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China’s People Liberation Army demanded a tough response to US plans to send an aircraft carrier to naval exercises near its coast, saying that “respect” was at stake.
A commentary in the Liberation Army Daily on Thursday laid bare rancour over Washington’s naval exercises with ally South Korea, and over its criticism of Chinese territorial claims to swathes of the South China Sea, where Taiwan and several Southeast Asian states also have claims.
“A country needs respect, and a military also needs respect. ‘If someone doesn’t hurt me, I won’t hurt him; but if someone hurts me, I must hurt him,” wrote Major General Luo Yuan in the paper.
“For the Chinese people and the Chinese military, those are by no means idle words.”
The angry commentary in the PLA’s top mouthpiece, carefully vetted by censors, also underscored Chinese military pressures weighing on Beijing as it crafts policy.
The US and South Korea last month held a joint naval drill in the Sea of Japan off the Korean peninsula, which brought condemnation from China, which answered with its own heavily publicised military exercises.
A Pentagon spokesman, Geoff Morrell, last week said a US aircraft carrier, the nuclear-powered George Washington, which joined in the earlier exercise, would participate in a follow-up drill in the Yellow Sea, between the Korean peninsula and China.
The July drill was also initially scheduled to take place in the Yellow Sea — closer to China’s shore — but was moved to other side of the Korean peninsula after objections from Beijing.
Morrell did not give a date for the next joint naval exercises, according a transcript on the Pentagon website. (http://www.defense.gov)
The PLA Daily commentary indicated that friction over any fresh US military activities in seas near China would continue to dog relations between the two big economic powers.
The United States is “pushing its security boundary to the doorstep of others — the Yellow Sea, South China Sea and so on,” wrote Luo. “In their eyes, the security of other states and peoples is secondary, even meaningless.”
Chinese newspapers have carried several harsh commentaries since maritime tensions flared between Beijing and Washington, rekindling friction that unsettled ties earlier this year.
But Luo’s strong words in the Chinese military’s top newspaper suggest the PLA sees its prestige at stake and wants some response from Beijing.
“We don’t want make enemies of any country,” wrote Luo.
“But whoever ignores our solemn stance and core interests, persisting in doing as he pleases and bullying us too far, we will never fear.”
Beijing said the military exercises in nearby seas threatened its security. The United States and South Korea said they were aimed at deterring North Korea, which they blame for torpedoing a South Korean navy ship in March.
Luo is among a group of PLA officers who use blogs and newspapers as platforms to voice tough views on foreign policy issues. In February, he wrote that China could retaliate against US arms sales to Taiwan by dumping its holdings of US treasury bonds.
South Korean soldiers shout as they take part in an exercise on Baengnyeongdo, an island near the disputed maritime border with North Korea. South Korea’s top military brass have said there is no excuse for soldiers’ foul language
South Korean soldiers have been ordered to clean up their act, and cut out expletives.
Even as tensions simmer on the peninsula, top military brass have said there is no excuse for foul language, and rather the country’s half a million soldiers should brush up on their knowledge of history.
Defence Minister Kim Tae-young ordered his staff this week to strengthen “language purification education” to combat verbal abuse within the military, local media today quoted ministry officials as saying.
“These soldiers aren’t teenagers,” the Korea Herald quoted a senior ministry official as saying. “Once they are discharged in their 20s, they can’t be constantly cursing their way through life. That’s why we want to help clean up their language.”
All South Korean men must serve a mandatory 24 months in the military. The two Koreas are still technically at war, as the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
In this Feb. 26, 2009 file photo, Israeli soldiers wearing gas masks carry a dummy on a stretcher as they take part in a home front command army drill simulating a chemical missile attack at an army base near Tel Aviv. Israel launched a dress rehearsal for disaster on Sunday, May 23, 2010, as it began a five-day civil defense drill to test the response of soldiers, emergency crews and civilians to simulated rocket and missile attacks, mega terror attacks and biological and chemical attacks.
Israel held a dress rehearsal for disaster Sunday, beginning a defense drill to test the response of soldiers, emergency crews and civilians to simulated missile barrages, terrorist attacks and chemical strikes.
Israel embarked on its fourth annual home front drill at a time when Iranian-backed militants are rearming to Israel's north and south, and Iran itself is suspected of developing nuclear arms, despite its denials.
The five-day exercise, the biggest in Israel's history, has raised allegations by the country's enemies that it is preparing for war — a concern Israel has sought to allay.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the drill is a "routine exercise that was scheduled long ago."
"I want to emphasize that this is not a result of any abnormal security development," he told his Cabinet on Sunday. "On the contrary, Israel wants quiet, stability and peace, but it is no secret that we live in a region that is under threat of missiles and rockets."
Israel began carrying out the annual exercise, code-named Turning Point, after its 2006 war with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon showed the country's bomb shelters, air raid sirens and civil defense authorities were unprepared. The exercise also incorporates lessons from Israel's 2009 war against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.
