Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Friday 27 March 2015

The European Union Times


Posted: 26 Mar 2015 02:57 AM PDT


Chinese government insists that the tests are being conducted to strengthen defensive capabilities.
Anti-missile technologies tested by China over the last decade have caused alarm for US officials. In terms of space defense, the United States may be losing out in the futuristic “counterspace” campaign.
In 2007, a Chinese weather satellite circling in polar orbit was struck by a missile fired from the Sichuan province. This marked the first successful satellite interception test since the United States shot down its own P78-1 satellite in 1985.
Flash forward to last summer, when Beijing conducted a similar test, dubbed a “land-based anti-missile technology experiment” by the Chinese Defense Ministry. This has, evidently, caused some concern in military circles, which instead saw the trials as the latest example of offensive anti-satellite (ASAT) missile tests.”But just seeing the nature of these types of activities show how committed they are to a counter-space campaign,” Admiral Cecil D. Haney, head of the Omaha-based nuclear forces command, said during a news conference at the Pentagon on Tuesday. “So we have to be ready for any campaign that extends its way into space.”
Beijing publicly opposes the development of so-called space weapons, agreeing with the general consensus that Earth’s orbit should remain a combat-free zone. The Chinese government insists that the tests are being conducted to strengthen defensive capabilities. But that has done little to allay Haney’s fears.
“The threat in space, I fundamentally believe, is a real one,” Haney said. “It’s been demonstrated.”
Rick Fisher, an expert on Chinese military affairs, also shares Haney’s concerns.”The remainder of this decade will likely see China continue to test ground-launched ASATs and begin to test air-launched ASATs,” Fisher, a senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center told the Free Beacon.
“However,” he added, “Chinese sources indicate that laser-armed space platforms may not be ready until later in the 2020s. By this time China will also have lofted a dual-use space station and may have tested dual-use space planes.”
Haney also mentioned Iran, which he claims recently launched a space vehicle which “could be used as a long-range strike platform.”
Yet despite criticism of a perceived space weapons threat from other nations, the US is not without its own anti-satellite capabilities.
In 2008, the Pentagon retrofitted one of the Navy’s SM-3 anti-missile interceptors. Concerned that a National Reconnaissance Office satellite was falling from orbit, the military used the SM-3 to shoot down the satellite. While that action was officially taken as a safety measure, its success was widely viewed as a sign that the interceptors could, theoretically, be used as anti-satellite weapons.”I will leave it at we are working for our space protection program,” Haney said in response to a question about US space capabilities, and indeed, the US is providing ample funding for research into space defense. During fiscal year 2016, the Air Force has been granted $33.3 million toward research and development of its “space protection program,” a more-or-less steady annual sum already budgeted through 2019.
This is Haney’s main reason for holding his news conference. Aside from taking a moment to criticize the “provocative” actions of President Vladimir Putin, the admiral concludes by warning about the dangers of US budget cuts.
“As a nation, we cannot simply afford to underfund our strategic capabilities,” he said. “Any cuts to the president’s budget…will hamper our ability to sustain and modernize our joint military forces and put us at a real risk of making our nation less secure and able to address future threats.”
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Posted: 26 Mar 2015 02:51 AM PDT


Chairman of the Defense Committee of the State Duma Vladimir Komoedov made a statement regarding Russia’s right to deploy nuclear weapons in Crimea.
According to the official, the Russian Federation will not ask anyone’s permission to do so, RIA Novosti reports.
“We will not contaminate such a gem with nuclear weapons, what we have there already is enough. However, Crimea is a Russian territory, and if there is such a need, we will not ask permission from anyone,” Komoedov said.
According to the head of the department for nonproliferation and arms control at the Russian Foreign Ministry, Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia as a sovereign state has the right to deploy nuclear weapons on the whole territory of Russia, including in Crimea, Pravda.Ru reports.
According to the official, Moscow, may deploy nuclear weapons on the peninsula if the US decides to supply lethal weapons to Kiev.
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Posted: 26 Mar 2015 01:57 AM PDT


Filip Dewinter, the leader of the Flemish separatist party Vlaams Belang, acknowledges that Belgium and the EU created the problem of jihad terror in Europe by inviting in millions of immigrants from Muslim countries. He proposes a program of incentives to induce sharia-loving Muslims to return to their ancestral homes.
Belgium’s far-right Vlaams Belang party launched a new campaign on Thursday. It invites all Muslims ‘who don’t feel at home here’ (in Belgium) and those who want Sharia Law to return to their country of origin.
A contest to win ten airline tickets to the ‘Islamic country of your choice’ is also part and parcel of the provocative campaign titled ‘East West? Home Sweet Home!’ – as per Filip Dewinter, the party’s Antwerp leader.
As evidenced by the number of Belgians who have left for jihad in Syria, Dewinter claims that radicalization concerns should not be directed solely towards the problem of the few hundreds of fighters who have joined the ranks of jihad. Measures such as special courses in schools and separation of radicalized prison inmates are no longer manageable.
“We must acknowledge that we are primarily responsible for the problem. We have allowed fundamentalist Islam to build its nest, as was the case in the countries of those Muslims that now live here,” claims Mr. Dewinter.
“It is now time to separate the wheat from the chaff: those who don’t truly want to adapt to our laws and customs, we must convince them to return to their countries,” says Dewinter.
Vlaams Belang’s Antwerp chapter advocates for an ‘Active Return Policy’. As a first step, it will distribute 60,000 flyers of its campaign ‘East West? Home Sweet Home!’ in high immigrant concentrated areas such as North Antwerp, Borgerhout, North Deume and Hoboken.
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Posted: 26 Mar 2015 01:35 AM PDT


The UK Home Secretary, Theresa May has urged British Muslims to help deal with extremism, saying the country must not tolerate citizens who fail to respect its values.
May also noted that British freedoms come with “responsibilities.”
Her comments came with the unveiling of a broad approach to tackling extremism in the UK. May said while extremism exists in racism, anti-Semitism and homophobia, “Islamic extremism” is the greatest threat to the country, RT reported.
“We are free to practice any faith, follow any religious denomination, or ignore religion altogether,” she told an audience in central London.
“We are free to wear whatever clothes we choose. We are free to establish our own faith schools and give our sons and daughters the best education possible. We are free to build our own churches, temples and mosques and worship freely,” she said.
Now, the head of research of the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) in London, Arzu Merali believes such comments only demonize Muslims in the country and of course, as usual, she implied the old used-out rhetoric such as “Islamophobia”, “hate” and other lunacy while Muslim gangs were recently caught raping thousands of minor British girls and the authorities were systematically covering it up.
This is while the UK home secretary warned of growing levels of Islamic extremism spreading throughout the country, citing examples of the Trojan Horse plot to take over Birmingham schools and Islamic extremist ideas being promulgated in schools.
May has been responsible for introducing a plethora of new counter-terror measures, including seizing suspects’ passports.
        
Posted by Roberto Abraham Scaruffi at 08:53