanese government released the
country’s first National Security Strategy (NSS). For Australia, this strategy is of considerable interest
now that Japan’s seen as our ‘best friend in Asia’ and a strong ally. To others, the document is
important given ongoing disputes between Japan and China. It covers a range of issues, but China
clearly dominates current Japanese security thinking and is really what the NSS is all about. Like its
American equivalent (PDF), the Japanese NSS adopts a grand strategy approach. The ‘ends’ sought
are to stop China from changing the present international order in Northeast Asia. The ‘way’ is a
denial grand strategy that tries to shift the relative power balance to be more in Japan’s favour. The
‘means’ are through a whole-of-government approach that favours the diplomatic, military and
informational instruments of national power. In terms of resourcing, the NSS stresses building
legitimacy and strengthening Japan’s soft power.
Defense Programs and 2014 Budget of Japan
Sorry, Japan: Yasukuni Is Not Arlington Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe made a well-planned
and well-publicized visit to the Yasukuni Shrine on Christmas Day in the United States. The Shrine
gives special recognition to war criminals tried after Japan's surrender in 1945 and has long been an
unhappy reminder of the vast damage Japan inflicted upon Asians and Westerners during World
War II. Nevertheless, Abe brushed aside criticism by saying that going to Yasukuni is no different
than an American president’s visit to Arlington National Cemetery.
The Strategic Implications of Japan's Resurgence Japan: Death by Demographics? For the past
year, the biggest news story about Japan has been its territorial disputes with China and Korea. As
important and potentially dangerous as this issue is, many media outlets in the US have paid
relatively little attention to the other significant social, economic, and political issues that Japan is
facing. Among the most complex and important of these is Japan’s low fertility and associated
population decline. In 2013 Japan lost about 250,000 people, continuing a trend unlikely to abate
any time in the near future. The 2013 population of Japan was about 126 million, while the Japanese
government projects a drop to about 46 million if nothing intervenes to alter current trends (such as a
dramatic change in immigration policy). The cause is fairly simple: Japanese have among the lowest
total fertility rates (TFR) in the world at about 1.4 and this rate has been consistently under 2.0 (2.1 is
needed to keep a population stable) since the mid-1970s. At the same time, the Japanese
population is among the longest-lived in the word with about 25% of the people over 65 and only
13% in their teens. As the elderly have started to pass away, the population has started to shrink.
Koweit
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New Kuwaiti Justice Minister Has Deep Extremist Ties Officials from over sixty countries
gathered in Kuwait City yesterday for a United Nations donor conference, raising $1.4 billion in new
humanitarian assistance for Syria. Yet Kuwait was arguably the wrong venue for this event, since the
country seems to be backsliding on its commitments to fight terrorism finance and the exportation of
violent extremism from its territory.
Lamentable
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Chaque jour, JSS News livre en pâture des dizaines de «nazillons» coupables de quenelles pour
ruiner leur vie « Dans la traque aux nazillons, il n’y aura pas de pause jusqu’à ce qu’ils soient tous
identifiés. Nous avons une liste de 1 500 prioritaires, mais les 8 500 autres seront aussi identifiés » a
prévenu samedi 11 janvier sur Canal + Jonathan-Simon Sellem, le fondateur franco-israélien du site
sioniste JSS News, qui livre en pâture chaque jour les noms et parfois les coordonnées de dizaines
de personnes coupables de quenelles (exemples récents ici et là). L’objectif ? « Marquer, sur le web,
donc pour toujours, les noms des responsables de cette haine ». Dans une lettre ouverte adressée il
y a quelques jours à Dieudonné, Jonathan-Simon Sellem se réjouit que « des dizaines de personnes
ont été sanctionnées pour (leur) salut nazi déguisé. Au moins 32 ‘quenelliers’ ont été licenciés. Et il y
en aura d’autres dans les prochains jours », prévoit-il.
Libye
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Senate.gov/ Review of the terrorist attacks on US. facilities in Benghazi, Libya, September 1112,2012 together with additional views SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE;
United States Senate ; 113 th Congress The purpose of this report is to review the September 1112, 2012, terrorist attacks against two U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya. This review by the Senate
Select Committee on Intelligence (hereinafter "SSCI" or "the Committee") focuses primarily on the
analy~is by and actions of the Intelligence Community (IC) leading up to, during, and immediately
following the attacks. The report also addresses, as appropriate, other issues about the attacks as
they relate to the Department ofDefense (DoD) and Department of State (State or State
Department). It is important to acknowledge at the outset that diplomacy and intelligence collection
are inherently risky, and that all risk cannot be eliminated. Diplomatic and intelligence personnel
work in high-risk locations all over the world to collect information necessary to prevent future attacks
against the United States and our allies. Between 1998 (the year of the terrorist attacks against the
U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania) and 2012, 273 significant attacks were carried out against
U.S. diplomatic facilities and personnel. 1 The need to place personnel in high-risk locations carries
significant vulnerabilities for the United States. The Conimittee intends for this report to help increase
security and reduce the risks to our personnel serving overseas and to better explain what happened
before, during, and after the attacks.
Senate report: Terrorists 'affiliated' with multiple al Qaeda groups involved in Benghazi attack The
US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has released its review of the intelligence concerning
the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya. The report confirms that multiple parts of al
Qaeda's international terrorist network have been linked to the attack. "Individuals affiliated with
terrorist groups, including AQIM, Ansar al Sharia, AQAP, and the Mohammad Jamal Network,
participated in the September 11, 2012, attacks," the report reads.
Mali
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Bundesregierung bereitet Afrika-Einsatz vor Soldaten der deutsch-französischen Brigade: Die
Einheit steht vor ihrem ersten größeren Einsatz. Berlin will Soldaten der deutsch-französischen
Brigade nach Mali entsenden, um für Sicherheit und Ausbildung der lokalen Truppen zu sorgen. Die
Regierung bietet zudem ein stärkeres Engagement in der Zentralafrikanischen Republik an.
Matériels et Equipements : Aviation et Espace
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F-35B Ship Suitability Testing - YouTub
Sukhoi PAK FA The Sukhoi PAK FA (Russian: Сухой ПАК ФА, Russian: Перспективный
авиационный комплекс фронтовой авиации, Perspektivny Aviatsionny Kompleks Frontovoy
Aviatsii, literally "Prospective Airborne Complex of Frontline Aviation") is a twin-engine jet fighter
being developed by Sukhoi for the Russian Air Force. The Sukhoi T-50 is the prototype for PAK
[10]
[11]
FA. The PAK FA is one of only a handful of stealth jet programs worldwide. The PAK FA, a fifth
generation jet fighter, is intended to be the successor to the MiG-29 and Su-27 in the Russian
[12][13]
inventory and serve as the basis of the Sukhoi/HAL FGFA being developed with India.
The T-50
prototype performed its first flight 29 January 2010. The Russian Defence Ministry will purchase the
first 10 evaluation example aircraft after 2012 and then 60 production standard aircraft after
[14][15][16]
2016.
The first batch of fighters will be delivered with current technology engines. The PAK[17]
FA is expected to have a service life of about 30–35 years.
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Eurocopter AS332 Super Puma El AS332 Super Puma es un helicóptero utilitario de tamaño
medio, bimotor y con rotor principal de cuatro palas, diseñado a partir del SA 330 Puma.
Eurocopter AS332 Super Puma The Eurocopter AS332 Super Puma (now known as the Airbus
AS332 Super Puma) is a four-bladed, twin-engine, medium-size utility helicopter developed and ...
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single, turboshaft engine, with a two-bladed main rotor and tail rotor.
Eurocopter AS350 The Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil (Squirrel) is a single-engined light helicopter ....
On 14 May 2005, a Ecureuil AS350B3 piloted by Didier Delsalle landed at about ...
Aérospatiale Alouette III The first version of the Alouette III, the SE 3160 prototype, first flew on 28
February 1959. Production of the SA 316A (SE 3160) began in 1961 and remained in ...
Eurocopter EC145 The Eurocopter EC145 is a twin-engine light utility helicopter manufactured by
Eurocopter. Originally referred to as the BK 117 C2, the EC145 is based upon the ...
L'Eurocopter EC145 T2 proche de la certification Pour Eurocopter, le développement de l'EC145
T2 n'aura pas été de tout repos. Les ingénieurs et les pilotes d'essai entament la dernière ligne ...
Robinson R44 The Robinson R44 is a four-seat light helicopter produced by the Robinson
Helicopter ... 3 Accidents and incidents; 4 Specifications (R44 Raven II); 5 See also ...