Tensions have risen in recent weeks after Israel accused Syria of smuggling Scuds and other missiles to Hezbollah. Syria denied the charge.
Israeli media reported that Hezbollah heightened its alert status ahead of what it branded Israel's "war game."
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri said the drill proves Israel is not serious about wanting peace.
"Israel should reduce these maneuvers and return to the table to have serious talks about peace," Hariri said, according to a statement issued by his office. "If it wants peace, why does Israel resort to military maneuvers? And if it wants to negotiate with the Palestinians, why would it resort to military maneuvers?"
Israel has tried to allay regional concerns with assurances through diplomatic channels that the drill is not a cover for a military strike, defense officials said.
An Afghan Commando pulls himself over a rope ladder in an obstacle course in Afghanistan's Wardak Province Sunday, Oct. 4, 2009. An Afghan Commando instructor photographs a Commando as he climbs a rope in an obstacle course in Afghanistan's Wardak Province
An Afghan Commando crawls beneath barbed wire in an obstacle course in Afghanistan's Wardak Province Sunday, Oct. 4, 2009.
An Afghan Commando climbs a rope in an obstacle course in Afghanistan's Wardak Province Sunday, Oct. 4, 2009. A well-trained and disciplined Afghan force of police and soldiers is considered the fragile government's best hope of keeping power against the Taliban, and is central to the NATO strategy of curbing violence in this country.
An Afghan Commando and a U.S. Soldier from 20th Special Forces Group take part in a training exercise in Afghanistan's Wardak Province Sunday, Oct. 4, 2009. A well-trained and disciplined Afghan force of police and soldiers is considered the fragile government's best hope of keeping power against the Taliban, and is central to the NATO strategy of curbing violence in this country.
An Afghan Commando navigates monkey bars in an obstacle course in Afghanistan's Wardak Province Sunday, Oct. 4, 2009. A well-trained and disciplined Afghan force of police and soldiers is considered the fragile government's best hope of keeping power against the Taliban, and is central to the NATO strategy of curbing violence in this country.
An Afghan Commando pulls himself along a rope in an obstacle course in Afghanistan's Wardak Province
Even before the American paratroopers entered the Afghan barracks, the lack of discipline was evident: torn screens, trash collecting in the hallways, bedrooms and bushes. The checkpoints were even worse, they said, with used syringes littering the ground.
But the training effort has been drastically slowed by rampant corruption, widespread illiteracy, vanishing supplies, lack of discipline — and the added burden of unifying a force made up of a patchwork of often hostile ethnic groups.
At the same time, the police and the Afghan army face a growing insurgency whose determination was evident in last weekend's battle in Nuristan province, when hundreds of militants stormed an outpost, killing eight American troops and capturing about 20 Afghan police and soldiers.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal's plan to double the number of Afghan security forces from about 200,000 to about 400,000 hinges on units like the 82nd's 4th Brigade Combat Team, whose paratroopers in Lashkar Gah are struggling to instill discipline in the local men serving as police reserves.Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, is one of the front lines against the Taliban. U.S. and British forces have struggled to hold the region and struggled even more to build up infrastructure that will let them leave it in Afghan hands. The Afghan forces' disarray was unwelcome news.
The lack of readiness on the part of the police and soldiers should be expected from any new force, said Brig. Gen. Eric Tremblay, the chief spokesman for the international forces in Afghanistan.
"From a systemic perspective, it shows you these are very young soldiers," he said.
Young or not, in Helmand they will be key.
U.S. and British forces are holding a narrow 90 mile (150 kilometers)-long strip of the Helmand River valley and gradually expanding that safety net outward. The Afghan government in Kabul is dispatching district chiefs in areas once firmly in the Taliban's grip, and residents are slowly getting services including electricity and clean water.
These are the gains that a local police force must safeguard, even as officers fend off the Taliban violence that targets them as much as international forces.
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Airstrikes against Taliban militants left 10 insurgents dead in Afghanistan's eastern Paktika province Wednesday night, a statement of U.S.-led Coalition press office in southeastern religion issued here said on Thursday.
Armed militants attacked a coalition military convoy in Gomal district Wednesday night and forces called on war plane killing 10armed militants on the spot, the statement added.
Taliban militants fighting Afghan and international troops have yet to make comments.
Eastern Afghanistan has been the scene of Taliban-led insurgency as the top U.S., NATO commander in his military assessment required up to 40,000 more additional troops to combat insurgency in the post-Taliban country.
The short-range missiles were fired in a bid to improve the Iranian armed forces' deterrent capabilities [AFP]
The Great Prophet III military exercise
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) will hold a military exercise, which includes surface-to-surface missile launches and long-term resistance. "The military exercise dubbed The Great Prophet IV will be carried out to improve the Islamic Republic armed forces' defense capabilities," the Head of the IRGC's public relations office said Saturday. The maneuver, which is a sequel to The Great Prophet III carried out last year by the IRGC naval and ground forces in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz region, will begin on Sunday.
Mobile lauching missile are hard to detect and able to launch at any part of Iran.
