Indian Strategic Studies: 04/28/15

28 April 2015

Watching a city crumble

ADITYA ADHIKARI

April 28, 2015

A first person account of the earthquake and its aftershocks in Kathmandu, Nepal.

In the evening of April 25, the day that the 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal, I stood on the roof of my house in Kathmandu and looked over the city’s southern suburbs. There was mostly darkness, since the electricity supply had been cut off. Electric light flickered from a few houses that had private sources of power. I counted five small bonfires in the distance, marking the locations of a few of the makeshift campsites where the inhabitants of the Kathmandu Valley were preparing to spend the night.

Lucky and unlucky populations

I had seen numerous such sites as I’d walked around the southern outskirts of the Valley where my house lies. In the more affluent parts, where the houses are of relatively recent and sturdy construction, such as the area in which I live, the campers had polyurethane mats and plastic chairs, and were living out of their cars. The damage around didn’t seem that severe: boundary walls had collapsed, water tanks had toppled down from rooftops. Some people I spoke to said the earthquake was the most frightening event of their lives, but many also said that given its intensity, they were surprised that the damage had not been more severe.

Chinese take away: Nepal Challenge

By C Raja Mohan

April 28, 2015

New Delhi did well to respond decisively when tragedy struck Nepal. But India is at the very beginning of a long and demanding process of delivering relief to victims, assisting their rehabilitation and contributing to the reconstruction of Nepal. While Kathmandu is now being flooded with media and relief teams from around the world, the cameras will soon leave Nepal. The world’s attention will turn to the next crisis. But India must stick around for the long haul.

Geographic proximity, cultural intimacy and economic interdependence means Nepal’s problems are also India’s. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is aware of this reality and has devoted special attention to revitalising ties after he took charge as PM. Nepal is the only country Modi has visited twice. On both occasions, he underlined the unique bond between the two countries.

Crushing voices of dissent

MANAN AHMED ASIF

April 28, 2015

Activist Sabeen Mahmud’s assassination in Pakistan proves that the state sees in intellectuals a threat to its unitary vision of nationalism.

Why kill intellectuals? Why kill feminists? Why kill artists or writers?

On April 24, 40-year-old Sabeen Mahmud, the director of a literary and cultural space in Karachi, The Second Flood (T2F), was assassinated by unknown assailants. She was driving home with her mother after an event at her cultural centre when the assassins shot her five times on a road in the upper class Defence Housing Authority area. The bullets that pierced her shoulder, chest and abdomen killed her before she could reach a hospital. Her mother, who was shot twice, was critically injured.

Italy plays the spoilsport

Bhaswati Mukherjee

Apr 28 2015

There were great expectations of an upswing in India-EU relations after India's elections. Regretfully, an opportunity to inject a new dynamism into the relations has been lost. Federica Mogherini of Italy as the new Vice-President and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign and Security Policy has ensured, to the surprise of major European Union members such as France, Germany, the UK and the Netherlands, that the ongoing judicial proceedings with regard to the Italian marines cast a long shadow on the India-EU relationship itself. This was manifest in the developments leading to the long anticipated India-EU Summit that was supposed to have been held during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to France and Germany this month.

Due to the vision of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the supportive role of the then Portuguese Presidency of the European Union, the first India-EU Summit was held in Lisbon in June, 2000. The Summit was a great success and laid the foundation for a new strategic relationship with the EU.

INDIA MAKES SMART MOVE IN CENTRAL ASIA – ANALYSIS

By Divya Kumar Soti

India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was on a three-day visit to Turkmenistan from March 7 to discuss various bilateral issues like the TAPI pipeline project as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to visit the country in July. Sushma Swaraj described her visit as successful “exceeding her expectations”. Both countries reaffirmed their strong commitment to the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) project and need to expedite the same. Both nations also agreed on sorting out various technical glitches, which include appointment of a consortium leader for the TAPI project, as none of the four partner nations have experience in handling a cross-country pipeline project.

The TAPI pipeline has been stuck up inThis was preceded by a meeting in Islamabad of representative ministers from all the four partner countries in February, chaired by Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif where he described the TAPI project as “very important for all countries of the region” and appealed to all the four nations to “take this opportunity seriously so that we can fulfill our obligation to our people”. Pakistan has faced a great scarcity of gas this winter and the Nawaz government has been facing a lot of criticism at home in the wake of Pakistan’s worsening energy crisis.

