http://informationdissemination.blogspot.com/2008/01/bold-new-idea-for-naval-humanitarian.html

Wednesday, January 2, 2008
A Bold New Idea For a Naval Humanitarian Force
I don't want to add a lot of commentary on this article until I think about it for awhile, but I think it is a very interesting idea nonetheless. Since it is not part of the members section of Proceedings, anyone who signs up can read it.

The article, titled "A Great White Fleet for the 21st Century" is a very interesting read. I would dare say this is the article that leaves non subscribers to Proceedings no excuse to sign up for the free content.

In the first decade of the 20th century, President Theodore Roosevelt sent the original Great White Fleet, consisting of 16 battleships that were distinctly painted white, around the globe to display the military might of an emerging world power. "Widely considered one of the greatest peacetime achievements of the U.S. Navy," this fleet conducted a 43,000-mile, 14-month circumnavigation from 1907-1909 that included 20 port calls on six continents. Interestingly enough, in the final leg of its voyage, the original Great White Fleet responded to a devastating earthquake in Messina, Sicily. Once the ships arrived on the scene of this natural disaster, the "Sailors did everything they could to assist the beleaguered city."

Now, one hundred years after the original Great White Fleet, this name can be recycled to meet the challenges of a new century. Instead of displaying the military might of one nation, this new Great White Fleet can be international in nature, and consist of humanitarian platforms that work together with nongovernmental and intergovernmental organizations (NGOs/IGOs) to ease human suffering. Centered on the capabilities of the USNS Mercy (T-AH-19), this new humanitarian force can consist of hospital ships, high-speed craft, airlift platforms, and even old amphibious ships that are converted to fulfill a hospital ship mission.

....

Beginning in the Pacific theater, we suggest the following four steps be taken to make this vision a reality:

1) Persuade Japan, Russia, China, India, and Australia to take the lead with us in building an international Great White Fleet.

2) Leverage the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program to help fulfill the vision of an international Great White Fleet.

3) Develop and execute humanitarian-centric, multi-national exercises to train the Great White Fleet and build humanitarian assistance and disaster response capability.

4) In pursuing this vision, leverage the resident expertise within the Pacific Command at the Asia-Pacific Center For Security Studies (APCSS) and the Center for Excellence for Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (COE).
Read the whole thing. Very interesting idea if you ask me. Makes me wonder, would China commit their new Type 920?

China, U.S. Make Plans for North Korea Collapse, Reports Say
By Bradley K. Martin

Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- China and the U.S.-South Korean alliance have begun planning for military intervention in case the Kim Jong Il regime in North Korea collapses, according to two newly published studies -- one of which foresees a race to occupy and control the impoverished communist country.

``If the international community did not react in a timely manner as internal order in North Korea deteriorated rapidly, China would seek to take the initiative in restoring stability,'' says a Jan. 3 report by Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies and the U.S. Institute of Peace.

The report says its unnamed Chinese sources see North Korea as stable for the moment, ``but they worry that the potential for instability may grow.''

Meanwhile, U.S. and South Korean military planners were scheduled to complete by the end of 2007 a contingency plan for controlling the spread of weapons of mass destruction and dealing with refugees fleeing North Korea in the event of a collapse, according to an article in the January/February issue of the U.S. Army journal Military Review.

To beat China to the punch, joint planners should go farther and prepare for a South Korean occupation of the North, argues the author, Army Capt. Jonathan Stafford.

``A failure to prepare for this monumental task risks losing the Korean dream of reunification to Chinese hegemony,'' he writes. ``If South Korea cannot occupy the DPRK immediately and effectively, China will.''

DPRK stands for Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.

Multilateral Approach

The authors of the CSIS-USIP report said Chinese specialists in North Korean affairs they interviewed hoped for a multilateral approach to North Korea rather than a contest for hegemony.

``In the event of instability in North Korea, China's priority will be to prevent refugees from flooding across the border,'' says the report, entitled ``Keeping an Eye on an Unruly Neighbor.'' If Chinese troops need to go into North Korea, ``China's strong preference is to receive formal authorization and coordinate closely with the United Nations,'' it says.

China's People's Liberation Army has contingency plans for at least three possible missions in the country, the report says. One is humanitarian: refugee assistance, or helping with the aftermath of a natural disaster. The second is policing the country to maintain order. The third is to secure North Korea's nuclear weapons and fissile material, or clean up nuclear contamination in the event of a strike -- the report does not specify by whom -- on North Korean nuclear facilities near the border.

