position:defense secretary

Russia could ground UK’s F-35s by killing all 40 pilots – General’s memo — RT UK
▻https://www.rt.com/uk/359656-russia-kill-f35-pilots

A retired British general believes Russia would not need to shoot down the UK’s F-35 fighter jets – it would suffice to kill the “40 or so” people who can pilot them. It comes as one of the points in a memo obtained by the Financial Times.
The 10-page document was sent to Defense Secretary Michael Fallon in April by General Richard Barrons, who retired as the commander of UK Joint Forces Command the same month.
[…]
The British military are “by design” undermanned, underfunded and underprepared for a major war, Barrons argued. One of the concerns he voiced was what he saw as overreliance on a small amount of expensive equipment like aircraft carriers or the US-made F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. The general said it would not be necessary to shoot down the advanced warplanes, but rather to “know how to murder in their beds” all 40 pilots the UK has who know how to pilot them.

Pentagon Weapons Buyer Orders Review of Troubled New Carrier - Bloomberg
▻http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-29/pentagon-weapons-buyer-orders-review-of-new-carrier-s-troubles

The Pentagon’s top weapons buyer has ordered an independent review of the $12.9 billion Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier, citing a list of actual and potential deficiencies with the costliest warship ever.
“With the benefit of hindsight, it was clearly premature to include so many unproven technologies” on the vessel, from those needed to generate power and launch and land aircraft to its radar and elevators to move munitions, Frank Kendall said in an Aug. 23 memo addressed to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and obtained by Bloomberg News.
[…]
The inclusion of unproven technologies was a decision “made long ago as part of a DoD-level initiative called ‘Transformation,’” Kendall wrote. The initiative, which also produced several failed space programs, came under Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld starting in 2001.
[…]
Kendall’s memo lists five primary technology areas to be reviewed, including propulsion and electrical system components that he said could be tied to “recent issues discovered with the Main Turbine Generators,” launch and recover systems for aircraft and a new dual-band radar that he said has had “integration issues” on the Ford “that need to be avoided” on the next two vessels in the class.

Official who oversees #whistleblower complaints files one of his own
▻http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/national-security/article91949562.html

The Obama administration’s top official overseeing how intelligence agencies handle whistleblower retaliation claims has lodged his own complaint, alleging he was punished for disclosing “public corruption.”

Daniel Meyer, who previously oversaw the Defense Department’s decisions on whistleblowing cases, also says he was targeted for being gay, according to records obtained by McClatchy.

Meyer made the allegations in a complaint before the Merit Systems Protection Board, an administrative panel that handles employment grievances from federal employees, after another agency rejected his claims.

Meyer’s claims add to a barrage of allegations that the federal government’s handling of defense and intelligence whistleblower cases is flawed.

In the complaint, Meyer, who once worked for the Pentagon’s inspector general’s office, accused his former Defense Department bosses of “manipulation of a final report to curry favor” with then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

Alaistair Crooke dans le Huffington Post s’interroge sur la cause de la narrative étroitement confessionnaliste qui est faite ici, à l’instar des médias du Golfe, des combats pour la reprise de Falloujah, narrative qui peut se résumer en « les Chiites attaquent les Sunnites de Da’ich » (voir à tire d’exemple ce signalement d’@nidal : ▻http://seenthis.net/messages/495898 ).
Crooke, à partir d’une analyse d’un document du Center for a New American Security, groupe bipartisan de membres de l’establishment de la politique étrangère US, donne une explication de cette narrative qui résiderait dans la convergence de vues entre néo-cons et libéraux interventionnistes (à la Hillary) sur le fait que l’Iran reste le problème fondamental, plutôt que l’idéologie takfiriste d’inspiration wahhabite. Ces deux courants partage une même opposition au désengagement relatif des USA du Moyen-Orient proclamé par Obama et veulent maintenir une domination sur cette zone pour laquelle la puissance iranienne est un obstacle, et d’autre part partagent le même biais pro-Israël pour qui, dans le contexte d’une volonté de normalisation des Etats du Golfe avec lui, l’axe Iran/régime syrien/Hezbollah reste l’ennemi. Raison pour laquelle ce document du CNAS désigne l’Iran et Da’ich comme ennemis mais aucunement la branche syrienne d’al-Qaïda qu’il passe sous silence.

