Japan Protests Russian DM Trip To Contested Islands

TOKYO - Japan filed a furious protest on Feb. 4 over the Russian defence minister's snap trip to a chain of disputed islands that have marred the two sides' relations since the end of World War II.
Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov's tour of the Kuril Islands came just two months after President Dmitry Medvedev became the first Russian leader to visit a region that is still known as the Northern Territories in Japan.

Medvedev's unprecedented trip put a new chill in the two neighors' relations and was to have been the subject of delicate talks during Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara's Feb. 11 visit to Moscow.
But Maehara found himself officially addressing the subject Feb. 4 when he summoned Russian Ambassador Mikhail Bely for a meeting in which Japan expressed its "extreme" disappointment with the defense minister's trip.
"It is extremely regrettable," Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said. "We have firmly conveyed our resolve on the matter through the foreign ministry."
Medvedev tried to defuse the dispute by telling a Russian Security Council meeting that the visit was not meant as a show of force.
"All of these visits relate to the same thing - we have to devote attention to the Kuril Islands' development," Medvedev said in televised remarks.
But he stressed once again that the islands "are Russian territories that must develop according to a very obvious scenario - just like all the other regions of Russia."
He said Russia remained open to diplomatic negotiations with Japan that could eventually result in the signature of a peace treaty formally ending World War II.
But Medvedev insisted that in the future his government must "devote more attention to this particular part of the Russian Federation."
Medvedev's Kurils visit started a chain of such trips that also included tours of the islands by First Deputy Prime Minster Igor Shuvalov and Regional Development Minister Viktor Basargin.
The decades-long impasse has prevented the two sides from developing full trade relations and produced few strategies over how they can overcome their differences.
The Japanese foreign minister seemed particularly critical of the Russian defense minister's tour.
"It happened when I'm trying to develop Japan-Russia relations, including the resolution of the territorial issue," Maehara said. "Such a visit is like pouring cold water on those efforts."
But like Medvedev, the Japanese prime minister also said his country was ready for more talks.
"We want to continue negotiations [with Russia] patiently by adhering to our basic policy to settle the territorial issue between Japan and Russia and conclude a peace treaty," Kan said.
The dispute surrounds the southernmost four islands, two of which Serdyukov visited. Television footage showed him greeting troops while news reports said that he also inspected a grocery store and a bakery.
The Russian defense minister said he came to ensure that the region's 18th machine gun and artillery division was fully equipped with the latest issue of weapons.
"I think that we will draw up plans for replacing weapons and military hardware in this division," news agencies quoted Serdyukov as saying.
"The appropriate decisions will be reached in the near future," the Russian defense minister said.

US expert advocates nuclear energy deal for Pakistan

“Obama should offer Islamabad a much more expansive US-Pakistani relationship if it helps win this war.” — File Photo

WASHINGTON: The Obama Administration should offer Pakistan a civilian nuclear energy deal as well as a trade program under a “much more expansive” US relationship with the key regional country as part of efforts to win more Pakistani cooperation toward a successful outcome of the Afghan conflict, a prominent American expert argued Tuesday.
In a policy brief, Michael E. O’Hanlon, who is director of research for the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution, endorses the Obama Administration’s policy to build a relationship of trust with Pakistan but underlines that bold new measures are needed to get greater and sustained Pakistani cooperation in the anti-terror fight along the Afghan border.
“Two major incentives would have particular appeal to Pakistan. One is a civilian nuclear energy deal like that being provided to India, with full safeguards on associated reactors,” says Dr O’Hanlon, who has also authored a book on Afghanistan.
He advocates that “Pakistan’s progress on export controls in the wake of the A.Q. Khan debacle has been good enough so far to allow a provisional approval of such a deal if other things fall into place as well, including Islamabad’s compliance with any future fissile production cutoff treaty.”
On the importance of US striking a free trade accord, the expert says struggling economically; Pakistan needs such a shot in the arm.
“A trade deal could arguably do even more than aid at this point,” he observes.
However, O’ Hanlon stipulates, that Pakistan should be given these deals if the US comes out successful in Afghanistan as he claims that the Afghan militants use Pakistani tribal regions to sustain insurgency and need to be tackled strongly by Pakistan.
The expert suggests if Afghanistan turns around in a year or two, the deals can be set in motion and implemented over a longer period.
Favoring the current US policy toward Pakistan, O’ Hanlon notes in the policy brief, that “part of the right policy is to keep doing more of what the Obama administration has been doing with Pakistan -building trust, as with last fall’s strategic dialogue in Washington; increasing aid incrementally, as with the new five-year, $2 billion aid package announced during that dialogue; encouraging Pakistan-India dialogue (which would help persuade Islamabad it could safely move more military forces from its eastern border to its western regions) and coordinating militarily across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. But President Barack Obama needs to think bigger.”
The clarification that the US-led ISAF mission will continue until 2014, and indeed beyond, at the November Lisbon summit was a step in the right direction but more is needed.
“Obama should offer Islamabad a much more expansive US-Pakistani relationship if it helps win this war.”
Entitled “Improving Afghan War Strategy,” the policy brief also emphasizes promoting Afghan political organizations built around ideas and platforms, not individuals and ethnicities, in a change from longstanding American policy that could improve the quality of governance in the country.
The brief also proposes taking pressure off the bilateral US-Afghan relationship on the issue of anticorruption, largely by creation of an international advisory board consisting of prominent individuals from key developing countries like Indonesia and Tanzania that have had considerable success improving their own nations’ governance in recent times.