5 Ways India Mistreats Its Bravest Men And Women. Yes, We're Talking About Our Ex-Military Officers

April 25, 2015

Here are just a handful of stories that will make you realise that the men and women who volunteer their lives in exchange for serving India are also endangering their dignity.

1. Jobs for ex-servicemen are limited

That’s not an ordinary taxi driver – it’s former Havaldar Gurmukh Singh Sahanu. There’s a reason you see ex-servicemen in careers that offer much less than a shadow of the glory and discipline of their former roles – the government isn’t pushing corporate India to hire them. Instead, you find ex-army men working in blue collar jobs like security and gyms. There’s 50,000 men who retire from the armed forces every year, and most are still capable and willing to work. These men have a discipline and mental agility forged in life or death situations.

India's 3 Greatest Prime Ministers of All Time

Akhilesh Pillalamarri

April 27, 2015

Since India’s independence from the United Kingdom in 1947, it has had 14prime ministers. India adopted a parliamentary system from the British, so its prime minister is chosen by a majority vote from the largest bloc in India’s Parliament. As a result, the same person can serve as prime minister for multiple, non-consecutive terms.

India is not an easy place to govern. It is a young country founded through a traumatic, bloody partition. It has the world’s second largest population in a landmass the size of Western Europe. This population is divided into hundreds of ethnic groups speaking over a thousand languages, including twenty major ones. Indians follow many religions and range from some of the world’s poorest people to some of the richest. All in all, governing this vast and diverse population has been difficult for India’s prime ministers, who have had to increasingly rely on unwieldy and complex coalitions due to the rise of regional and caste-based parties.

Pakistani Intelligence Agency Trying to Wrest Control Of City of Karachi From Pakistani Political Party, Report

April 27, 2015

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The chief of Pakistan’s main spy agency is spearheading a campaign to wrest control of the teeming port city of Karachi from a powerful political party, the military’s latest, and some say boldest, foray into civilian life in recent years.

According to military officials, police officers and members of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) party which has traditionally dominated Karachi, Rizwan Akhtar has decided the time for policing the city from the sidelines is over.

“There is a quiet, creeping takeover of Karachi by the military,” said a government official close to Akhtar, head of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, which traditionally acts as an extension of army power in Pakistan.

“Karachi is just too big … too much land, too much business, resources. No one party will be allowed to rule Karachi from now on,” added the official, who declined to be named.

GHANI’S AFGHANISTAN: POLICY OPTIONS FOR INDIA – ANALYSIS

By Shakti Sinha

Indian analysts are unduly nervous about developments in Afghanistan. What is particularly of concern is this oft-repeated lament that despite investing US$ 2 billion in Afghanistan, India has been marginalised, almost holding the Afghan people responsible for this ‘loss’. One, India is, and remains, the most popular country in Afghanistan – as a role model of a successful developing country, successful economically and as a democracy despite its size, diversity, and low starting point. Two, relations between two nations with such a long shared history and culture, and shared long-term interests cannot be reduced to individual transactions; while both must benefit, calculations cannot be done daily, weekly or even annually. Three, for Afghans, India is the land of hospitals and educational institutions – the money changers at Kabul airport and in the bazaar display Indian rupees, not the US dollar, the Pakistani rupee or the Iranian toran. There are more flights to India than to any other destination save Dubai, which is basically its opening to the world. But maximum bilateral travel is with Delhi.

GRAND THEFT AUTOCRACY

April 27, 2015

In 2009 Sarah Chayes had an epiphany. A former NPR reporter who had fallen in love with Afghanistan while covering the U.S. invasion, Chayes had stayed on to run an NGO and then established a small business in Kandahar. Narullah, one of her employees, told her how his brother Najib refused to pay a bribe at the outskirts of Kandahar. After the soldiers hit him and smashed his phone, Najib paid but then called Narullah, who had previously been a policeman. Narullah called the local police chief who scoffed, “Did he die of it?” After relating this story to Chayes, Narullah declared, “If I see someone planting an IED on a road, and then I see a police truck coming, I will turn away. I will not warn them.”

For Chayes, everything fell into place as she realized, “Afghan government corruption was manufacturing Taliban.” From that revelation others followed. The Afghan government was not a weak state.

