U.S Army’s new soldier; A high-tech headless robot

PETMAN is connected to the Pentagon and to the U.S. Defense and Research Agency. It is developed by Boston Dynamics robot. Petman is 175 centimeters long and weighs 80 kilograms. U.S. robotics design and engineering firm Boston Dynamics has been working on it for the last 3 years. 

The high-tech hydraulic robot can move in when a male soldier is physically unable.Of course, the PETMAN could use prosthesis of its own, since it still doesn’t have a head. Even the Octavia robot developed for the Navy has a cherubic face built out of white plastic. The PETMAN’s remorseless flashing red light atop its shoulders is anything but soothing. Which points to another potential use for the robot: scaring the hell out of an enemy.

RIA NOSTOVI

A military war of nerves against Iran: The US leads, Israel and UK go along

Rush of military news Wednesday, Nov. 2, is part of an orchestrated Western performance to convince Tehran that the US, Britain and Israel are on the verge of a military operation against its nuclear installations. Directed from Washington, it is meant to warn Iran that the play could become a reality show if it refuses to give up the drive for a nuclear weapon. President Barack Obama may then decide to strike Revolutionary Guards Corps targets, the bulwark of the Islamic regime, and its strategic infrastructure, thereby knocking over the key props holding up the regime of the ayatollahs.

Contributing to the menacing climate hanging over Iran were four headline events involving Israel – all on the same Wednesday: Israel conducted a successful test launch of a new intercontinental ballistic missile, Jericho 3, which foreign sources report is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead 7,000 kilometers.

After that, the IDF released photographs of Israeli Air Force squadron leaders reporting from Italian air base runways to the media on joint exercises they had conducted in long-range maneuvers with the Italian air force "and other NATO nations," to familiarize the IAF with NATO military tactics.

The inference was clear: The Israeli Air Force was strengthening its cooperation with Western allies in preparation for a NATO assault on Iran. The IAF also got a chance to study the lessons Western alliance air force tacticians had drawn from the eight-month Libyan operation which ended on Oct. 31.
Next, the IDF's Home Command announced a large-scale anti-missile exercise in central Israel starting Thursday morning, Nov. 3.

Finally, Defense Minister Ehud Barak left for an unscheduled trip to London shortly after a secret visit to Israel by the British chief of staff General Sir David Richards earlier this week as guest of Israel's top soldier Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz.
If the British general was in Israel only this week, why was Barak is such a hurry to visit London?

The answer came from the British media, which reported as soon as he arrived that the Ministry of Defense in London had accelerated and upgraded its contingency planning for participation in a US-led assault on Iran. They carried an account of plans for deploying large naval units including submarines to the Persian Gulf.

The UK was reported to have asked Washington for permission to station its fighter-bombers on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia for launching bombing sorties against Iran.

This whirlwind of military activity was said to have been prompted by the approaching publication of the International Atomic Energy Agency's Iran report next Tuesday, Nov. 8 and the conclusion the nuclear watchdog had reached: Inside 12 months, Iran will have tucked all its nuclear and ballistic missile facilities away in deep underground tunnels where they will be invulnerable to attack.
A potential US-British strike to pre-empt this move would also be timed for the run-up to America's next presidential election in November 2012.

DEBKAfile's military sources report that if the US, Britain and other NATO nations, such as France, Italy and Germany, participate in the attack, Israel will not. Its army, air force and navy will defend the home front, be available to engage Iran's allies to prevent them from striking the assault forces from the rear, and act as a strategic reserve. The danger would come from Syria, the Lebanese Hizballah, and the Palestinian Hamas and Jihad Islami in the Gaza Strip.

These contingency plans are subject to changes, especially if President Obama and other NATO allies decide after all against attacking Iran in the coming year. The hyperactivity will then subside and Israel will be thrown back on the dilemma of having to decide whether or not to conduct a lone military operation against Iran.

There is not much time for contemplation. Syria and Hizballah are reported by DEBKAfile's military sources to be in the throes of separate preparations for attacking Israel if their respective grips on power are shaken. For now, those sources rate the chances of Israel facing a military clash with Syria and/or Hizballah much higher than a NATO-Israeli showdown being mounted against Iran.

