A brief world news roundup for 3 December 2009.

United States & the Americas

• White House – Remarks by the President in Address to the Nation on the Way Forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan; Eisenhower Hall Theatre, United States Military Academy at West Point, West Point, New York
• Pentagon – Statement on Afghanistan to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Secretary Gates
• Reuters – An Iranian man has pleaded guilty to U.S. charges he illegally bought an array of military equipment for Tehran as it prepared for a possible war with the United States, the U.S. Justice Department said on Wednesday
• UPI – Bickering over the aftermath of Honduran presidential elections blighted the political scene Wednesday as opponents of President-elect Porfirio Lobo declared they would not accept his election as legitimate
• El Universal – President Hugo Chávez condemned the action of private banks that have done business with the money of the people and state institutions for their own profit, and assured that the time of the hegemony of public banks has comes in Venezuela.
• Columbia Reports – Colombian Defense Minister Gabriel Silva Wednesday denied an accusation by Venezuela that Colombia has a plan to bomb the socialist nation under the pretext of pursuing guerrilla groups onto Venezuelan soil.

Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia

• Russia Today – More than 10,000 people gathered in Moscow on Wednesday to commemorate the victims of the recent train crash. Hundreds more rallied in St. Petersburg.
• Russia MoD – Combat training in 2009 training year was conducted in conditions of forming a new make-up of the Armed Forces and reducing the period of military service on conscription to one year. Despite a large range of activities, we have managed to avoid significant reduction in the level of training in the Land Force and Air Force
• RIA Novosti – The first phase of the ongoing military reform to overhaul the structure of the Russian Armed Forces as well as its troop control and recruitment processes officially ended by December 1, 2009. The reform, which covers all fighting services, remains controversial in terms of necessity and effectiveness. The army is the first service to be overhauled.
• Kavkaz Center – Kavkaz Center received a letter on behalf of the command of the Caucasian Mujahideen, which states that the operation on destroying the “Nevsky Express” was carried out within the ongoing operations of strikes on strategic targets in Russia. Note that according to Russian authorities behind the organization of undermining “Nevsky Express” is Russian Mujahid Pavel Kosolopov, who by Moscow’s version, was behind all the loud sabotage operations in Russia in recent years.
• RFERL – Prosecutors in Chechnya say the killing of a prominent human rights activist in August was not connected to her work, RFE/RL’s Russian Service reports. The bullet-ridden bodies of Zarema Sadulayeva and her husband, Alik Dzhabrailov, were found in the trunk of their car hours after the couple was abducted in the Chechen capital, Grozny
• EurasiaNet – A protest movement against a planned Russian-Armenian uranium mine in southern Armenia appears to be picking up steam, with discussions underway with three political parties about a partnership
• SRI – Kazakhstan’s uranium output will be approximately 13,800 metric tons in 2009 and will rise to 15,000 metric tons in 2010, according to Zhandos Abishev, head of mining at the state holding and investment company Samruk-Kazyna.

Middle East

• MNF Iraq – Iraqi Police (IP) arrested 11 suspected members of the al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) terrorist group during two joint operations yesterday in northern Iraq.
• Voices of Iraq – A security force from the Ninewa Operations Command arrested two commanders of the Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) Organization, the Iraqi Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.
• NOW Lebanon – The National News Agency (NNA) reported on Monday that the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) fired anti-aircraft artillery at 1:30 p.m. at four Israeli jet planes, which violated Lebanese airspace by flying over the villages of Al-Aarqoub, Hasbaya and the West Bekaa at medium altitude
• Haaretz – Lebanon’s new government Wednesday endorsed Hezbollah’s right to keep its weapons, the latest sign that the Iran-backed group has no intention of meeting a United Nations resolution calling for it to disarm
• ynet – Hezbollah Chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah met Wednesday with a Hamas delegation led by Mohammad Naser. The Beirut meeting also included top Hamas officials Osama Hamdan and Munir Saeed. The parties are believed to have discussed, among other things, the prisoner exchange deal which will lead to Gilad Shalit’s release
• Al Arabiya – Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz ordered on Wednesday 10,000 new homes to be built for those displaced in the southern province of Jizan, where forces have been battling Yemen’s Houthi rebels for four weeks. The king was on his first visit to the area since the war broke out

