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Post-war Lebanese politics
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The recent month-long confrontation between Israel and Hizbullah has broken the deadlock that characterised Lebanese domestic politics since the assassination of prime minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005 and the subsequent departure of Syrian troops from the country. But it has also complicated them: on the one hand, it has sharpened political and sectarian divisions, while on the other increasing external intervention, thus making internal Lebanese dialogue even more problematic.
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Special Operations Forces and counter-terrorism
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The Pentagon has continued to stress the importance of Special Operations Forces (SOF) as a principal counter-terrorism asset and devoted a rising share of the US defence budget to these capabilities.By the end of the 2006 fiscal year, US SOF are expected to number 52,846 – the strength of three or four infantry divisions. Special Operations Command’s (SOCOM) baseline budget has increased by 81% since 2001, and for fiscal-year 2006 will total $6.6 billion. Over the next five years, the Pentagon plans to increase its personnel by more than 13,000 (15%), and to add $9bn to SOCOM’s budget.
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The US Military posture in the Gulf
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The debate about what sort of military presence the US will need in the Gulf in the longer-term will be shaped in part by a more general consensus among military planners that the time has come to revert to a strategy favouring ‘surge’ rather than a static, forward-deployed presence. This approach meshes with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s programme to transform the armed forces in such a away as to make them more easily deployable and equipped with weapons capable of attacking distant targets precisely and in a timely manner. Yet the most recent National Defense Strategy stipulates that the Gulf will be one of the few regions where US military assets will be permanently based.
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Australian defence capabilities
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On 24 August 2006, Australia announced a substantial expansion of the country’s small army to its largest size since its involvement in the Vietnam War. This followed the unveiling of the largest annual increase in military spending since 1967. These initiatives come at a time when the Australian Defence Force (ADF) has major procurement initiatives under way and is stretched to fulfil its extensive operational commitments. However, it is by no means clear that the substantial new emphasis on defence will fix the ADF’s equipment and personnel shortcomings as quickly as hoped; nor that more generous funding is an effective response to Australia’s overall security requirements.
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Countering Naxalite violence in India
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Nearly 300 people were killed by Naxalites (Maoists) between January and April 2006 – a level of violence that outstripped that in Kashmir for the first time. In mid-April 2006 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described the Naxalites as India’s ‘single biggest internal security challenge’, associating them with terrorism following the July 11 Mumbai bombings. Yet, attempts by the central and provincial governments to tackle this low-intensity guerrilla war lack coherence and focus.
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