L’avion furtif iranien Qaher-313 vole… grâce à un logiciel de retouche d’image
Matériels et Equipements : Marine
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The Five Best Submarines of All Time Editor’s Note: Please also see the Top Five Naval Battles
of All Time and Top Five Fighter Aircraft of All Time. There have been three great submarine
campaigns in history, and one prolonged duel. The First and Second Battles of the Atlantic pitted
German U-boats against the escorts and aircraft of the United Kingdom and the United States. The
Germans very nearly won World War I with the first campaign, and badly drained Allied resources in
the second. In the third great campaign, the submarines of the US Navy destroyed virtually the entire
commercial fleet of Japan, bringing the Japanese economy to its knees. US subs also devastated
the Imperial Japanese Navy, sinking several of Tokyo’s most important capital ships.
Matériels et Equipements : Armement collectif, Bombes, Armes à faisceaux dirigés, Missiles, canons,
artillerie et roquettes
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Type 90B 122mm MLRS Multiple Launch Rocket System The Type 90B is the second generation of
Type 90 series MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System) of 122mm caliber. The weapon system is
designed and manufactured by the Chinese Defense Company NORINCO. The first version of Type
90 MLRS was unveiled in the mid-1990s, followed by the Type 90B in 2004. The 122 mm Type 90B
multiple launch rocket system is a mobile fire support system for the destruction of a variety of
targets by means of multiple barrages of up to 40 rockets at a time. The Type 90B is able to be in
combat position, to fire and leave its firing position in less than 7 minutes. Variants : - Type 90:
standard version ; - Type 90A: able to fire unguided rockets, new computerised fire control,
command post can lay and control Type 90A launchers units by remote control.
M109 howitzer The M109 is an American-made self-propelled 155 mm howitzer, first introduced in
the early 1960s. It was upgraded a number of times to today's M109A6 Paladin. The M109 family is
the most common Western indirect-fire support weapon of maneuver brigades of armored and
mechanized infantry divisions. The M109 has a crew of six: the section chief, the driver, the gunner,
the assistant gunner and two ammunition handlers. The gunner aims the cannon left or right
(deflection), the assistant gunner aims the cannon up and down (quadrant). The M109A6 Paladin
needs only a crew of four: the commander, driver, gunner and ammunition loader. The British Army
replaced its M109s with the AS-90. Several European armed forces have or are currently replacing
older M109s with the German PzH 2000. Upgrades to the M109 were introduced by the U.S. (see
variants below) and by Switzerland (KAWEST). With the cancellation of the U.S. Crusader, the
Paladin remains the principal self-propelled howitzer for the U.S. for the foreseeable future.
Paladin Integrated Management (M109A6 PIM) The Paladin Integrated Management (PIM) program
enhances the reliability, maintainability, performance, responsiveness, and lethality of the combatproven M109A6 Paladin Self-Propelled Howitzer and M992A2 Field Artillery Ammunition Support
Vehicle’s (FAASV) while providing increased commonality within the U.S. Army Armored Brigade
Combat Team (ABCT).
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2S19 Msta The 2S19 "Msta-S" (Russian: Мста, after the Msta River) is a self-propelled 152 mm
howitzer designed by Russia/Soviet Union, which entered service in 1989 as the successor to the
SO-152. The vehicle is based on the T-80 tank hull, but is powered by the T-72's diesel engine.
Russia develops new intercontinental ballistic missile Sarmat is being created to replace cold warera missiles approaching end of their life, Moscow says . Russia will begin deploying a new type of
long-range missile in 2018 to replace a cold war standby known in the west as Satan, a military
commander said on Tuesday in a signal to the United States that Moscow is improving its nuclear
arsenal. A new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) called the Sarmat is being developed to
supplant the RS-20B Voyevoda, the Interfax news agency quoted the commander of Russia's
strategic missile forces, General Sergei Karakayev, as saying.
RT-2UTTKh Topol-M The RT-2UTTKh «Topol-M» (Russian: РТ-2УТТХ «Тополь-М», NATO
[3]
[4]
reporting name: SS-27 "Sickle B" , other designations: RS-12M1, RS-12M2, RT-2PM2) is one of
the most recent intercontinental ballistic missiles to be deployed by Russia (see RS-24), and the first
to be developed after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In its Russian designation РТ stands for
"ракета твердотопливная," Raketa Tverdotoplivnaya ("solid fuel rocket"), while УТТХ – for
"улучшенные тактико-технические характеристики," uluchshenniye taktiko-tekhnicheskie
kharakteristiki ("improved tactical and technical characteristics"). "Topol" (тополь) in Russian means
"white poplar". It is designed and produced exclusively by the Moscow Institute of Thermal
[5][6]
Technology, and built at the Votkinsk Machine Building Plant.
[4]
RS-24 Yars The RS-24 Yars also known as RT-24 Yars (NATO reporting name: SS-29 ) is a
Russian MIRV-equipped, thermonuclear intercontinental ballistic missile first tested on May 29, 2007
after a secret military R&D project, to replace the older R-36 and UR-100N that have been in use for
[5][6]
nearly 50 years.
RS-24 is a missile that is heavier than the current Topol-M (which can carry up
[7]
to 10 independently targetable warheads). The 2007 tests were publicized as a response to the
[8][9]
missile shield that the United States were planning to deploy in Europe.
RS-24 has been
deployed operationally since 2010.
China’s WU-14 Hypersonic Vehicle: Not So Fast Following the US lead in hypersonic test
flights of scaled models, China is reportedly the second state to conduct hypersonic vehicles with
speeds that theoretically can accelerate up to Mach 10 (ten times the speed of sound). The
Pentagon is not commenting on the Chinese flights. The Chinese Defense Ministry is saying that the
tests are “scientific” and not targeted for any specific country. That would be the military science
department, yes? Defense experts repeatedly warn that this technology will threaten the US
advantage in anti-missile defenses. In combination with Chinese anti-ship missiles, force projection
and anti-access and area-denial from the mainland, the threat is also immediately placed on
Japanese, the US Pacific fleet and Pacific allies.
Matériels et Equipements : Véhicules terrestres
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Army Guide - PRP-4MU, Reconnaissance Vehicle The PRP-4MU armoured reconnaissance vehicle
is intended for reconnaissance of stationary and moving ground targets day and night, under any
weather conditions, at ambient temperature ranging from - 40o C up to + 40o C, up to 3000 m above
sea level. The vehicle retains high performance of its base vehicle - BMP-1 (AIFV): 1 - extremely
high manoeuvrability, 2 - high speeds of movement, 3 - good cross-country capability and the ability
to negotiate water obstacles afloat using its track assembly as well as sufficient armour protection.
BMP-1 variants This is a complete list of variants and designations of the BMP-1 infantry fighting
vehicle (IFV). It is sorted by country of origin.
Mer de Chine du Sud
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China continues pressing territorial claims in East and South China Seas Two months after
China declared an “air defense identification zone” off its coast that rattled Japan and other
neighbors, tensions in the region continue to rise, along with the risk of a maritime mishap that could
escalate into a full-blown military conflict. A close call occurred last month when a Chinese military
vessel nearly collided with a U.S. guided-missile cruiser, the Cowpens, as the Navy ship was
observing China’s new aircraft carrier, which was operating in the area.
Monde Arabe, Moyen Orient, Monde musulman
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Israel Defense Minister Blasts Kerry Security Plan Israel’s defense minister accused US Secretary
of State John Kerry of an “incomprehensible obsession” with the Middle East conflict, drawing a
public rebuke from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday. Defence Minister Moshe
Yaalon came in for a barrage of criticism after Israel’s top-selling newspaper Yediot Aharonot quoted
him as saying a security plan Kerry presented was “not worth the paper it was written on.”
The Twilight of Sykes-Picot Before our eyes, the Levant region of the Middle East is coming
undone. With the U.S. looking to avoid entanglement rather than engage with this fraught region, the
consequences may be as irreversible as they are dangerous. …….. Today, what ties the violence in
these Levantine nations together is precisely that the nations themselves are tearing apart along
sectarian lines. If no internal or external forces stop the trend, multiple statelets will emerge where
single nations once stood. Rather than wish Sykes-Picot’s downfall away, Washington would be wise
to prepare for this increasingly likely scenario by gearing up for the challenges and opportunities
likely to emerge in its wake.
Sykes–Picot Agreement The Sykes–Picot Agreement, officially known as the Asia Minor
Agreement, was a secret agreement between the governments of the United Kingdom and
[1]
France, with the assent of Russia, defining their proposed spheres of influence and control in the
Middle East should the Triple Entente succeed in defeating the Ottoman Empire during World War I.
