Re: Pacific Kosovo: Australia Spearheads Commonwealth Militarization Of Region

["David Quarter" <davidquarter@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

[From Rick Rozoff]
---------------------------
1) British Police Chief In Solomons, Back From Kosovo,
Calls For Neo-ANZUS Military Occupation
2) Australian Troops, Police To Lead 'Peacekeeping'
Mission To Solomon Islands
3) Five Nation Commonwealth Military Exercises In
South China Sea
4) Australian Firms Win Contracts To Build New
Generation Of US Warplanes


http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s886426.htm

Australia Broadcasting Company
June 24, 2003


Solomons seeks military muscle to oust warlord

-Police commissioner William Morrell, a British police
officer who has previously worked in Kosovo, says
local police are not up to tackling the warlord,
Harold Keke, who rules part of the remote Weathercoast
on Guadalcanal island.
-[T]he Solomons asked Australia and New Zealand for
military help to restore order and stop the ethnic
violence that has plagued the island nation for years.



The chief of police in Solomon Islands says only
military intervention can rein in a tribal warlord
accused of murdering dozens of people and torching
villages.

Police commissioner William Morrell, a British police
officer who has previously worked in Kosovo, says
local police are not up to tackling the warlord,
Harold Keke, who rules part of the remote Weathercoast
on Guadalcanal island.

Mr Morrell said he had heard reports that up to 80
homes had been torched and about 500 people made
homeless in recent days.

This month, the Solomons asked Australia and New
Zealand for military help to restore order and stop
the ethnic violence that has plagued the island nation
for years.
-------------------------------------------------------
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s886867.htm

Australian Broadcasting Company
June 24, 2003

Pacific police force may be sent to Solomons

-The plan also calls for a back-up force of Australian
soldiers to offer military muscle to the police as
they are deployed to the Solomon's capital, Honiara.


Australia has drawn up an intervention plan to send
police and soldiers to restore law and order in
Solomon Islands.

The national security committee of federal Cabinet
will consider a plan tomorrow to deploy a Pacific
police contingent to Solomon Islands.

The plan would then be presented to a special meeting
of South Pacific foreign ministers next week.

It would be dominated by Australian police but also
draw numbers from New Zealand and other Pacific
states.

The plan also calls for a back-up force of Australian
soldiers to offer military muscle to the police as
they are deployed to the Solomon's capital, Honiara.

Another dimension of the plan is a fresh effort to
stabilise the Solomon's budget.

If the national security committee endorses the plan
it will be presented to a meeting of South Pacific
foreign ministers in Sydney on Monday.

It would then be put to a special session of the
Solomons Parliament scheduled to be held on July 8.
-------------------------------------------------------
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s886425.htm

Australian Broadcasting Company
June 24, 2003

Military might on show in Asia

Troops from Australia, Britain, New Zealand, Malaysia
and Singapore have begun a 15-day military exercise
code-named 'Flying Fish' in and around the South China
Sea.

More than 20 warships, 70 attack aircraft and hundreds
of personnel, including commando units from the
so-called Five Power Defence Arrangement, have been
engaged in various military exercises since the
weekend.

The Malaysian army says the main objective is to
conduct combined military, maritime, air and land
operations for the defence of Malaysia and Singapore
in a limited conflict scenario.

It says the exercise is also designed to strengthen
military ties between the five countries.
-------------------------------------------------------
http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/bj/Qaustralia-us-military.R1iC_DuO.html

First Australian firm wins contract for new generation
US warplane

-He said a second, unidentified Australian company was
also close to clinching a contract to help develop the
stealthy, multi-role warplane and others were set to
follow.
"Australian industry is starting to see the benefits
of the government's decision to invest up to 150
million US dollars in the JSF program," Hill told a
defense procurement conference.



CANBERRA, June 24 (AFP) - A Melbourne aerospace firm
has won the first Australian contract to build
components for the next generation of US warplanes,
Defense Minister Robert Hill announced Tuesday.

Hill said GKN Aerospace Services was awarded a
10-year, multi-million dollar contract for the design,
analysis and manufacture of metal and composite
fuselage components for the Joint Strike Fighter
(JSF).

He said a second, unidentified Australian company was
also close to clinching a contract to help develop the
stealthy, multi-role warplane and others were set to
follow.

"Australian industry is starting to see the benefits
of the government's decision to invest up to 150
million US dollars in the JSF program," Hill told a
defense procurement conference.

"Not only has one company obtained work, but other
companies will be able to build on this by bidding to
manufacture the GKN-designed components," he said.

The JSF is due to make up the core component of the US
air force and is expected to begin replacing
Australia's aging fleet of F/A-18 fighters and F-111
bombers from around the middle of next decade.

The car carrying Hill was mobbed by anti-war
demonstrators as he left the conference, with about 40
protestors pounding on the vehicle with placards and
cardboard cutouts of guns.