Gates: NATO Allies Must Pool Funds or Face Decline

WASHINGTON - European members of NATO need to pool their defense funds to bolster their declining military power, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says.
The Libya air war has exposed serious shortcomings among NATO allies and European governments will have to agree on joint defense budget priorities to rectify the problem, Gates told AFP in an interview.

The Pentagon chief, who is due to retire this week after more than four years in the post, reiterated views he expressed in a blunt speech in Brussels earlier this month, in which he warned the alliance faced a potentially "dismal" future.
"The truth is, as I said in Brussels, there is a lot of military capability and a lot of money being spent in Europe," Gates said on Thursday.
"The problem is, is how it's being spent, and not a sufficient acknowledgement that every nation in NATO can't have a full spectrum capability militarily," he said.
European allies are spending more than $300 billion on defense, but often in an uncoordinated manner, he said.
"So at one point do countries begin to pool their resources, begin to pool their capabilities and say, together they can do this?" he said.
Gates added there are "several countries, and I'm not going to name any names, that can't afford F-16s (fighter jets), but they can pool their resources as they have on the C-17s, the cargo planes, then they have a real capability."
He said he was urging "greater integration within NATO."
In his Brussels speech on June 10, Gates said that many NATO members did not have the military resources to participate in the Libya air campaign and that failure to coordinate defense spending over the years had "short changed" operations.
He also warned that failing to pool funds and coordinate training and other efforts "bodes ill for ensuring NATO has the key common alliance capabilities of the future."
Gates' critique of NATO prompted a sharp response from French President Nicolas Sarkozy last week, who said the American defense secretary's comments reflected the "bitterness" of a future retiree.
"Mr. Gates was heading towards retirement and it gave him pleasure" to criticize the alliance, Sarkozy told a news conference Friday after a summit of European Union leaders in Brussels.
"You can't blame someone who's retiring for showing bitterness," he said, adding that what Gates said was "completely false."
The Pentagon chief's press secretary, Geoff Morrell, has declined to comment on Sarkozy's remarks.
In his Brussels address, Gates rebuked allies for what he called chronic underinvestment in defense, saying NATO members in the Libya campaign are running out of munitions and lacking surveillance aircraft and specialists to identify targets.
Senior British officers have warned that the Libya campaign is putting an increasing strain on the country's armed forces.

Russia, Kyrgyzstan in Talks Over Training Base

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan - Russia is in talks with Kyrgyzstan to expand its military presence in the volatile central Asian nation by setting up a training center in the south, the Kyrgyz foreign minister told AFP.
"We are discussing the possibility of creating a training base in the south of Kyrgyzstan," Ruslan Kazakbayev told AFP in an interview conducted June 24.

The training base was part of ongoing discussions to conclude an agreement under which "all of Russia's existing military installations on our territory will be merged into one," he said.
Russia already operates one base in Kyrgyzstan, the Kant airbase outside the capital Bishkek, as well as several other installations such as a seismic station providing data for strategic missile forces.
Moscow had been in talks about opening a second military base in Kyrgyzstan with the country's previous administration led by Kurmanbek Bakiyev before he was ousted in a violent uprising last year.
Both the United States and Russia jostle for military influence in a region gaining in strategic importance owing to its proximity to Afghanistan.
Washington also operates a military base in Kyrgyzstan, making it the only country in the world to house both Russian and U.S. bases.
Russia lobbied for the closure of the U.S. base but Bishkek eventually agreed to keep it open after Washington more than tripled the rent paid to use Manas. Kazakbayev said the Kyrgyz government and Washington were in similar talks.
"We are also working with the U.S. government in this direction," he said without being more specific. "I would like to stress that a decision on these issues will be made in a transparent manner and will take into account our country's national interests."
Under the current agreement with Washington, the Manas base, a pivotal transit hub for troops and supplies for the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, will be stationed in Kyrgyzstan until 2014.
Bloody riots rocked the country last June, becoming the worst inter-ethnic clashes to hit Kyrgyzstan since the collapse of the Soviet Union and taking place two months after violent protests deposed Bakiyev.