China's Reaction

A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman on Jan. 8 denied knowledge of the plan, according to Agence France Press. ``I have never heard of nor seen the so-called plan mentioned in the report,'' AFP cited the spokeswoman saying.

Regarding nuclear-related contingencies, ``some Chinese experts say explicitly that they favor holding a discussion on stability in North Korea in official channels with the United States,'' the report says.

China is the organizer and host of ongoing talks with the U.S., North and South Korea, Japan and Russia on denuclearizing the North.

Stafford in his article argues that ``the Chinese have been busy laying the political, diplomatic and historical foundations for an occupation and perhaps even an annexation of North Korea.''

`Puppet State'

``China wants to develop its landlocked, economically backward northeast by gaining access to nearby North Korean seaports,'' Stafford writes. ``China could achieve all this by establishing a puppet state or by fully incorporating North Korea into China proper.''

Urging that Americans ``take the threat of regime collapse in North Korea as seriously as China does,'' Stafford says the U.S. ``should begin creating the diplomatic conditions now to justify and support a South Korean-led occupation of North Korea.''

The U.S. should stay in the background and leave it to South Koreans, who share a language and culture with North Korea. Keeping American soldiers from setting foot in North Korea ``would also strengthen the U.S. diplomatic case for preventing Chinese forces from moving into the country.''

Not all experts see an advantage for the first country to move into North Korea if it collapses, especially after the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

``The reconstruction will be a mess, and a lot of people will get hurt even under the best possible scenarios, so everybody who will be in charge of post-Kim Korea is likely to be discredited,'' Andrei Lankov, North Korea specialist at Seoul's Kookmin University, wrote Jan. 8 on the blog OneFreeKorea in response to the Stafford article.

To contact the reporter on this story: Bradley K. Martin in Tokyo at bmartin18@bloomberg.net

http://au.news.yahoo.com//080110/19/15hi2.html
Thursday January 10, 05:12 PM
Fast cargo rail link planned from Beijing to Hamburg: report

Photo : AFP
BEIJING (AFP) - China and five other countries have agreed to collaborate on a train service between Asia and Europe that is expected to transport cargo twice as quickly as by sea, Chinese state media said Thursday.

Under an agreement signed on Wednesday by China, Mongolia, Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany, the nations will simplify customs and border checks amid a range of ways to minimise the time for trains to cross boundaries, the China Daily said.

"Barring any complications, a scheduled container train should be shuttling between China and Germany in a year's time," said Zheng Mingli, chairman of China Railway Container Transport, according to the report.

The route, linking Beijing and Hamburg, is expected to boost trade and cargo flows between the two continents as it should take less than 20 days to transport goods from China to Germany.

In contrast, shipping goods between the two destinations takes about 40 days, the report said.

A demonstration container train carrying a load of Chinese goods, including electrical appliances, clothes, shoes and ceramic tiles, rolled out of Beijing on Wednesday and is expected to arrive in Hamburg in 18 days.

After the train finishes its journey, officials from the six countries will analyse the route to see how operations can be improved, the newspaper said.

Challenges lying ahead include different types of rail tracks in the countries, various customs and border checking rules and a higher cost than transport by ship.

Iraq forces could control all provinces this year: U.S.
Thu Jan 17, 2008 6:36pm EST
By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iraq's army and police could be ready to take over security in all 18 provinces by the end of this year as the U.S. military moves toward a less prominent role in the country, U.S. officials said on Thursday.

"We look at it every month. We make recommendations. I think that if we continue along the path we're on now, we'll be able to do that by the end of 2008," Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the No. 2 commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, said when asked when Iraqi forces could take the lead in all provinces.

He said that a joint operation under way led by Iraqi troops and supported by U.S. troops against al Qaeda militants in the northern city of Mosul was a model for the future.

"That's how I see our role frankly in the future here," he told Pentagon reporters via videolink from Baghdad.

Iraqi security forces are now in control of nine provinces after assuming control of Iraqi's southern oil hub, Basra, in December. Iraqi forces are also expected to take control in Anbar province, a one-time insurgent stronghold, as early as March.

The ability of Iraqi forces to take the lead in security operations is vital to President George W. Bush's plan to withdraw 20,000 U.S. troops by the middle of this year.