Iran

• Defense Update – The latest image of the Iranian missile test site of Semnan, taken last week (27 November, 2009) by the Israeli Eros B spy satellite shows the progress of construction at the site, with a siezable gantry tower constructed at the launch site, along with an associated launch pad, and fully constructed flame bucket diverting the missile’s exhaust gases from the hillside. The launch site is linked through separate tubing, to a nearby, sheltered underground facility located at the upper left hillside
• Fars – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared on Wednesday that Iran has decided to supply nuclear fuel for the Tehran research reactor through domestic plans, meaning that the country would soon start enriching uranium to the purity level of 20 percent.
• Press TV – After a Kuwaiti daily claimed that the Islamic Republic has called on the Islamic Resistance Movement of Hamas to swing into action in violence-ridden parts of Yemen, Iran moves to flatly reject the allegation.
• Mehr – The Basij forces will join campaigns to counter the enemy’s soft warfare against Iran, Tehran’s IRGC commander has said.
• Payvand – Iran releases 5 Britons; A statement from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said that after investigation it reached the conclusion that their illegal entry was a mistake. Britain’s Foreign Office confirmed the release and said the yachtsmen are being towed to international waters, and were expected to head to Dubai
• ISNA – Iran and India have made agreements on the Peace Pipeline project and investment in phase 12 of South Pars gas field in New Delhi. Iran has generally agreed to hand over the Peace Pipeline (IPI) gas to India on Pakistan-India border in the two-day visit of Iranian delegation to India led by Director of Iran’s National Oil Company (NIOC) Seifollah Jashnsaz, Iran’s ambassador to New Delhi, Mehdi Nabizade, told ISNA on Wednesday

South Asia

• AFPS – Tens of thousands of additional U.S. forces slated for deployment to Afghanistan will be employed to target and eliminate terrorist leaders and assist the Afghan government to better safeguard and provide a brighter future for its people, the commander of U.S. Central Command said today.
• UK MoD – Deployed to ‘Artillery Hill’ in Helmand province, Lieutenant George Mowbray is mentoring members of the Afghan National Army (ANA) to man a working artillery position which provides firepower and support to Danish infantry troops.
• MEMRI – A top Taliban commander, who was also a member of the Al-Qaeda network, was killed along some of his friends in the southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan, according to a Pashtu-language Afghan news website
• dvids – Asadabad; Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft flew armed overwatch for friendly forces. Precision guided munitions were employed in a preemptive strike on an enemy compound when the enemy was observed massing at a known enemy location for a possible attack on friendly forces. As the enemy forces shifted from building to building in the compound, the buildings were destroyed and the threat to friendly forces was eliminated
• Al Jazeera – A suicide bomber has attacked Pakistan’s navy headquarters, killing one security guard and wounding four others, police say. The attacker detonated his explosives after he was stopped at the entrance to the heavily fortified naval complex.
• Dawn – Ten militants were killed and 128 wanted criminals were arrested from various parts of Hangu district in a joint operation conducted by police and frontier constabulary, DPO Abd ur Rasheed told DawnNews.
• Dawn – Two militants including a key militant commander, Mula Launcher were killed in Kurram Agency on Wednesday, according to official sources. Two militants were also injured and three were arrested in Spairkot, Khelwat and Dombaki areas of central Kurram Agency during a military operation.
• Geo – During the last 24 hours, Security forces have cleared compounds at Ziarat and Dunai Killi and recovered cache of arms and ammunition on Jandola sector in operation Rah-e-Nijat in the South Waziristan. According to ISPR, on Shakai sector, terrorists fired 8 rockets at Spin Jammat and Ladha Fort which was effectively responded to. Security forces cleared area upto Garez Sar Shahur River, Garezai Alged and defused cluster of IEDs. Security forces carried area domination operation near Mana Camp, Pash Ziarat and Pasal Kot and recovered arms and ammunition on Razmak sector. Terrorists fired rockets at Lakki Ghund which was effectively responded to. Security forces cleared 75 compounds at Qalandar village, during encounter an officer was injured
• Colombo Page – Sri Lankan troops conducting search operations in the former battle fields of Northern and Eastern regions continue to recover large hauls of weapons and ammunitions, the military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said
• Times of India – India’s first indigenous nuclear submarine, INS Arihant, will be inducted into the Navy fleet in two years. However, Verma refused speak about Russia leasing out its Akula-II ‘Nerpa’ nuclear-powered submarine to India for 10 years. “I have no response for that,” he said to queries on when Nerpa would join the Indian Navy
• Jakarta Post – Nearly 2,600 bodies have been discovered in single unmarked and mass graves throughout mountainous Indian Kashmir and some of the dead were likely innocent people killed by security forces, a human rights group alleges in a report.
• Telegraph India – The Centre is carefully observing the split in Ulfa, waiting for the rest of the outfit to come forward for talks, isolating commander-in-chief Paresh Barua.
• Daily Star – Arabinda Rajkhowa, chairman and one of the founders of Indian separatist group United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa), was arrested in Dhaka on Monday, reports BBC Bangla Service. Quoting Indian intelligence agencies, the BBC Kolkata correspondent reports that the Ulfa chief along with three to four other leaders was arrested in Gulshan in the capital.

