US uses UK nukes as bargaining chip

The US government has used Britain's nuclear secrets as a bargaining chip in its talks with Russia on the controversial 'New STARY' treaty, it has been disclosed.

The US secretly agreed to give the Russians sensitive information about every Trident missile it supplies to Britain to appease them into signing the new arms control treaty, the Daily Telegraph reported.

New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) is a bilateral nuclear arms reduction treaty signed between the United States and the Russian Federation. The treaty was first signed on April 8, 2010, in Prague by Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev, the presidents of the two countries.

New START is a follow-up to the 1991 START One treaty, which expired in December 2009, and to START Two and the 2002 Treaty of Moscow (SORT), which was due to expire in December 2012.

Britain has tried so far to maintain a policy of refusing to confirm the exact size of its nuke arsenal, something that defense analysts believe will now be undermined by revelation of a secret US-Russian agreement.

The revelation of the behind-the-scenes talks is yet another blow to the so-called 'special relationship' between the US and Britain.

The talks are contained in more than 1,400 US embassy cables published by the whistle blower website the WikiLeaks and in partnership with the Daily Telegraph.
The leaked cables reveal that Russia has used the talks on New START treaty to demand more information about the UK's Trident missiles, which the US manufactures and maintains them.

“This appears to be significant because while the UK has announced how many missiles it possesses, there has been no way for the Russians to verify this. Over time, the unique identifiers will provide them with another data point to gauge the size of the British arsenal”, said Professor Malcolm Chalmers.

“They want to find out whether Britain has more missiles than we say we have, and having the unique identifiers might help them”, said Duncan Lennox, editor of Jane's Strategic Weapons Systems.

While the US and Russia have long permitted inspections of each other's nuclear weapons, Britain has sought to maintain some secrecy to compensate for the relatively small size of its arsenal.

William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, last year disclosed that “up to 160” warheads are operational at any one time, but did not confirm the number of missiles.

MOL/SAB/HE

Yemen nuclear material ‘easy target for terrorists’: cable

 A Yemen government official warned US diplomats that poor security meant there was little to stop terrorists getting their hands on the country’s nuclear material, a US cable showed Monday.

At one point there was practically nothing protecting the material at Yemen’s National Atomic Energy Commission (NAEC), according to the diplomatic dispatch dated January 9 this year.

The lone security guard at the facility had been removed and the only closed circuit TV security camera had broken six months earlier and had never been fixed, said the cable.

“Very little now stands between the bad guys and Yemen’s nuclear material,” the official warned American diplomats, according to the cable released by
whistleblower website WikiLeaks and revealed in Britain’s Guardian newspaper.

The cable revealed, however, that in the days following the official’s warning, the radioactive material was moved to a more secure facility and the remainder of it was likely to follow, said the Guardian.

The dispatch was sent in the aftermath of the plot to bomb a plane trying to land in Detroit on Christmas Day last year and describes the worried official imploring the US to help find a swift solution to the problem.

It showed him asking the US to “convince the Yemen government to remove all materials from the country until they can be better secured, or immediately improve security measures at the NAEC facility.”

According to the cable, classified as secret by the US ambassador Stephen Seche, the material included products used in a hospital, in universities and for agricultural research.

There are fears radioactive isotopes could be used to make a dirty bomb, according to the Guardian. This mixes simple explosives with radioactive materials, which it would then disperse over a wide area, said the paper.

Although unlikely to kill a large number of people, the device could contaminate large areas with radioactivity.

Yemen is home to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which claimed responsibility for the failed bid on December 25, 2009, to blow up a US-bound airliner.

The group also claimed responsibility for October’s failed cargo plane parcel bomb plot.

Kabul blames UK for Taliban imposter

Taliban militants in Afghanistan

Afghan President Hamid Karzai's chief of staff says British diplomats brought a fake Taliban commander to sensitive government meetings.

Mohammad Umer Daudzai made remarks in an interview with The Washington Post on Thursday. 

"The last lesson we draw from this: International partners should not get excited so quickly with those kind of things." 

The imposter tried to impersonate Taliban commander Mullah Mansour. He disappeared after an employee who knew the real Mansour raised the alarm. 

The imposter is said to have met with Afghan officials three times and flown on a NATO aircraft to Kabul. 

It appears that he was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to take on the role. British officials say the money came from the Afghan government not the UK. 

But the British newspaper The Times says the imposter was planted by the UK's MI6 overseas spying agency. 

An unnamed US official has also told Washington post that the Mansour impersonator was the Brit's Guy. 

Karzai recently formed a peace council to lead talks with the Taliban, electing Afghanistan's former President Burhanuddin Rabbani as chairman of the council. 

The newly-established peace council has been making efforts to initiate dialogue with discontented Afghans and militants who have engaged in warfare with the government. 

The council has expressed willingness to listen to legitimate demands by the militants. 

The development comes after senior officials in the UK floated the idea of making peace with the Taliban whose uprooting was one of the main objectives of the 2001 US-led invasion. 

The US-led invasion was launched with the official objective of curbing militancy and bringing peace and stability to the war-ravaged country. 

Anti-war groups have highlighted the fact that Afghanistan remains unstable nine years after the invasion. 