DEBKAfile

UK and U.S. 'draw up joint plan to attack Iran'

Iran has come sharply back into focus following the end of the Libya conflict.

And the unrest has been inflamed by sabre-rattling from top politicians in Israel.

President Obama said Iran's nuclear programme continues to pose a threat and that he and French president Nicolas Sarkozy want the international community to maintain pressure on the country to admit its intentions.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is preparing to reveal intelligence on Iran's alleged nuclear arms experiments.



Aggressive stance: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been linked to assassinations on foreign soil and is pressing closer to building a nuclear bomb

Iran has consistently denied that it is trying to build nuclear weapons and insists the programme is for peaceful purposes.

The U.S., Britain and France want the IAEA to share its intelligence, but Russia and China are pressing for the report to be delayed or scrapped entirely.

Yesterday it was revealed that Tel Aviv had successfully test-fired a rocket capable of carrying a nuclear warhead which could strike Iran.


Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak are reportedly agitating for a pre-emptive attack against the Islamic state.

The UK would be likely to agree to any U.S. decision to invade, even though the Ministry of Defence are stretched to breaking point by swingeing budget cuts and wars in Afghanistan and Libya.


An MoD spokesman said: ‘The British government believes that a dual track strategy of pressure and engagement is the best approach to address the threat from Iran’s nuclear programme and avoid regional conflict.


‘We want a negotiated solution – but all options should be kept on the table.’

A special unit at the MoD has been instructed to work out the UK's strategy if the Army should invade Iran.

War planners will look at potential deployments of Royal Navy ships and submarines equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles and RAF fighter jets armed with precision-guided Paveway IV and Brimstone bombs and missiles, surveillance planes and air-to-air refuelling.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2056873/Iran-attack-drawn-UK-US-Middle-East-tensions-rise.html#ixzz1ceQ13jZN

Police can Track, Intercept and Block Mobile Phones

British police have been using a covert surveillance system developed by a tech company which also provides equipment to the US secret service and authorities in around 40 other countries, a report published by The Guardian has revealed.

The technology mimics a mobile network cell tower and intercepts communications as well as the unique IDs from phones, and can even transmit a signal which will shut phones off remotely.

The transceiver is a portable device which fits inside a suitcase, it looks like a cell tower for mobile phones and can be wirelessly operated remotely by officers. It generates a signal which controls any number of mobile phones in a particular targeted area of up to 10 sq km.

Made by Datong plc in the UK, the hardware system was bought by the London Metropolitan police for £145,000 in 2008. The same company won a £750,000 order to supply tracking and location technology to the US defence sector in Feb 2010, and had $1.6 million in contracts with US government agencies up till 2009.

After gaining control the authorities can block phone calls, SMS messages, and access other phone data like unique IMSI, IMEI identity codes allowing authorities to keep a check on the movements of the phone user, without having to extract location data from the mobile phone carriers.

Besides this, the system can also effectively break down phone communications. This is very helpful during demonstrations, riots and in war zones where phones are often used as a medium to organise crowds as well as a trigger to explode devices.

Datong's website explains that its products enable law enforcement, military and security agencies to "gather early intelligence in order to identify and anticipate threat and illegal activity before it can be deployed."

Barrister Jonathan Lennon, a specialist in covert intelligence cases, said "if this technology now allows multiple tracking and intercept to take place at the same time, I would have thought that was not what parliament had in mind when it drafted Ripa [Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act]."

Read more: http://www.itproportal.com/2011/11/01/uk-uses-advanced-cell-phone-tehnology-surveillance/#ixzz1cePaWVqW

EU leaders scramble to defuse Greek debt ‘bomb’

An emergency meeting of European leaders to discuss Greece’s ongoing debt crisis was held in the French city of Cannes on Wednesday evening. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel summoned Greece’s George Papandreou to Cannes to provide clarity on his proposed referendum on the EU’s latest bailout deal, an unexpected move that took many by surprise.

The special gathering preceded the two-day G20 global economic summit, which will start in Cannes on Thursday. The meeting is expected to cover a wide array of issues, including reviving global growth, establishing new currency policies and helping developing countries expand their infrastructure. However, Greece looked set to overshadow the meeting’s agenda.

