Archive for February 6th, 2009

Email from David Isenberg

Feb 6, 2009 David Isenberg, Jake's Posts

Below is an email I received from David Isenberg in response to one of my recent posts here at TCO.  It’s much longer and more detailed than a typical post comment and it’s so full of excellent insight that I asked  for and received his permission to publish here for all to see.  Enjoy…

Jake

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Hi Jake,

Thanks for writing the post Hey PMCs: Stop Blaming “the media”. Since you have mentioned me on your site a few times and we had a great conversation on your podcast the other night I want to make a few observations.

I’ve long dealt with the press, mostly as an analyst at various NGO/think tank jobs dealing with military defense, security, foreign policy issues et cetera. More recently I operate on the fringes, as you know, as a columnist, not a reporter, for United Press International.

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Norwegian military experts to Congo

Feb 6, 2009 Dem Rep Congo

Image Rolleiv Solholm - Norway Post

Norway may deploy military units in DR Congo already before the summer, according to Defence Minister Anne-Grete Stroem-Erichsen. These will be military experts, and not soldiers, as first requested.

The Norwegian experts will contribute in the reforming of Congo’s defence forces.

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Somali pirates get ransom and leave arms freighter

Feb 6, 2009 Piracy, Somalia

By Jeffrey Gettleman and Mohammed Ibrahim - Int’l Herald Tribune

Friday, February 6, 2009

NAIROBI, Kenya: The saga over the Ukrainian arms freighter hijacked off Somalia’s coast more than four months ago drew to a close on Thursday almost exactly the way the pirates had predicted: with the booty.

According to the pirates and maritime officials in Kenya, the ship’s owners paid $3.2 million ? in cash, dropped by parachute ? and on Thursday evening the last of the heavily armed pirates made their way off the ship.

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Clinton sees smaller role for security contractors

Feb 6, 2009 Industry News

AFP - 5 FEB 2009

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged to reduce the government’s use of private security contractors abroad, in comments Wednesday.

Clinton said a review of the firms’ role was being carried out following a series of scandals over the conduct of contractors like Blackwater, barred from Iraq for its role in a 2007 Baghdad shooting involving its guards, in which 17 civilians were killed.

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