Why Pakistan Is Staying Out of Yemen

Louis Ritzinger

April 27, 2015

On March 25, a Saudi-led coalition of ten Arab states began an aerial bombing campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen, who had taken control of the capital, Sana’a. The Houthis were steadily progressing to the port city of Aden, where the Saudi-backed Yemeni president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, had fled. Codenamed “Operation Decisive Storm,” the move has been widely viewed as an effort by the Saudis and their allies to preserve Sunni control of their volatile southern neighbor against the Zaidi Shi’a Houthis, supported by Iran.

As the parties attempt to reach a settlement after the month-long campaign, one key Saudi ally is still missing from its coalition: Pakistan. After a week of heavy debate, Pakistan’s Parliament unanimously passed a resolution on April 10 declaring that the country would remain “neutral” in the Yemen conflict, signifying a sharp break between the two long-time partners.

CIA Drone Strikes Have Taken a Terrible Toll on Al Qaeda’s Leadership in Pakistan

Declan Walsh

April 24, 2015

LONDON — Revelations of new high-level losses among Al Qaeda’s top leadership in Pakistan’s tribal belt have underscored how years of American drone strikes have diminished and dispersed the militant group’s upper ranks and forced them to cede prominence and influence to more aggressive offshoots in Yemen and Somalia.

While the C.I.A. drone strike that killed two Western hostages has led to intense criticism of the drone program and potentially a reassessment of it, the American successes over the years in targeting and killing senior Qaeda operatives in their home base has left the militant group’s leadership facing difficult choices, counterterrorism officials and analysts say.

That process of attrition has been accelerated by the emergence of the Islamic State, whose arresting brutality and superior propaganda have sucked up funding and recruits. In the tribal belt, a Pakistani military drive that started last summer has forced Qaeda commanders into ever more remote areas like the Shawal Valley, where two of them were killed alongside an American hostage, Warren Weinstein, and an Italian, Giovanni Lo Porto, on Jan. 15.

Are the Pakistani Military and Intelligence Services Behind the Recent Murders of Government Critics (Including Journalists) and Human Rights Activists?

April 25, 2015

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) – Gunmen on a motorcycle killed a prominent women’s rights activist in Pakistan just hours after she held a forum on the country’s restive Baluchistan region, home to a long-running insurgency, police said Saturday.

While investigators declined to speculate on a motive for the killing of Sabeen Mahmud, friends and colleagues immediately described her death as a targeted assassination in Pakistan, a country with a nascent democracy where the military and intelligence services still hold tremendous sway.

The gunmen shot both Mahmud and her mother, Mehnaz Mahmud, as they stopped at a traffic light Friday night in an upscale Karachi neighborhood, senior police officer Zafar Iqbal said. Later, Mahmud’s car was brought to a nearby police station; blood stained the car’s white exterior, the front driver’s side window was smashed and a pair of sandals sat on the floor, surrounded by broken glass.

“Two men riding a motorcycle opened fire on the car,” Iqbal said. Mahmud “died on her way to the hospital. Her mother was also wounded,” he said.

Here's why Indian strategists should worry about China's $46 billion funding to Pakistan

By Rajeev Sharma

Apr 21, 2015

There is only one way of looking at the Chinese President Xi Jinping’s maiden visit to Pakistan during which the two countries India has fought wars with signed 51 agreements between them. If monetised, it would mean that China would pour a whopping $46 billion into Pakistan once these agreements come to fruition.

This sum would be a good $15 billion more than the United States has pumped into Pakistan since 2002.

It conveys a chilling message to India – that Pakistan is about to become a far more powerful country only because the Chinese munificence. It also means that China is full steam ahead in empowering a nuclear-armed restive neighbour who will inevitably use its to-be-acquired economic and military strength against India.

In Nepal Earthquake's Aftermath, India and China Respond

April 27, 2015

As Nepal continues to wrangle with the immediate aftermath of a devastating magnitude 8.1 earthquake that took place on Saturday and has claimed nearly 2,500 lives, its two large neighbors—India and China—are sending assistance to stave off a broader humanitarian crisis in the country. Nepal, though a small country, is of strategic significance for both New Delhi and Beijing.

