USA - AFPAK
Gates is preparing to push NATO for more commitments regarding training of Afghans.
“Leaving aside the question of troop resources, General McChrystal has identified a number of needs in his assessment on which there is agreement,” Mr. Gates said.
He said there was no dissention on “the civilian aspect of the effort in Afghanistan,” or on “the need to expand the size and the training” of the army and police.
In comments during travels this week in Asia, Mr. Gates indicated that if Mr. Obama decided to commit more troops, then other NATO nations should do more as well.
“I think the thing to remember is that General McChrystal’s assessment and also his resource request is going up through the NATO chain of command as well as through our own chain of command,” Mr. Gates said.
The BBC meanwhile reports on the closing of schools after the attacks on Pakistan.
U.S. - Europe
US - ASIA
Robert Gates, while on tour in Asia, has discussed a re-shifting of troops with Japan.
"It is time to move on," Gates said at a news conference with Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa after they held talks on alliance issues. "This may not be the perfect alternative for anyone, but it is the best alternative for everyone."
Gates left a possible compromise open by saying minor changes to the proposed position of two U.S. Marine runways on the coast of the southern island of Okinawa were a matter for Japan to decide.
A broad plan to reorganize U.S. forces in Japan was agreed in 2006 with Japan's long-dominant conservative party after a 1996 deal failed to gain support of local residents, many of whom associate the bases with crime, noise, pollution and accidents.
Chinese and U.S. officials met and discussed polution levels, claiming to speed up climate strategy.
The calls for cooperation, led by Vice Premier Li Keqiang, came at a clean energy forum attended by nearly 200 of both nations’ leading experts on climate change issues and technologies. The forum’s primary goal is to devise new ways in which Chinese and American researchers, corporations and others can work together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
But with the Copenhagen conference barely 45 days away, one subtext was to build momentum for closer collaboration between the world’s two biggest producers of greenhouse gases. Negotiations toward a new global climate change agreement have been hobbled by disagreements between China and the United States over whether curbing climate change should be principally the developed world’s duty and how much money and technology rich nations should give developing nations to help them cut greenhouse gases.
U.S. - DOMESTIC
WP is reporting on Lockheed's profit this year, saying that while profits went up the company is careful.
The U.S. Senate allowed for transfer of detainess from Guantanamo to the U.S. for trial.
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