▻http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alastair-crooke/hillary-foreign-policy_b_10338608.html

In short, the ephemeral global narrative does not relate well to the facts on the ground where there is much less sectarianism than this Western-Gulf narrative purports to exist.
But let that pass. This narrative, echoed widely beyond the Financial Times, is Orwellian in another way. It serves another deeper purpose. It has much to do with finding and articulating, as Jim Lobe notes, the point of intersection between liberal interventionism and neoconservatism. This intersection is the subject of a May 16 report from the Center for a New American Security, which was drawn up by a bipartisan task force of 10 senior members of the U.S. foreign policy establishment and augmented by six dinner discussions with invited experts.
Their approach is to cast Iran as the source of all ‘regional tensions’ and to hold onto America’s Gulf bases in order to be a ‘force that can flex across several different mission sets and prevail.’
It is, in a sense, the riposte from the two interventionist wings of American politics to Trump’s iconoclasm in foreign policy. And, Lobe writes, “it’s fair to predict that the above-mentioned report is likely to be the best guide to date of where a Hillary Clinton presidency will want to take the country’s foreign policy.”
The report is all about how to maintain America’s benevolent hegemony — or how to maintain and expand today’s “rules-based international order,” which implies maintaining and expanding the geo-financial order as much as the political order. As we saw in U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter’s interview with Vox, there are clear, though somewhat cushioned, echoes of the 1992 U.S. Defense Planning Guidance. [...]
Another gloss in the CNAS report is striking: while ISIS as a threat is made much of, and a call is issued to “uproot” it, when it comes to Syria, the report simply states that “it is also essential to assist in the formation of a Sunni alternative to ISIS and the [Syria President Bashar] Assad regime” and to create “a safe space ... where moderate opposition militias can arm, train, and organize.” Yet there is no mention of Jabhat al-Nusra, al Qaeda’s Syria wing. Its role simply is not addressed. This conscious lacuna suggests that the authors do not want to embarrass Saudi Arabia for all its fired-up Sunni jihadist tools. The old Western standby of using psychologically inflamed Sunni radicalism as a means to weaken opponents seems like it won’t be dismantled completely. It is fine, evidently, to make a hoo-ha about ISIS while Nusra is to be slipped quietly into the Syrian calculus in order to shift the military balance and convince Assad that he cannot remain in power. [...]
It is not that the report’s authors don’t grasp these points, but if the neocons have one constancy, it has been their unwavering support for Israel. They think that the Gulf states are ready for a normalization with Israel and wish to do profitable business with it. What stands in the way of this rapprochement, in the neocon view, is Iran, Syria and Hezbollah’s vehement opposition — and their ability to ignite public opinion across the Muslim world on behalf of the Palestinians.

Pentagon Turns to #Silicon_Valley for Edge in Artificial Intelligence
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/12/technology/artificial-intelligence-as-the-pentagons-latest-weapon.html

On Wednesday, Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter made his fourth trip to the tech industry’s heartland since being named to his post last year. Before that, it had been 20 years since a defense secretary had visited the area, he noted in a speech at a Defense Department research facility near Google’s headquarters.

#Pentagone #IA

Kurds, ISIS, test US moral legitimacy as leader and ally | Christina Lin
▻http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/kurds-isis-test-us-moral-legitimacy-as-leader-and-ally

On April 8 Jeremy Binnie from IHS Jane’s reported Washington continued to ship weapons to Al Qaeda affiliates in Syria during the ceasefire agreement, corroborated by the jiahdi groups themselves that the ceasefire purpose was to break the Russian and Syrian army momentum and buy time to rearm for the next offensive.

Adam Entous from the Wall Street Journal also revealed that Cold War warriors such as Defense Secretary Ash Carter, chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford, and CIA director John Brennan were not focused on ISIS but rather fixated on “inflicting real pain on the Russians,” and proposed a Plan B to supply Al Qaeda groups with anti-aircraft missiles that also threaten civilian airliners.