[2]
The negotiation of the treaty occurred between November 1915 and March 1916. The agreement
[3]
was concluded on 16 May 1916. The agreement effectively divided the Arab provinces of the
Ottoman Empire outside the Arabian peninsula into areas of future British and French control or
[4]
influence. The terms were negotiated by the French diplomat François Georges-Picot and British
Sir Mark Sykes. The Russian Tsarist government was a minor party to the Sykes–Picot agreement,
and when, following the Russian Revolution of October 1917, the Bolsheviks exposed the
[5]
agreement, 'the British were embarrassed, the Arabs dismayed and the Turks delighted.'
Pour sourire,
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High-Tech Defense Gun Misses as Navy Accidentally Blasts Own Ship People and tech screw
up, big time—and Navy doesn’t want to talk about it. On Nov. 16, the Navy cruiser USS
Chancellorsville was accidentally struck by a target drone during a training exercise off the California
coast, resulting in some damage to the warship and injuries to two sailors. In the incident’s aftermath, Navy
reps tried to spin the story as a minor incident. “The ship remains capable of operations,” the official press
release stressed. “However it did sustain some damage and will return to its home port of San Diego to
have the damage assessed. The Navy is investigating the cause of the malfunction.”
L’avion furtif iranien Qaher-313 vole… grâce à un logiciel de retouche d’image
République Centre Africaine
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CENTRAFRIQUE : A Bangui, l’heure de l’exode pour les musulmans La moto s'arrête net. «
Si les Français, vous ne voulez pas nous aider, Al-Qaida va le faire », lance l'adolescent avant de
repartir. Tout autour de lui, la chaussée du quartier de Bégoua, à la sortie nord de Bangui, la
capitale centrafricaine, est envahie de ballots où sont empaquetés les effets de centaines de
personnes dans l'attente d'un départ vers le Tchad. La plupart des hommes de la
communauté peule sont armés de machettes, d'arcs et de flèches.
CENTRAFRIQUE : Vers une reconstruction de l’Etat ? Anti-Balakas et Sélékas se sont réconciliés
publiquement. Cet événement peut-il être interprété comme une nouvelle page de l’histoire de la
Centrafrique et la fin du conflit malgré des incidents violents survenus récemment à Bangui ? On a
effectivement vu des désarmements, des réconciliations dans des quartiers et le nouveau président
par intérim est allé dire aux 100 000 réfugiés qui résident près de l’aéroport qu’ils pouvaient
maintenant rentrer chez eux en toute sécurité. Nous sommes donc actuellement dans une phase où
les possibilités de réconciliation apparaissent et il semblerait que la situation tende à l’apaisement.
Ceci étant, il faut rester très prudent car le désarmement n’est pas complètement assuré. Il faut
également voir qu’elles vont être les solutions institutionnelles et constitutionnelles, puisque dans les
quinze jours un nouveau président doit être élu, qui peut d’ailleurs être l’actuel président du Conseil
national de transition, Alexandre-Ferdinand Nguendet.
Central African Republic: 'seeds of genocide' being sown, warns UN • Witnesses say Muslims
'being butchered like sheep' • Deployment of French troops failing to quell sectarian clashes
Air Force Transports Rwandan Troops to Central African Republic U.S. airlift operations are
continuing in the Central African Republic, Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren said
today.
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U.S. Supports Peacekeeping Efforts in Central African Republic
DOD Continues Central African Republic Peacekeeping Support
Airlift Operations Complete in Central African Republic
Russie
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Russian Political, Economic, and Security Issues and U.S. Interests, January 9, 2014 Russia
made uneven progress in democratization during the 1990s, but this limited progress was reversed
after Vladimir Putin rose to power in 1999-2000, according to many observers. During this period,
the State Duma (lower legislative chamber) became dominated by governmentapproved parties,
gubernatorial elections were abolished, and the government consolidated ownership or control over
major media and industries, including the energy sector. The Putin government showed low regard
for the rule of law and human rights in suppressing insurgency in the North Caucasus, according to
critics. Dmitry Medvedev, Putin’s longtime protégé, was elected president in 2008; President
Medvedev immediately designated Putin as prime minister and continued Putin’s policies. In August
2008, the Medvedev-Putin “tandem” directed military operations against Georgia and recognized the
independence of Georgia’s separatist South Ossetia and Abkhazia, actions condemned by most of
the international community. In late 2011, Putin announced that he would return to the presidency
and Medvedev would become prime minister. This announcement, and flawed Duma elections at the
end of the year, spurred popular protests, which the government addressed by launching a few
reforms and holding pro-Putin rallies. In March 2012, Putin was (re)elected president by a wide
margin. The day after Putin’s inauguration in May 2012, the legislature confirmed Medvedev as
prime minister. Since then, Putin has tightened restrictions on freedom of assembly and other human
rights.
Islamic Caucasus Emirate claims suicide bombings in southern Russia A group calling itself the
"Mujahid Subversive Group of Ansar al Sunnah" has claimed credit for the pair of suicide attacks on
transportation targets in the southern Russian city of Volgograd late last year. The group, which said
its leader is "Doku Abu Uthman," or Doku Umarov, the chief of the Islamic Caucasus Emirate,
released the statement yesterday "on the website of Wilayat Dagestan, the Dagestani media branch
of the Islamic Emirate of the Caucasus," according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which obtained
and translated the statement. The group's banner [right] is nearly identical to that of other al Qaeda
groups.
Russia's Homegrown Terror Threat Since at least the autumn of 1999, when the second Chechen
war began, Russia has been mired in terrorist-related violence linked to the North Caucasus. What
makes the recent suicide bombings in Volgograd, in October and December 2013, stand out—and
what has been overlooked in much of the reporting of the events—is the prominence of ethnic
Russian converts to Islam amongst the individuals who planned and carried out the attacks. For a
long time the sole preserve of Chechens and other individuals from the North Caucasus, increasing
numbers of ethnic Russians are joining the insurgency. Converted and radicalised by the situation in
the North Caucasus, these ethnic Russian jihadists are looking beyond the region for their next
cause célèbre.
Russie Sotchi 2014
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U.S. Military Offers Antiterrorism Support at Sochi Winter Olympics Security concerns
heightened after militants threaten to attack the event
Putin Says 40,000 Force to Guard Sochi as New Threats Emerge Russian President Vladimir
Putin said 40,000 police and special services officers have been deployed to ensure security at the
2014 Winter Olympics as Islamic militants renewed threats to strike the games in Sochi.
Science et technologie
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CSI: Afghanistan The Afghanistan Captured Material Exploitation Unit, or ACME, uses techniques
that are similar to the scripted crime scene investigators found on television...except this science is
real.
Overrun by Robots Robots are the way of the future! And by that we mean that students are taking
STEM to a robotically cool level with the 2014 VEX All-American Robotics competition.
Creating My Digital Self ICT researchers plan to build a 3-D interactive digital version of Medal of
Honor recipient Staff Sgt. Ty Carter that can understand questions and answer questions about his
experiences in battle.
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Top Tech: Zero-Power Bathythermograph Sensors These self-sustaining ocean floor sensors
are leading the way in learning more about our oceans. We might not have Poseidon’s trident, but
we have NRL’s technology, and that's worth wielding.
inFORM is a Dynamic Shape Display that can render 3D content physically so users can interact
with digital information in a tangible way. inFORM can also interact with the physical world around it,
for example moving objects on the table’s surface. Remote participants in a video conference can be
displayed physically, allowing for a strong sense of presence and the ability to interact physically at a
distance. inFORM is a step toward our vision of Radical Atoms: http://tangible.media.mit.edu/vision/
For press inquiries email: sfollmer (at) mit (dot) edu and daniell (at) mit (dot) edu + Video
World War II-Era Equipment for Today’s Research Needs The Naval Research Laboratory and the
Office of Naval Research through its INTOP Program has taken a 96,000-pound piece of equipment
that was used in the 1940s and is refurbishing it for use in research today.
Neutralizing Chemical Weapons Some 64 U.S. Army soldiers are headed for the Mediterranean
aboard an American-owned ship, the Cape Ray, to destroy chemical weapons from Syria.
Suisse
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Dépôt du référendum contre le Gripen : un avion en papier cher et inutile Le comité « non aux
milliards pour des avions de combat » a déposé mardi à la Chancellerie, avec le comité libéral,
quelque 100’000 signatures en faveur du référendum contre l’achat de 22 avions de combat Gripen.
Le peuple pourra ainsi décider dans les urnes s’il veut dépenser des milliards pour un avion, qui
n’existe aujourd’hui que sur le papier, ou si ces deniers publics devraient plutôt être investis de
manière sensée, compte tenu des caisses vides de la Confédération et des cantons.