The suspected nuclear facility in Qom, Iran . Iran second nuclear facility which is secret and not inform the IAEA. According to Iran it is not operational yet. But the isolate location and secrecy surrounding this facility lead to believe it is used for military purpose.
A short-range missile launched during war games in Qom, 120 kms south of Tehran
File picture shows Iranian Revolutionary Guards firing a missile during an exercise
The Fateh-110 In this image released Sunday Sept. 27, 2009, on Iranian state TV cannel IRIB, purporting to show a successful test-fire launch of a short range missile. Iran said it successfully test-fired short-range surface-to-surface missiles during drills Sunday by the elite Revolutionary Guard, in a show of force just days after the U.S. and its allies condemned Tehran over a newly revealed underground nuclear facility that was being secretly constructed. TV showed pictures of at least two missiles being fired.
In this image made from an aerial view released Sunday Sept. 27, 2009, on Iranian state TV cannel IRIB, purporting to show a successful test-fire launch of a short range missile. Iran said it successfully test-fired short-range surface-to-surface missiles during drills Sunday by the elite Revolutionary Guard, in a show of force just days after the U.S. and its allies condemned Tehran over a newly revealed underground nuclear facility that was being secretly constructed. TV showed pictures of at least two missiles being fired.
Iran said it successfully test-fired short-range missiles during military drills Sunday by the elite Revolutionary Guard, a show of force days after the U.S. warned Tehran over a newly revealed underground nuclear facility it was secretly constructing.
Gen. Hossein Salami, head of the Revolutionary Guard Air Force, said Iran also tested a multiple missile launcher for the first time. The official English-language Press TV showed pictures of at least two missiles being fired simultaneously and said they were from Sunday's drill in a central Iran desert. In the clip, men could be heard shouting "Allahu Akbar" as the missiles were launched.
"We are going to respond to any military action in a crushing manner and it doesn't make any difference which country or regime has launched the aggression," state media quoted Salami as saying. He said the missiles successfully hit their targets.
The powerful Revolutionary Guard defends Iran's clerical rulers. It has its own ground, naval and air units and its air force controls the country's missile program.
The tests came two days after the U.S. and its allies disclosed that Iran had been secretly developing a previously unknown underground uranium enrichment facility and warned the country it must open the nuclear site to international inspection or face harsher international sanctions. The drill was planned in advance of that disclosure.
The newly revealed nuclear site in the arid mountains near the holy city of Qom is believed to be inside a heavily guarded, underground facility belonging to the Revolutionary Guard, according to a document sent by President Barack Obama's administration to lawmakers.
After the strong condemnations from the U.S. and its allies, Iran said Saturday it will allow U.N. nuclear inspectors to examine the site.
Nuclear experts said the details that have emerged about the site and the fact it was being developed secretly are strong indications that Iran's nuclear program is not only for peaceful purposes, as the country has long maintained.
By U.S. estimates, Iran is one to five years away from having a nuclear weapons capability, although U.S. intelligence also believes that Iranian leaders have not yet made the decision to build a weapon.
Iran also is developing a long-range ballistic missile that could carry a nuclear warhead, but the administration said last week that it believes that effort has been slowed. That assessment paved the way for Obama's decision to shelve the Bush administration's plan for a missile shield in Europe, which was aimed at defending against Iranian ballistic missiles.
Salami said Iran would test medium-range Shahab-1 and Shahab-2 missiles on Sunday night and long-range Shahab-3 missiles on Monday, during drills set to last several days.The Shahab-3 is the most powerful rocket of Iranian missile troops as of this Sunday. The entire Israeli territory is within its hitting range.
Salami said Fateh, Tondar and Zelzal missiles were test fired on Sunday, but did not give specifics on range or other details. All are short-range, surface-to-surface missiles.
Iran has had the solid-fuel Fateh missile, with a range of 120 miles (193 kilometers), for several years. Fateh means conqueror in Farsi and Arabic. It also has the solid-fueled, Chinese-made CSS 8, also called the Tondar 69, according to the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, a private group that seeks to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction. The Tondar, which means thunder, has a range of about 93 miles (150 kilometers.)
State media said the Revolutionary Guard tested a multiple launcher for the first time, designed for the Zelzal missile. Tehran has previously tested the Zelzal — versions of which have ranges of 130-185 miles (210-300 kilometers) — but only single launch.
In July 2006, Israeli military officials said their jets had destroyed a missile in Lebanon named Zelzal, which they said Hezbollah had received from Iran and could reach Tel Aviv. Zelzal means earthquake.
Iran's last known missile tests were in May when it fired its longest-range solid-fuel missile, Sajjil-2. Tehran said the two-stage surface-to-surface missile has a range of about 1,200 miles (1,900 kilometers) — capable of striking Israel, U.S. Mideast bases and Europe.
The revelation of Iran's secret site has given greater urgency to a key meeting on Thursday in Geneva between Iran and six major powers trying to stop its suspected nuclear weapons program.
