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Operations
Defense Policy / Programs
Defense Industry
Other Conflicts
News Reports

Current Operations

• Karzai to US: Get out of Afghanistan immediately Iran Press TV 16 Mar 2014 -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai has called on the United States and its Western allies to immediately get out of the country by the 2014 withdrawal deadline.
• Taliban Violence Threatens to Disrupt Afghan Vote VOA 16 Mar 2014 -- Former Afghan defense minister Abdul Rahim Wardak has dropped out of next month's presidential election, leaving a field of nine candidates to replace outgoing President Hamid Karzai. Wardak announced Sunday he is dropping out of the race but gave no reason for his withdrawal and endorsed no other candidate for the April 5 vote.
• Afghan Security Plans Under Review With No BSA VOA 14 Mar 2014 -- U.S. and NATO military commanders in Afghanistan are reportedly developing plans to deploy a NATO military force in Afghanistan this year designed to assume a training mission in 2015, but small and nimble enough to be withdrawn if the Afghan government does not sign a Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) that lays out conditions for NATO's continued security presence in the country.

Defense Policy / Programs

• Blue Ridge Concludes Successful Port Visit to Hong Kong NNS 16 Mar 2014 -- U.S. 7th Fleet flagship USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19) departed Hong Kong after a four-day port visit March 16.
• USS Truxtun Departs Varna, Bulgaria NNS 16 Mar 2014 -- Guided-missile destroyer USS Truxtun (DDG 103) departed the Bulgarian port of Varna Sunday, March 16.
• Russia redeploys early warning jet to Belarus VoR 16 Mar 2014 -- Russia on Saturday redeployed a Beriev A-50 early warning aircraft to Belarus as part of a Belarusian-Russian air defense exercise, the Belarusian Defense Ministry said.
• Open Skies Russian inspectors to fly over Spain VoR 16 Mar 2014 -- A group of Russian inspectors will fly an observation mission over Spain within the framework of the Treaty on Open Skies, the head of the National Nuclear Threat Reduction Center, Sergei Ryzhkov, told Tass on Saturday. The flight will be made on an Antonov-30B observation aircraft, he said.
• North Korea test-fires missiles amid tensions Iran Press TV 16 Mar 2014 -- North Korea has test-fired at least 18 short-range missiles into the Sea of Japan, provoking the neighboring south and the United States.
• North Korea test-fires 25 rockets into sea - official VoR 16 Mar 2014 -- North Korea Sunday test-fired 25 rockets into the sea, South Korea's defence ministry said, the latest in a series of launches that have provoked criticism from Seoul and Washington. The rockets were fired off the North's east coast and flew about 70 kilometres (42 miles) over the Sea of Japan (East Sea), a ministry spokesman said.
• Taiwan to receive six more Apache helicopters Monday CNA 16 Mar 2014 -- A shipment of six AH-64E Apache attack helicopters from the United States is set to arrive in southern Taiwan Monday, and they will later be flown to a base in Tainan, according to a military source.
• US gives Iraq Hellfire missiles, ammunition Iran Press TV 16 Mar 2014 -- The US has delivered Hellfire missiles along with M4 rifles and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition to Iraq as the Arab country faces its worst violence in years.

Defense Industry

Other Conflicts

• Syrian Troops Seize Major Rebel Town Near Lebanon VOA 16 Mar 2014 -- Syrian government forces appear to have recaptured large portions of the bitterly contested mountain town of Yabroud, along the border with Lebanon. Opposition activists claim pockets of rebel forces still are still holding out in portions of the town and hills overlooking it.
• Syria army captures key rebel stronghold Yabrud – media VoR 16 Mar 2014 -- Syrian troops on Sunday seized full control of the rebel stronghold Yabrud in the strategic Qalamun region near the Lebanese border, Syrian state TV channel has reported.
• Libya still in chaos three years after Gaddafi VoR 16 Mar 2014 -- Libya's former PM left the country last week after Parliament voted him out of office. A North Korean-flagged oil tanker, the Morning Glory, illegally took a cargo of crude from rebels in the east of the country and safely left the port, ignoring a government minister's threat that the vessel would be " turned into a pile of metal" if the cargo ship sailed away. Militias based in Misrata in northwestern Libya, known for their violence and independence, have launched an offensive against the eastern rebels which could be regarded as the beginning of a civil war between western and eastern Libya.
• Gunmen kill 100 in central Nigeria Iran Press TV 16 Mar 2014 -- Local Nigerian government officials say gunmen have killed some 100 people in three villages in the central part of the country.