Switzerland Replacing Old F-5 Fighters with New Gripen-E Referendum date set for the fighter
buy; Additional Readings sections updated. Switzerland’s Federal Council announces that the TTE
program’s national public referendum will be held on May 18/14, as a yes/no vote re: the Swiss
Gripen Fund Law approved by Parliament. The opposition still has to collect 50,000 signatures first,
but an organized group is unlikely to fail on a high-profile issue, while supported by sitting political
parties, in a country of 8 million people. Winning the referendum itself is another issue – but if they
do, the buy is dead. Sources: Saab, “The Referendum is Scheduled for 18 May”.
Syrie
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European Spies Reach Out to Syria The meetings were intended to gather information on at least
1,200 European jihadists that Western officials say have joined militant groups in Syria, amid
European concerns these citizens will pose a threat when they return home. The talks are narrowly
focused on the extremists and on al Qaeda's growing might in Syria and don't represent a broader
diplomatic opening, the Western and Middle Eastern officials and diplomats said.
Insiders: Western Intel Services Coordinate With Assad A member of the al-Nusra Front, a
Syrian opposition group tied to al-Qaida, is seen on Saturday in the city of Aleppo. European
intelligence agencies reportedly have collaborated with Damascus against militant rebels who
arrived from Western nations. Intelligence services from Europe discreetly collaborated with
Damascus against militant rebels who emigrated from the West, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Western and Middle Eastern government insiders described the outreach to Syrian President Bashar
Assad's government by France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom, the newspaper reported
on Tuesday. The communication -- carried out in recent months and said to focus strictly on al-Qaida
and 1,200 anti-Assad fighters from Europe -- marked those countries' first publicly known exchanges
with Damascus since the Western governments withdrew their diplomats.
Gag Order Why is the U.N. censoring its own Syria news? ….. "A recent visit to the website of the
U.N.-funded news agency IRIN provides a quick tour of the world's forgotten miseries: reports of
child labor in Zimbabwe, profiles of the jobless in Sri Lanka, grisly accounts of ethnic killings in South
Sudan and Central African Republic. Absent from this chronology of global grief is anything new
about Syria, the world's bloodiest humanitarian crisis. In November, the U.N. Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which funds IRIN, quietly placed a gag order on its
news agency. Its network of journalists were ordered to halt any reporting about the crisis in Syria,
which has displaced millions and cost the lives of more than 100,000, according to U.N. sources."
Armed Conflict in Syria: Overview and U.S. Response, January 14, 2014 Fighting continues
across Syria, pitting government forces and their foreign allies against a range of anti-government
insurgents, some of whom also are fighting amongst themselves. Since March 2011, the conflict has
driven more than 2.3 million Syrians into neighboring countries as refugees (out of a total population
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of more than 22 million). Millions more Syrians are internally displaced and in need of humanitarian
assistance, of which the United States remains the largest bilateral provider, with more than $1.3
billion in funding identified to date. U.S. assistance to opposition forces was placed on hold in
December 2013, as fighting in northern Syria disrupted mechanisms put in place to monitor and
secure U.S. supplies. The war is exacerbating local sectarian and political conflicts within Lebanon
and Iraq, where escalating violence may threaten stability.
Hizb Allah at War in Syria: Forces, Operations, Effects and Implications As the war in Syria
rages, the conflict has presented a major challenge to Lebanese Hizb Allah’s military organization,
command, and combat forces. Hizb Allah has embarked on sustained expeditionary warfare for the
first time in its history and finds itself pitted against enemies it had neither sought nor prepared to
fight, on unfamiliar territory, and in a cause different from its “resistance” raison d’etre. The war in
Syria has not been easy for the group, and the conflict shines a light on Hizb Allah’s combat
performance and capabilities. Hizb Allah is gaining valuable knowledge of irregular warfare and
actual combat experience, but this may have only limited relevance in a future conflict with Israel.
The Spanish Foreign Fighter Contingent in Syria Since the start of the conflict in Syria, foreign
fighters from various European countries have joined the war against the Bashar al-Assad regime.
Spain has not been immune to this mobilization. According to Spanish counterterrorism officials, at
least 17 Spanish residents joined jihadist groups in Syria between April 2012 and November 2013.[1]
Those jihadist groups include Jabhat al-Nusra (JN), the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)
and Harakat Sham al-Islam. Additionally, Spain’s corresponding security agencies in Morocco have
identified three other Spanish residents who have traveled to fight with jihadist groups in Syria. In
total, Spanish and Moroccan counterterrorism services estimate that 20 Spanish residents have
traveled to fight with jihadist groups in Syria.[2] Eleven of the 20 are Spanish citizens, while the
remaining nine are Moroccan nationals living in Spain.[3] Separately, an estimated 25 other Spanish
residents have traveled to fight in Syria for the non-jihadist Free Syrian Army (FSA).[4]
Analysis: Shifting dynamics of rebel infighting in Syria Over the past few weeks, the news has
been rife with reports of infighting between the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham, an al Qaeda
affiliate, and other Islamist groups in Syria, including al Qaeda's other Syrian affiliate, the Al Nusrah
Front. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition activist observer group, claimed
yesterday that 1,069 people have been killed in clashes between rival Islamist groups from Jan. 3 to
Jan. 15 in northern and eastern Syria. That figure includes some 130 civilians, as well as 312 ISIS
fighters and 608 combatants from what the SOHR calls "the Islamist and non-Islamist rebel
battalions."
Statement from Zawahiri's representative shows Syrian rebel group tied to al Qaeda A statement
criticizing the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham (ISIS) that was written by Abu Khalid al Suri,
Ayman al Zawahiri's main representative inside Syria, has been posted on various jihadist websites.
The statement appears to be authentic as it was posted on a Twitter feed that apparently belongs to
al Suri. The Long War Journal has reviewed the Twitter feed and various social media pages
linked to it. Al Suri (whose real name is Mohamed Bahaiah) posted the statement on Twitter on Jan.
16, and it was picked up by other jihadist websites.
Will America End Syria's Humanitarian Nightmare? The United States and like-minded countries will
soon have to make up their minds on how to keep millions of Syrians going. In the past three years
of civil war the world’s humanitarian efforts have concentrated on helping Syria’s neighbors keep
their borders open to refugees and providing support for almost three million, and supplying multimillion dollars of assistance to needy peoples inside Syria. That has been a significant achievement.
But the problem keeps growing and has become even more difficult to manage
Are the Syria peace talks headed for disaster The invitation, delivered by U.N. Secretary General
Ban Ki Moon, exposed a rare fault line between Ban and Secretary of State John Kerry, two close
allies who have been working together for months. The diplomatic standoff began Sunday after Ban
announced that he had extended a series of last-minute invitations to countries, including Iran, to
attend the opening of the talks.
"...The U.N. chief's decision appeared to catch Syrian opposition leaders by surprise. Louay Safi, a
representative of the Syrian National Coalition, announced on Twitter late Sunday that the group
would withdraw from the conference unless Ban disinvited Iran to the conference's opening
ceremony on Wednesday. In less than 24 hours, Ban rescinded the invitation in an about-face that
did little to breed confidence in the star-crossed diplomatic effort. "No one is happy with anyone else
at this point" a senior U.N. official told Foreign Policy. The Obama administration, meanwhile,
struggled to fully explain the sequence of events that led to the botched Iran invitation. The U.N.
official said the world body had consulted with Washington before reaching out to Tehran, and a
senior U.S. official confirmed to FP that the two sides had talked. Still, the official said the
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administration has publicly and privately urged Ban to cancel the invitation unless Tehran fully
endorsed the so-called Geneva Communique, a June 2012 document outlining a political transition
in Syria." The quote from the story that says it all, from Richard Gowan, a U.N. expert at New
York University Center for International Cooperation: "The question is not whether this
conference will fail but how it will fail...This is like a deeply embarrassing family reunion for all
concerned; you just have to get over it and hope that nobody behaves too badly
Iran and the Stumble Toward Geneva II The handling of the issue of Iranian participation in the
next round of multilateral discussions on the civil war in Syria has been something of an
embarrassment—certainly for the United States, the United Nations, and the conglomeration known
as the Syrian opposition. The United States has seemed to be more interested in words rather than
in substance in the demands it has been placing on Iran. It finally got its way by strong-arming the
U.N. Secretary-General into withdrawing an invitation he had already extended (while the Iranians
simultaneously said they are not interested in participating on the basis of the terms being
demanded of them). If this whole episode foreshadows how the conference that this is supposed to
be all about is apt to go, the odds of success now appear even longer than they did before.