Chuck Hagel, secrétaire à la Défense américain d’Obama de 2013 à 2015 critique vertement la politique suivie par la maison blanche en Syrie depuis le début - donc y compris durant les deux ans où il était en poste - dans un des salons de l’establishment US et de l’OTAN : l’Atlantic Council. Ses propos, derrière la critique d’une « rhétorique », sonnent en fait plutôt comme un réquisitoire contre les opérations de changement de régime :
US’ Syria Policy ’Paralyzed’ by Rhetoric that Assad Must Go, Says Hagel
▻http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/us-syria-policy-paralyzed-by-rhetoric-that-assad-must-go-says-hagel

Former Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, thinks that the Obama administration has become “paralyzed” by its rhetoric that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must step down, said budget cuts have pushed the United States “perilously close” to being unable to maintain its military dominance, equated the Republican presidential campaigns to an amateur talent contest, and had some advice for Donald Trump: “focus on uniting this country, not dividing it.”
“We have allowed ourselves to get caught and paralyzed on our Syrian policy by the statement that ‘Assad must go,’” Hagel said at the Atlantic Council on January 13. “Assad was never our enemy. A brutal dictator? Yes.”
But, he added, important lessons should have been learned from the ouster of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Following Hussein’s execution in December of 2006, former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s divisive policies deepened the sectarian divide in the country and contributed to the emergence of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). In Libya, the toppling of Gadhafi by rebels aided by a Western military campaign in 2011 plunged the country into a downward spiral of chaos from which it has yet to recover.
“You can take a brutal dictator out, but you better understand what you may get in return,” Hagel said. “We never asked that question: What is coming after Assad?”
Assad will eventually have to go, but “that should not hold us captive,” he added.
While the United States and Saudi Arabia have taken the position Assad must go, Russia and Iran hold the opposite view. This has been a key sticking point to finding a solution to Syria’s war, which is now in its fifth year.
It will take a collaborative effort involving the United States, Russia, Iran, and the Gulf Arab states to create a “platform of stability” in the Middle East, Hagel said.

L’article rappelle de plus qu’il s’en était déjà pris, après son départ, dans une interview à Foreign Policy, aux choix faits par Obama sur les dossiers syrien et ukrainien, et qu’il s’est opposé à l’influence de Susan Rice (liberal interventionnist). Un élément supplémentaire, manifestement, à l’appui de la thèse de Hersh sur une fronde sourde des hommes de la défense Vs les courants influents à la Maison blanche et Obama jusqu’en 2014 :

In an interview with Foreign Policy in December, Hagel was scathing in his criticism of the White House, which he accused of micromanaging the Pentagon and trying to “destroy” him. He also acknowledged serious policy differences with the White House on three main areas: Syria, Ukraine, and shutting down the military prison at Guantanamo Bay.
Hagel reiterated some of that criticism in his remarks at the Atlantic Council.
The former Defense Secretary, who has not refuted reports that he frequently clashed with National Security Advisor Susan Rice, accused the White House of micromanaging policy through the National Security Advisor and White House Chief of Staff. “Governing is not dominating. It is just the opposite,” Hagel said. “You need good people and you need to trust good people. If you don’t think they are good people and you don’t trust them you shouldn’t have asked them to come in to start with.”

Who Runs the Pentagon? | The Nation
▻http://www.thenation.com/article/who-runs-the-pentagon

http://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/bacevich_ashtoncarter_img-1440x756.jpg

It’s part of Carter’s job to prevent anyone from noticing. He does this by uttering with apparent sincerity reassuringly familiar platitudes, such as those he recited upon assuming office and has repeated since on several occasions. Yet platitudes amount to little more than a smoke screen. Behind that smoke screen, sound decisions competently implemented by a lean-and-mean organization that looks after the troops are the exception rather than the rule. The defense secretary may be more than a figurehead, but he is not the boss. There is no boss.

#Pentagone #complex_militaro_industriel

Pentagon chief outlines plan for escalation of Iraq-Syria war - World Socialist Web Site
▻http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/01/15/cart-j15.html

Pentagon chief outlines plan for escalation of Iraq-Syria war
By Patrick Martin
15 January 2016

In a speech to US soldiers in the 101st Airborne Division about to deploy to Iraq, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter gave the most extensive account of the Pentagon’s plans to escalate the war against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria over the next year.

