APSNet Semi-Weekly Bulletin, February 28, 2008

Recommended Citation

"APSNet Semi-Weekly Bulletin, February 28, 2008", APSNet Semi-Weekly Bulletin, February 28, 2008, https://nautilus.org/apsnet/apsnet-28-february-2008/

APSNet 28 February 2008

  1. US to Sell Six F-16 Fighter Jets to Indonesia
  2. The Intelligence Reform Agenda: What Next?
  3. Defence: Operating Budget Takes 5pc Cut
  4. NATO Confronts Surprisingly Fierce Taliban
  5. Taliban Threaten Mobile Phone Towers
  6. Indonesia: Nuclear Opponents Terrorised
  7. Timor Journo ‘Beaten’ by Police
  8. Drugs, Vice Mobsters Get Foothold in East Timor

1. US to Sell Six F-16 Fighter Jets to Indonesia, Devi Asmarani, Straits Times*, 2008-02-26

The United States is helping Indonesia upgrade its defence capabilities, strengthening ties with a country it views as a regional leader and secular model for Muslim states. “The US will help upgrade these four and sell us six more F-16s of a later generation because we feel the need to modernise the fleet to reach parity with our neighbouring countries” said Indonesian Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono.
* Subscription required.

2. The Intelligence Reform Agenda: What Next? Carl Ungerer, ASPI, 2008-02-27

Recent intelligence reforms have delivered more money and more people to the intelligence community but limited structural changes. This report argues that reforms to the coordination mechanisms, community engagement, education, training and accountability regimes are necessary to ensure that intelligence continues to play a central role in Australia’s national security.

3. Operating Budget Takes 5pc Cut, John Kerin, AFR*, 2008-02-28

Defence has been ordered to shave up to $230 million from its annual $4.6 billion equipment operating budget including ships, vehicles, aircraft and weapons systems as part of an efficiency drive. The $230 million will be directed back to Defence to be invested in new equipment but the move will reduce the defence draw on the public purse.
* Subscription required.

4. NATO Confronts Surprisingly Fierce Taliban, Molly Moore, Washington Post, 2008-02-26

Even as the soldiers believed they had won the support of the local population, the Taliban had secretly returned to reclaim the southern Afghan district of Deh Rawood. Dispatched to the region to maintain newly restored order and help local Afghans reconstruct their shattered communities, troops from the alliance now find themselves on the front lines of a renewed fight with a more cunning and aggressive Taliban.

5. Taliban Threaten Mobile Phone Towers, ABC, 2008-02-28

The Taliban has threatened to attack mobile phone facilities in Afghanistan. US, British, and other NATO forces operating in Afghanistan have developed a sophisticated system of listening in on Taliban conversations, and then locating where they are. If those firms do not implement the Taliban’s decision they say the mujahideen will destroy their offices and transmission towers.

6. Nuclear Opponents Terrorised*, Suara Merdeka, 2008-02-26

Activists against the Muria nuclear power station have complained to the Indonesian Democratic Party – Struggle (PDI-P) and the National Mandate Party (PAN) that they have received death threats by SMS, telephone, and mail. The group has reported the threats to the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM). The group also reports that money is being distributed in Balong to procure support for the government’s Muria nuclear proposal.
* Indonesian language.

7. Timor Journo ‘Beaten’ by Police, Michael McKenna. Australian, 2008-02-26

A senior staff member of the East Timor Post newspaper was allegedly beaten and arrested at the weekend in the latest of a series of incidents pointing to a crackdown on press freedom across the troubled country.

8. Drugs, Vice Mobsters Get Foothold in East Timor, Lindsay Murdoch, Age, 2008-02-28

An investigation ordered by President Jose Ramos Horta found a crime syndicate with links to former pro-Indonesian militias supplied drugs to youth gang members involved in violent attacks in East Timor. A report on the investigation criticises the Australian-led International Stabilisation Force (ISF) and United Nations police in East Timor for failing to “recognise the importance and gravity of this new phenomenon”.

 

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