Guns, Grenades and iPads for Singapore Soldiers

SINGAPORE - New recruits to Singapore's military, air force and navy are to get a new standard-issue item of equipment besides their rifle - the iPad.
The defense ministry said June 27 it will be issuing "about 8,000" of the sleek, touch-screen tablet computers - already wildly popular with the city-state's tech-savvy youth - to recruits from November.

The ministry said it was also planning to issue the devices to other servicemen next year. The cheapest iPad2 device currently retails in Singapore for Sg$668 ($538).
Defense chief Neo Kian Hong said adopting the iPad would allow the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) to take advantage of the technological abilities of the city-state's youth.
"By exploiting the use of popular and current information and communications technology, we are able to harness our advantage of today's technologically savvy servicemen," the Straits Times newspaper quoted him as saying.
Troops can use the iPad's built-in camera to take photos and video clips in the field which can be uploaded to the SAF's online platform, LEARNet.
Soldiers can use these photos and videos to carry out post-mission assessments, the newspaper said.
Soldiers can send questions to their commanders through a live messaging system and group chat discussions can be held, it added.
The SAF said it was working with private contractors to design apps - micro-programs tailor-made for mobile devices with a wide range of functions - for servicemen.
Singapore maintains a conscript-based military and its armed forces are among the best-equipped in Asia. Every able-bodied male citizen and permanent resident aged 18 and above must undergo two years of military training.

Iran to Stage Missile Wargames

TEHRAN - Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards are to launch military exercises on June 26 with the firing of different range ballistic missiles, the state news agency IRNA reported.
The exercises, codenamed Great Prophet-6, are to start on June 26, said a Guards commander, Gen. Ami Ali Hadjizadeh, quoted by IRNA, without specifying how long the maneuvers will last.

"Short-, medium- and long-range missiles will be fired, especially the Khalij-Fars, Sejil, Fateh, Ghiam, and Shahab-1 and -2 missiles," he said.
The general, whose force carries out wargames each year in the Gulf region, said the latest exercises were "a message of peace and friendship to the countries of the area."
In late May, Iran said it had equipped the Revolutionary Guards with a new surface-to-surface missile, the Qiam-1, which was built locally and test-fired last August.
Iran says it has a wide range of missiles, some capable of striking targets inside arch-foe Israel as well as U.S. bases in the Middle East.
The Islamic republic regularly boasts about developing missiles having substantial range and capabilities, but Western military experts cast doubt on its claims.
Iran's missile program is under the control of the Guards.
Its space and missile programs have been a concern in the West, which fears Tehran is developing a ballistic capability to launch potential nuclear weapons which it suspects Iran aims to develop under the guise of its civilian atomic program.
Iran has steadfastly denied these Western charges, saying its nuclear and space programs have no military objectives.

Karzai Rules Out Calling for More U.S. Troops

WASHINGTON - Afghan President Hamid Karzai ruled out June 26 asking the United States to send more troops if the security situation in Afghanistan deteriorates following the U.S. military drawdown.
Asked on CNN whether he would go back to U.S. President Barack Obama and ask him to perhaps reverse the drawdown if the Afghan army failed to maintain security, Karzai replied: "I will not do that.

R

"It is the responsibility of the Afghan people to protect their country and to provide security for the citizens of the country," he said.

Azerbaijan Warns Armenia with Show of Military Might

BAKU - Azerbaijan paraded thousands of soldiers and hundreds of military vehicles through its capital June 26 in a show of force two days after talks failed to resolve a bitter territorial dispute with Armenia.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who has overseen massive increases in defense spending, warned in his speech that he was ready to take back the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region, which was seized from Azerbaijan in the 1990s by Armenian separatist forces backed by Yerevan.