#états-unis #syrie #irak #guerre

Philippine Supreme Court declares US basing deal constitutional - World Socialist Web Site
▻http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/01/13/edca-j13.html

Philippine Supreme Court declares US basing deal constitutional
By Joseph Santolan
13 January 2016

By a vote of 10-4, with one abstention, the Philippine Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), an executive agreement between Manila and Washington for the unlimited basing of US forces and weaponry in the country, was constitutional.

Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg signed the EDCA in April 2014 during a state visit by President Obama to Manila. Implementation of the basing deal has been delayed by nearly two years, as the Supreme Court reviewed two appeals questioning the constitutionality of the agreement.

#philippines #états-unis #mer_de_chine_méridionale #pacifique #façade_pacifique #bons_copains

Deux navires de la marine américaine appréhendés par l’Iran
▻http://www.lemonde.fr/proche-orient/article/2016/01/12/deux-navires-de-la-marine-americaine-apprehendes-par-l-iran_4846171_3218.htm

http://s2.lemde.fr/image/2016/01/13/534x0/4846173_6_471a_cette-photo-fournie-par-l-armee-americaine_f2c59b3538a6d47d2225ed975dd9407e.jpg

Deux bateaux légers de la marine américaine, avec à leur bord 10 marins, ont dérivé dans les eaux territoriales iraniennes et ont été appréhendés par Téhéran, mardi 12 janvier.

Les Etats-Unis ont obtenu de l’Iran l’assurance que les marins étaient « en sécurité » et pourraient « rapidement » poursuivre leur voyage, a indiqué le porte-parole de la Maison Blanche.

Selon un autre responsable américain, le secrétaire d’Etat John Kerry a été en contact téléphonique avec son homologue iranien Mohammad Javad Zarif sitôt qu’il a eu vent de l’incident pour tenter de trouver une issue. Les deux diplomates ont noué, au fil des longues négociations sur le nucléaire, des relations personnelles malgré l’interruption, il y a 35 ans, des relations diplomatiques entre leurs deux pays.

Le commandement américain a perdu le contact avec les deux bateaux alors que ces derniers effectuaient une patrouille, de routine selon Washington, entre le Koweït et Bahreïn. Aucune explication n’a été fournie sur les raisons pour lesquelles les navires se sont retrouvés dans les eaux iraniennes. Un responsable américain, toujours sous couvert d’anonymat, a évoqué l’hypothèse d’une panne touchant l’un des deux navires, les faisant dériver tous deux vers l’île iranienne de Farsi, au milieu du Golfe persique.

US defense secretary steps up threats against China - World Socialist Web Site

▻http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/11/06/sout-n06.html

http://www.wsws.org/asset/63d562fc-5a41-412b-a5f1-bebb29427c1I/AshtonCarter.jpg?rendition=image480

US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter used a visit yesterday to the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and an on-board press conference to deliver further provocative threats against China over disputed territorial claims in the South China Sea.

The visit came the day after a meeting of Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) defence ministers in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. The summit broke up without issuing a communiqué on “freedom of navigation” in the region, which the US sought as the political cover for its military push against China.

#chine #états-unis #mer_de-chine_méridionale

Target Africa
▻https://theintercept.com/drone-papers/target-africa

https://prod01-cdn06.cdn.firstlook.org/wp-uploads/sites/1/2015/10/SQ08_TargetAftica01-feature-hero.jpg

U.S. Africa Command — the umbrella organization for U.S. military activities on the continent, known as Africom — insists that it maintains only a “small footprint” in Africa and claims that Camp Lemonnier, a former French Foreign Legion outpost, is its only full-fledged base. However, a number of new facilities have been opened in recent years, and even Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has acknowledged that Lemonnier serves as “a hub with lots of spokes out there on the continent and in the region.”

https://prod01-cdn07.cdn.firstlook.org/wp-uploads/sites/1/2015/10/AfricaMap01.png

#armée_américaine #Afrique #drones #surveillance

Obama Administration Ends Pentagon Program to Train Syrian Rebels
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/10/world/middleeast/pentagon-program-islamic-state-syria.html

The Obama administration has ended the Pentagon’s $500 million program to train and equip Syrian rebels, administration officials said on Friday, in an acknowledgment that the beleaguered program had failed to produce any kind of ground combat forces capable of taking on the Islamic State in Syria.

