UPI – GENEVA, Switzerland: March 7 2009
Russia and China say they want all countries to unite in declaring outer space off limits to weapons.
“Prevention of an arms race in space will contribute to ensuring the predictability of the strategic situation and preserving the orbital property,” Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, said Saturday. …
www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/03/07/Russia_China_call_for_space_weapons_ban/UPI-24331236454869/
6 March 2009
A deputy defense minister said Thursday that Russia is working towards developing anti-satellite weapons to match efforts by other nations.
According to Russian news reports, Gen. Valentin Popovkin said that while the country continues to oppose a space arms race, it would respond to moves made by other countries.
Popovkin was quoted as saying: “We can’t sit back and quietly watch others doing that, such work is being conducted in Russia.”
He added that Russia already has some “basic, key elements” of such weapons. However, he didn’t elaborate further …
http://redorbit.com/news/space/1650425/report_suggests_russia_is_developing_space_weapons/index.html
United Press International – USA: WASHINGTON, March 4
President Barack Obama should drop plans for a U.S. missile defense system in Eastern Europe, the Union of Concerned Scientists said Wednesday.
In a statement, David Wright of the group’s Global Security Program said that there are both technical and strategic reasons for reversing the Bush administration’s plan to locate parts of the system in Poland and the Czech Republic.
The system is untested and there is no proof it would be effective, Wright said. But plans to install it have enraged Russian leaders, threatening U.S. security by hampering cooperation on important issues like halting Iran’s nuclear program.
“President Obama should say no to deploying a missile defense system that offers no security benefits and needlessly provokes Russia,” Wright said. “Missile defense is not a magic bullet. Real-world threats require real-world solutions.” …
www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/03/04/Scientist_group_Drop_missile_shield/UPI-38951236201674/
United Press International – USA: TOKYO, March 3 2009
Japan is preparing to become the first country to deploy a ship-based, long-range missile defense system as North Korea apparently readies a missile test.
The controversial system, dubbed “Son of Star Wars,” has been installed aboard Japanese naval destroyers which are set to be dispatched to areas off North Korea should Pyongyang move ahead with an anticipated rocket launch …
www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/03/03/Japan_to_deploy_Son_of_Star_Wars/UPI-20211236117963/
United Press International – USA: TOKYO, March 3 2009
Japan is preparing to become the first country to deploy a ship-based, long-range missile defense system as North Korea apparently readies a missile test.
The controversial system, dubbed “Son of Star Wars,” has been installed aboard Japanese naval destroyers which are set to be dispatched to areas off North Korea should Pyongyang move ahead with an anticipated rocket launch …
www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/03/03/Japan_to_deploy_Son_of_Star_Wars/UPI-20211236117963/
New York Times: March 8, 2009
In pledging last week that the “days of giving defense contractors a blank check are over,” President Obama is taking on the giant weapons contracting system that he says has “gone amok.” …
Gordon Adams, a professor at American University in Washington, said parts of the $10 billion missile defense programs, which are still being tested, represent “low-hanging fruit” for Mr. Obama. …
www.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/us/politics/09defense.html?_r=1&ref=us
Associated Press
Vladimir Isachenkov
Russia’s foreign minister said Friday he will focus on arms control talks during his meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton next week, while Moscow has demonstrated its revived military might by sending a bomber on patrol near Canada and putting a new military radar on duty.
Russia has welcomed the new U.S. administration’s intention to start talks soon on a successor deal to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START I, which expires in December. The treaty, signed by Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and President George H.W. Bush, contains a comprehensive control and verification mechanism hailed by both Moscow and Washington. …
The Kremlin has taken a tough tone with Washington ever since Barack Obama’s election. The day after his victory, President Dmitry Medvedev warned that Russia will deploy missiles to its westernmost Kaliningrad region in response to the U.S. missile defense plans. …
www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5joyt2yQAg5FcRwHi_T2dXgmfGDoQD96K5U6O0
Defense News: 19 Feb 2009
By JOHN T. BENNETT
The Obama administration has directed defense officials to sign a pledge stating they will not share 2010 budget data with individuals outside the federal government. …
The Pentagon and Office of Management and Budget have agreed on a fiscal 2010 defense budget top line figure of $537 billion. That level is nearly $50 billion lower than the $585 billion defense plan created during the final months of the Bush administration, and $24 billion higher than the already enacted $513 billion 2009 defense budget. …
Reuters – USA
Wed Feb 11, 2009
The Philippines’ highest court has ruled an American soldier convicted of raping a Filipina in 2006 must be placed in government custody, scrapping a deal between the two countries that allowed detention inside the U.S. embassy.
The Supreme Court, in a majority vote taken on Tuesday but announced only on Wednesday, upheld a decade-old security treaty between Manila and Washington. It also said the treaty was clear on the detention “by Philippine authorities” of any U.S. personnel serving sentences. …
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE51A2AY20090211
NOTE: In the UK the court has no jurisdiction to hear the case if the person charged was on duty, in uniform and a member of a Visiting Force (US) – under the Visiting Forces Act 1952 – refer to CAAB Report – a case of doing what they like.
Reuters
Fri Feb 13, 2009
By Jim Wolf
The White House has asked the Pentagon to cut nearly $2 billion, or up to roughly 20 percent, from missile defense in its fiscal 2010 budget, a prominent advocate of the costliest U.S. weapons development effort said on Friday.
Boeing Co’s Airborne Laser, a modified 747 being designed to zap ballistic missiles moments after liftoff, was in “very serious jeopardy of being taken out,” said Riki Ellison, head of the industry-supported Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance. …
Another possible missile-defense cut would slow the projected installation of 10 two-stage interceptor missiles in Poland and a related radar site in the Czech Republic. …
http://uk.reuters.com/article/burningIssues/idUKTRE51C74720090213
