Military News

By Dana Gabriel

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and the Russian Federation Air Force conducted a cooperative air defense exercise from August 8-11 that focused on combating terrorism.

Vigilant Eagle was hailed as a milestone exercise between the Cold War era rivals. It included Russian, U.S., along with Canadian Air Force personnel operating from command centers inside Russia and the United States directing fighter jets, as well as civilian air traffic controllers. It took several years to stage the drill which centered around, “an international air terrorism scenario exercised over the Pacific Ocean consisting of forces from the U.S. and Russia responding to the simulated hijacking of a B-757 en route to the Far East.”

By Daniel Leblanc

The Conservative publicity machine scrambled into action as a common confrontation between Canadian and Russian military planes turned into a campaign for $16-billion in new fighter jets.

The story started on Wednesday when NORAD officials spotted two incoming planes, identified as Russian TU-95 long-range bombers, heading toward Labrador.

TechNewsWorld.com

July 26, 2010   02:18:32 PM PDT

WIKILEAKS PLUNGES POLITICAL WORLD INTO TURMOIL By Katherine Noyes

Wikileaks  has  opened  the  spigot  on what appears to be the biggest intelligence leak in history, but opinions are sharply divided as to whether it constitutes a courageous act of patriotism or an irresponsible act of treason. One thing that seems certain, though, is that the days when the government could exercise tight control over dissemination of information are gone.

In what's been called the "biggest leak in intelligence history," more than 90,000 classified military documents about the war in Afghanistan came to light on Sunday and are wreaking havoc in political circles around the globe.

Covering the period from January 2004 to December 2009, the reports were published Sunday by whistle-blowing site Wikileaks while analyses of the included  material  appeared simultaneously in The New York Times, The Guardian and German outlet Der Speigel.

By Dana Gabriel

The Arctic has been the subject of dispute between Canada, Denmark, the U.S., Russia and Norway with each country taking steps to expand their scientific research and military presence. Its vast untapped oil, natural gas and mineral resources represent a tremendous economic potential, but control of the region is also important from a strategic standpoint. Increased cooperation and military integration could be used to further secure interests in the area. Canada and Denmark recently signed an agreement which will promote defence and security collaboration in the Arctic. In August, Canadian Forces operations in the far North will include Danish and American participation. There are also calls for U.S.-Canada joint security of North America’s Arctic waters and skies. 

by Laura Carlsen

On January 31, an armed commando unit pulled up to a house in a working-class neighborhood in Ciudad Juarez on the Mexican side of the border with the United States. Inside the house, 60 teenagers were celebrating a friend's birthday. Wielding high-caliber weapons, the commandos opened fire on the kids, robbed the house, then drove away from the scene — amid human cries, the scent of gunpowder, and the total absence of law enforcement officials.

To date, 16 people are dead as more lie wounded in the local hospital. Photographs capture the concrete floors stained with blood, the bereaved families, the frightened neighbors. Local residents interviewed in the aftermath of the tragedy called the security forces "useless." Fearing to give their names, they noted that the gunmen entered the neighborhood, hunted down the victims, and passed right by a group of soldiers in the vicinity.

July 11, 2009
The federal government confirmed Wednesday it will spend $5 billion to purchase new combat vehicles and maintain the existing fleet for the Canadian Forces. Defence Minister Peter MacKay made the announcement at CFB Gagetown in Oromocto, N.B., after word of the new funding leaked out on Tuesday.

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-203465917.html

Canadian military's role in torture coverup in Afghanistan

 A scandal erupted last week in sleepy Ottawa with the revelations of Canada’s chief diplomat in Kandahar in 2006-07, Richard Colvin, who told a House of Commons committee on Afghanistan that Afghans arrested by Canadian military and handed over to Afghan authorities were knowingly tortured. His and others’ attempts to raise the alarm had been quashed by the ruling Conservative government and he felt a moral obligation to make public what was happening.

A pervasive and impeccable hypocrisy

There are a few things most certainly true of torture. The first is that once a country or society opens the door it becomes the proverbial greased pig, a very slippery and insidious creature to deal with. Secondly, where we undertake torture we grant the so called terrorists who haunt our world their greatest victory. Where we willingly collapse hard won human rights and civil liberties- supposedly the very things we hold sacred-and among the things we are defending -we grant the enemy his greatest victory for he has ripped the fabric of our society. It is also in the greasy nature of torture that where it is detected its practitioners simply make it an even more covert activity.

The 2010 Winter Olympic Games will be held in Vancouver, British Columbia, from February 12-28.  It will be the largest security operation in Canadian history.  Military planners will undoubtedly use it as a template for securing future high profile events.  Canadian security officials continue to work closely with their American counterparts in preparation for the test that the Games will pose to the security of its shared border. 

On the eighth anniversary of the United States declaring a global "war on terror" this September, America's continental neighbors - Mexico and Canada - have had enough.

When President George W. Bush addressed a joint session of Congress on Sept. 20, 2001, the nation - and much of the world - was still in disbelief that Islamic terrorists had successfully carried out the greatest attack on U.S. soil since Japan's assault on Pearl Harbor.

One of the most frustrating features of observing American foreign policy is to see the gap between the encapsulated thinking of the national security bureaucracy and the sensible unfettered observations of the experts outside. In the case of Afghanistan, outside commentators have called for terminating current specific American policies and tactics – many reminiscent of the US in Vietnam.