Pentagon officials were expected to officially announce the end of the program on Friday, as Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter leaves London after meetings with his British counterpart, Michael Fallon, about the continuing wars in Syria and Iraq.

“I wasn’t happy with the early efforts” of the program, Mr. Carter said during a news conference with Mr. Fallon. “So we have devised a number of different approaches.” Mr. Carter added, “I think you’ll be hearing from President Obama very shortly” on the program.

A senior Defense Department official, who was not authorized to speak publicly and who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that there would no longer be any more recruiting of so-called moderate Syrian rebels to go through training programs in Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates. Instead, a much smaller training center would be set up in Turkey, where a small group of “enablers” — mostly leaders of opposition groups — would be taught operational maneuvers like how to call in airstrikes.

Russia Moves Its First Tactical Fighter Jets to Base in Syria - WSJ
▻http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-defense-secretary-discusses-syria-with-russian-counterpart-1442589965

Russia has moved jet fighters to a base in Syria for the first time, U.S. defense officials said Friday, a major military escalation that heightens fears Moscow is set to play a more direct role in propping up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

le reste derrière #paywall

Carter : NATO must bolster cyberdefense - Yahoo News

Avec une super idée : proposer un audit par les experts militaires états-uniens des infrastructures de sécurité des alliés pour que ceux-ci puissent bénéficier de l’expertise des premiers…

▻http://news.yahoo.com/carter-nato-must-bolster-cyber-defense-172019389--politics.html

NATO must improve its ability to defend itself against cyberattacks before it tries to build its offensive cyberwarfare capabilities, Defense Secretary Ash Carter told alliance leaders Wednesday amid rising tensions with Russia, which has proven its willingness to launch computer-based attacks against other nations.

Carter’s message runs counter to some experts and leaders who believe NATO should begin to develop cyberweapons, in order to deter opponents in the 21st century.
[…]
According to senior defense officials, Carter also wants NATO’s cybercenter of excellence, which he visited in Estonia, to be more than a think tank. They said he wants the center to take on a more active role in helping allies counter cyberthreats.

To help that along, Carter has announced that the U.S. will use its military cyber-expertise to help allies assess their vulnerabilities and reduce the risk to their critical infrastructure.

US defense secretary signs joint military statement with Hanoi - World Socialist Web Site
▻http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/06/02/viet-j02.html

US defense secretary signs joint military statement with Hanoi
By Joseph Santolan
2 June 2015

US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter traveled to Haiphong and Hanoi yesterday as part of his 11-day tour through the Asia-Pacific region, prosecuting Washington’s campaign toward war against China in the South China Sea. During his stay, Carter worked to further enmesh Vietnam in the imperialist military agenda of the United States.

Carter arrived in Vietnam from Singapore, where he delivered a plenary address at the Shangri-La Dialogue denouncing Beijing for its land-reclamation activity in the South China Sea, which he condemned as “out of step with international rules and norms.”

#états-unis #vietnam

Commentary : U.S. meddling in South China Sea means fishing for trouble
▻http://en.people.cn/n/2015/0409/c90883-8876025.html

A recent comment by U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter regarding the South China Seahas again prompted many to wonder if the self-proclaimed world “Anchor of Peace” is really so keen on quiet waters.

During his just-concluded first visit to Japanas U.S. defense chief, Carter said he was “especially concerned” about China’s land reclamation efforts regarding the South China Sea.

The irresponsible remarks accusing China of creating a “prospect of militarization of these outposts” not only ignore the fact that the reclamation projects all involve islands belonging to China or its territorial waters, but also represent the latest breach of the U.S. commitment not to take sides on the South China Sea issue.

Washington has repeatedly violated its pledge to remain neutral regarding disputes on the South China Sea. Moreover, it has never missed an opportunity to talk about the “China threat” when it comes to the issue, and tries to pit other countries against China.

Hagel concerned about possible split in NATO - Yahoo News
▻http://news.yahoo.com/hagel-concerned-possible-split-nato-140223344--politics.html

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Thursday he is worried about a potential division within NATO as countries in the north want to focus on the growing threat from Russia, while other alliance members in the south are more worried about the influx of foreign fighters from northern Africa.