On Sunday, China sent a 62-member International Search and R escue team to Nepal to assistance in the humanitarian relief effort following the earthquake. According to Xinhua, the team includes “6 sniffer dogs and relevant rescue and medical equipment.” 40 members of the rescue team are from the 38th Group Army of the People’s Liberation Army.

Remembering the Indians of Gallipoli

April 27, 2015

A few curated defense and security links to start your week:

Last week marked the centennial of the start of the devastating Gallipoli Campaign, a World War I offensive that saw the Allied powers land on the Gallipoli peninsula to attack the Ottoman Empire. The campaign was a miserable failure for the allies, but a major victory for the Ottomans. April 25 is recalled as ANZAC day in Australia and New Zealand, commemorating the military casualties suffered by Australian and New Zealand troops. Accompanying the ANZAC Corps were 15,000 Indian soldiers, 1,400 of whom died at Gallipoli. ABC’s Stephanie March recalls the contribution of these Indian troops on the Gallipoli Campaign and their camaraderie with the ANZAC Corps.

Writing for Commentary Magazine, Michael Auslin argues that the new U.S.-Japan defense guidelines will represent a sea change for Japanese defense policies. The guidelines are nearly finalized and take into consideration recent changes in Japan’s defense posture, including the Abe government’s reinterpretation of a constitutional clause allowing for the country’s armed forces to participate in collective self-defense for the first time.

Nepal After the Earthquake

Apr 25, 2015

A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Nepal early on Saturday, centered 10 miles below the surface, less than 50 miles from the capital of Kathmandu. At least 2,200 are already reported to have been killed by the quake and subsequent avalanches triggered in the Himalayas. Historic buildings and temples were destroyed, leaving massive piles of debris in streets as rescue workers and neighbors work to find and help those still trapped beneath rubble. Below are images from the region of the immediate aftermath of one of the most powerful earthquakes to strike Nepal in decades. (Editor's note, some of the images are graphic in nature.)

Emergency rescue workers carry a victim on a stretcher after Dharara tower collapsed on April 25, 2015 in Kathmandu, Nepal. More than 2,200 people have died as tremors hit Nepal after an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale caused buildings to collapse and avalanches to be triggered in the Himalayas.

The Earthquake Nepal Saw Coming

MATT SCHIAVENZA

APR 26, 2015

Hours after a major earthquake wreaked havoc across his country, Nepali Information Minister Minendra Rijal appeared at a news conference on Saturday to announce that schools would be closed for the next five days. "We never imagined we'd face such devastation," he said.

But for geologists, Saturday's disaster—which has claimed over 2,400 lives—was sadly predictable.

"Physically and geologically what happened is exactly what we thought would happen," James Jackson, head of the earth-sciences department at the University of Cambridge, told the Associated Press.The source of Nepal's beauty is whatmakes it vulnerable to earthquakes.

When China Rules the World

By Air Cmdr PC Chopra

27 Apr , 2015

India’s strategic partnership with middle powers like Japan, Australia, Indonesia and Vietnam will get greater domestic acceptance than an Asian strategy that relies solely on US commitment to maintain balance of power in the region. This will also counter China’s claims that regional security cooperation is merely a part of US and Indian efforts to contain China. Building multiple power coalitions as a complement to engaging China and deepening the strategic partnership with the US will strengthen India’s independent role in the security of Asia.

China’s experiment with industrialisation and poverty alleviation is unique and nothing short of a miracle. Bringing over 30 million above the poverty line into the middle class in a period of 20 years, is unique in history.

THE METHOD BEHIND THE ISLAMIC STATE’S MADNESS

April 27, 2015

At first glance, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) strikes observers as a fanatical religious group, bent onmillenarian goals and fully committed to its position as the vanguard of a new caliphate. And that is exactly what ISIL wants you to think. The reality is more mundane. ISIL is a cool-headed organization with an impressive understanding of “image management” that feeds on state failure and sectarian tensions. ISIL is not trying to expand for expansion’s sake. Rather, it is trying to “dig in” and create a mini-empire in Sunni-majority areas in Iraq and Syria. These limited goals, however, make ISIL more dangerous, not less. Managing the ISIL crisis requires recognizing three dynamics. First, there is a method to ISIL’s madness, and a coalition of pragmatists — jihadists and secular Baathists — behind its strategy. Second, a realistic assessment of the strategic environment where ISIL operates suggests that the organization is much less “irrational” or “suicidal” than often thought. Third, ISIL’s approach to territorial control is pragmatic and flexible. Thus, strategic retreats or military setbacks, such as ISIL’s defeat in Kobane, do not hurt the organization as much as it is perceived in the West.

