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View Full Version : Open Source INTSUM: Monday, Oct. 24, 2005


Airbornelawyer
10-24-2005, 11:00
From Various Sources:

Middle East
Bombs Kill 17 In Central Baghdad (http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-10-24-voa26.cfm): "Iraqi officials say 17 people were killed when three car bombs went off near Baghdad hotels that house foreign journalists. …" (Voice of America (http://www.voanews.com))
Back to the Ramadi Problem (http://billroggio.com/archives/2005/10/back_to_the_ram.php): "" (The Fourth Rail (http://billroggio.com/))
Ops in Baghdad - National Unity (http://billroggio.com/archives/2005/10/ops_in_baghdad.php): "" (The Fourth Rail (http://billroggio.com/))
Asia
Indonesia steps up Aceh pullout (http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4370526.stm): "Indonesia has withdrawn a further 2,500 troops from Aceh province as part of a peace deal with separatist rebels. The move - which takes the total number of soldiers to have left the province since September to 12,000 - is the second of four planned withdrawals. In return, the rebels of the Free Aceh Movement (Gam) have agreed to hand in all their weapons by the end of 2005. …" (BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/default.stm))
South Asia Terrorism Update (http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/detailed_news.asp?date1=10/24/2005)
The Americas
Brazilians reject gun sales ban (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4368598.stm): "A proposal to ban the sale of guns in Brazil has been defeated by a clear majority in a referendum. " (BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/default.stm))
USSOUTHCOM Headline News (http://www.southcom.mil/pa/News/AOR%20News/Today's%20News.doc) (Microsoft Word format)
Europe
Romania Says Agreement Near On U.S. Military Base. (http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/10/7278338E-E417-459D-A60E-7C884CB2DB81.html): 24 October 2005 - Romanian President Traiann Basescu says negotiations for a U.S. military base in his country are nearly finished. Basescu made his comments after meeting in Bucharest with U.S. President George W. Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, on 23 October. In a statement, Basescu said the two countries are now making "final changes" to the agreement. He said the possible locations for the base included Babadag, Constanta, or Fetesti, in the east. Hadley confirmed that significant progress had been made on the accord. He also hailed the relationship between Washington and Bucharest. More than 800 Romanian soldiers are currently in Iraq and some 500 more in Afghanistan.
Police foil bomb attack in Sarajevo (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-13090-1840410-13090,00.html): "EMBASSIES and foreign organisations in Bosnia have stepped up security after police in Sarajevo arrested two men who were apparently preparing to carry out a suicide bomb attack. …" (The Times of London (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/))
Army shows off latest generation of infantry firepower (http://www.news.mod.uk/news_headline_story2.asp?newsItem_id=3661): " Soldiers from the Infantry Training Centre Catterick demonstrated the latest generation of infantry firepower in a live firing exercise on Tuesday 18 October 2005…." (British Army (http://www.army.mod.uk/))

Airbornelawyer
10-24-2005, 11:01
From the RFE/RL Newsline (http://www.rferl.org/newsline/):

Russia

U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER ARRIVES IN MOSCOW.
Stephen Hadley arrived in Moscow on 24 October for a two-day visit during which he will meet with President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov to discuss U.S.-Russian security cooperation, the situation in Iraq, and Syria-Lebanon, RIA-Novosti and other agencies reported. Iranian Foreign Minister Manucher Mottaki also arrived in Moscow on 24 October. Russian officials hope to convince him to make serious concessions on Iran's nuclear program in order to neutralize U.S. arguments against Iran's nuclear program in the UN, the daily "Kommersant" noted. Moscow will also send a mission headed by Russian Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov to Tehran next week with the same goal, "Kommersant" reported.
MORE SUSPECTED MILITANTS ARRESTED IN NALCHIK.
Two suspected participants in the 13 October multiple attacks on police and security facilities in Nalchik were apprehended on 21 October, Interfax reported. A third person, identified as Rasul Kudaev, who was captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan and held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, was arrested on 23 October. Kudaev was returned last year to Russia because the evidence against him proved inconclusive and he was subsequently released, according to RIA Novosti as cited by kavkazweb.net. Observers in Nalchik have informed RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service that Kulaev is an invalid, and could not therefore have participated in the 13 October attack. Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry of the Kabardino-Balkaria Republic has offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the capture of Anzor Astemirov, who is believed to have helped organize the 13 October attacks, lenta.ru reported. Speaking at a press conference in Nalchik on 21 October, Russian Deputy Prosecutor-General Nikolai Shepel said 42 of the 87 militants killed during the raid have been identified, Interfax reported. Radical Chechen field commander Shamil Basaev has estimated the attackers' total losses at 42 killed, injured, and missing.

