Outcries Delay Joint U.S. Exercises

[CHIMO]

The Defense Ministry announced Tuesday that an annual joint military exercise with U.S. forces had been postponed in what appeared to be the latest sign of worsening U.S.-Russian relations.

The delay of the Torgau military exercises came amid protests from Communist Party officials, who accused the United States of encroaching on a strategically important Russian region.

The protests echoed anti-NATO demonstrations in the Crimea last May, which came in advance of a planned joint military operation there that was subsequently canceled.

The Torgau exercises have been conducted without incident for the past two years. They had been scheduled to begin in late September in the Novgorod region.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/09/06/001.html

[maddezmom]

1. U.S.-Russian Exercises Postponed by Moscow

By Peter Finn and Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, September 6, 2006; Page A11

MOSCOW, Sept. 5 -- Citing legal problems, Russia's Defense Ministry on Tuesday abruptly postponed joint military exercises with American forces that were scheduled to start later this month in central Russia. The exercises were drawing increasing criticism from the Communist Party and other groups angry over the prospect of U.S. troops on Russian soil.

Disagreements over "the status of U.S. personnel who planned to participate in the exercises" brought on the Russian decision, an unidentified ministry official told the Russian news agency Interfax. Granting U.S. requests on this question was impossible, the official said, "because any decision by Russia not to exercise its jurisdiction over arriving foreign contingents runs counter to the laws of the Russian Federation."

The Defense Ministry declined to explain the status issues or why they arose now between two countries that conducted joint exercises in Russia as recently as last year. Nearly 300 U.S. and Russian troops held joint maneuvers outside Moscow in an exercise called Torgau, named after the German town where American and Soviet troops met up in the final days of World War II in Europe.

The ministry now wants a ratified agreement on the issues that concern it, Interfax reported.

In Washington, a Pentagon official said the U.S. side had received no official word of a postponement and held out the possibility that the exercise might go ahead if remaining issues with the Russians can be worked out. Speaking on condition of anonymity because discussions remain open, the official said the size of the U.S. force has been a point of contention.

more:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/05/AR2006090500592.html

Looks like we might be heading back to the old days

[Crayson]

2. I guess they learned something from recent incidents....

... like murder/rape.
... kidnapping.
... torture.

I certainly wouldn't want to have any rogue US soldiers in my country who don't have to submit to the law.

[Vidar]

4. Good point.

[ConcernedCanuk]

3. Too much death by "friendly fire" lately maybe? - and then there's that

.
.
.

little "immunity" thing that the US Military likes to have with most countries where they can break the laws but not be prosecuted

[0007]

5. bin Laden didn't cotton to U.S. troops on Saudi soil either.

After 9/11 the U.S. moved off of Saudi soil in a New York second. How strange!

The Wakhan Corridor, which was Marco Polo's famous "Silk Road" to China, is described by the Hindustan Times as "Sticking out of northeastern Afghanistan, the corridor (a strip of land) is wedged between Tajikistan, Pakistan and the part of PoK known as Northern Areas."<28> A former Soviet military base is said to be located in the area. He had previously been thought it be in that region as far back as October 2001.
It was reported that bin Laden had decided to use the area bordering China because it is not controlled by US military, and US bombers would not attack the area for fear of hitting China.
<29>