Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 18 januar 2005 / Time Line Januar 18, 2005
Version 3.517. Januar 2005, 19. Januar 2005
01/18/2005
Ela Gandhi signs the Manifesto against conscription and the
military system
http://home.snafu.de/mkgandhi/manifest.htm
On 15 January 2005, Ms. Ela Gandhi, grand-daughter of Mahatma Gandhi, signed the
"Manifesto against conscription and the military system". Ms. Ela
Gandhi is Chairperson and Editor of the newspaper "Satyagraha - In
Pursuit of Truth" (Satyagraha Editorial Comittee, P.O. Box 477,
Hyper by the Sea, Durban North 4053, South Africa). You find the
newspaper's website under following address:
http://www.satyagraha.org.za
- and you may contact the Editorial Committee of her newspaper via
email: info@satyagraha.org.za - this Manifesto has now already been
signed by grand-children of Mohandas K. Gandhi (Ms. Ela
Gandhi) and Leo N. Tolstoy (Count Serge Tolstoy).
01/18/2005
CONTRACTS from the United States Department of Defense
Contracts, Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Lockheed Martin Corp., Sunnyvale, Calif., is being awarded a
$14,902,637cost-plus award-fee/incentive fee contract modification
to provide for the incorporation of software for a Manual Override
Feature (Feature 4), a Message to Ballistic Missile Defense System
Assurance Feature (Feature 2 Operator Workload Reduction), and a
Command and Control, Battlespace Management and Communications
Two-Way Active Interface to support Missile Defense Agency
requirements for information exchange. At this time, $4,250,819 of
the funds have been obligated. This work will be complete by June
2010. The Headquarters Space and Missile Systems Center, Los
Angeles Air Force Base, Calif., is the contracting activity
(F04701-95-C-0017, P00299).
01/18/2005
Disaster Could Mean Closer U.S.-Indonesia Military Ties
By Kathleen T. Rhem
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Jan. 18, 2005 -- U.S. officials are looking at ways to
help Indonesia deal with the effects of the Dec. 26 tsunami without
violating sanctions imposed on the country over human rights abuses
in East Timor from 1999 to 2001.
The United States and other countries imposed economic sanctions
and cut military-to-military relations after Indonesian forces
backed anti-independence militias in East Timor, which was
officially recognized as an independent nation in 2002.
In October 2004, Indonesia held its second democratic elections
after four decades of authoritarian government. The president,
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyonoa, is a retired general who had attended
the U.S. Army's Command and General Staff College. Wolfowitz said
this is a positive sign because Yudhoyono understands the role of
the military in a democracy.
Recent reforms in the country's military and close cooperation
since the Dec. 26 tsunami could lead to building
military-to-military ties with the United States -- or, as
Wolfowitz put it, "Defense Department to Defense Department."
01/18/2005
U.S. Military Resorting To Collective Punishment
BAGHDAD, Jan 18 (IPS) - The U.S. military is resorting to
collective punishment tactics in Iraq similar to those used by
Israeli troops in the occupied territories of Palestine, residents
say.
Military bulldozers have mown down palm groves in the rural al-Dora
farming area on the outskirts of Baghdad, residents say.
Electricity has been cut, the local fuel station destroyed and the
access road blocked.
The U.S. action comes after resistance fighters attacked soldiers
from this area several weeks back.
”The Americans were attacked from this field, then they
returned and started cutting down all the trees,” says
Kareem, a local mechanic, pointing to a pile of burnt date palms in
a bulldozed field. ”None of us knows any fighters, we all
know they are coming here from other areas to attack the Americans,
but we are the people who suffer from this.”
The military action follows a similar round of attacks and
retaliation earlier this month.
U.S. Army Brigadier-General Mark Kimmit told reporters then that
the military had launched 'Operation Iron Grip' in the area to send
”a very clear message to anybody who thinks that they can run
around Baghdad without worrying about the consequences of firing
RPGs (rocket propelled grenades), firing mortars.”
01/18/2005
Trident Missile
The Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. Geoffrey Hoon): The current
estimate of the total acquisition cost of the
Trident programme, with payments already made expressed at the
prices and exchange rates actually incurred and future spend at the
current financial year exchange rate (the hybrid) estimate, is now
£9,804 million. Leaving aside the effects of price inflation
and exchange rate variation there has been a cost increase of
£3 million which reflects adjustments to the final outturn
costs in the submarine area. Expenditure on the Trident acquisition
programme to 30 September 2003 represented over 99 per cent. of the
total estimate. If all expenditure, past and projected, is brought
up to this current year's economic conditions (the non-hybrid
estimate) the estimate is £14,893 million.
 |
 |