UK
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Military cuts mean 'no US partnership', Robert Gates warns Britain ……. On the UK's military
cuts, Mr Gates told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "With the fairly substantial reductions in
defence spending in Great Britain, what we're finding is that it won't have full spectrum capabilities
and the ability to be a full partner as they have been in the past." The spectrum refers to the ability of
a country's military to fight across air, sea and land. Mr Gates singled out cuts to the Royal Navy as
particularly damaging and he noted that - for the first time since World War One - Britain did not have
an operational aircraft carrier. Mr Gates warned against nuclear disarmament by the UK, but
acknowledged that there was scope for changes to the way the deterrent was deployed. Mr Gates's
comments echo the concerns of other senior military figures
British Military 'Could Become Hollow Force' The Chief of the Defence Staff says the Royal
Navy is "perilously close to its critical mass in manpower terms". The UK's Armed Forces are at risk
of becoming a "hollow force", the country's senior military officer has warned. Delivering his first
annual Christmas address to the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), General Sir Nicholas
Houghton said the Royal Navy would not be able to take any more cuts, but equally the military must
earn the right to have its budget increased. The Chief of the Defence Staff said he would identify the
Royal Navy as being "perilously close to its critical mass in manpower terms" but also conceded that
now is "not the moment to ask for more".
Our security is built on a strong and stable Army Post-Afghanistan, it would be easy to think the
Army will have less of a role in the world. That would be a mistake.
A Strong Britain in an Age of Uncertainty: The National Security Strategy (2010) In a world of
startling change, the first duty of the Government remains: the security of our country. Britain today
is both more secure and more vulnerable than in most of her long history. More secure, in the sense
that we do not currently face, as we have so often in our past, a conventional threat of attack on our
territory by a hostile power. But more vulnerable, because we are one of the most open societies, in
a world that is more networked than ever before. Our predecessors grappled with the brutal
certainties of the Cold War – with an existential danger that was clear and present, with Soviet
armies arrayed across half of Europe and the constant threat of nuclear confrontation between the
superpowers. Today, Britain faces a different and more complex range of threats from a myriad of
sources. Terrorism, cyber attack, unconventional attacks using chemical, nuclear or biological
weapons, as well as large scale accidents or natural hazards – any one could do grave damage to
our country.
Britain's freedom depends on military strength Defence weakness reduces our global power and
leaves us impotent when it comes to challenges from abroad
If the MoD can't name the enemy, it shouldn't buy the weapons Britain hasn't faced a true threat
since the cold war, but that hasn't stopped the defence lobby from peddling paranoia
Des jeunes jihadistes britanniques se battent dans le nord de la Syrie Cette situation inquiète le
gouvernement britannique qui a choisi les moyens radicaux. La chaîne d'information Skynews a
produit un reportage montrant ces combattants sur le terrain
UK orders near for F-35 'stealth’ jet Demand for new F-35 fighter jet of vital importance to UK
manufacturers, with more than 500 British companies working on the project.
Syrian Foreign Fighters: 10 Questions for Government Earlier today, triggered by ICSR’s
investigation and subsequent media reports, the UK Foreign Office (FCO) announced a probe into
British nationals who have joined jihadist groups in Syria. No doubt, the consequences of the Syrian
civil war – both domestically and internationally – will be a major security issue for the UK (and other
European countries) for years to come. It is vital, therefore, that both policymakers and public begin
to engage in a informed debate about the nature of potential security threats and how they can be
mitigated. As part of ICSR’s commitment to facilitating that debate via rigorous, evidence based
research, we believe that the FCO and other parts of Government need to address the following
questions:
UK Scotland
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Indépendance de l'Ecosse? A l'approche d'un référendum en Ecosse en septembre sur une
sécession éventuelle, le gouvernement britannique a publié une série de rapports sur les atouts de
la présence de l'Ecosse au sein du Royaume-Uni. Ce 9e rapport, publié le 17 janvier 2014, se
penche sur les bénéfices que tire l'Ecosse de la politique étrangère britannique et de sa présence au
sein de l'Union européenne. Le ministre britannique des Affaires étrangères, William Hague, a
indiqué en quatre points les avantages dont bénéficient les Ecossais: le réseau diplomatique
britannique à travers le monde, la capacité du gouvernement britannique à défendre les intérêts
économiques écossais par ce réseau, la force du réseau britannique pour assurer la sécurité de ses
ressortissants, et les difficultés que l'Ecosse rencontrera vis-à-vis de l'Union européenne pour y
adhérer tout en conservant la possibilité d"être en dehors de la zone euro et de l'espace Schengen
Scotland analysis: Defence Why defence matters in the debate about independence In
September 2014 people in Scotland will take one of the most important decisions in the history of
Scotland and the whole of the United Kingdom (UK) – whether to stay in the UK, or leave it and
become a new separate and independent state. It is the duty of the government of any state to
safeguard national security and to protect its people, territory, economy and interests from internal
and external threats. Scotland leaving the UK would therefore have profound consequences for the
national security of both Scotland and the rest of the UK. The UK Government is playing its part to
ensure that the debate about independence is properly informed by analysis and that the facts that
are crucial to considering Scotland’s future are set out. This paper analyses the UK’s approach to
defence and the potential consequences of Scottish independence. It complements analysis of the
UK’s approach to other aspects of national security, such as the security and intelligence agencies,
countering terrorism and combating organised crime and providing protective and cyber security,
which will be explored in a further Scotland analysis paper.
Scotland analysis: EU and international issues Independent legal opinion sought and
published by the UK Government in the first paper in this series clarified that in the event of
Scotland becoming a new, independent state, the rest of the UK would continue as before,
retaining the rights and obligations of the UK as it currently stands, and its membership of
1
international organisations and institutions would continue on existing terms. In the event of a vote
for independence, in the eyes of the world and in law, Scotland would become an entirely new
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state. An independent Scottish state would have to start afresh in terms of its formal alliances and
links with every other sovereign state, including the UK. When a new state comes into existence, it
is of fundamental importance that it is recognised by other states. Recognition is a formal, political
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act, with important legal effects. The UK’s membership of key international organisations and
involvement in treaties would be largely unaffected by Scottish independence. The UK would no
longer have any obligation to represent Scottish interests as it currently does. As a new state, an
independent Scotland would have to apply for membership of the international institutions and
organisations it both wished and was eligible to join. In some cases this would be straightforward; in
others, notably the EU, it would not. An independent Scottish state would not be eligible to join the
United Nations Security Council as a permanent member, nor would it be likely to have single state
representation at the G7, G8 and G20.
Scotland analysis: science and research
Scotland analysis: security
Scotland analysis: Defence
Scotland analysis: Macroeconomic and fiscal performance
Scotland analysis: business and microeconomic framework
Scotland analysis: Financial services and banking
Scotland analysis: Currency and monetary policy
Scotland analysis: devolution and the implications of Scottish independence
Consumer of financial products well protected in the UK
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Banks safer in the United Kingdom
Scotland analysis: currency and monetary policy
Ukraine
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Violences et lois répressives : le président ukrainien promet de créer une commission Le 19 janvier
2014, plus de 200 000 opposants ont manifesté sur la place de l'Indépendance pour protester contre
l'adoption de nouvelles lois renforçant la répression.
L'Ukraine se rapproche de l'union douanière mise en place par la Russie Le 15 janvier 2014, le
gouvernement ukrainien a approuvé un programme de coopération jusqu'à 2020 visant à augmenter
le commerce et les investissements avec l'union douanière composée par la Russie, la Biélorussie et
le Kazakhstan.
US
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National Guard (In Federal Status) and Reserve Activated as of Jan 16, 2014 : 44,377
NATIONAL US SECURITY STRATEGY (2010) At the dawn of the 21st century, the United States
of America faces a broad and complex array of challenges to our national security. Just as America
helped to determine the course of the 20th century, we must now build the sources of American
strength and influence, and shape an international order capable of overcoming the challenges of
the 21st century. The World as It Is, A Strategy for the World We Seek To succeed, we must
face the world as it is. The two decades since the end of the Cold War have been marked by both
the promise and perils of change. The circle of peaceful democracies has expanded; the specter of
nuclear war has lifted; major powers are at peace; the global economy has grown; commerce has
stitched the fate of nations together; and more individuals can determine their own destiny. Yet these
advances have been accompanied by persistent problems. Wars over ideology have given way to
wars over religious, ethnic, and tribal identity; nuclear dangers have proliferated; inequality and
economic instability have intensified; damage to our environment, food insecurity, and dangers to
public health are increasingly shared; and the same tools that empower individuals to build enable
them to destroy.