‘How I Saved My Kids From ISIS’

04.26.15

When ISIS came knocking on Huda Alrawi’s door, looking to marry off her daughter and draft her son, the Iraqi schoolteacher knew she had to flee.

When Huda Alrawi fled Iraq it was almost exactly 10 years after al Qaeda militants killed her husband for owning a barbershop that practiced hair threading—a beauty routine they considered anti-Islamic.

It was five months after ISIS militants began forcing their way into her house, tapping their guns against her neck and calling her a spy because the Iraqi government paid her salary as a school principal.

Status Report on the War in Yemen

April 25, 2015

A month of air attacks by the Arab Coalition has done a lot of damage, killed about a thousand people (as many as half of them civilians) but the Shia rebels still control a third of the country, including the two largest cities (Sanaa and Aden). Losses from the ground fighting appear to be heavier but the air raids have done a lot of damage to the Shia rebels. At the same time the Shia rebels claim to be the only ones fighting AQAP (Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) and ISIL (al Qaeda in Iraq and the Levant) Islamic terrorists. That is generally true as these two groups are Sunni and hate Shia big time. ISIL and AQAP are also at war with each other but that seems to have been put aside for the moment because there are so many armed Shia to go after. Because of this de facto Islamic terrorist assistance counter-terrorism efforts by government forces (mostly in disarray anyway) and various Sunni tribal militias (who outnumber the Shia but are not united and often at odds with each other) have largely lapsed. The only ones fighting the Sunni Islamic terrorists are the Shia rebels and the Americans. The bombing and continued fighting has created another 150,000 refugees.

The Saudi coalition is using smart bombs and missiles and tried to avoid civilian casualties. But the Shia paid attention to past experience with this sort of thing and noted that using human shields worked against Western nations. So the Shia moved their bases into residential areas.

This Is Life in Militia-Controlled Eastern Ukraine

By ZACK BADDORF

Crossing the border into the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic is a pain in the ass.

I must have gone through 30 checkpoints on both the Ukrainian and separatist sides of the border, despite only being in the country for about a week. I waited nearly two hours at one checkpoint alone.

The guards aren’t friendly and the process is tedious. But once you get through the borders and into the cities, life is pretty normal.

Well, unless you count the near constant shelling and small arms fire at the Donetsk International Airport — which lies in ruins just five miles from the center of the city. That’s one of the hotspots in the war. The fighting there has gone on for months.

Warning Report: Russian-Backed Offensive in Eastern Ukraine Likely If Ceasefire Breaks Down

April 24, 2015

Key Takeaway: Russian-backed separatist forces are on the brink of a renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine. The redeployment of banned heavy weapons to the front line, reports of an increasing regular Russian military presence, and the intensification of separatist attacks on Ukrainian military positions suggest that pro-Russian forces are preparing to rupture the framework of the February 12 ceasefire agreement. The arrival of U.S. military trainers in Ukraine increases Washington’s stake in the deteriorating security situation and may be exploited by the Kremlin to justify a pro-Russian offensive around Victory Day on May 9, 2015.

Russian-backed separatist forces are preparing for an offensive in southeastern Ukraine. Since early April, the separatists have begun redeploying heavy weapons to the front line, and separatist attacks have increased in intensity. Reports of regular Russian forces in the conflict zone have also increased. The arrival of three Russian uninspected aid convoys and a Russian rail shipment in April 2015, all thought to include military vehicles and equipment, serve as additional indicators that pro-Russian forces are preparing to re-launch offensive operations possibly in concert with Victory Day celebrations on May 9.

South Korea’s Weak Hand in Pressing Japan on the War

By ALASTAIR GALE

Apr 27, 2015

South Korean President Park Geun-hye still refuses to meet Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in a bilateral summit until Tokyo makes a new offer to resolve a dispute over Korean women forced to work as prostitutes for the Japanese military. In this photo, U.S. President Barack Obama hosts a three-way meeting with the Asian leaders in the Hague, Netherlands in March 2014. Associated Press

But Seoul is also increasingly realizing that it’s playing a weak hand in historical disputes with Tokyo.

