Headlines:

• US Navy stops anti-Muslim training targets after protests
• Syria crisis: Western meddling is Russia's main fear
• United Arab Emirates seeks to recruit 3000 Colombian soldiers
• US concerned by rise in Afghan insider attacks
• NATO supply trucks from Pakistan resume trek to Afghanistan

 

Details:

US Navy stops anti-Muslim training targets after protests:

Facing Muslim criticism, America's Navy has announced it will stop using cardboard targets depicting Muslim women wearing hijab and verses from Qur'an at a new training range for SEALs in Virginia Beach. "We have removed this particular target and Arabic writing in question from the range in the near term, and will explore other options for future training," Lt. David Lloyd, a spokesman for Naval Special Warfare Group 2, told the Virginian Pilot. The target in question is a picture of the cardboard target, which shows a woman in a headscarf holding a pistol. Published in The Virginian-Pilot on Tuesday, the image shows verses of the Qur'an hanging on the wall behind the woman, which also generated criticism from the group. The Navy announcement came hours after the Council on American-Islamic Relations asked the Pentagon to remove the target, referred to as a "kill house." Capt. Tim Szymanski, the commodore of Naval Special Warfare Group 2, agreed, saying SEALs must differentiate in a split second between civilian bystanders and potential enemies. He also noted other cardboard cut-outs on the range would show people holding animals, not weapons.

Syria crisis: Western meddling is Russia's main fear

Russia's opposition to regime change under western pressure lies at heart of impasse over Syria.For 16 months Russia has blocked UN action on Syria, upheld arms sales with the regime, and lashed out at any suggestion that a solution to end the bloodshed might include the departure of Bashar al-Assad. The initial line was that Russia was acting on national interest, holding on to its last big ally in the Middle East, a significant weapons client and host to its only naval base outside the former Soviet Union. More than one year and an estimated 15,000 deaths later Russia's true calculations are starting to emerge. While the Kremlin remains largely silent about its intentions, closely connected analysts have begun to speak out. Their conclusions - that Russia objects to a western-led world order and refuses to endorse a solution that would further the international community's case for removing unpopular dictators - has overturned conventional thinking on Russia's approach. Ruslan Aliyev, a Middle east expert at the Moscow-based Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, said: "We tried to analyse: does Russia really support Syria because it needs the base at Tartus and because it's a valued arms customer? We came to the conclusion that no, that is not what's driving foreign policy." The consultancy found that about 5% of Russia's arms deliveries, which stood at £8.4bn last year, head for Syria. The base at Tartus, revealed in recent photographs and video published in the Russian media, is little more than a small, rusted, port mainly used for doing repairs. "In Russia, the elite relates very negatively to any attempt at western meddling," Aliyev said. "There's a fear that if there's a new approach to the international system, where the west and UN can change the government of whatever countries they wish the whole world will turn to chaos. Dmitry Trenin, an analyst, recently wrote in an essay for the Carnegie centre, whose Moscow office he heads, that barring a huge shift in the conflict's internal dynamics, Russia was unlikely to change its position. He said: "To Moscow, Syria is not primarily about Middle Eastern geopolitics, cold war-era alliances, arms sales - or even special interests - Syria, much like Libya, Iraq or Yugoslavia previously, is primarily about the world order. It's about who decides. "Not only do the Russians reject outside military intervention without a security council mandate; they reject the concept of regime change under foreign pressure. "This support for non-intervention is unsurprising given that all regimes, excepting established democracies, could be theoretically considered as lacking legitimacy."

United Arab Emirates seeks to recruit 3000 Colombian soldiers:

The United Arab Emirates is seeking to enlist 3,000 Colombian soldiers in the oil-rich Arab country's armed forces, weekly Semana reported Sunday. According to the weekly, 842 Colombian soldiers and retired soldiers have already joined the UAE army which is paying salaries up to ten times what the Colombian state pays the members of its armed forces. The transfer of soldiers to the foreign army is causing unease among Colombia's military commanders because the military fears the higher salaries abroad are draining the army of its best men and women. "They have recruited soldiers with a lot of combat experience, valuable men with years of service in which the Army invested a lot in terms of training," an anonymous general told Semana. "Without a doubt, this is a loss for the army, but there isn't much we can do because it is by no means illegal," the military official added. According to the weekly, the Colombians are making in between $2,800 and $18,000 in the UAE depending on the rank. In Colombia, a soldier earns $530 a month on average. The New York Times reported in May 2011 that the UAE hired Colombian soldiers as mercenaries through a company led by Erik Prince, the founder of controversial private security company Blackwater. According to a Colombian former colonel -- now in charge of recruiting compatriots for the UAE Army -- the 800 Colombians currently active in the Arab peninsula are not part of a mercenary army, but hired directly by the armed forces. "What is happening now is different than before. We are no mercenaries. The contract of the people who travel is directly with the government of the [United] Arab Emirates," the anonymous colonel said. The Colombian ex-official said the UAE are investing in their military defense because the government "noticed that several threats have made them vulnerable." According to the former colonel, the Colombians' responsibilities "range from urban defense against terrorist attacks to the control of civil uprisings and even be prepared for a possible border conflict with Iran." The United Arab Emirates is one of the few countries in the Middle East that has not been affected by the "Arab spring," a wave of revolutionary social unrest that forced four rulers in the region from power.

US concerned by rise in Afghan insider attacks:

The Pentagon says an attack in eastern Afghanistan that wounded several American soldiers appears to have been perpetrated by an Afghan soldier. A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Capt. John Kirby, said Thursday that the attacker fled the scene and is still at large. Kirby said the wounded are in stable condition at a medical facility. He didn't disclose their numbers or nationality, but other officials said the five shot were all Americans. The attack Tuesday was the 19th so far this year in which an Afghan soldier or policeman has turned his weapon on members of the international military coalition. Kirby said a total of 26 coalition members have been killed in those attacks, including 13 Americans. Kirby said U.S. officials are deeply concerned by this year's increase in insider attacks.

 

NATO supply trucks from Pakistan resume trek to Afghanistan:

After a hiatus of seven months, the first trucks carrying supplies for NATO troops in Afghanistan crossed the southwestern border post at Chaman on Thursday, local officials said. Pakistan agreed to reopen NATO supply routes on Tuesday after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made a telephone call to Pakistan's foreign minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, and said she was sorry for the deaths of 24 Pakistani soldiers who were killed in an American airstrike along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in November. By noon on Thursday, border officials had allowed three trucks to cross into Afghanistan, according to news reports that quoted Pakistani customs officials. Thousands of containers have piled up at the southern port city of Karachi since NATO supply routes through Pakistan were shut down in the aftermath of the airstrike. The closing became a major sore point between Pakistan and United States, which have a history of mutual mistrust and acrimony despite being partners for more than a decade in the effort to curb terrorism and militancy. Pakistanis have been particularly incensed since a shooting in Lahore in January 2011 that involved a C.I.A. employee. Additionally, the American operation that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden in May 2011 was taken as an affront to Pakistan's sovereignty.