Proposal for cyber war rules of engagement

The world needs cyber war "Rules of Engagement" to cope with potentially devastating cyber weapons, Russian and US experts will tell world leaders at a security conference on Friday.

The cyber proposal, seen exclusively by Newsnight, comes from the influential EastWest Institute in New York.
It describes "rendering the Geneva and Hague conventions in cyberspace".
Cyber security is on the agenda at the annual Munich Security Conference for the first time this year.
Those attending the conference include UK Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

LEARN MORE Watch Susan Watts' full report on Thursday 3 February 2011 at 10.30pm on BBC Two, and then afterwards on the BBC iPlayer and Newsnight website.

The logic behind the move is that in the intermingled world of cyberspace, we may need to protect zones that run facilities such as hospitals or schools.
The draft document also calls for a fresh definition of "nation state", with new "territories" and players in cyberspace beyond government - such as multinationals, NGOs and citizens.
The proposal also says that ambiguity about what constitutes cyber conflict is delaying international policy to deal with it, and that perhaps the idea of "peace" or "war" is too simple in the internet age when the world could find itself in a third, "other than war", mode.
Pinpointing attackers
The US-Russian team point out that discriminating between military and civilian targets is more difficult in cyberspace, and may require protected, marked, domain names.

How strongly should a state respond to an attack when you do not know who did it, where they did it from or what the intention was? In conventional military terms these questions are easier to answer - not so in the cyber world British government sources

They say cyber weapons have attributes not previously seen with traditional weapons, nor considered during the development of the current Laws of War: "Cyber weapons can deliver, in the blink of an eye, wild viral behaviours that are easily reproduced and transferred, while lacking target discrimination."
Well-placed British government sources say they do not see a need for new international "treaties" for cyberspace, but do concede that there are areas that need discussion, especially on attribution.
The nature of cyber space, with its ease of anonymity and use of proxies, makes the attribution of any attack very difficult. This raises the question of proportionality:
"How strongly should a state respond to an attack when you do not know who did it, where they did it from or what the intention was? In conventional military terms these questions are easier to answer - not so in the cyber world," these sources pointed out to Newsnight.
John Bumgarner, research director for security technology at the US Cyber Consequences Unit, spoke to Newsnight about the kind of threats which exist:
"There's things out there that right now that exist that the general public really doesn't know about - stealthy type technologies that can be embedded into systems that can run that you'll never see. Those things already exist."
He said that capabilities which currently exist include turning off power grids, disrupting water supplies and manufacturing systems.
Business agenda
Others, however, say that talk of all out cyber "war" is hype, though useful to defence companies looking for new ways to make money.

About 80% of UK critical national infrastructure is privately run

Nevertheless, there are almost daily reports now of cyber incidents, most recently that Stock Exchanges in Britain and the US were seeking help from the security services after discovering they were victims of attempted cyber attacks.
"There's quite a lot in it, but they're also extensively hyped," according to Professor Peter Sommer of the London School of Economics, who wrote a recent Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report on cyber security.
"In terms of the involvement of the big military companies, you have to realise that they are finding it extremely difficult to sell big, heavy equipment of the sort they are used to because the type of wars that we're involved in tend to be against insurgents.
"And so they are desperately looking for new product areas - and the obvious product area, they think, is cyber warfare - I'm not so sure about that."
And yet, "utterly dependent" is how one well-placed government source describes our relationship with cyberspace.
The message is blunt. Ensuring security in cyberspace is vital to our national security, our well being and our prosperity: "Without it we can't have the economy we aspire to."
And if that is not enough, the UK government also believes it is vital to maintaining our values as a democracy.
Real-time attack data
The government is therefore embarking on an ambitious project to forge what it calls a new "dialogue" between the state and commercial companies, for mutual benefit.

