North Korea threatens invasion of South Korea

USA TODAY

S. Korea on alert after

 North’s military threat

SEOUL (AP) — South Korea said its army remained on alert Sunday, a day after North Korea threatened military action in response to Seoul’s hard-line stance against its communist regime.

The latest harsh rhetoric from the isolated regime appeared aimed at heightening tensions on the divided peninsula and could be a test for Barack Obama days before he is sworn in as the new U.S. president.

Pyongyang said it was adopting “an all-out confrontational posture” and warned of a “strong military retaliatory step.” South Korea immediately put its forces on alert.

Seoul’s Yonhap news agency reported Sunday that the South has significantly beefed up forces along its heavily armed land border with the North and near their disputed western sea border. But the presidential office and the Defense Ministry denied the report.

Defense Ministry official said Sunday that the South’s military will remain on alert, though there were no unusual moves by the North’s forces. The official spoke on condition of anonymity citing department policy.

The North has issued similar threats in the past in anger over the hard-line policies Lee has implemented since taking office last year. Lee ended previous administrations’ unconditional aid to North Korea, but has also called for dialogue.

Saturday’s threat from Pyongyang appeared more serious, however, because a uniformed military officer — flanked by military unit flags — read the statement instead of the usual television newsreader.

Analysts said the North’s latest saber rattling appears to be a negotiating tactic aimed at Seoul and Washington ahead of Obama’s inauguration Tuesday in the U.S.

“North Korean wants to draw Obama’s attention,” said Kim Yong-hyun, a professor at Seoul’s Dongguk University.

Kim said Pyongyang is trying to use raised tensions to make a case for its long-standing demand for a peace treaty and establishment of diplomatic ties with Washington — the regime’s top foreign policy goal.

South Korea, the U.S. and three other nations have sought to coax North Korea — which detonated an atomic device in 2006 — to give up its nuclear program by offering aid for disarmament. The pact has been deadlocked over how to verify North Korea’s past nuclear activities.

Despite the impasse, Seoul’s deputy nuclear negotiator has been visiting the North since Thursday. The trip — the highest-level visit to the North in a year — was seen as an indication Pyongyang has not abandoned the disarmament pact.

Nuclear envoy Hwang Joon-kook and his team visited the North’s main nuclear complex at Yongbyon on Friday. They will hold talks through Monday before returning home, said presidential spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye.

The two Koreas have been separated one of the world’s most heavily armed borders since a three-year war ended in a truce in 1953.

Ties warmed significantly following the first-ever summit of their leaders in 2000, but the reconciliation process came to a halt after Seoul’s conservative, pro-U.S. leader Lee came to power last year.

Obama’s Navy. Humanitarianism stops wars

 WVEC News

USS Nashville prepares for final deployment from Norfolk

 

04:31 PM EST on Tuesday, January 13, 2009

 

By 13News  

USS Nashville gears up for final deployment

The amphibious transport dock and her crew of more than 400 sailors will leave Naval Station Norfolk Thursday morning for a six-month tour to several African nations — Senegal, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria and Gabon.

It’s part of Africa Partnership Station, an international security cooperation initiative led by U.S. Naval Forces Africa.

The program doesn’t focus on stopping piracy but on building the skills and capabilities of African nations so they can make their waters safer and more secure, according to the Navy.

The crew also will distribute medical and humanitarian supplies as part of a larger goodwill effort.

USS Nashville was commissioned on February 14, 1970.

Her decommissioning is set for September.

65 Medal of Honor winners meet in Colorado this week

TROPHY AFV Protection defense system

DEFENSECOM

The Trophy Active Defense System (ADS) was developed by RAFAEL under an Israel Defense Research & Development Directorate (DRDD) support, aiming to provide armored vehicles with a new level of protection against most current anti-tank threats. RAFAEL cooperated with IAI/Elta and has signed a marketing agreement with General Dynamics, offering the system to US and other armies worldwide. GD planned to introduce the system with every new and existing combat vehicle it produces, including Stryker, M-1A2 and FCS. According to GD officials, the system can be adapted to US requirements and enter production within two years. through hundreds of live firing tests with the Israel Defense Forces and abroad, where the system demonstrated effective neutralization of anti-tank rockets and guided missiles, high safety levels, insignificant residual penetration and minimal collateral damage. By mid 2007, Trophy was selected to equip the Israeli Merkava Mk4 main battle tanks, and it is also a candidate for integration into the Namer, the future Merkava based Armored Infantry Fighting Vehicle. The system is also considered to become part of the protection suite of future light armored vehicle (such as the Stryker) when these become operational with the Israeli Army.

