Indian Military

BRUSSELS: Nato allies may have succeeded in giving a military edge to a rebellion against Libya's Muammar Gaddafi but the operation exposed cracks in the Western alliance that will complicate its involvement in future conflicts.
There are few doubts the Western bombing campaign was instrumental in allowing Libyan rebels to defeat government forces and effectively seize power after more than four decades of Gaddafi's authoritarian rule.
But how it was put together through European and US diplomacy shows Western powers may opt for going their separate ways in the future when it comes to "discretionary" military intervention that is conducted to protect civilians and not in self-defence.
Such a trend would put new strains on their already dwindling defence budgets at a time of deepening financial difficulties in Europe and may threaten Nato's ability to remain effective in the near future, some analysts say.
The operation in Libya, they argue, underscored a push by the United States to hand over the leadership of Western military interventions to their European partners when conflict flares up in Europe's immediate neighbourhood.

JERUSALEM: The United States has a military option "ready" if diplomacy fails to halt Iran's controversial nuclear programme, the US envoy to Israel has said, an Israeli newspaper reported today.
"It would be preferable to resolve this diplomatically through the use of pressure than to use military force," right-wing nationalist daily Makor Rishon quoted Daniel Shapiro as telling an Israeli bar association meeting this week.
"But that doesn't mean that option is not fully available," the newspaper quoted him as saying. "It is not just available, but it is ready; the necessary planning has been done to ensure that it is ready."
In Washington, State department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Shapiro was completely in sync with White House policy.
"Ambassador Shapiro's comments were designed to reflect completely what the president has said all along, which is that even as we move forward with the P5+1 discussions with Iran and hope that we can settle these issues through diplomacy that we nonetheless take no option off the table," she said.

NEW ORLEANS: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Vice President Joe Biden Sunday that only a "credible" threat of military action will ensure Iran does not obtain nuclear weapons, a senior Israeli official said.

Netanyahu met with Biden in New Orleans shortly after arriving there for a summit of Jewish organizations.

The senior official, who asked not to be named, quoted Netayahu as telling Biden: "The only way to ensure Iran does not obtain nuclear weapons is by creating a credible threat of military action against it if it does not halt its race to acquire a nuclear bomb."

President Barack Obama's administration, while not ruling out a military option against Iran, has so far stressed sanctions and diplomacy as its preferred course with dealing with Iran's nuclear program.

Iran has agreed to resume nuclear talks with six world powers after November 10, setting the stage for another international effort to pressure it to abandon a uranium enrichment program the West suspects is for a nuclear weapons capability.

WASHINGTON: Noting that American influence is not a function of military force alone, President Barack Obama asserted that the United States must use all elements of its power including its diplomacy and economic strength to secure its strength and stand by its allies.

"One of the lessons of our effort in Iraq is that the US influence around the world is not a function of military force alone. We must use all elements of our power -including our diplomacy, our economic strength, and the power of America's example - to secure our interests and stand by our allies," he said.

Obama stressed that the US must project a vision of the future that was based not just on its fears, but also on its hopes.

"A vision that recognises the real dangers that exist around the world, but also the limitless possibility of our time.," Obama said in his address to the nation.

Today, old adversaries are at peace, and emerging democracies are potential partners, he said.