Sunday, June 20, 2010

DTN News: G-20 Toronto Summit - Canada 2010

Defense News: DTN News: G-20 Toronto Summit - Canada 2010
*Since G-20 Toronto Summit - Canada 2010 being held in our Großstadt, DTN News would feature major participants Brazil, Russia, India And China (BRIC) in the coming days.
Source: DTN News By Roger Smith - Special Feature
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - June 21, 2010: The 2010 G-20 Toronto Summit is the fourth meeting of the G-20 heads of government in discussion of financial markets and the world economy, which will take place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Set to take place during June 26—27, 2010, the summit was initially proposed to take place in the town of Huntsville, which was also chosen as the host of the concurrent 36th G8 summit, by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The town was later deemed insufficient to provide hospitality for the large number of G-20 delegates and journalists, thus the G-20 summit was later finalized to take place in Toronto.
In his welcome speech at the G-20 sherpas' meeting, Harper announced the theme of the Toronto summit would be Recovery and New Beginnings, referring to an economic stimulus from the impact of the ongoing world recession. The Toronto summit's agenda calls for evaluating the progress of the financial sector reform, further developing sustainable stimulus measures, discussion of global bank tax, and promoting open markets.Since April 2010, an Integrated Security Unit, consisting of police officers from different regional departments, have been working on security in the Downtown core, where the summit will take place. Police officials have chosen locations to detain protestors and map traffic detours which would be in place during the two day summit. Several local events which were set to take place during the time of the summit, especially the Blue Jays' three-game series against Philadelphia, have been affected due to their proximity to the summit location. Total security cost for both summits was estimated to be over $1 billion, making it the largest and most expensive security operation in Canadian history.
Security
Security officials began preparing for summit security as early as April 2010. Policing and patrolling will be provided by the Toronto Police Service, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and Canadian Forces. The Peel Regional Police will aid in policing at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Mississauga during the arrivals of world leaders. The five departments formed an Integrated Security Unit (ISU), similar to the ISU created during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
According to the Globe and Mail, 10,000 uniformed police officers, 1,000 security guards, and several Canadian military forces will be deployed during the summit. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) conducted Amalgam Virgo exercises on May 6-7 across the Greater Toronto Area using CF-18 Hornet jets, CH-124 Sea Kings and CH-146 Griffon helicopters at low altitudes. The total cost for security at both the G8 and the G-20 summits was determined to be $1.1 billion. The entire cost will be handled by the federal government, excluding local business damages.
The security perimeter begins with the outer boundary, specifically bordered by King Street to the north, Lake Shore Boulevard to the south, Yonge Street to the east, and Spadina Avenue to the west, which will be restricted to security officials and G-20 delegates only. Residents who live within the security zone were issued registration cards prior to the summit. Other pedestrians who wish to enter the security zone are required to present two pieces of photo identification and provide reasoning for entry. The surrounding area of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, itself, will be fenced and off-limits to civilians and protestors. Erecting the $5.5 million 3 metre-high unscalable fence began June 7. Toronto Police installed 77 additional closed-circuit television security cameras in the area and purchased four Long Range Acoustic Devices which would be in use exclusively during the summit.

Participants of the Toronto summit were announced by Stephen Harper on May 8, 2010. Harper extended invitations to the leaders ofEthiopia and Malawi to further represent the continent of Africa, along with South Africa, already a G-20 member. Netherlands, Spain,Vietnam, and later Nigeria were also invited. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the International Labour Organization, as well as Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, and Vietnam will make their first G-20 summit attendances in Toronto.

National representatives

G-20 members
Guest nations

Regional organizations

International organizations

A film studio located on Eastern Avenue was designated as a temporary holding centre for any individuals that may be arrested during the time of the summit. Toronto Police announced that Trinity Bellwoods Park would be the site for protesters, but following major opposition from local communities, police relocated the protesting site to north of Queen's Park. Canada Post announced that it will be removing any post boxes in the security zone. Toronto Parking Authority removed some parking meters in the security zone. Small trees along sidewalks around the convention centre were removed to prevent them from being used as weapons by protestors. Bus shelters, benches, and public trash cans were also removed from sidewalks.
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News, contact: dtnnews@ymail.com