AIR FORCE tests new small diameter bomb launch from F 22

  

World’s Armed Forces Ranked

From Strategy page. They also rank all the countries so I urge you yo go to site and read more

 

STRATEGY PAGE

Armed Forces of the World

Data current to 2002-2008

The charts shows key data on most of the world’s nations as of mid-2008.

One very important things to keep in mind is that a small number of nations possess the majority of the worlds economic power and population. Just eight nations (U.S., China, Japan, Germany, France, India, Britain and Russia) possess two thirds of the world’s economic activity (GDP), 51 percent of the population and 31 percent of the real estate. This small group of nations, out of some 200 on the planet, also possess nearly all nuclear weapons. Very few nations have armed forces that can do much more than fight internal foes, or neighbors.

Small nations not shown on the Charts; Bahamas, Bahrain, Belize, Bhutan, Cape Verde Islands, Comoro Islands, Cyprus (Greek and Turkish), Guyana, Iceland, Kosovo, Luxembourg, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Suriname and Trinidad. All of these nations have miniscule armed forces (although the two halves of Cyprus can call on the armed forces of Greece and Turkey).

HOW TO READ THE CHART
For details on the nations in each continent, see the individual nation notes below.

These charts give evaluations of the quantity and quality of each nation’s armed forces. The quantity of each combat unit has been derived from various open sources. Quality has been determined by evaluating historical performance. All armed forces are not equal, and this inequality has been expressed numerically. In calculating the numerical value of total strength it is important to differentiate between what floats and what doesn’t. Aircraft carriers and tank divisions are very different instruments of destruction. Both cost about the same, but a carrier cannot march on Moscow, nor can a tank division hunt submarines in the Atlantic. For this reason, land force capabilities only are listed. In reality, they are not entirely separate. Naval forces, particularly carriers, can support ground combat. Tank divisions can seize ports needed by naval forces for their sustenance. Destructive effect was the main consideration in assigning values. This was modified by the mobility and flexibility of the system. Tank divisions can move over a wide area to fight while most air defense forces are limited in their capabilities and mobility. While the numbers of men and weapons are fairly accurate, estimates of quality factors are subjective. Readers may impose their own evaluations. The assessments given are based on current conditions and historical experience. Don’t underestimate the historical trends.

Naval power is difficult to compare to land power, as it is with land power that you ultimately defend yourself or overwhelm an opponent. For nations that are not dependent on seaborne trade, naval power is less important than those that are. For most industrial nations, and many third world countries that have periodic food shortages, loss of sea trade is a serious problem.

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 led to most of the second largest fleet in the world rapidly decaying in the 1990s. Russia lost about 80 percent of its naval power. It’s still the second largest fleet in the world, but the U.S. Navy now has over half the naval combat power in the world, and even more of the kinds of ships that can be sent anywhere on the planet. We are now in the third century of either Britain or the United States as the dominant naval power in the world.

When the Cold War ended, all navies shrunk, even the U.S. Navy. But those of the European nations were reduced the most. In the Pacific, Japan, South Korea and China continued to expand their fleets. So did India. But the U.S. naval forces in the Pacific are still the major player in that region.

Column keylists every nation with a combat value of one or more. Nations with a combat value of less than 1 have little more than national police capability. Many smaller countries, especially those that lack a threatening neighbor, use their forces primarily for internal security. These lesser military powers often repel an invasion most effectively simply by arming the population. Nations are grouped into six regions:. European Nations, Middle East Nations, American Nations, East Asian Nations, African Nations, South Asian Nations.

 

is the ranking of each nation within its region

is the total combat capability of the nation’s armed forces except for their navies. Certain nations like Israel and Switzerland have a rapid mobilization capability which achieves the combat value shown within three days of mobilization. Their normal, unmobilized, combat value is less than one third of the value shown. As explained elsewhere, combat value is modified by geographical, climate and political factors. The value given here is a combination of the quantity and quality of manpower, equipment and weapons. This raw combat value is then multiplied by the force multiplier (see below) to combat value shown in this column.