Spain to negotiate turning Morón into US base for anti-jihadist operations | In English | EL PAÍS
▻http://elpais.com/elpais/2015/01/23/inenglish/1422026652_923594.html

Spain is now ready to discuss a petition first formulated in December by US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who asked Spanish Defense Minister Pedro Morenés for permission to upgrade the US military center to a permanent headquarters for the Pentagon’s Africa Command task force.

If a deal is reached, the elite force of 850 Marines based in Morón could swell to several thousand in crisis situations, and become a permanent presence in southern Andalusia. The force’s main goal is slowing down the advance of jihadism in the Maghreb and Sahel regions of Africa.

Archive avril 2013: Current Top Pentagon Official Urged Bombing North Korea… When He Was on the Sidelines
▻http://nation.time.com/2013/04/03/current-top-pentagon-official-urged-bombing-north-koreawhen-he-was-on-t

In one of those strange twists of fate TV writers love, Ashton Carter, the current deputy secretary of defense, advocated bombing North Korea seven years ago when he was safely in his bunker at Harvard University.

Along with Clinton-era defense secretary William Perry, Carter urged in Time in 2006 that the Republican George W. Bush Administration conduct a “surgical strike” on a North Korean missile as it was readied for launch

Ce matin: Obama Is Said to Pick Ashton Carter, Physicist and Ex-Deputy, as Defense Secretary
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/03/us/politics/ashton-carter-may-replace-chuck-hagel-at-defense-department-official-says.h

President Obama has selected Ashton B. Carter to be the next defense secretary, senior administration officials said on Tuesday, elevating a physicist and the Pentagon’s former chief weapons buyer to succeed Chuck Hagel, who was ousted last week.

US Leaders Aid and Abet Israeli War Crimes, Genocide and Crimes against Humanity

By sending vast amounts of military aid to Israel, members of the US Congress, President George W. Bush, President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel have aided and abetted the commission of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity by Israeli officials and commanders in Gaza. An individual can be convicted of a war crime, genocide or a crime against humanity [PDF] in the International Criminal Court (ICC) if he or she “aids, abets or otherwise assists” in the commission or attempted commission of the crime, “including providing the means for its commission.”

http://www.truth-out.org/images/images_2014_08/2014_809_cri_fw.jpg

#USA #Israël #aide_militaire #Etats-Unis

#Netanyahu to #Hagel : Don’t let « terrorist » #Iran win
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/netanyahu-hagel-dont-let-terrorist-iran-win

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel Friday that world powers must deny “terrorist” Iran any possibility of developing a nuclear weapon as the search for a deal intensifies. “I think that, while the talks with Iran are going on, there is one thing that must guide the international community and that is not to let the ayatollahs win,” Netanyahu’s office quoted him as saying at the beginning of their meeting in Jerusalem. read more

#Israel #Top_News #united_states

U.S. ground troops going to Poland, defense minister says | PostPartisan
▻http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2014/04/18/u-s-ground-troops-going-to-poland-defense-minister-says/?print=1

Poland and the United States will announce next week the deployment of U.S. ground forces to Poland as part of an expansion of NATO presence in Central and Eastern Europe in response to events in Ukraine. That was the word from Poland’s defense minister, Tomasz Siemoniak, who visited The Post Friday after meeting with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel at the Pentagon on Thursday.

Bahrain Urgently Needs Real Negotiations | Brian Dooley
▻http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-dooley/bahrain-urgently-needs-re_b_4683011.html

In his new book, Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War, former U.S Defense Secretary Bob Gates recounts how he tried to push the Bahrain ruling family towards reform in mid-March 2011: “I suggested to both the crown prince and the king that they find a new and different role for the prime minister, who was disliked by nearly everyone but especially the Shia; lift constraints on the media as well as on civil society and human rights groups;...move forward in integrating the Shia into the security services and the Bahrain defense force; and promote basic civil rights in the social, media and political arenas”. Gates concludes that his diplomacy was ’ineffective," and that although the crown prince was “the voice of reason...he was powerless”.