New rules tighten rights, atrocity criteria in U.S. weapons shipments New guidelines for providing
U.S. conventional weapons to other countries make rules on human rights more explicit and prohibit
policymakers from approving weapons shipments they anticipate will be used to commit atrocities,
U.S. officials said.
Whitehouse.gov/Presidential Policy Directive 27. United States Conventional Arms Transfer
Policy Conventional weapons have continued to play a decisive role in armed conflict in the early
21st century and will remain legitimate instruments for the defense and security policy of responsible
nations for the foreseeable future. In the hands of hostile or irresponsible state and non-state actors,
however, these weapons can exacerbate international tensions, foster instability, inflict substantial
damage, enable transnational organized crime, and be used to violate universal human rights.
Therefore, global conventional arms transfer patterns have significant implications for U.S. national
security and foreign policy interests, and the U.S. policy for conventional arms transfer has an
important role in shaping the international security environment. United States conventional arms
transfer policy supports transfers that meet legitimate security requirements of our allies and
partners in support of our national security and foreign policy interests. At the same time, the policy
promotes restraint, both by the United States and other suppliers, in transfers of weapons systems
that may be destabilizing or dangerous to international peace and security.
Presidential Policy Directives [PPDs] Barack Obama Administration
PRESIDENTIAL POLICY DIRECTIVE/PPD-28: Signals Intelligence Activities The United States,
like other nations, has gathered intelligence throughout its history to ensure that national security
and foreign policy decisionmakers have access to timely, accurate, and insightful information. The
collection of signals intelligence is necessary for the United States to advance its national security
and foreign policy interests and to protect its citizens and the citizens of its allies and partners from
harm. At the same time, signals intelligence activities and the possibility that such activities may be
improperly disclosed to the public pose multiple risks. These include risks to: our relationships with
other nations, including the cooperation we receive from other nations on law enforcement,
counterterrorism, and other issues; our commercial, economic, and financial interests, including a
potential loss of international trust in U.S. firms and the decreased willingness of other nations to
participate in international data sharing, privacy, and regulatory regimes; the credibility of our
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commitment to an open, interoperable, and secure global Internet; and the protection of intelligence
sources and methods.
Border Security: Immigration Inspections at Port of Entry, January 9, 2014 About 362 million
travelers (citizens and non-citizens) entered the United States in FY2013, including about 102 million
air passengers and crew, 18 million sea passengers and crew, and 242 million incoming land
travelers. At the same time about 205,000 aliens were denied admission at ports of entry (POEs);
and about 24,000 persons were arrested at POEs on criminal warrants. (Not all persons arrested are
denied admission, including because some are U.S. citizens.)
War is boring We go to war so you don't have to.
US : Sécurité, Cybersurveillance, Renseignement …
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Spy court judge : these aren’t the reforms you’re looking for on how John Bates, the former top
judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, sees things: "As President Obama is mulling a
series of changes to how the National Security Agency keeps tabs on the world's communications,
the former top judge of the secret court that has approved much of that surveillance made an
unusual public appeal Tuesday: keep the process just how it is. John Bates, the former presiding
judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, warned against a proposal to include in the
court's proceedings an outside privacy and civil liberties advocate, who might take positions counter
to the government when it seeks permission to collect huge swaths of Internet traffic, email
addresses, and phone communications. Currently, only government lawyers appear before the court.
Obama is not about to reform the NSA insiders say When President Obama gives his muchanticipated speech on NSA surveillance Friday, he's unlikely to seize the opportunity to reign in the
agency's vast surveillance programs. Instead, he will punt. Of the 43 recommendations from a panel
that reviewed the agency's programs, Obama is expected to embrace very few, according to U.S.
officials and news reports, leaving the harder task of long-term surveillance reform to Congress and
the courts. Intelligence officials, as well as privacy advocates and lawmakers who've met with White
House aides in recent days, now expect that the NSA will continue to collect and retain the phone
records of all Americans. "That's the outcome that NSA officials have wanted since the controversial
program was revealed last June by Edward Snowden, and one that the review panel urged the
president to avoid. Obama may tweak the program -- limiting the amount of time the NSA can keep
those records or how broadly it can search in the database where they're stored. But it's hard to see
the president's answer to what was undoubtedly the most controversial of all the surveillance
programs as anything but a victory for the NSA...
Hill Intel Leaders Downplay Need for NSA Reforms Lawmakers atop the Intelligence committees
are resisting pressure from liberals and conservatives alike. Despite a push from Democratic and
Republican lawmakers for new reforms of the intelligence community ahead of President Obama's
highly anticipated speech Friday, Intelligence Committee leaders in both the House and Senate are
signaling little interest in such legislation.
NSA collects millions of text messages daily in 'untargeted' global sweep • NSA extracts location,
contacts and financial transactions • 'Dishfire' program sweeps up 'pretty much everything it can' •
GCHQ using database to search metadata from UK numbers
Dishfire presentation on text message collection – key extracts Documents provided by NSA
whistleblower Edward Snowden reveal program codenamed 'Dishfire' collects up to 200 million text
messages a day from around the globe. A further program known as 'Prefer' conducted automated
analysis on the texts
Follow Barack Obama's speech on NSA surveillance on our live blog
The Guardian/The NSA Files
La NSA lit peut-être vos textos
Revealed: UK and US spied on text messages of Brits Exclusive: America's spy agency created a
secret system, Dishfire, to intercept almost 200m text messages a day - a system used by GCHQ to
exploit a loophole allowing them to spy on British citizens.
WHAT, ME WORRY? Obama Is Not About to Reform the NSA, Insiders Say
Obama to balance privacy and security concerns in speech on surveillance, aides say "... [Obama]
will leave the data in the hands of the government for now, an administration official said. Mr.
Obama, in a much-anticipated speech on Friday morning, plans to pull back the government's wide
net of surveillance at home and abroad, staking out a middle ground between the far-reaching
proposals of his own advisers and the concerns of the nation's intelligence agencies. At the heart of
the changes, prompted by the disclosure of surveillance practices by a former National Security
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Agency contractor, Edward J. Snowden, will be an overhaul of a bulk data collection program that
has swept up many millions of records of Americans' telephone calls, though not their content."
Obama bans spying on leaders of U.S. allies, scales back NSA program President Barack Obama
banned U.S. eavesdropping on the leaders of close friends and allies on Friday and began reining in
the vast collection of Americans' phone data in a series of limited reforms triggered by Edward
Snowden's revelations. In a major speech, Obama took steps to reassure Americans and foreigners
alike that the United States will take into account privacy concerns highlighted by former spy
contractor Snowden's damaging disclosures about the sweep of monitoring activities of the National
Security Agency (NSA).
La NSA surveille aussi des ordinateurs non connectés à internet Depuis plusieurs années, l'agence
de renseignement américaine est capable de pirater des réseaux à l'aide de fréquences radio,
révèle le "New York Times".
N.S.A. Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers The National Security Agency has implanted
software in nearly 100,000 computers around the world that allows the United States to conduct
surveillance on those machines and can also create a digital highway for launching cyberattacks.
NSA Chief: Surveillance Stopped More Than 50 Terror Plots The director of the National Security
Agency told Congress today more than 50 terrorist plots worldwide have been prevented since the
9/11 attacks through the classified surveillance programs the government uses to gather phone and
Internet data, programs he said are legal and do not compromise the privacy and civil liberties of
Americans. Army Gen. Keith B. Alexander, who also commands U.S. Cyber Command, told the
House Intelligence Committee he plans as early as tomorrow to provide lawmakers with classified
details about the plots that were foiled in an effort to show how valuable the programs are to national
security.
Leaks Damage National Security, NSA Director Says Recent media leaks have caused “significant
and irreversible damage” to U.S. security, the director of the National Security Agency said
yesterday in Baltimore. Public discussion of NSA's tradecraft or the tools that support its operations
provides insights that the nation’s adversaries can and do use, Army Gen. Keith B. Alexander told an
audience at the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association International Cyber
Symposium. “Those who wish us harm now know how we counter their actions,” Alexander said.
“These leaks have caused significant and irreversible damage to our nation's security.