The troops were sent to Iraq last year in a bid to quell sectarian violence in a war now in its sixth year. With U.S. troop levels up to about 155,000 now, violence levels have since dropped sharply.

"All the evidence available to me now suggests we will be able to complete the drawdown," Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters separately.

"(It) remains my hope that the pace of the drawdowns in the second half of the year will be what it was in the first half of the year," he said.

Lt. Gen. James Dubik, commander of security transition in Iraq, told the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee on Thursday that the number of Iraqi security forces, or ISF, could exceed 580,000 by the end of the year, up from the current 500,000.

But he also expressed caution about their abilities.

"Force structure and capability still lack a certain maturity. The ISF have not yet achieved self reliance in all area of logistics, maintenance and life support," he told the panel.

Odierno said he was confident the withdrawal of the five brigades will occur despite expectations for an upswing in insurgent attacks as militants respond to a new joint offensive known as Operation Phantom Phoenix.

The operation has killed or captured 92 "high-value individuals, according to the U.S. military.

"While we may see a short-term increase in violence in response to our operations in the weeks ahead, I expect Phantom Phoenix to contribute significantly to the population's security," Odierno said.

Gates' hopes for further reductions in U.S. forces this year will depend on a March assessment by the U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus.

"To predict now whether we can go lower or not is difficult and I would not want to make that prediction right now," Odierno said.

But Gates said the U.S. mission in Iraq has begun its planned transition to a more supportive role that would focus on border security and combating al Qaeda in Iraq. "That's ultimately where we are headed, and we have begun that process of transition," he said.

(Editing by David Alexander and Stuart Grudgings)

© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without th

Iraq: WHO Says Violence Has Claimed 151,000 Civilians Since 2003

A newly released study by the World Health Organization (WHO) concludes that an estimated 151,000 Iraqis have died violent deaths in the three years since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

The WHO estimate is based on interviews in more than 9,000 households across Iraq and is among the most comprehensive of such surveys to date.

The death toll in Iraq following the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003 has been a subject of much controversy. The U.S. military keeps a precise count of its own killed and wounded soldiers, but not of Iraqi military or civilian casualties.

Estimates of Iraqi losses range from a high of over 600,000 deaths, according to a study published in the British medical journal "The Lancet," to an estimate of some 48,000 deaths by 2006, according to the group Iraq Body Count, which tracks local press reports.

By the UN's own admission, the WHO survey does not purport to resolve the issue once and for all. The figure of 151,000 deaths between 2003 and 2006 is still an estimate, based on an extrapolation of data.

But the WHO study is among the best-organized and largest-scale efforts to arrive at an accurate number, according to co-author Ties Boerma.

"It is the best possible picture we could obtain with a survey of this size under these circumstances," Boerma says. "The true picture in exact numbers of deaths can only be revealed by a full and complete registration system, and that isn't present in Iraq right now and it wasn't present since 2003."

Boerma adds that "there are certainly ways to improve work in the future, in terms of death registration, in terms of hospitals."

Between 2006 and 2007, the WHO sent teams of surveyors to some 1,000 towns and villages across the country to talk to people in more than 9,000 households.

Importantly, the survey work was done by local experts, in full cooperation with local communities, according to Naima al-Gassir, the WHO's representative in Iraq.

"The communities were informed ahead of time, through different ways, either through the media or through letters that went through them or through community leaders, or the mosques, or the religious places or the schools, and that was also a strength because they would support the survey and allow the survey to go on -- also the community support to make a high response rate for the survey," al-Gassir says.

He said the interviewers were primarily physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other health professionals from the ministries of Health and of Higher Education. Statisticians from the Planning Ministry provided technical support.

Al-Gassir highlights the "extreme difficulty" and risks that accompanied the researchers' work in preparing a "large, countrywide survey of households under such circumstances." He says there was acute attention paid to the protection of "interviewers, teams, and also those who were being interviewed," adding that one of the directors of the central statistics office was killed in Baghdad, an interviewer was kidnapped, and there were other close calls with violence.

According to the WHO, what is clear is that between 2003 and 2006, violence was a leading cause of death for all Iraqi adults and the single greatest cause of death in males aged 15 to 59 -- a reflection of the massive impact of the war on the entire population.

Full survey results have been published in the "New England Journal Of Medicine."