The Gates of Hell

“Not since 1967 is it so obvious there is going to be a war in the Middle East that will send gold and oil well past this year’s highs,” said Ralph Preston, a commodity analyst at Heritage West Financial Inc. in San Diego.

Source: Pakistan moves troops to India border - CNN.com

Pakistani troops have been moved to the Indian border amid fears of an Indian ground incursion, two Pakistani military officials told CNN on Friday.

The troops were deployed from Pakistan’s western border with Afghanistan, where forces have been battling Taliban and al Qaeda militants in North West Frontier Province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

Pakistan’s armed forces have been on high alert in anticipation of a possible conflict with India following last month’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai, which killed 160 people.

India believes the 10 men who carried out the attacks were trained at a terrorist camp in the Pakistani-controlled part of Kashmir.

A senior official said the troops had been moved from areas where there are no active military operations, and emphasized that troop levels have not been depleted in areas where soldiers are battling militants, such as the Swat Valley and near Peshawar, capital of the North West region.

In addition to the move, leave for all military personnel has been restricted and all troops were called back to active duty, the senior official said.

Asked for a reaction to the development, Husain Haqqani, Pakistani ambassador to the United States, said, “Pakistan does not seek war, but we need to be vigilant against threats of war emanating from the other side of our eastern border.”

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Technorati Tags: Pakistan, India

Nathan P. Freier

Publications by Mr. Nathan P. Freier:

• Known Unknowns: Unconventional “Strategic Shocks” in Defense Strategy Development.
• Strategic Competition and Resistance in the 21st Century: Irregular, Catastrophic, Traditional, and Hybrid Challenges in Context.

Reports and Editorials by Mr. Nathan P. Freier

Source: Prison Planet

A recent report produced by the U.S. Army War College’s Strategic Institute warns that the United States may experience massive civil unrest in the wake of a series of crises which it has termed “strategic shock.”

The report, titled Known Unknowns: Unconventional Strategic Shocks in Defense Strategy Development, also suggests that the military may have to be used to quell domestic disorder.

“Widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security,” the report, authored by [Ret.] Lt. Col. Nathan Freir, reads.

“Deliberate employment of weapons of mass destruction or other catastrophic capabilities, unforeseen economic collapse, loss of functioning political and legal order, purposeful domestic resistance or insurgency, pervasive public health emergencies, and catastrophic natural and human disasters are all paths to disruptive domestic shock.” it continues.

“An American government and defense establishment lulled into complacency by a long-secure domestic order would be forced to rapidly divest some or most external security commitments in order to address rapidly expanding human insecurity at home…”

“Already predisposed to defer to the primacy of civilian authorities in instances of domestic security and divest all but the most extreme demands in areas like civil support and consequence management, DoD might be forced by circumstances to put its broad resources at the disposal of civil authorities to contain and reverse violent threats to domestic tranquility. Under the most extreme circumstances, this might include use of military force against hostile groups inside the United States.” Lt. Col. Freir concludes.

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Source: VOA News

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned the West against seeking to advance its interests in former Soviet republics at the expense of Russia.

Lavrov told a group of foreign businessmen meeting in Moscow his country understands that the United States and Europe have legitimate interests in the region. But he said they should build ties through “legal, understandable and transparent methods,” not what he called “behind the scenes meddling,” which he said leads to crisis situations.

The Russian minister indirectly mentioned his country’s August conflict with Georgia, and repeated Russia’s opposition to U.S. plans to deploy a missile defense system in Central Europe.

He said his country is counting on the future administration of Barack Obama to confirm pledges to cooperate with Russia in fighting common threats such as international terrorism and weapons proliferation.

Russia calls the U.S. missile plan a threat to its security.

U.S. officials say the proposal to place 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and radar guidance in the Czech Republic is aimed at protecting the European allies against threats from countries such as Iran.

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Technorati Tags: Sergei Lavrov, missile defense system

Source: Herald Sun

WEAPONS maker Lockheed Martin has tested a hovering robot intended to shoot down enemy ballistic missiles.

Video of the December 2 flight test of the “Multiple Kill Vehicle,” at Edwards Air Force Base in California, has made it onto YouTube, and it looks like something out of the Terminator movies.

Inside a large steel cage, Lockheed’s MKV lifts off the ground, moves left and moves right, rapidly firing as flames shoot out of its bottom and sides, FOXNews reports.

The MKVs would be mounted on carrier missiles which would take them into space to engage enemy nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles at the peak of their trajectory arcs, The Pentagon said.

The MKVs would then break off from the carrier vehicles and shoot at enemy warheads with big bullets, “kinetic interceptors” in military-speak, before dropping back down to Earth.

Rival defence contractor Raytheon was working on its own multiple kill vehicle program, the US Missile Defence Agency said.

Technorati Tags: Multiple Kill Vehicle, MKV

Defense Secretary Robert Gates

Source: washingtonpost.com

The Pentagon is moving to get three of the four combat brigades requested by commanders into Afghanistan by summer, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said as he traveled here to meet with military leaders.

In his most specific comments to date about how soon he will meet the call for up to 20,000 more troops in Afghanistan, Gates said he will not have to cut troop levels further in Iraq to free up at least two of those three brigades for Afghan duty.

At the same time, Gates said a key “course correction” in the Afghanistan war for the administration of President-elect Barack Obama will be to build up the Afghan army and better cooperate with Kabul on security operations.

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Technorati Tags: Afghanistan