Red Arrows.

Libya
Just when the world thought that Libya’s civil war would drag on beyond the summer, the breakthrough has happened. Rebel forces, including 200 rebels from Misrata arriving by sea, have taken large parts of Tripoli. Sporadic fighting was observed on Tripoli’s seafront and at Moammar Gadhafi’s Bab Al Aziziya compound.

Elsewhere the oil terminal of Ras Lanuf has fallen and fighting was reported in the south of the country. The latest developments leave pro-Gadhafi forces holding out in pockets of resistance. One such pocket is the hotel in Tripoli where foreign press have been billeted since the start of the conflict.

NATO said that its jets were on station in the skies above Tripoli and that the organization itself was now focusing on a post-Gadhafi Libya. Britain, France and the United States have all given the news a cautious welcome and have urged the National Transitional Council to act fast in drawing up plans for the future of Libya.

While there was celebrations across Tripoli and elsewhere, there is also fear of lawlessness.

BAE Systems
More corruption woe this month for South Africa after its top investigative unit recommended to parliament that it be allowed to re-open its inquiry into alleged bribes that secured the sale of 26 Saab Gripen fighters to the South African Air Force in 1999.

Saab has since admitted that the bribes took place, but placed the blame squarely on partner BAE Systems. BAE itself has a long and murky history of bribes and other kinds of subterfuge in order to secure deals. Most notorious were allegations of bribes to Saudi Arabia in exchange for the sale of Eurofighter Typhoons and bribes to Mozambique for a military radar system.

Turkey
Turkey’s military, already in disarray after being purged of its entire senior command by the current AK-led government, suffers from chronic leadership and training issues and isn’t able to properly take on Kurdish militants in southwest Turkey. This according to former general Işık Koşaner.

While such an admission would usually be an embarrassment to the government, most of the criticism is directed at the Turkish army’s officer corps. “Those in leader positions are nowhere to be found … And what hurts the most is those who drop their weapons and run … We are at fault. There are deficiencies in the training. And then we shot our own soldier thinking he was a terrorist.”

For a military that is meant to be trained to NATO standards, this anecdotal evidence from such a senior source comes as a shock.

U.K.
Tragedy struck the southern resort town of Bournemouth as Flight Lieutenant Jon Egging, 33 and member of the Royal Air Force’s Red Arrows air display team, died in an air show crash.

Egging’s Hawk T1A aircraft peeled away from the other eight Red Arrows before crashing in a field near the village of Throop in Dorset. It appears that he had attempted to eject but died in a river adjacent to the field where the plane eventually crashed.

Egging had joined the Red Arrows in 2010 after spending a decade flying Harriers in Afghanistan. He is the first fatality in the team in 30 years and is survived by his wife Emma.

Y-8 Surveillance aircraft. Image via Pakistan Defense.

by JAMES SIMPSON

It was a disturbing week for China-watchers. March 2 saw the Chinese causing trouble with their neighbors: two Y-8 planes headed to the Senkaku islands causing the Japanese ASDF to scramble into action, illegal fishing inside Korean waters, and the harassment of Philippine vessels near the Spratly Islands. Add the other concerning news that there would be no limit to China’s nuclear arsenal and the 12.7-percent hike in defense spending, and you have cause for alarm.

The incidents around the Senkaku islands, where the two planes did not cross into Japanese-claimed airspace, and the Spratly Islands, in which a Philippine OV-10 bomber and Islander light reconnaissance aircraft were deployed to the Reed Bank after two Chinese patrol boats harassed a Philippine oil exploration vessel, demonstrate China’s desire to maintain pressure over its territorial claims.

The incident at the Reed Bank comes as the Philippine government prepares for a British contractor to conduct a three-dimensional seismic survey of the islands and is the first such incident in recent years. It will be interesting to see if this is a one-off or part of a broader policy of a more permanent presence in these two energy resource and fishery-rich areas.

A week earlier, China conducted counter-piracy drills near the Spratly Islands raising protests last week from Vietnam.

The Philippine president, Begnino Aquino III, wants to raise China’s growing belligerence in the region among its fellow ASEAN members, Indonesia and Singapore, in visits this week. China has refused to cooperate with the ASEAN nations over how to conduct exploration and control over the South China Sea and claims:

“China has indisputable sovereignty over Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters,” Chinese Embassy spokesman Ethan Sun said in the statement, using the Chinese name for the Spratlys.

“China has been consistently sticking to the Declaration of the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, and committed to maintaining peace and stability.”