NAVAL capability is separate from land value and is found on the naval forces chart

(total force quality) is a fraction by which raw (theoretical) combat power should be multiplied to account for imperfect leadership, component of force quality, support, training and other “soft” factors. Think of it as an efficiency rating, with “100″ being perfect and “55″ being a more common 55 percent efficiency.

(population in millions) indicates the nation’s relative military manpower resources. Population is also a more meaningful indicator of a nation’s size than territory. By our count, the world population is 6.6 billion.

(Gross Domestic Product, in billions of dollars) is a rough gage of the nation’s economic power. This does not translate immediately into military power because of the time needed to convert industry from civilian to military production. Mobilization of some types of military equipment takes years. Other types of weapons, especially those using electronics, can be brought to bear in months. By our count, the world GDP is $57.7 trillion (thousand billion).

 (active military manpower in thousands) is the total uniformed, paid manpower organized into combat and support units. Because of the widely varying systems of organizing military manpower, this figure is at best a good indicator of the personnel devoted to the military. Industrialized nations hire many civilians to perform support duties, while other nations flesh out skeleton units with ill-prepared reserves, uncertain effect on wartime strength. The use of reserve troops varies considerably. By our count, the world total of active troops is 20.6 million.

 (Military Budget in millions of dollars) is the current annual armed forces spending of that nation. All nations use somewhat different accounting systems for defense spending. Efforts are made to eliminate some of the more gross attempts at hiding arms expenditures. Some of the figures, particularly for smaller nations, may be off by 10 percent either way. By our count, the world defense spending is $1.35 trillion (2.34 percent of GDP).

is the annual cost per man for armed forces in thousands of dollars. This is an excellent indicator of the quantity and, to a lesser extent, the quality of weapons and equipment. Some adjustments should be made for different levels of personnel costs, research and development, strategic weapons and waste. The United States, in particular, is prone to all four afflictions. The precise adjustments for these factors are highly debatable. One possible adjustment would be to cut the US cost per man by at least one third. Other nations with strategic programs and large R&D establishments (Russia, Britain, France, China, etc.) should be adjusted with deductions of no more than 15 percent. Britain could also take another 5 or 10 percent cut because of its all-volunteer forces higher payroll. Most nations are willing to pay for a volunteer force, if they can afford it. That’s because volunteers tend to be more effective. At the other extreme, many nations produce a credible defense force using far less wealth. Low paid conscripts, good leadership and the sheer need to improvise enables many of these poorer nations to overcome their low budgets. However, most nations end up getting what they pay for.

(Armored Fighting Vehicles) These include tanks, armored personnel carriers and most other armored combat and support vehicles. AFV are the primary components of a ground offensive, and greatly enhance chances of success.

 are the number of combat aircraft available, including helicopter gunships and armed maritime patrol aircraft. This, like AFV, is a good indicator of raw power. The quality of the aircraft, their pilots, ground crew and leadership, air force are the most important factors in the air power’s overall value.

The Total Quality is calculated by assigning 0 (lowest) to 9 (highest) values for the following components of combat capability.

is leadership. The quality of officers and NCOs.

is equipment. The quantity and quality of military equipment.

is experience. Not just combat experience, but the quality of training.

 is support. This is logistics, the ability to get military supplies to the troops.

is mobilization. The ability to mobilize the national resources for combat.

is tradition. Military tradition, good military habits, based on practical experience.

Notes on National Military Power

(for those who are not keen on numerical analysis)

What follows is a brief comment on each nation covered in the chart. In alphabetical order.

US Soldier pleads not guilty to murdering two superior officers

I had not heard of this  case

Lo Hud valley News

Soldier pleads not guilty in fragging case

By Suzan Clarke • The Journal News • August 23, 2008

A soldier accused of killing two superior officers in Iraq, one of whom was from Suffern, pleaded not guilty yesterday.

Army Staff Sgt. Alberto Martinez entered the plea during an Article 39(a) proceeding – the equivalent of a civilian court’s pretrial hearing – at Fort Bragg, N.C.

Martinez, 40, of Troy, N.Y., is charged with two counts of premeditated murder in the June 2005 deaths of Capt. Phillip Esposito, 30, of Suffern, his company commander, and 1st Lt. Louis E. Allen, 34, of Milford, Pa., second in command of the 42nd Infantry Division’s headquarters support company in Tikrit, Iraq.