Saturday, June 19, 2010

DTN News: Latin American Countries Invest In Military Might

Defense News: DTN News: Latin American Countries Invest In Military Might
Source: DTN News By Roger Smith in association with Int'l Media
(NSI News Source Info) QUITO, Ecuador - June 19, 2010: The last time this Andean nation went to war was in 1995, when it fought Peru over a rugged stretch of mountains called the Altos de Cenepa. But that hasn't stopped Ecuador from engaging in one of the fastest military buildups in the hemisphere.
From 2000 to 2009, military spending in Ecuador spiked more than 240 percent to $1.8 billion in constant dollar terms, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.This nation - better known for the Galapagos Islands and its banana exports - is not alone. Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela and Uruguay have also been bolstering their militaries over the past several years -albeit at much slower rates - but with budgets that dwarf Ecuador's.
Experts say it's too soon to talk about a regional arms race. But the trend is worrisome enough that it was the central issue of the 40th General Assembly of the Organization of American States in Peru last week.
During his inaugural speech to the OAS, Peruvian President Alan Garcia chastised member nations for buying into the "war hypothesis" that only made arms manufacturers rich as it robbed social programs.
"The cost of maintaining military bases in South America over the last five years has been $125 billion," he said. "With just 35 billion, we could give 10 million Latin American families drinking water, education and health care for the next 20 years."
While military expenditures worldwide are up 49 percent since 2000, military spending in the Americas was up 79 percent, according to the Stockholm institute.
Driving Ecuador's shopping spree is its contentious relationship with neighboring Colombia and that country's five-decade war against leftist guerrillas and drug gangs. With an annual military budget of $10 billion and U.S. military aid and support, Colombia's troubles have spilled over the border for years, sparking sporadic violence and flooding Ecuador with more than 40,000 refugees.
Since 2003, Ecuador has boosted troops along the Colombian border from 7,000 to 11,000, said Fredy Rivera, a foreign relations expert and military analyst with the Latin American Faculty for Social Sciences.
"After we signed the peace deal with Peru in 1998, the country was hoping to scale back military spending and invest more in education and social programs," he said.
Indeed, Peru has cut its military expenditures slightly since 2000.
"Instead, Colombia made us vulnerable," Rivera added.
Tensions only escalated when Colombian troops crossed the border in 2008 to attack a clandestine camp of the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia, or FARC, guerrillas. That raid killed the group's No. 2, but it was a diplomatic disaster.
Angry that Colombia had not sought permission, Ecuador recalled its ambassador and President Rafael Correa green-lighted more than $300 million in military purchases, according to local reports. Among the items were 24 aircraft from Brazil, seven helicopters and six Israeli unmanned drones.
Venezuela, too, has been on an eyebrow-raising spending spree. The same day that the OAS discussed the issue, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced he was shelling out $82 million for Chinese-made jets.
The Lima Declaration, which the OAS approved at the Peru meeting, encourages members to limit arms purchases to "dedicate more resources to economic development."
But the document didn't address what some in Latin America see as the most pressing issue: the U.S. military presence in Colombia.
In 2009, Colombia signed a 10-year agreement that provides U.S. military access to seven bases. The United States has maintained that the installations are Colombian controlled and designed to keep a lid on the drug trade inside the country.
Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia and others tried to force the issue into the Declaration of Lima, OAS officials said, but they were ultimately shot down.
OAS Assistant General Secretary Albert Ramdin acknowledged the military base issue was a thorny one. "This wasn't easy," he told The Miami Herald after the approval of the Declaration of Lima.
"This was a very sensitive issue both from a perspective of defense and security, as from the political side."
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News, contact: dtnnews@ymail.com

DTN News: Israel Warns UN Over Lebanon To Gaza Aid Bid

Defense News: DTN News: Israel Warns UN Over Lebanon To Gaza Aid Bid
Source: DTN News / By Steve Weizman
(NSI News Source Info) JERUSALEM, Israel - June 19, 2010: Israel's UN envoy has told the world body that the Jewish state is entitled to use "all necessary force" to prevent activists sailing from Lebanon to Gaza, Israeli media reported on Saturday.
In a letter to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon reported by radio stations and Internet news sites, Ambassador Gabriella Shalev was quoted as saying that Israelsuspects that organisers may be linked to Lebanon's Hezbollah.
"Israel reserves its right under international law to use all necessary means to prevent these ships from violating the existing naval blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip," the website of newspaper Haaretz quoted her as writing.
"It appears that a small number of ships plan to depart from Lebanon and sail to the Gaza Strip which is under the control of the Hamas terrorist regime," she added.
"While those who organise this action claim that they wish to break the blockade on Gaza and to bring humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza, the true nature of the actions remains dubious."
A group of dozens of Lebanese women activists is planning to set sail for Gaza on a ship loaded with medical supplies in a new bid to break Israel's four-year blockade of the Palestinian territory.
Hezbollah on Friday denied it was backing an all-women aid flotilla planning to sail from Lebanon to Gaza, saying that it did not want to give Israel a pretext to attack the activists.
Israel came under international censure over its May 31 seizure of a six-ship aid fleet bound for Gaza, in which nine Turkish activists were shot dead by naval commandos in clashes on the lead boat.
Defence Minister Ehud Barak on Thursday warned Lebanon that it would be responsible for any "violent and dangerous confrontation" with any vessel sailing to Gaza from its shores.
Last year, a Lebanese freighter which tried to deliver aid to Gaza was intercepted by Israeli warships.


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