These disputes carry important strategic costs. Aside from the energy resources in the subsoil of the two regions, the areas are major shipping routes. By controlling as much of the so-called first island chain as legally possible, China will be able to secure its maritime logistics, an interest already demonstrated by the deployment of PLAN vessels to the Gulf of Aden. As Chinese confidence and capabilities grow, we should expect more of these incidents. For Japan, this is justification for its new National Defense Posture Review, and will spur on the strengthening of its forces in the Okinawan region.

Originally posted at Japan Security Watch.

Via Youtube user “basketlibya,” we can glimpse the fighting between Libyan rebels and the forces of dictator Muammar Gadhafi. It is, in short, dusty, confusing and terrifying.

* Britain to reveal security strategy ahead of sweeping defense cuts

* North Korea debuts three new ballistic missiles

* Russian draft dodgers: “Why would anyone want to serve?”

* India to help enhance Vietnamese military

* Pakistanis detained in Thailand on terror suspicions

Oregon Vietnam War Memorial. Kevin Knodell photo.

* Iran claims to have developed gun-based anti-cruise missile system

* Somali Islamists enter pirate haven, may or may not get into local business

* South Korean defense minister vows retaliation after Cheonan sinking

* India commissions first stealth warship, INS Shivalik

* Japan opens first overseas military base … in Africa

* Drone warfare: “The Soldiers Call it ‘War Porn’”

* Should the U.K.’s Human Rights Act apply to soldiers in combat?

* With the Coldstream Guards in Afghanistan

* U.S. to resume training of Indonesian special forces

* Austrian bomb-sniffing dog jumps out of planes

* U.S. leaving millions in equipment in Iraq

* Philippines pursuing 3,000 armed fighters of massacre clan

* Marxist Tamil group vows new war for Tamil state

* Indian air force: 265 MiGs lost in 20 years

* New “Battleship” board game movie: U.S. Navy vs. aliens

by DAVID AXE

On Thursday at 2:45 PM EST, C-SPAN will air a 40-minute interview with yours truly, on all things Afghanistan. The spot will air again on Saturday at 11:20 in the morning.

So after gorging on turkey and stuffing and family-time, take your pumpkin spice latte to the living room and doze off to the soothing sight of my unkempt hair, taped-up glasses and the one suit in my whole wardrobe, and the melodious sound of my voice spelling out all the ways we’re doomed to lose this war.

(Art: C-SPAN)

* FARC attack kills nine soldiers in Colombia

* Iran to Saudi Arabia: stay out of Yemen

* Yemen, U.S. allegedly sign counterrorism deal

* Rift developing between Sri Lankan military, civilian government?

* U.S. gov’t denies Hersh report on Pakistani nukes, seizure plans

* Claim: Afghan police infiltrated by Taliban

* Israel seizes arms ship off coast of Cyprus

* After Mindinao attacks, Philippines stands up anti-IED unit

* Indian Army predicts long war as it trains anti-Maoist police and paramilitary forces

* Yemeni gunmen kill one in Saudi border raid

by DAVID AXE

3rd Squadron’s got a PR problem. In Baraki Barak district, the locals are cooperating with U.S. forces and the district government. Reconstruction money is flowing in. State Department and U.S. AID reps are arriving to boost agriculture and governance. People who had fled the district during the bad years are coming back by the thousands. How does the Army know this? It’s been monitoring traffic at the public toilets.

Point is, Baraki Barak is benefiting from its cooperation with coalition forces. So how do you spread that news to the districts that, so far, aren’t cooperating? How do you create what squadron commander Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Gukeisen calls “dislocated envy”?

Parachute day-laborers, is one way. Able Troop, in Baraki Barak, invites locals to apply for jobs working on U.S. outposts in (uncooperative) neighboring districts. They’re flown by helicopter to the outlying bases for brief stints doing menial tasks.

The workers, who usually show up for their job interviews in business suits, not only perform necessary functions on the U.S. outposts — taking out the garbage, cleaning the bathrooms, building new huts — they also, unwittingly, advance the American information strategy.

For when the workers are done for the day, the Americans release them into the surrounding towns, so they can buy their dinner, shop and relax with a cup of chai. “They talk to the locals [saying,] ‘Why don’t you guys want to work?” explains Able Troop commander Captain Paul Shepard, pictured.

The idea is that Afghans are more convincing evangelists than Americans, when it comes to spreading the gospel of coalition-led reconstruction.

(Photo: David Axe)

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