Martinez is accused of rigging and detonating a claymore mine on Esposito’s window the night of June 7, 2005. Allen was in the room with Esposito. Both men died of their injuries the next day.

Military judge Col. Stephen Henley made a number of rulings during yesterday’s hearing.

Among them, he deferred to a defense request that Martinez be moved from his current holding facility to another location, but left the final decision up to the facility commander.

The defense had argued that the suspect’s current confinement location was “suppressive,” according to a Fort Bragg media release detailing the results of the hearing.

The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer reported that Martinez’s attorneys argued their client’s solitary confinement at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, N.C., was unduly stressful.

Henley said Martinez would get credit for time served if convicted.

The judge denied a motion by Martinez’s defense team that sought to prevent the prosecution from calling additional witnesses, and said he would allow witnesses to be called who would testify that Martinez was disrespectful and insubordinate to Esposito and Allen prior to their deaths.

He also ordered the prosecution to make deployed government witnesses available for defense interviews.

Henley asked Martinez whether he was aware of the severity of the charges and the possibility that he might face capital punishment if convicted. Martinez confirmed that understood.

Martinez’s defense team then entered the plea of not guilty.

The plea represents progress, said Barbara Allen, Louis Allen’s widow. She and Siobhan Esposito, the captain’s widow, and several other family members were present for the hearing.

“It’s really nice to know that he had to enter a plea, and that means there’s no turning back now; we’re actually going to trial,” Allen said.

The case has had many delays, and Siobhan Esposito said it had been “a long and difficult ordeal” for both families.

“Now it is quite apparent that we are going to trial. For a long time I was doubtful (about) when we would go to trial,” Esposito said.

The next pretrial hearing is set for Oct. 6, with the court-martial to begin the following day. The trial could last through Dec. 31.

Barbara Allen said she was “very, very glad” about the way the case was proceeding. As for the results of the trial, Allen said: “The eventual outcome needs to be the death penalty. That’s what needs to happen.”

The two officers’ deaths are considered by the military to be the first “fragging” incident since the U.S. invaded Iraq. Fragging is military slang for intentionally killing another service member.

Patriot Riders ride for Troops

Virtual Army Experience

War games ?

more about “Vertial Army Experience“, posted with vodpod

 

Anti War ANSWER Group. Young Marine’s program is creating Hitler Youth

 PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE

Young Marines get marching orders

Kevin Walkup can order his younger sister around.

As a sergeant in the Keystone Young Marines, he outranks her.

“Swing that around,” barked Walkup, 16, of Whitehall as he pointed to the rifle resting on the shoulder of his sister, Brianna, 12, a lance corporal.

Dressed in military-style boots, camouflage pants and caps, and red T-shirts, the Walkups drilled together on a recent Thursday evening with about 15 other Young Marines at Baldwin United Presbyterian Church

know he orders me around because I’m his sister,” Brianna Walkup said. “Yes, I get annoyed. But I wanted to do something together with him, so we joined at the same time.”

The siblings enlisted two years ago in the Young Marines, a national nonprofit based in Washington that boasts 12,000 members and 312 units nationwide. Kevin Walkup, a junior at Baldwin High, has known since eighth grade that he wanted to be a Marine.

He found the Young Marines online while searching for ways to prepare himself for a career in the Corps and improve his admission chances to the U.S. Naval Academy.

“I learned if I reach the rank of sergeant and go to boot camp, I can enter the Marines as a (private first class) and earn an extra $3,000 a year,” he said.

Stories like that outrage groups such as Washington-based Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) and the American Friends Service Committee. Anti-war activists charge the Young Marines is a military recruiting tool that targets children as young as 8.

But Young Marines leaders and Pentagon officials say the program doesn’t recruit. The Department of Defense provides about $1 million each year to the Young Marines for its anti-drug efforts, said Capt. Carl B. Redding, a Marine spokesman at the Pentagon.

The group cultivates a sense of self-worth, trains young people to become leaders and decreases kids’ desire to do drugs, said Michael Kessler, a former Marine infantry lieutenant colonel and the program’s national director.

Western Pennsylvania hosts five Young Marine units with membership ranging from 10 to 40 youngsters each. They accept boys and girls from age 8 through high school graduation, Redding said.