Last week, heads of European states and banks put together a deal to buttress Greece’s finances and slash much of its privately-held debt. But Papandreou stunned his partners in the 17-member Eurozone by calling a national referendum on the 130 billion-euro agreement on Monday. The announcement sent stock markets plummeting the next day.

FRANCE 24’s special correspondent Markus Karlsson said Cannes was buzzing with speculation over whether the EU and International Monetary Fund would hold back on more aid to Greece before its referendum. “Greece is supposed to run out of money in mid-November. No more bailout money from Europe and the IMF could hurt Athens,” Karlsson said.

IMF board sources told the AFP news agency on Wednesday that Greece would not receive an urgently needed 8 billion euro aid instalment this month until after a referendum. Creditors wanted to be sure that Athens would stick to its austerity programme, the sources said.

An additional mini-summit for some eurozone leaders on Thursday morning was called by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, his office said on Wednesday evening. The meeting, still on the sidelines of the G20, will bring together the leaders of Germany, Italy, Spain and France, but also representatives from the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the European Council.

In defense of the bailout deal

The crisis meeting on the eve of the G20 gathering was preceded and followed by carefully-worded declarations from Europe’s leaders. Before heading to southern France, Germany’s Merkel said she wanted last week’s bailout deal to be put into practice, and that leaders needed “clarity” from Athens on Wednesday night.

Euro Group head and Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker had harsher words for his Greek counterpart. “One week ago we made a decision as a 17-member group, we will not accept that one person disassociates themselves from the decision taken by the 17,” Juncker announced.

Some speculation also revolved around the exact nature of the Greek referendum, with some calling for the popular vote to be held on euro membership. Athens tried to calm fears about the country abandonning the single currency. “"No, [membership] will not be the issue. It will be the bailout plan," said Greek government spokesman Angelos Tolkas, according to the Reuters news agency.

In Cannes, IMF chief Christine Lagarde also urged Europe to stick to the bailout plan despite the announcement of the referendum.

Lagarde told reporters after meetings with Sarkozy and Merkel on Wednesday that what mattered was "the resilience and the determination of the European partners to take the matter forward to implement the agreement.”
France 24

Israeli missile test, air drill heat up talk of attack on Iran

JERUSALEM — Israeli defense officials on Wednesday announced the successful test-firing of a new ballistic missile and a recent air force exercise that included refueling for long-range flights, amid growing talk about an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Officials said Wednesday’s missile test and last week’s air force exercise in Sardinia were planned long ago and had nothing to do with recent media speculation about an attack on the Islamic republic’s atomic sites.

But the announcements - and foreign reports that the new missile can carry an atomic warhead and hit Iran - highlight the Israeli government’s debate over the Islamic republic, which has emerged into public view in recent days.

The Ha'aretz newspaper reported Tuesday that Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu has yet to muster the majority of his inner Cabinet to support a pre-emptive attack on Iran.

The newspaper said he and Defense Minister Ehud Barak had persuaded Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who initially opposed such an attack, to support it.

Four Cabinet ministers oppose an attack. They include Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon, a former chief of staff and a political hard-liner whose objections carry particular weight, the newspaper reported.

Mr. Ya’alon reportedly maintains that the U.S. should take the lead in any military move against Iran and that a unilateral Israeli attack should be a last resort.

Last week, Interior Minister Eli Yishai told activists in his religious Shas Party that Israel is weighing a “possible action” that is keeping him awake at night. Retaliation for that action, Mr. Yishai said, could result in tens of thousands of rockets and missiles fired by Iran’s allies -Hezbollah, Hamas and possibly Syria - as well as Iran itself.

Mr. Netanyahu last week called on the patron of the Shas Party, RabbiOvadia Yosef, reportedly to persuade him to support an attack.

Addressing the Knesset this week, Mr. Netanyahu said a nuclear Iranwould be a grave threat to the region, the world “and, of course, a grave threat to us.”

Mr. Barak, the defense minister, said: “We’re not hiding our thoughts. We have to act in every way possible, and no options should be taken off the table.”