Part of Seoul’s calculus is an awareness that Washington’s priorities don’t include applying strong pressure on Mr. Abe on matters of history. The U.S. has bigger concerns, specifically coordination to tackle friction with China and a major trade deal.

Betrayed: Why Reagan Would Be Ashamed of the Neocons

April 27, 2015

Alzheimer's robbed Ronald Reagan of his memory. Now Republican neocons are trying to steal his foreign-policy legacy. A de facto peacenik who was horrified by the prospect of needless war, Reagan likely would have been appalled by the aggressive posturing of most of the Republicans currently seeking the White House.

Ronald Reagan took office at a dangerous time. The Cold War raged, with the Soviet Union suffering through the Brezhnev era of stagnant authoritarianism. Moscow’s weaknesses, though eventually exposed, were not so evident at the time and Washington faced challenges around the world. Reagan sacrificed much of his political capital to increase U.S. military outlays. But he barely utilized the new capabilities that were created.

China and Russia vs. America: Great-Power Revisionism Is Back

April 27, 2015

Growing tensions between the West and Russia and between the United States and China go well beyond competing interests in a rustbelt in eastern Ukraine or over uninhabited rocks in the South China Sea. Fundamentally, they are about whether Russia and China will acquire sphere of influences in their neighborhood. Russia seeks special influence in the former Soviet Union and China is looking to make its nine-dash line in the South China Sea a reality.

For almost a quarter of a century, the United States has said it opposes a return to a spheres-of-influence order of the kind that existed in the Cold War or prior to World War II. In fact, in 2013, Secretary of State John Kerry even formally repudiated the Monroe Doctrine. Successive presidents have endorsed a Europe “whole and free” and the principle that states should get to decide their own foreign relations. This policy had real consequences, in Europe especially—since the collapse of the Soviet Union, NATO has expanded from sixteen countries to twenty-eight and the European Union from eleven to twenty-eight.

Spy shocker: CIA cooperated with Chinese intelligence to target Russia

April 23, 2015

A recently published book by former Pentagon official Michael Pillsbury has shed light on one of the U.S. government’s darkest secrets: cooperation between the CIA and communist Chinese intelligence services.

The book “The Hundred Year Marathon” was cleared for publication by the FBI, CIA and Pentagon, thus giving many of its eye-opening disclosures an official cast.

China has not responded to the book’s disclosures nor denied past cooperation, although one intelligence-linked Chinese commentator stated that the book’s author, now a consultant, does not represent “mainstream” U.S. views on China.

Russian Hackers Read Obama’s Unclassified Emails, Officials Say

By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and DAVID E. SANGER

APRIL 25, 2015

WASHINGTON — Some of President Obama’s email correspondence was swept up by Russian hackers last year in a breach of the White House’s unclassified computer system that was far more intrusive and worrisome than has been publicly acknowledged, according to senior American officials briefed on the investigation.

The hackers, who also got deeply into the State Department’s unclassified system, do not appear to have penetrated closely guarded servers that control the message traffic from Mr. Obama’s BlackBerry, which he or an aide carries constantly.

But they obtained access to the email archives of people inside the White House, and perhaps some outside, with whom Mr. Obama regularly communicated. From those accounts, they reached emails that the president had sent and received, according to officials briefed on the investigation.

Weaponizing Information

By JOYCE NELSON

April 23, 2015

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/04/23/weaponizing-information/

In mid-April, hundreds of U.S. paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade arrived in western Ukraine to provide training for government troops. The UK had already started its troop-training mission there, sending 75 troops to Kiev in March. [1] On April 14, the Canadian government announced that Canada will send 200 soldiers to Kiev, contributing to a military build-up on Russia’s doorstep while a fragile truce is in place in eastern Ukraine.

The Russian Embassy in Ottawa called the decision “counterproductive and deplorable,” stating that the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine have “called for enhanced intra-Ukrainian political dialogue,” as agreed upon in the Minsk-2 accords in February, and that it would be “much more reasonable to concentrate on diplomacy…” [2]

That viewpoint is shared by many, especially in Europe where few are eager for a “hot” war in the region. Nor are most people enamoured of the fact that more billions are being spent on a new arms-race, while “austerity” is preached by the 1 Per Cent.