The Pentagon does not track how many Young Marine graduates enter the military “because that is not the mission of the program,” Redding said. But Kessler said some Young Marines officials put the estimate at 10 percent.

Kessler’s program description is little more than rationalization, said Scilla Wahrhaftig, the Pennsylvania program director for the American Friends Service Committee, a Philadelphia-based Quaker group that advocates nonviolence.

“Just look at the name: Young Marines,” Wahrhaftig said. “That indicates the path these children might take. When you dress up children in military uniforms with military training and discipline and guns, they’re going to be influenced.”

Mike Prysner, 25, an Iraq war veteran who took part in the invasion of Iraq, said Young Marines practices “glorify war and the military lifestyle.” The Delray Beach, Fla., resident serves as an organizer for ANSWER.

“They start pounding those things into your head at such a young age,” said Prysner, who spent March 2003 to February 2004 in Iraq and was honorably discharged as a corporal in 2005. “They advance you by how well you follow orders. They teach you to not think critically or creatively.”

Robert Citino, a military historian at Eastern Michigan University and a visiting professor at West Point, said critics of the Young Marines have valid arguments.

“I would be uncomfortable putting my 8-year-old in a uniform,” Citino said, adding that it reminded him of youth groups that existed in pre-World War II Germany and Japan.

“But I’m also uncomfortable with a reflexive anti-anything that has to do with the military — especially in a country that has an all-volunteer force,” Citino said. “The best thing to do if you’re interested is go down to one of their units. Check it out and see if it’s right for you and your kid.”

The Rev. Bob Walkup worried the group was a military recruitment cover when Kevin first told him about it. He went to a Young Marines meeting and left convinced that’s not the case — so much so that he offered his church for the unit’s weekly activities during the summer.

“It’s a discipline tool,” he said. “It’s very akin to what the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts do, teaching accountability and responsibility, but in a military model. And isn’t that what Christianity is all about: to transform us? Certainly not to kill each other, but to transform us.”

Every time a parent or critic voices concern about the Young Marines, Ronald Maxson invites them to visit his unit at the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Greensburg. Maxson retired from the Marines as a first sergeant in 1979 after 21 years in the Corps.

“I tell parents I’m not trying to make Marines out of their kids,” said Maxson, 66, of Greensburg. “But I am trying to teach them good positive values: honor, courage, teamwork, responsibility and abstaining from drugs and alcohol.”

Maxson’s Young Marines perform military drills, physical-fitness regimens and military education, but also learn outdoor survival skills, CPR and pet care.

Kessler said the self-confidence created by participating in those types of activities is what deters young people from doing drugs.

“When you let them know they mean something to somebody, drugs are the last things on their minds,” Kessler said.

“The Young Marines are effective in alerting young people to the dangers and consequences of drug use,” said Rep. John Murtha, D-Johnstown, who chairs the House Defense Subcommittee.

Though the Young Marines have existed since 1959, Kessler said the organization’s anti-drug focus began as a pilot program of the Department of Defense in 1993. As part of the federal government’s “war on drugs,” the Defense Department provided $200,000 each to 13 youth organizations, he said.

“We’re just barely a sliver of a much larger program that includes drug interdiction, drug testing and drug-demand reduction,” Kessler said.

Only two of those pilot programs still exist, Kessler said: The Young Marines’ efforts and the Navy’s Drug Education For Youth (DEFY) Program.

There also is a community-service aspect to the group.

“They march in parades, serve as door-greeters, perform color-guard ceremonies,” said Bettina Radcliff, 52, a 12-year staff member of the Keystone unit.

Maxson’s unit visited prisons. The unit based at Christ Lutheran Church in Forest Hills raised money for the American Cancer Society and collected $6,000 worth of toys for underprivileged children.

Radcliff urges critics to come and see for themselves that “we’re not a little Hitler group, building little killers.”

Maxson acknowledges that participating in the Young Marines becomes an advantage for those who want to enter the military.

And Maxson, Radcliff and Kessler brag about graduates who have joined the military. Kessler said only one service academy applicant he recommended for admission was rejected.

“We don’t recruit, but we are giving kids the opportunity to find the hero within,” Kessler said. “We don’t encourage a military career, but we don’t discourage one either.”