Titles:

• Obama Wars
• Australia: Muslims protest burqa ban
• UK extremists are travelling to Somalia to train, says MI5 chief
• Russia forbids S-300 missile supply to Iran
• Gulf states in $123bn US arms spree
• Holbrooke: Pakistanis Must Raise More Money to Pay for Floods

 News Details:

Obama Wars
Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward's new book "Obama's Wars" has exposed major differences amongst Obama's advisors over Iraq and Afghanistan. Some highlights are as follows:-
* The book describes President Obama pushing a withdrawal timetable because, "I can't lose the whole Democratic Party."
* The US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke says of the new strategy, "it can't work."
* Lt. Gen. Douglas E. Lute, the president's adviser on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, is said to think president's reviews of the strategy going forward did not "add up" to his ultimate decision.
* Gen. David H. Petraeus tells an aide that he disliked talking with White House senior adviser David Axelrod because he was "a complete spin doctor."
Of more consequence, Woodward reports that the C.I.A. has a 3,000-man mostly Afghan "covert army" in Afghanistan called the Counterterrorism Pursuit Teams, or C.T.P.T.

Australia: Muslims protest burqa ban
Muslims, including women and children, in Australia have staged a march in Sydney to protest against a proposal to ban burqa in the country, condemning it as part of the West's "war on Islam".  Women with veils and placards rallied in hundreds showing "my burqa -- conviction not coercion" and "leave my mum alone -- we love niqab" on Sunday in a park in Punchbowl, southwestern Sydney, according to media reports here. The protest against calls to ban covering of the full face was organized by a coalition of Muslim groups including Islamist political party Hizbut Tahrir, which favors the creation of an Islamic caliphate, and the fundamentalist Ahlus Sunna wal Jamaah Association.  A female speaker, Umm Jamaal ud-Din, told the rally a ban proposed by Christian Democrat MP Fred Nile, which was due to be debated in the New South Wales Parliament this month, had fuelled intolerance and bigotry.

UK extremists are travelling to Somalia to train, says MI5 chief
British Muslim extremists are increasingly switching from Pakistan to Somalia to receive training in militant camps with the aim of carrying out attacks in this country, according to the head of MI5. Jonathan Evans said yesterday there was deep concern that "it is only a matter of time before we see terrorism on our streets inspired by those who are today fighting alongside Al Shabaab, an Islamist militia in Somalia".  While it has been known for some time that members of the Somali Diaspora in the UK had been back to their homelands to join insurgents, others including those of Pakistani, Bangladeshi and North African extraction are now taking the same route. Some have been killed in the fighting there, but others have returned to Britain following lessons from the Al Shabaab group which is believed to have links with Osama bin Laden. Mr Evans, the Director General of the Security Service, said yesterday that the number of bombing plots in the UK linked to Pakistan had fallen from 75 per cent to about 50 per cent following action against al-Qa'ida's senior leadership in the country's tribal belt. But, he continued: "The reduction is also partly as a result of increased activity elsewhere. In Somalia, for example, there are a significant number of UK residents training in Al Shabaab camps to fight in the insurgency there. Al Shabab, an Islamist militia, is closely allied with al Qa'ida and Somalia shows many of the characteristics that made Afghanistan so dangerous as a seedbed for terrorism in the period before the fall of the Taliban."

Russia forbids S-300 missile supply to Iran
The Kremlin posted a decree signed by President Dmitry Medvedev Wednesday banning supplies of Russian S-300 missiles to Iran. "Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree "On Measures to implement the United Nations Security Council resolution 1929 from June 9, 2010," the Kremlin said in a statement on its website. The decree forbids supplies of S-300 air defense missiles to Iran, among other weapons, said the statement accompanying the decree.

Gulf states in $123bn US arms spree
This week the Financial Times reported Arab states of the Gulf have embarked on one of the largest re-armament exercises in peacetime history, ordering US weapons worth some $123bn as they seek to counter Iran's military power. A package of US arms worth more than $67bn for Saudi Arabia accounts for the largest single component of this military build-up, providing a huge boost to the American defense industry. The first phase of this agreement - soon to go before the US Congress for approval - is estimated at about $30bn. Anthony Cordesman, from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said that the US was aiming to achieve a "new post-Iraq war security structure that can secure the flow of energy exports to the global economy". Saudi Arabia will receive 85 new F-15 jet fighters and another 70 will be upgraded. Boeing will be the principal supplier, allowing the US company to strengthen its ability to manufacture advanced military jets, an area where it has been slipping under competitive pressure. A successor agreement is expected to provide for the upgrade of radar and missile defense systems and an ambitious modernization of the Saudi Navy's eastern fleet.  "The Saudi aim is to send a message especially to the Iranians - that we have complete aerial superiority over them," said a Saudi defense analyst. Other US allies in the Gulf are also involved. Theodore Karasik, from the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis in Dubai, said that the United Arab Emirates had signed contracts to buy military equipment worth $35bn-$40bn.  Elsewhere, Oman is expected to spend $12bn and Kuwait $7bn in the period until the end of 2014 on replacing and upgrading warplanes and new command and control systems, according to Blenheim Capital Partners, a consultancy that arranges offset deals. Oman's package will include 18 new F-16 jet fighters and upgrades for another 12. This will benefit Lockheed Martin, reinforcing its position as the leading US manufacturer of warplanes. The total value of all US arms deals with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman and Kuwait is estimated at $122.88bn over the next four years.

Holbrooke: Pakistanis Must Raise More Money to Pay for Floods
Richard Holbrooke, the special representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan from the United States says in his recent journey to Pakistan, he found thousands of people who have been living in many flood victims camps eager to go home. But, says Holbrooke, their homes are gone, their livestock is gone and their crops are underwater. "Beyond that lays the monumental task of rebuilding the one fifth of the country where every bridge has been wiped out, roads are gone, 4 or 5 thousand schools are gone, hundreds of health clinics (are gone).  That is what you're really talking about. That is going to cost tens of billions of dollars. In that long term recovery phase, the international community is not going to be able to pick up the bill for 20 or 30 billion dollars or more.  We will pick up some of it, the world community will give money, but the Pakistanis must raise their own revenue base," said Holbrooke.