GCHQ is working on the development of an attack early-warning system

After all, some 80% of our critical national infrastructure is owned and run by the private sector, and that is before you take account of the tangle of undersea fibre-optic cables that carry over 90% of our internet traffic, with all the physical vulnerabilities to terrorist attack that implies.
At the new Cyber Security Operations Centre at GCHQ, the UK's electronic intelligence agency in Cheltenham, the eventual aim is for real-time, open exchange of data from companies about how and when they are suffering attacks on their IT systems from cyberspace.
This should give the government early-warning of cyber attacks that could bring down critical national infrastructure. In return, the commercial sector can expect expertise on-tap.
This builds on existing trusted relationships with energy and water companies, but will extend to other sectors, such as food distribution, finance and transport.
The idea was mooted by Iain Lobban, director of GCHQ, in a rare speech at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (ISS) last October.
A substantial chunk of the £650m allocated to cyber security in the subsequent Strategic Defence and Security Review is now heading in that direction.

Pakistan military bombs Afghanistan

Pakistani forces have bombarded residential areas and police checkpoints in eastern Afghanistan one day after Afghan and Pakistani troops exchanged fire across border, a top Afghan official says.

Major General Aminullah Amarkhel, commander of first zone of border force in eastern Afghanistan, said Pakistani jets targeted the areas in Gushte district in Nangarhar province on Thursday, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Pakistani troops also attacked residential areas and government buildings in the area, damaging two police checkpoints in the Thursday attack, according to the report.

The aerial and ground assaults have left no casualties, General Amarkhel went on to say.

The Afghan official condemned the attacks and warned that Afghan forces would respond to them if repeated.

On Wednesday, one Pakistani soldier was killed and three others were left injured after Afghan and Pakistani troops exchanged fire across the border.

The two sides blame each other for provoking the shootout in North Waziristan's Ghulam Khan District.

Afghan and Pakistani border troops have previously exchanged fire.

The incident was the most serious cross-border clash since May 2007, when clashes between Afghan and Pakistani troops left three civilians and a police officer dead.

Afghan and Western officials say Taliban militants hiding in Pakistan's border areas are behind the attacks inside Afghanistan.

Assault Batteries BAE's Body Armor May Also Power Soldiers' Equipment

Ever on the lookout for ways to lighten its soldiers' load, the U.S. Army is eyeing new ways to keep troops' battery-powered gadgets and gear charged.
Among the proposed systems are propane, methane and solar power. Another promising contender, Army officials said, is a BAE Systems idea to make body armor that acts like a battery.
Brig. Gen. Peter Fuller, with the service's Program Executive Office Soldier, has likened soldiers to Christmas trees.
"We keep hanging things on the soldiers," he said. "We are putting on more gear, and not taking anything off. It may only be 5 pounds, but 5 pounds is 5 pounds."
The problems and promise inherent to emerging technology are evident in Nett Warrior, a system that will provide better situational awareness by plotting friendly and enemy locations as well as mission objectives on a digital map. The map will be viewed through an eyepiece mounted on the soldier's helmet. It will be a great asset on the battlefield, Fuller said, but again - power is an issue.
To operate its predecessor, Land Warrior, one soldier needs three batteries a day. The batteries weigh 2.2 pounds each. A company requires 578 batteries a day, which requires another 4.08 kilowatts from generators to recharge the batteries in 10 hours. That comes at a heavy cost, when petroleum is running upwards of $400 a barrel in Afghanistan.
A leading contender to replace batteries has emerged through ECLiPSE Gear, an arm of BAE. Called the Integrated Power System, it is a conformal battery shaped like body armor that can be wired for individual devices.
The system offers a 72-hour battery life in the field - promising news for soldiers who have to carry as many as 300 AA batteries for a typical three-day mission.
The plates contain interconnected battery cells and a unique safety system that shuts down a string that has been compromised. As such, a plate can take damage in one portion and the remainder will still work. In addition, the battery strings are made of nonflammable material to eliminate the threat of secondary explosion or acidity, said Michael Haynes, manager of business development at BAE's Security and Survivability department.
"We've done a lot of destructive testing on these with actual projectiles and simulated fragmentation, and they have performed very well," Haynes said.
Each battery has 100 watt-hours of storage and a small LED indicator to show how much power remains. A distribution hub allows a soldier to run four systems off the hub.
An empty battery can be fully charged in an hour, and it can be charged via a vehicle power adapter if a soldier is on the move, Haynes said.
The front and back plates weigh only 2.3 pounds, and the side plates weigh 1.5 pounds. A soldier need carry only as many plates as the mission requires.
Right now, five batteries will meet the communications requirements for a squad on a standard Afghanistan mission, Haynes said. That's not five batteries per person - that's five batteries for the whole squad.
But as individual soldiers need more power for things such as Nett Warrior, soldiers are likely to wear their own batteries. For example, BAE modified the MBITR radio by taking off the big battery block and replacing it with an adapter that plugs into the vest.
The IPS is making its way through Army channels as it undergoes final testing by BAE.