"The war is not over yet," Aliyev said at the showpiece parade in the center of Baku, vowing to end what he called the "occupation" of Karabakh.
"The territorial integrity of Azerbaijan must be restored and the territory will be restored," he said.
Six thousand troops marched in the parade, accompanied by tanks, armored cars and rocket launchers, as fighter planes and combat helicopters roared overhead and warships lined up in the nearby Caspian Sea bay.
In his speech, Aliyev also spoke approvingly about the increases in defense spending financed by the energy-rich state's huge revenues from oil and gas exports.
"Azerbaijan has fulfilled the task that I set, which was that Azerbaijan's military expenditure must exceed the entire state budget of Armenia," he said, noting that defense spending reached $3.3 billion (2.3 billion euros) this year.
"Military expenditure occupies first place in the state budget of Azerbaijan and that is understandable. It will be like this as long as our lands are not liberated," he said.
Military hardware manufactured in Azerbaijan, including unmanned drones, was on show for the first time to highlight the country's expanding defense industry.
The "Armed Forces Day" parade in Baku was the third in the country's post-Soviet history and also marked this year's 20th anniversary of independence.
It was shown live on state television in a broadcast preceded by a series of patriotic songs accompanied by images of troops in action and President Aliyev wearing camouflage fatigues.
The parade was held after the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia failed to agree despite strong international pressure to a "basic principles" roadmap document that would have been a significant step towards a Karabakh peace deal.
A joint statement issued after the summit in Russia on June 24 merely noted "the reaching of mutual understanding on a number of questions, whose resolution helps create conditions to approve the basic principles".
The two enemies traded accusations after the summit, with Armenia saying that Azerbaijan had torpedoed the talks by wanting a dozen changes to the document and Baku saying that Yerevan was seeking to mislead the world.
The outcome was a major disappointment after hopes had been raised of a long-awaited breakthrough in the talks, which were presided over by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in the city of Kazan.
U.S. President Barack Obama had also telephoned his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts before the summit to urge them to agree the "basic principles" document.
Seventeen years after the Karabakh ceasefire, the opposing sides still often exchange deadly fire across the frontline and Baku has repeatedly threatened to use force if negotiations don't yield results.
Fears have been raised of a return to war that could prove even bloodier than the 1990s conflict and potentially threaten pipelines taking Caspian Sea oil and gas from Azerbaijan to Europe.
The interim "basic principles" agreement would see an Armenian withdrawal from areas around Karabakh that were also seized during the post-Soviet war.
It also envisages international security guarantees and a vote on the final status of the territory at some point in the future.
But even if the document is eventually agreed by both sides, huge obstacles remain to a final peace deal.
Armenia insists that Karabakh will never again be ruled by Baku, while Azerbaijan insists that the region must remain part of its sovereign territory.

S. Korea to Hold Drill Near Tense N. Korea Border

SEOUL - South Korea will hold military drills near the border with North Korea this week against a background of simmering tensions with its communist neighbor, an official said June 26.
The South's army will stage field training exercises in the city of Paju from June 27 to July 1, Seoul's defense ministry spokesman said.

"The training is something we have been doing on a regular basis to improve our combat readiness," he said without elaborating.
Cross-border tension has been acute since the North's alleged sinking of a Seoul warship that claimed 46 lives and a shelling of a frontier island that killed four South Koreans last year.
Ties deteriorated again after Pyongyang announced late last month it was breaking all contact with Seoul's conservative government, which has demanded an apology from the North over the two attacks.
The arrival by boat in South Korea of nine refugees from the North this month has further heightened tensions after Seoul rejected Pyongyang's demand to send the nine back.
A Seoul-based group of North Korean defectors launched 100,000 anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border on Saturday urging the toppling of the communist regime, despite threats from the North to shoot at them.
Giant balloons were inscribed with anti-Pyongyang slogans including one calling for the overthrow of leader Kim Jong-Il and his youngest son Kim Jong-Un's "hereditary dictatorship".