Far East & Pacific

• Reuters – The Philippine government and the country’s largest Muslim rebel group agreed on Wednesday to return to formal peace negotiations, hoping to end over four decades of armed conflict on the resource-rich southern island.
• Xinhua – The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China has issued nine categorized provisions on the duties and operational procedures for its headquarters of different branches or at regional levels. The Headquarters of the PLA General Staff said the new provisions aimed at improving the contents and commanding methods of headquarters to better handle military operations in the information age and speeding up emergency response of China’s armed forces.
• RSIS – To date, three studies have been done on the carrying capacity of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore. The studies are necessary as traffic will increase in the future, hence increasing the possibility of accidents. The studies will help improve measures currently undertaken or are being proposed to address safety of navigation. Apart from underlining the urgency of these measures, a comprehensive review of the measures will also help assure the users of the Straits.
• US Army – In the first training deployment for the Japan-based I Corps Forward, the U.S. Army, Pacific and the Japan’s Ground Self Defense Force will conduct Yama Sakura 57, a joint command post exercise, Dec. 7-14, at Camp Higashi-Chitose, on Hokkaido, Japan.

The guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins arrives for a routine port visit to Crete. Higgins is on a scheduled six-month deployment in the Mediterranean Sea. (photo by Seaman John Martinez)

Europe

• RIA Novosti – The Polish defense minister said on Wednesday Poland will send 1,000 more troops to Afghanistan. Currently, there are 2,000 Polish troops deployed in Afghanistan
• TIME – It is Europe’s dirty secret that the list of nuclear-capable countries extends beyond those — Britain and France — who have built their own weapons. Nuclear bombs are stored on air-force bases in Italy, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands — and planes from each of those countries are capable of delivering them.
• AKI – Two Tunisians held at the United States military prison at Guantanamo Bay have been flown to Italy to face international terrorism charges. Abel Ben Mabrouk bin Hamida Boughanmi, 39, and Mohammed Tahir Riyadh Nasseri, 43, were handed over to the Italian authorities late Monday and flown to Milan where they face arrest warrants. The pair are suspected of being members of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), one of the main components of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

Africa 

• Press TV – At least 19 people, including 10 civilians are killed and some 70 others injured in heavy fighting between al-Shabab and Somali government troops in Mogadishu.
• Garowe – A high-ranking Al-Shabaab commander has joined Somali government after deserting the rebel group. Sheik Ali Hassan Gheddi, who was the deputy commander in-chief of Al Shabab fighters in Somalia’s Middle Shabele region took the decision to join the government side after realising his group was not working for the interest of the civilians
• Shabelle – Eritrea’s U.N. envoy denied that his country has been supporting Islamist rebels intent on toppling neighboring Somalia’s fragile government and said there was no reason to sanction Asmara
• New Vision – Ugandans are among the foreigner militants fighting alongside Al Shabaab to overthrow the Somali government, the African Union Mission in Somalia has said.
• ISN – Despite increased efforts of young members of the Somali diaspora to fight at home, it is unlikely that Somalia will turn into a large-scale training ground for jihadists, unless it becomes a major hotspot for confrontation against the West, Georg-Sebastian Holzer writes for ISN Security Watch
• Sudan Tribune – Five government soldiers were killed during an attack on rebel positions in Jebel Marrah of central Darfur on Monday, a rebel commander said.
• VOA – After driving them out of Uganda and chasing them across the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ugandan government troops are now fighting the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army in the CAR
• CSM – Leaked UN report shows FDLR, a brutal Rwandan rebel group operating in eastern Congo, operates gold, tin, and coltran mines. Key leaders still free in the US and France

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., Dec. 2, 2009. The testimony focused on President Barack Obama's decision to send an additional 30,000 troops to the war in Afghanistan. (photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Chad McNeeley)

The Global War

• Brent J. Talbot, Joint Force Quarterly  – Israel and the Iranian Nuclear Infrastructure
• NYT – U.S. and Russian negotiators are racing to solve remaining obstacles to a new arms control treaty that would replace a pact that expires Saturday
• Nosint – General Dynamics Electric Boat will christen Missouri (SSN-780), the U.S. Navy’s newest and most advanced nuclear attack submarine, at a ceremony at its Groton shipyard on Saturday, Dec. 5

Sights & Sounds

Robert Farley and Matthew Duss: Obama’s Afghanistan Strategy – Reviewing Obama’s speech… The Iraq surge worked, so this will too…right?… Matt: Al Qaeda wants us to make an open-ended commitment… Is Obama correct that Afghanistan isn’t another Vietnam?… Rob: Money spent on wars is still real money!

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Heritage – A START Follow-On Treaty: Russian Nuclear Doctrine, Arms Control Objectives and U.S. Policy Response

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