5 Things Obama Failed to Address in the NSA Speech U.S. President Barack Obama, in a longawaited speech Friday, proposed a series of changes to the NSA surveillance activities that have
cause an uproar of the last few months. He also, however, failed to address a series of important
changes that his administration's internal review panel suggested. What follows are five things that
Obama either said won't change or didn't address at all during his NSA speech. 1. The other bulk
data collection programs
Scoring Obama's NSA Speech, Point by Point
Restoring Trust in Internet Privacy and Data Security In response to revelations concerning
global surveillance by the U.S. National Security Agency, Germany and Brazil have drafted a nonbinding resolution at the United Nations calling for the protection of civil and political rights in the
digital era. The resolution reaffirms the International Covenant on Political and Civil Rights, to which
the United States is a party, and also calls for rights enjoyed offline to be protected online, in
particular the right to privacy.
Blackphone : un prochain smartphone anti-NSA Le constructeur Geeksphone ainsi que l'éditeur
Silent Circle annoncent avoir conçu un nouveau smartphone strictement pensé pour assurer une
protection de la vie privée de son utilisateur. Dans le cadre de l'affaire PRISM, nous apprenions que
la NSA, l'agence nationale de sécurité américaine, avait les moyens nécessaires pour prendre le
contrôle à distance des smartphones et ne disposait d'aucune limite pour les écoutes téléphoniques.
Si les constructeurs misent sur la conception de smartphones toujours plus puissants, le Blackphone
souhaite pour sa part assurer une véritable confidentialité des échanges.
La NSA planchait sur la prise de contrôle à distance d'appareils électroniques De nouveaux
documents mettent en évidence les pratiques de la NSA et révèle que l'agence nationale de sécurité
américaine avait à disposition tout un arsenal d'outils permettant de prendre le contrôle de plusieurs
appareils électroniques et notamment de l'iPhone.
NSA worked on iPhone spyware to remotely monitor users, leaked documents show New
documents revealed on Monday show the U.S. National Security Agency has the capability of
deploying software implants on Apple's iPhone that grants remote access to on-board assets like
SMS messages, location data and microphone audio.
NSA : un câble sous-marin et un pan entier d'Internet espionnés Pire encore qu'une porte dérobée
sur les services en ligne les plus populaires ? Infiltrer l'Internet lui-même : la NSA l'a fait……. Orange
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n'a pas tardé à réagir à ces nouvelles révélations. L'opérateur a indiqué à l'AFP qu'elle « se
constituerait partie civile dans les prochains jours » et qu'elle « se réservait toutes les possibilités
d'action légale dans l'hypothèse où des données Orange auraient fait l'objet d'une tentative
d'interception ».
Nun Faces up to 30 Years for Breaking Into Weapons Complex, Embarrassing the Feds Sister
Megan Rice and two other activists revealed gaping security flaws at a nuclear facility. Nestled
behind a forested ridgeline on the outskirts of Knoxville, Tennessee, is the sprawling Y-12 National
Security Complex, America's "Fort Knox" of weapons-grade uranium. The complex's security
cameras and machine gun nests are designed to repel an attack by the world's most feared terrorist
organizations, but they were no match for Sister Megan Rice, an 83-year-old Catholic nun armed
with nothing more than a hammer and bolt cutters. In the dark morning hours of July 28, 2012, Rice
and two fellow anti-war activists bushwhacked up to the edge of Y-12, cut through three separate
security fences, and sprayed peace slogans and human blood on the wall of a building that is said to
hold enough weapons-grade uranium to obliterate human civilization several times over. (Why
human blood? See here.) They remained inside Y-12 for more than an hour before they were
detected.
"Assessment of Nuclear Monitoring and Verification Technologies," January 2014…….. A
Nuclear Future Unlike the Past and the Need for a Monitoring Paradigm Shift. Too many factors
have changed, and are changing from our historic basis and experience developed throughout the
Cold War. The list of factors that should give national leadership pause for concern is extensive, and
includes the following: The actual or threatened acquisition of nuclear weapons by more actors––
with a range of motivations, capabilities, and approaches––is emerging in numbers not seen since
the early days of the Cold War. Many of these actors are hostile to the U.S. and its allies, and of
greater worry, they do not appear to be bound by established norms nor are they deterred by
traditional means; In some cases, nuclear forces are seen as the most affordable and effective
alternative to deter superior conventional forces; i.e., nuclear weapons are viewed as a legitimate
warfighting capability, especially if vital domestic or regional security interests are threatened; …..
“Protection Civile”, OPINT
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Virginia Guard Assists West Virginia Water Response Two soldiers from the Fort Belvoir, Va.,-based
29th Infantry Division's Domestic All-Hazards Response Team Coordination Cell deployed to
Charleston, W.Va., Jan. 11 to assist the West Virginia National Guard response to a water
contamination crisis that left thousands without potable water.
US DOD
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Trouble Brewing Between US Army's Active Duty and Guard Forces In a sharply worded
statement released Jan. 13, the president of the National Guard Association called remarks by US
Army chief Gen. Ray Odierno “disrespectful and simply not true” while complaining that “the Army
chief of staff disparaged the Army National Guard last week by telling reporters in Washington, D.C.,
that, essentially, the Army National Guard just isn’t good enough to be relied upon more in the
future.” Retired Maj. Gen. Gus Hargett’s statement came in response to Odierno’s Jan. 5 remarks at
the National Press Club in Washington, where he said the National Guard would not be capable of
taking on more of the active-duty force’s responsibilities if the active force structure falls much below
the 490,000 floor that the chief set for 2015.
US suspends 34 nuclear missile officers over exam cheating The US military has suspended 34
officers in charge of launching nuclear missiles for cheating on a proficiency test, Air Force leaders
said on ... ; Department of Defense Press Briefing on the Status of Air Force Investigations into
Allegations of Illegal Drug Possession from the Pentagon
DOD Raises Awareness of Human Trafficking Defense Department officials have a zero-tolerance
level for human trafficking and have stepped up awareness and education efforts to curb the crime
overseas.
First drugs now cheating. The Air Force nuke scandal just got bigger "...The widening scandal
in a command that historically prided itself for its zero-defects culture was announced Wednesday by
the Air Force's top officer, Gen. Mark Welsh, and its new civilian leader, Air Force Secretary
Deborah James, in a hastily announced press conference at the Pentagon. The investigation -- now
split off from the existing drug probe -- is ongoing, they said, pledging accountability and corrective
action. 'We do not know of an incident of this scale involving cheating in the missile force,' Welsh
said. 'We are researching that now.... but we are not aware of it at this point in time.' ….. "James
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and Welsh insisted that the security of the intercontinental ballistic missile arsenal was never at risk.
The cheating reflects a 'failure of integrity' of individual airmen, 'not a failure of the nuclear mission,'
James said. The security clearances of all 34 officers implicated have been suspended, and they
have been restricted from missile crew, Welsh said."
Combating Trafficking in Persons
Recruiting On Track, But Officials Worry About Future Military recruiting is going well today, but
economic and demographic changes will make the environment more difficult in the future, said Vee
Penrod, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for military personnel policy.
ICBM Retesting Continues, Hagel Open to Incentives for Missileers Retesting of all ICBM launch
crewmen will finish today, the Pentagon press secretary announced during a news conference. Air
Force officials ordered the retesting after discovering that nuclear launch crews cheated on
proficiency exams. A total of 34 crewmen at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., have been
suspended from duty due to the allegations.
US DoD Budget/ Sequestration/Shutdown
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Budget Uncertainty Challenges Readiness, Official Says The Defense Department continues to face
persisting challenges due to budget uncertainties under sequestration, the Pentagon's acquisitions
chief said here today.
Dempsey Makes Case for Slowing Manpower Costs The Defense Department must slow the
growth of its manpower costs to avoid a crisis in the future, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey said
earlier this week.
Kendall: Military Technological Superiority Not Assured The decline in research and
development brought on by budget cuts is contributing to the erosion of the U.S. military's
technological superiority at an alarming rate, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition,
technology and logistics said. "Technological superiority is not assured," Frank Kendall told a
conference yesterday sponsored by the Center for a New American Society. "The United States
came out of the Cold War, and demonstrated in the first Persian Gulf War, a very significant
superiority in military technology and the application of those technologies. And we've sort of had an
assumption [during] the last 20-plus years that that {American] technological superiority would be a
fact of life in the world."
US Air Force
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The U.S. Air Force For Dummies After reading Robert Farley’s December 2013 Foreign
Affairs article, calling for the elimination of an independent Air Force, George Fielding Eliot’s
October 1941 Foreign Affairs article, opposing the creation of an independent air force, came to
mind. If the old saying, “imitation is the highest form of flattery,” is true, Eliot would find Farley’s
recent article awfully flattering. What distinguishes Eliot from Farley is not that they differ in their
arguments—they are virtually the same. But, Eliot did not have sixty-five years of experience to draw
from. While Farley’s critique of the Air Force is riddled with factual errors, missing context, and no
distinguishable understanding of airpower, he does posit a notion that may appeal to budget hawks.