U.S. battle plan now includes cyberwarfare, new Pentagon strategy warns

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — A new Pentagon cybersecurity strategy lays out for the first time publicly that the U.S. military plans to use cyberwarfare as an option in conflicts with enemies.

The 33-page strategy says the Defense Department "should be able to use cyber operations to disrupt an adversary's command and control networks, military-related critical infrastructure and weapons capabilities."

The cybersecurity strategy is the second done by the Pentagon and is slated for release Thursday, but it was obtained early by The Associated Press. The previous strategy, which was publicly released in 2011, made little reference to the Pentagon's offensive cyber capabilities, although U.S. officials have spoken quietly about the issue.

PENTAGON SEEKS AGGRESSIVE CYBER WEAPONS TO DELIVER ‘BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA’ TO ENEMIES

By JOHN HAYWARD

20 Apr 2015

In a recent press conference reported by Politico, Air Force Chief of Staff Mark Welsh described the goal of next-generation military electronic operations as cyber weapons that could inflict “blunt force trauma” on the enemy. The Pentagon, it appears, wants potential aggressors to know the United States is ready to strike back hard in online conflicts.

“How do you make an enemy air defense system go completely blank in the first minute of the conflict? How do you make a [surface to air missile] radar show a thousand false targets that all look real so you don’t know where the real package is in the middle of that?” said Welsh. “How do you keep enemy surface to surface missiles from ever launching — or [fly] halfway to their target and then turn around and go home?”

Pentagon: 'Disturbing' new cyberthreats from China, Russia

MARCH 26, 2015

Top Pentagon officials are warning Congress about threatening new cyber warfare attacks from China and Russia that may require a change to tactics to allow the military to strike back — instead of the Obama policy of simply playing defense.

Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, revealed that he just received a "disturbing" secret briefing from the military's best cyber experts. The Arizona Republican told an audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies that the threat is apparently so large that it is time to start an offensive cyber war.

McCain ended his address by mocking so-called "secret" briefings where he usually learned what he had read in the newspaper "the day before."

The Pentagon's new cyber attack plan: 'Blunt force trauma'

By PHILIP EWING

4/18/15

The Pentagon wants cyber weapons that can inflict “blunt force trauma.”

That’s one vision that Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh has laid out for the next phase of military cyber operations — and in a rare occurrence in the cyber realm, he elaborated with examples.

“How do you make an enemy air defense system go completely blank in the first minute of the conflict?” Welsh asked reporters last week. “How do you make a [surface to air missile] radar show a thousand false targets that all look real so you don’t know where the real package is in the middle of that? How do you keep enemy surface to surface missiles from ever launching — or [fly] halfway to their target and then turn around and go home?”

The military services devote a lot of effort to defending their networks against cyberattacks and supporting the intelligence community, he said, but so far not enough pursuing cyber weapons they could wield the way they now deploy fighter squadrons or infantry battalions.

Secretary Of Defense Lays Out New Cyberwar Strategy, Wants Silicon Valley To Help

By Taylor Tyler

Apr 24, 2015 02:49 PM EDT

A 6,200-strong Cyber Mission Force will be assembled, comprised of military, civilian and defense contractors, and 133 cyber protection and combat teams will be operating by 2018.

In unveiling the Defense Department's new cyberwar strategy on Thursday during a speech at Stanford University, Defense Secretary Ash Carter sent a stern message to cyber adversaries: America's "preference for deterrence and our defensive posture doesn't diminish our willingness to use cyber options if necessary," reported Stanford News.

The 42-page strategy, for the first time publicly, lays out circumstances which would justify the deployment of cyberweapons against an attacker.

Pentagon's New Cyber Strategy Warns Adversaries US Will Hit Back

23rd April, 2015

PENTAGON - The United States is laying out a new strategy for defending cyberspace, making clear the country will not hesitate to counter attacks online and even with conventional military might, if necessary.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter unveiled the new cyber strategy in a speech Thursday at Stanford University, saying it is overdue when the same technologies that U.S. ships use to target cruise missiles are "now available to the highest bidder."

"Adversaries should know that our preference for deterrence and our defensive posture don't diminish our willingness to use cyber options if necessary," Carter said, adding, "The response might not occur in cyberspace but might occur in a different way."

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