Public speculation about a strike on Iran is unusual for Israel, which has cloaked its past military moves in a veil of secrecy. No public talk preceded Israel’s 1981 airstrike on Iraq’s nuclear reactor or its 2007 strike on a suspected atomic facility in Syria.

By contrast, nearly every Israeli newspaper in recent weeks has carried reports by its military correspondents suggesting that Mr. Netanyahuand Mr. Barak are pushing for an attack on Iran.

This has given rise to speculation that Israel’s leaders are trying to persuade the international community to impose more sanctions on Iranto forestall a unilateral Israeli attack.

Meanwhile, the British daily newspaper the Guardian reported Wednesday that Britain’s armed forces are preparing contingency plans to support a U.S. attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Washington Times

Nicolas Sarkozy tells Greece: If you don't stick to the rules, leave the eurozone

The Greek prime minister announced the decision in Cannes after Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy gave him an ultimatum that Greece had to “abide by the rules” of the Brussels bail-out agreement – “or leave the eurozone”.

Mr Papandreou said that that “being part of the eurozone means having many rights and also obligations”. He said that the debt crisis deal agreed in Brussels a week ago would be “difficult” for Greece and while he “hoped for a yes vote” he wanted the “Greek people to speak”.

He added: "I believe in benefits for growth, lowering our burden of debt, a strong package of support for the next few years. We can put our house in order and make a viable economy. It is important that the Greek people make decisions on important developments. They are, I believe, mature and wise enough to make this decision.

"We're very proud to be part of the eurozone. But this comes with obligations and it is crucial we show the world we can live up to those obligations.

"We could hold the referndum on December 4. A positive decision by the Greek people is not only positive for Greece but for Europe. The Greek people want us to be in eurozone - I want them to speak and they will speak soon>"

Mr Sarkozy said that European leaders were powerless to stop Greece holding a referendum but he said the bail-out agreement was conditional “according to certain rules”. He said it was “up to them whether they accept the rules or not”.

MS Merkel added that they would "not not abandon the principles of democracy. We cannot put at stake the great work of the unification of the euro."

"The referendum is a question of whether Greece wants to be in eurozone with the euro currency - that is the issue," she said.

The German Chancellor and French President, who summoned Mr Papandreou to crisis talks ahead of the G20 meeting in Cannes that starts on Thursday, to tell him that the debt restructuring and austerity measures agreed a week ago were not negotiable. The leaders threatened to withhold €8bn (£6.9bn) of international aid from Greece until Athens accepted the terms.

Mr Papandreou’s refusal to bow to their pressure is likely to rattled global markets.

Hours before the Cannes talks, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) was forced to pull an auction to raise €3bn of debt because investors felt uncertain about the terms. It was an inauspicious start for the vital bail-out fund which is supposed to be capable of raising up to €1trillion.

The Italian cabinet held an emergency meeting in a bid to agree economic reforms which Silvio Berlusconi promised as part of the Brussels deal. As the cost of insuring Italian debt against default remained at record highs of 6.1pc, Giorgio Napolitano, the Italian president, appeared to threatened to bring down the government if the reforms were not agreed. Ignazio Visco, the new head of the Bank of Italy, urged Mr Berlusconi to mee the demands. He said it was “necessary to proceed resolutely” in order to achieve “the lasting reduction of sovereign risk and preserve the stability of the financial system”.

Mr Sarkozy had a “working dinner” in Cannes with President Hu Jintao as part of his on-going efforts to attract Chinese investment in eurozone debt.

Meanwhile, rumours swept the markets that France could lose its AAA credit rating after economic data revealed that the eurozone economies are stagnating.

Even so global stockmarkets were calmer following the rout on Tuesday. The Stoxx Europe 600 clawed up 0.9pc, in Germany the DAX gained 2.3pc, in France the CAC rose 1.4pc and in London the FTSE 100 added 1.2pc.

Francois Fillon, the French prime minister, said: “Europe cannot be kept waiting for weeks for the outcome of the referendum. The Greeks must say, rapidly and unambiguously, whether or not they will choose to remain in the eurozone.”

The Telegraph