To their credit, Robert Spalding and Michael Bob Starr have already discredited Farley, highlighting
the glaring flaws in his work. However, in concentrating on specific factual inaccuracies, neither had
the space to focus on a broader explanation of airpower and the larger purpose of an independent
Air Force.
Exclusive Air Force insists it never used painfully simple nuke code Passing nuclear codes: If
it's not "00000000" is it "12345678"? …. "For nearly a decade, an awkward debate has raged
about the U.S. military's nuclear force: Did top Air Force officials really choose "00000000" as a code
that could enable the launch of a nuclear missile? Ten years later, in a document obtained by
Foreign Policy, the U.S. military told Congress that it never happened. But is the Pentagon telling the
truth?
Cheating on tests at nuclear facility was common, ex-officers say Air Force officers
responsible for safeguarding and operating nuclear-armed missiles at a base in Montana cheated for
years on monthly readiness tests, but rarely faced punishment even though some commanders were
aware of the misconduct, according to three former officers who served at the base.
US Army
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The US military is slated to shed 150000 soldiers can it still go to war ? ….. The U.S. Army,
already reeling from the beginning of a round of cuts that will drop from its peak of 570,000 to about
490,000, was just told that those cuts don't begin to cut it. Now the Army has begun planning to plan
to shrink even more: to a force of about 420,000. ……. The writing was on the wall. With Iraq now a
distant memory and Afghanistan winding down by the end of the year, the Army had expected to
drop in size. But to some, this means "cutting into bone," as one officer observed, and that raises a
question about what a smaller Army can do -- and what it can't. The Army leadership have framed
almost any cuts to end strength as draconian. Speaking before a December budget deal that softens
some of the blow, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno attempted to make the case that a smaller
Army couldn't do what it was supposed to do. ……… "If Congress does not act to mitigate the
magnitude, method and speed of the reductions under the Budget Control Act with sequestration,
the Army will be forced to make significant reductions in force structure and end strength, adding:
"Such reductions will not allow us to execute the 2012 Defense Strategic Guidance, and will make it
very difficult to conduct even one sustained major combat operation." …… But that's not quite right,
defense experts say. A smaller Army can conduct any kind of small operation -- training indigenous
forces in Africa, say, or sending a peacekeeping force into Syria. And it can do anything big, too like
conducting an 'MTW' - a major theater war -- just not for long...
US Commands, Agencies, Facilities
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Pacom Area of Responsibility Defined by Superlatives The region of the globe that falls under the
purview of U.S. Pacific Command is defined by superlatives, Navy Adm. Samuel J. Locklear III, said
yesterday at the Surface Navy Association's annual convention.
US Marines Corps
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Marine Corps Drawdown, Force Structure Initiatives, and Roles and Missions: Background
and Issues for Congress, January 9, 2014 The Marine Corps characterizes itself as a crisis
response expeditionary force which is task organized and able to conduct operations across the
entire spectrum of military operations. The Corps is a “middleweight force” that is designed to fill the
void in our Nation’s defense structure between light Special Operations Forces (SOF) and heavier
conventional units. The Marines’ missions are codified in U.S. Code, Title 10, Section 5063, United
States Marine Corps: Composition and Functions, and marines are the nation’s primary amphibious
force, capable of conducting amphibious assault operations in both permissive and non-permissive
environments. Marine operational forces are organized for specific tasks and consist of four
elements; a command element; a ground combat element; an aviation element; and a logistics
combat element. There are four types of Marine Air Ground Task Forces (MAGTFs): the Marine
Expeditionary Force (MEF); the Marine Expeditionary Brigade (MEB); the Marine Expeditionary Unit
(MEU); and the Special Purpose MAGTF. A number of decisions pertaining to national security
strategy, force structure, and declining defense budgets have resulted in a drawdown of the active
Marine Corps from 202,000 in 2011 to 174,000 by 2017. Some believe that if sequestration
continues, the Marines could be compelled to draw down to a force of 150,000 Marines—a strength
level Marine Corps leadership has characterized as unviable to execute our current defense
strategy.
US : Médecine et Recherche Médicale Militaire
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Medical Fellowship Program Seeks to Reduce Battlefield Deaths A physician who was an Army
Special Forces combat medic has designed a fellowship program that he hopes will improve the
survival chances of battlefield casualties. The aim of the Military Emergency Medical Services and
Disaster Medicine Fellowship Program is to train physicians for the challenges of pre-hospital care
on the battlefield, in defense of the homeland or wherever else troops may be, said Army Lt. Col.
(Dr.) Robert Mabry, the fellowship's program director, at San Antonio Military Medical Center in
Texas.
Disaster Psychiatry Emerges as DOD Field of Study At the Center for the Study of Traumatic
Stress, experts in the emotional toll of disasters help the Defense Department, government agencies
and first responders worldwide understand how best to help communities struck by terrorist attacks,
mass casualties and natural disasters.
Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress
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Center Resources
USUHS Department of Psychiatry
Fact Sheet for Providers - Psychological First Aid
Fact Sheet - Active Shooter: What You Can Do to Mitigate Harm
Fact Sheet - Japan Disaster: Overview for American Military Leaders
US Navy
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Navy's acting No. 2 official forced out Acting Navy Undersecretary Robert Martinage, the
department’s No. 2, has resigned under pressure, sources confirmed for Defense News. The
resignation, which Martinage announced to his staff Tuesday morning, came after allegations were
made of inappropriate conduct with a subordinate woman, the sources confirmed.
Pentagon Said to Order Cutting Littoral Ships by 20 The Pentagon has given the U.S. Navy
preliminary instructions to buy 32 of its troubled Littoral Combat Ships instead of the 52 previously
planned, according to defense officials.
High-Tech Defense Gun Misses as Navy Accidentally Blasts Own Ship People and tech screw
up, big time—and Navy doesn’t want to talk about it. On Nov. 16, the Navy cruiser USS
Chancellorsville was accidentally struck by a target drone during a training exercise off the California
coast, resulting in some damage to the warship and injuries to two sailors. In the incident’s aftermath, Navy
reps tried to spin the story as a minor incident. “The ship remains capable of operations,” the official press
release stressed. “However it did sustain some damage and will return to its home port of San Diego to
have the damage assessed. The Navy is investigating the cause of the malfunction.”
US Veterans
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Cuts to Military Retirement Outrage Veterans Nationwide Congress Crosses Line in the Sand
on Veterans Benefits. Congress broke its promise to veterans with critical cuts to military retirees’
benefits. As a result of a bipartisan, backroom deal made in December, Congress reduced the
annual cost-of-living adjustment for military retirees and survivors, leading to a 20 percent cut to
retirement benefits over the course of their lives. For a retired E-7, that could mean the loss of
$83,000 in retirement savings.
US 2016
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Hillary Clinton's Iraq War Vote Still Matters Hillary Clinton seems destined to run for president in
2016. Her chances of capturing the Democratic nomination are once again taking on that familiar
quality of inevitability, redolent of the runup to the primary contest in 2008. Prominent Democrats are
already pledging to stay out of the race in 2016 to make way for another Clinton candidacy while
others have begun to offer premature endorsements, hoping not to be left behind when the Clinton
Express begins its journey to Pennsylvania Avenue. In spite of these developments, Brian
Schweitzer, the former Democratic governor of Montana and a potential rival to Clinton in 2016, took
a not-so-subtle jab at the former Secretary of State and senator from New York. Schweitzer seemed
to suggest that, without citing names, anyone who voted for the Iraq War was still, more than eleven
years out from that controversial vote, disqualified from holding the office of the president. Whether
or not Schweitzer himself is a credible alternative to Clinton is peripheral to the issue he raises, an
issue that deserves to be relitigated, both because of the catastrophic consequences the Iraq War
entailed for the United States and the relatively recent resurgence of al Qaeda in Iraq.
Vatican
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Vatican Priest Charged With Money Laundering Fresh charges for former Vatican accountant
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano
Yemen
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AQAP overruns Yemeni army base, seizes armored vehicles Al Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula attacked military bases in central Yemen today, killing several soldiers and seizing
armored personnel carriers, according to reports from the country. AQAP fighters killed 10 soldiers
during "simultaneous attacks against three military positions" in the town of Rada'a in Baydah
province, AFP reported. At least one AQAP fighter who was wearing a suicide vest was gunned
down during the attack. At least one military camp was overrun and three armored personnel carriers
were taken, according to Reuters.