The Taliban have repeatedly rejected peace talks, calling for the withdrawal of US-led foreign forces from Afghanistan. http://pakarmydefence.blogspot.com/2010/11/kabul-blames-uk-for-taliban-imposter.html

U.K. Strongly Supports Eurofighter Typhoon Campaign for Air Force MRCA Deal

2010-11-23 UK's Secretary of State for Defence Dr. Liam Fox visited the Eurofighter Typhoon Office in New Delhi today and met high-level company officials. Bernhard Gerwert, CEO of Cassidian Air Systems and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Eurofighter GmbH, briefed Dr. Liam Fox on the current status of the Eurofighter Typhoon campaign to win India’s tender for 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA). The UK Secretary of State for Defence is currently in India on a two day official visit.

Bernhard Gerwert, CEO of Cassidian Air Systems, said: " We are grateful for the visit of the UK Secretary of State for Defence in our Delhi Office and his encouraging messages to further intensify our campaign activities. Our Governments in the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and Italy are strongly supporting the Eurofighter Typhoon campaign in India. Europe's leading aerospace and defence companies are ready to enhance their industrial cooperation with India's advanced defence industry for the benefit of all parties. Our goal is to integrate India into the global supply chain of the Eurofighter Typhoon by developing a strong and diverse supplier base in India which will also cater to this global programme.” The consortium members will also provide India access to key technologies in a unique industrial partnership designed to further catalyze India’s indigenous defence sector.read more

India, UK should keep eye on China military:British defence secretary Liam Fox

India, UK should keep eye on China military:British defence secretary Liam Fox

China’s rapid military buildup is beeping on the United Kingdom’s radar as loudly as on India’s. British defence secretary Liam Fox said India and the UK would have to be “vigilant” about the continued expansion of China’s military forces — it is investing billions of dollars in a range of capabilities including strategic missiles, space-based assets, anti-ship ballistic missiles, fighter jets, aircraft carriers and submarines.

China’s official defence budget for 2010 stands at $78 billion, but the Pentagon estimates its actual military spending to be upwards of $150 billion. Fox said the emerging superpower’s intentions were hard to discern.

He said there was a case to examine China’s military transformation and strategic ambitions in view of its having crossed a certain threshold. India, along with the US and the UK, is concerned about how China plans to use its expanding military capabilities.

Fox said, “China has a interest in building up its military capabilities. But when it builds up to a certain level, naturally there will be questions about intent. We’re just going to have to be vigilant and see how it uses this influence.” He is the first British defence secretary to visit India since 2005.

Shortly after meeting defence minister A.K. Antony on Tuesday, Fox said the issue of ambiguity surrounding China’s “strategic intentions” came up during discussions and the UK shared India’s assessment about the Beijing’s increased assertiveness, including activities in Pakistan- occupied Kashmir.

India is worried about the double-digit growth in China’s defence spending over the previous 20 years and its rising military engagement with Pakistan.

The defence ministry has flagged concerns about the military implications of China and Pakistan joining forces in disputed territories in Jammu and Kashmir, illegally occupied by the two neighbours.

The US is also worried about China investing in building anti-ship ballistic missiles to serve as a deterrent to American aircraft carrier-led battle groups operating in the Pacific Ocean.

?India, UK should keep eye on China military? - Hindustan Times

Europe-wide terrorism arrests after plans for attack on Belgium

The suspects were of Belgian, Dutch, Moroccan and Russian nationality. Other arrests have previously been made in Spain, Morocco and Saudi Arabia.

Belgian prosecutors said "there was talk of plans for an attack in Belgium by an international jihadist organization" which used the website Ansar al-Mujahideen, a leading jihadi forum.

The police also targeted "the recruiters, candidate jihadists and financing" for the Caucasus Emirate, which aims to establish an Islamic emirate in Russia's North Caucasus region of Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia.

Seven suspects were arrested in Belgium, two in the Netherlands and one in Germany.

Pictures on Belgian television showed heavily armed police making a dawn raid in the northern port of Antwerp and detaining at least two people, including a woman.

Germany's Federal Criminal Police said one person was arrested near Aachen at the request of Belgian authorities, in connection with suspicion of recruiting young men in Belgium to fight in Chechnya.

Dutch prosecutors said they had detained three men aged 25, 26 and 28 in Amsterdam at the request of Belgian authorities on suspicion of involvement in international terrorism. The Dutch National Prosecutor's Office said Austria was also involved in the operation.

The raid followed an investigation launched by authorities in the northern Belgian city of Antwerp in late 2009. The arrests were not linked to the recent reports of possible terrorist attacks in Germany, sources said.

The Ansar al-Mujahideen website printed a statement in September referring to the arrest of Abu Hafes al-Maghrebi in Spain.

Al-Maghrebi was said to be the administrator of the site’s Arabic forum, which boasts more than 3,700 users. It also has forums in English and German and has grown to be one of the leading jihadi websites.

“According to the enemy, by the arrest of our brother, may Allah make him steadfast, they have been able to mute the voice of one of the platforms of truth,” the statement said. “However, when they realised that this is not the case, they attacked the network's server.”

Evan Kohlmann, who has monitored Ansar al-Mujahideen, wrote in a US military publication, the Counter-Terrorism Sentinel, in February about a Moroccan and a Saudi resident who were using the site to plan a trip to join fighters in Somalia.

“Ansar al-Mujahideen network has become a key beacon for lone wolf extremists originating from a wide array of communities, including Asia, the Middle East, Western Europe, and North America,” he added.read more