News Reports

• About 93% of Crimeans in referendum voted to join Russia - exit poll RT 16 Mar 2014 -- About 93 percent of voters in the Crimean referendum have answered 'yes' to the autonomous republic joining Russia and only 7 percent of the vote participants want the region to remain part of Ukraine, according to first exit polls.
• Crimea Poised To Call Result For Russia In Vote Denounced By Kyiv, West RFE/RL 16 Mar 2014 -- Crimea's pro-Russian authorities say voters in that region of Ukraine have overwhelmingly backed union with Russia in a referendum denounced by Ukraine's government and the West as illegal.
• Crimea: Annexation And Recognition - The Legal Battles Ahead RFE/RL 16 Mar 2014 -- As Crimea was preparing for just-completed voting in its regional referendum on whether to secede from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation, lawmakers in Kyiv scrambled to strengthen legal hurdles bolstering their argument that the referendum was illegal.
• Crimeans overwhelmingly vote for joining Russia Iran Press TV 16 Mar 2014 -- Crimean population has overwhelmingly voted to break away from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation with a turnout of more than 80 percent.
• More Ukrainian cities call for secession vote Iran Press TV 16 Mar 2014 -- As voting continues in Ukraine's autonomous region of Crimea, thousands hold rallies in the country's eastern cities of Donetsk and Kharkiv, calling for a referendum to secede from the former Soviet state and join Russia.
• Kerry calls on Russia to send forces back to their bases in Crimea Iran Press TV 16 Mar 2014 -- US Secretary of State John Kerry has called on Russia to withdraw its forces to their bases in the autonomous Ukrainian region as tensions between Washington and Moscow mount over Crimea.
• Russia says referendum in Ukraine's Crimea legal Iran Press TV 16 Mar 2014 -- Russia says the secession referendum in Ukraine's southern Crimea region is legal.
• Crimea Referendum Without Major Problems – Observers RIA Novosti 16 Mar 2014 -- Polling stations across Ukraine's Crimean peninsula were swarmed by residents coming to vote on the region's secession Sunday, with most observers failing to note any violations of electoral procedures by Sunday evening.
• Obama: US, EU Prepared to Penalize Russia for Crimea Ballot VOA 16 Mar 2014 -- U.S. President Barack Obama told his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, Sunday that Washington and its 'European partners are prepared to impose additional costs' on Moscow for backing a secession referendum in Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.
• Readout of the President's Call with President Putin The White House 16 Mar 2014
• Statement by the Press Secretary on Ukraine The White House 16 Mar 2014
• Ukraine's east on fire: Kharkov demands referendum, Donetsk prosecutor's HQ stormed RT 16 Mar 2014 -- Demonstrators in Kharkov, north-east Ukraine, have appealed to Russia to pass to the UN their demands over a referendum on the federalization, while hundreds of protesters in Donetsk stormed a prosecutor's office demanding to free a local "governor".
• Defensive blockade: Activists stop Kiev's military trucks heading to Russian border RT 16 Mar 2014 -- Activists in eastern Ukraine in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions are blocking columns of heavy military equipment heading from Kiev to the border with Russia.
• Crimean Voter Turnout Around 64 Percent VOA 16 Mar 2014 -- Voter turnout in Crimea was estimated at about 64 percent Sunday as polls closed after the vote on a referendum for the eastern Ukrainian region to break away and become a part of Russia.
• Crimea Secession Likely to Spark Economic Disorder VOA 16 Mar 2014 -- When Crimea's two million people wake up Monday after likely having voted in Sunday's snap referendum to break with Ukraine in favor of joining the Russian Federation they will quickly feel the impact in their pockets from the secession and will endure months of economic disorder, say analysts.