Lighter Body Armor

Batteries are not the only place where the Army looks to lighten the load this year. Lighter body armor stands as a priority for defense and congressional leaders alike.
"Our metric is not 'How many MRAPs have we lost?' Our metric is 'How many kids have been killed and how many have been injured?'"Fuller said.
Congress in the 2011 National Defense Authorization Act requires the defense secretary to conduct a study to "more effectively address the research, development, and procurement requirements regarding reducing the weight of body armor." That study is due to Congress by June 22.
So significant is the issue that the forthcoming Soldier Technology U.S. Conference is focused entirely on lightening the load and increasing situational awareness for the small unit and tactical operator. The conference is taking place the week of Jan. 31 in Washington, and features dozens of defense, industry and international experts.
But making lighter body armor is easier said than done.
"We've taken your grandmother's china, wrapped it in Kevlar and given you the capability," Fuller said. "You want more protection? More china, more Kevlar, that's weight. How do we move this forward?"
This comes at a time when government agencies have called into question the methods and materials used to make body armor. Among them:
■ A March 31, 2008, report by the Defense Department's inspector general found 13 contracts that did not have documentation of first-article testing;
■ An Oct. 16, 2009, Government Accountability Office report said the Army failed to follow established testing standards for X Small Arms Protective Inserts, or XSAPI. The report said several aspects of the new armor would have failed if tests were done properly;
■ Army Secretary John McHugh on Nov. 20, 2009, ordered an independent review by the National Research Council. It focused specifically on the behavior of ballistic clay and on other issues relating to the test process.
In its subsequent April 22, 2010, report, the council outlined 19 recommendations that are "urgently needed to achieve greater part-to-part consistency in the ballistic clay, to analyze [back-face deformation] dynamics, to determine possible replacements for modeling clay, to achieve a national clay standard for testing body armor, and to implement statistically based protocols."
■ A Jan. 3 DoD inspector general's report that said the IG could provide only "limited assurance" that Interceptor Body Armor vest components meet ballistic and quality requirements.
Col. William Cole, project manager of Soldier Protection and Individual Equipment, emphasized that Army body armor has never failed to stop a threat for which it is rated, and often outperforms its rating.
"I am confident we are fielding the best possible body armor," Cole said.

Israeli Military Backs Egyptian Troops

TEL AVIV - Following situational assessments of deteriorating conditions on the streets of Cairo, Israeli military leaders are extending messages of support to their Egyptian counterparts and pledges to preserve the 31-year peace between the two countries.

Egyptian anti-government demonstrators battle pro-government opponents in Cairo's Tahrir square on Feb. 3. (Mohammed Abed / Agence France-Presse)

"Based on our assessment of events on the ground, it's our understanding that the Egyptian Army is operating responsibly and in a manner that contributes to stability and preserves future peace," Brig. Gen. Avi Benayahu, Israeli military spokesman, told Defense News.

In a Feb. 3 interview, Benayahu said assessments conducted in Tel Aviv in recent hours indicate that the Egyptian Army has been handling violence among demonstrators with restraint as it attempts to restore calm among peaceful demonstrators.
"The Egyptian Army is working to preserve stability and is operating as much as possible in a manner of restraint," Benayahu said.
He added, "Our peace with Egypt is a strategic asset of supreme importance to the government of Israel, the Israel Defense Forces, and I'm sure also to the people of Egypt. … Egypt is not an enemy of Israel, but rather a large and influential country with whom we hope our peaceful relations will ensure forever."

Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal tops 100

Citing US non-government analysts, the newspaper said that only four years ago, the Pakistani nuclear arsenal was estimated at 30 to 60 weapons. – AFP Photo

WASHINGTON: Pakistan has doubled its nuclear weapons stockpile over the past several years, increasing its arsenal to more than 100 deployed weapons, The Washington Post reported late Sunday.
Citing US non-government analysts, the newspaper said that only four years ago, the Pakistani nuclear arsenal was estimated at 30 to 60 weapons.
“They have been expanding pretty rapidly,” the report quoted David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, as saying.
Based on recently accelerated production of plutonium and highly enriched uranium, Islamabad may now have an arsenal of up to 110 weapons, Albright said.
As a result, Pakistan has now edged ahead of India, its nuclear-armed rival, The Post noted. India is estimated to have 60 to 100 weapons.