Transcaucasia And Central Asia

ARMENIA, RUSSIA REVIEW MILITARY COOPERATION.
During a visit to Yerevan on 19-21 October, Russian First Deputy Defense Minister Colonel General Yurii Baluevskii met with Prime Minister Andranik Markarian and Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian to discuss bilateral cooperation, Noyan Tapan and Interfax reported. Noyan Tapan quoted Baluevskii as telling journalists on 19 October that Armenia and Russia are "the closest allies" among the member states of the CIS Collective Security Treaty Organization. The independent Armenian daily "Golos Armenii" quoted him as telling a press conference on 21 October that he does not consider it necessary or expedient to increase the number of military personnel deployed at the Russian military base in Armenia. But, Baluevskii said, the military hardware at that base will be upgraded.

Eastern Europe

BELARUSIAN PRESIDENT PUSHES FOR BETTER TIES WITH VENEZUELA
After meeting with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Ali Rodriguez Araque on 22 October, President Lukashenka said economic interests and common political views make the two countries natural allies, ITAR-TASS reported the same day. "We have all chances to provide a good foundation for cooperation," Lukashenka said, adding that trade between the two countries could potentially reach $50 million. Lukashenka also offered to promote Venezuela's interests in Europe and to "strike against resistance of the great powers," an apparent jab at Washington. Araque said Venezuela and Belarus share common interests on international issues. "This is, primarily, related to searching for a new balance system in world problems, because the situation became very serious after the collapse of the USSR," he said.

Southeastern Europe

KOSOVA'S PRIME MINISTER SAYS NOTHING SHORT OF FULL INDEPENDENCE WILL SUFFICE.
Bajram Kosumi said that the province will accept nothing less than full independence after the completion of UN-sponsored final-status talks, Reuters reported on 23 October. "There definitely cannot be any conditions or new interim phases, since they are obstructing economic progress," Bajram Kosumi told Reuters in an interview. Kosumi added that Kosova expects that following talks an international "observation or advisory" mission will be set up as "a psychological and practical guarantee for ethnic groups that their rights are observed." However, he added, "Kosova must be an independent and sovereign state." Kosumi also dismissed Serbia's ruling out Kosova's independence. "Belgrade will never have the right to decide Kosova's future," he said. "If Belgrade was asked, Kosova might not even exist today." The UN Security Council was scheduled to meet on 24 October to set Kosova's final status talks.
SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO APPOINTS DEFENSE MINISTER WITH TIES TO WAR-CRIMES FUGITIVE.
A retired general with links to war-crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic was appointed Serbia and Montenegro's new defense minister on 21 October, international news agencies reported. Zoran Stankovic, the former head of a Belgrade military hospital, was confirmed with 72 votes in the 126-member federal parliament, AP reported. He replaces Prvoslav Davinic, who resigned after a scandal involving the alleged purchase of unnecessary equipment for the army at inflated prices. Stankovic is a pathologist who says he developed a "special relationship" with Mladic after carrying out an autopsy on his daughter when she killed herself in 1994, the BBC reported on 22 October. Some media have speculated that Stankovic was appointed in hopes that he would persuade Mladic to surrender. Speaking on the B-92 television channel, Stankovic pledged to keep up the hunt for the accused war criminal, but added: "It is not realistic to think that a defense minister will run after Mladic through the mountains."
GERMAN DEFENSE MINISTER REPORTEDLY CRITICIZES BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA, ANNOUNCES TROOP REDUCTION.
Peter Struck announced on 22 October that his country will withdraw up to 300 troops from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Reuters reported the same day. In an interview with the German weekly "Welt am Sonntag" quoted by Reuters, Struck accused Bosnian leaders of letting the West "do all the work" and suggested that the country's leaders take their destiny into their own hands. "My impression is that there's a tendency there to lie back and leave all the work to us," Stuck said. He added that Germany will withdraw between 200 and 300 of Germany's 1,000-strong EUFOR contingent. Reuters quoted Lieutenant Jem Thomas, a spokesman for EUFOR, as saying he is unaware of any German troop reduction plan. Struck's comments came as the European Union approved talks with Bosnia-Herzegovina on a Stabilization and Association Agreement, the first step toward EU membership.

Southwestern Asia And The Middle East

BLAST INJURES AFGHAN SOLDIERS IN SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN.
An explosive device placed on a motorcycle detonated on 23 October in Kandahar province's Maywand district as a bus carrying Afghan National Army soldiers was passing by, Peshawar-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported. Military Corps 205 commander Lieutenant General Mohammad Moslem Hamed claimed that three soldiers were injured in the blast. An unidentified doctor in Maywand told journalists that he provided medical assistance to 10 people after the explosion. Neo-Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yusof claimed responsibility for the blast, adding that 15 Afghan National Army soldiers were killed, AIP reported on 23 October.
CHINA TO PROVIDE AFGHANISTAN WITH MILITARY EQUIPMENT.
The People's Republic of China will provide $2 million worth of military equipment to Afghanistan, Afghan Deputy Defense Minister Lieutenant General Homayun Fawzi told a news conference in Kabul on 23 October, Pajhwak Afghan News reported. According to Fawzi, Kabul will provide Beijing with a list of equipment the Afghan National Army needs. Fawzi recently returned from an official visit to China. Afghanistan and China share a 95-kilometer border.