• Crimea Holds Controversial Referendum RFE/RL 16 Mar 2014 -- Amid rising tensions, the Ukrainian region of Crimea is holding a controversial referendum on March 16 on whether to join Russia.
• U.S., EU Repeat Warnings That Crimea Vote Illegal; Russia To 'Respect' Referendum RFE/RL 16 Mar 2014 -- The United States and the European Union have reiterated they will not recognize the results of Crimea's referendum on seceding from Ukraine, while Moscow has dug in with a vow to 'respect' the choice made by Crimean voters.
• Kyiv Says Five-Day Truce Reached With Russian Forces In Crimea RFE/RL 16 Mar 2014 -- Ukraine's acting defense minister, Ihor Tenyukh, says Russia has agreed on a truce in Crimea until March 21.
• Establishment of Ukrainian National Guard may be perceived as distrust in law enforcement officers VoR 16 Mar 2014 -- The decision to create the National Guard in Ukraine may be perceived as distrust in the current heads of law enforcement agencies, sources in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and the Ministry of Defense said. The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov held a 'pretty tough' conversation with Acting President Alexander Turchinov and secretary of the National Security Council and Defense Andrei Parubiya, a high-ranking source in the Interior Ministry said.
• Ukraine moves troops, armour to border with Russia – media VoR 16 Mar 2014 -- Ukraine's '24' television news channel said Ukraine is moving troops and armoured vehicles to the border with Russia.
• Right Sector leader threatens to sabotage Russian pipelines in Ukraine VoR 16 Mar 2014 -- The head of the Ukrainian nationalist movement Dmitry Yarosh has threatened to explode the gas pipeline through which the Russian gas is supplied to Europe, aiming to deprive it of its financing source.
• Ukrainian Navy commander calls for reconciliation between Ukraine and Crimea VoR 16 Mar 2014 -- Commander of the Ukrainian Navy Rear Admiral Sergei Gaiduk believes that it's time for reconciliation between Ukraine and Crimea.
• Ukraine should curb ultra-nationalists terrorizing Russian-speaking population - Lavrov VoR 16 Mar 2014 -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry have discussed the situation in Ukraine and Crimea, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Facebook. The report also states that Lavrov has pointed out that 'the current Kiev administration should curb the rampant ultra-nationalist and radical groups that are terrorizing dissidents and Russian-speaking people.
• Putin has no regrets about possible expulsion of Russia from G8 - spokesman VoR 16 Mar 2014 -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has no regrets about G8 losing one of its members, if that happens, spokesman for the head of state, Dmitry Peskov, told the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda. Answering a reporter's question 'Does Putin regret that G8 may be left without Russia,' Peskov said, 'Not at all'.
• US senators: We need to stand up to Russia Iran Press TV 16 Mar 2014 -- Top members of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Sunday that the US needed to show strength and long-term resolve in pushing back against Russia's actions in Ukraine.
• Iran expects no final deal in coming nuclear talks Iran Press TV 16 Mar 2014 -- Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says Tehran does not expect to reach a permanent and comprehensive deal with six world powers in the upcoming round of nuclear talks.
• Iran says will never scrap peaceful nuclear program, urges US to face reality VoR 16 Mar 2014 -- Iran has no intention to stop any part of its nuclear program, its foreign minister said on Saturday before imminent talks with world powers on a comprehensive nuclear deal.
• Russian Proton Rocket Launches Carrying Two Telecoms Sats RIA Novosti 16 Mar 2014 -- A Russian Proton-M rocket took off early Sunday morning from Kazakhstan's Baikonur space center carrying two Russian telecommunications satellites, the Russian space agency said.