DTN News - U.S. FINANCIAL CRISIS: How Will Canada Feel The Effects of The Latest U.S. Economic Crisis?

Defense War News Updates: DTN News - U.S. FINANCIAL CRISIS: How Will Canada Feel The Effects of The Latest U.S. Economic Crisis?

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources CTV News
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 3, 2013: As $85 billion in U.S. federal spending cuts begin taking effect, Canadian businesses and politicians are bracing themselves for the impact.

Travellers are being warned of lengthier delays at border crossings as American border patrol officers and air traffic controllers are among the tens of thousands of federal employees who will see their pay and hours reduced as part of the funding cuts.

“This is not a win for anybody, this is a loss for American people,” U.S. President Barack Obama told reporters Friday, fixing the blame for the sequester cuts on the Republicans.

With Canada sending 75 per cent of all its exports to the U.S., its economy relies heavily on the financial health of its southern neighbour.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Friday that while he couldn’t put a dollar figure on the impact, he called the cuts an unnecessary strain to the economies.

“It is regrettable though that the U.S. continues to move from crisis to crisis,” he told reporters.

An Ontario-based company that manufactures baseball bats for a number of major league players fears that the border delays may prevent its products from making it to the U.S. in time for spring training.

“If it takes us extra time to get the product in the hands of the best players in the world, then that’s a problem,” Sam Bat President Arlene Anderson told CTV News.

Similar fears are being echoed by the struggling auto manufacturing sector, where officials warned that a slow down at the border could trigger job cuts.

“This could results in layoffs,” Canadian Auto Worker President Ken Lewenza said. “It could result in temporary shut downs and there’s a tremendous amount of workers out there that don’t get paid during three or four hour disruptions.”

The failure to avert the U.S. spending cuts comes alongside news that the Canadian economy has stalled over the last three months.

Flaherty waned Friday of deeper spending cuts in the upcoming federal budget, though he said the Conservative government remains on track to balance the budget by 2015.

With a report from CTV’s Richard MadanAs $85 billion in U.S. federal spending cuts begin taking effect, Canadian businesses and politicians are bracing themselves for the impact.

Travellers are being warned of lengthier delays at border crossings as American border patrol officers and air traffic controllers are among the tens of thousands of federal employees who will see their pay and hours reduced as part of the funding cuts.

“This is not a win for anybody, this is a loss for American people,” U.S. President Barack Obama told reporters Friday, fixing the blame for the sequester cuts on the Republicans.

With Canada sending 75 per cent of all its exports to the U.S., its economy relies heavily on the financial health of its southern neighbour.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Friday that while he couldn’t put a dollar figure on the impact, he called the cuts an unnecessary strain to the economies.

“It is regrettable though that the U.S. continues to move from crisis to crisis,” he told reporters.

An Ontario-based company that manufactures baseball bats for a number of major league players fears that the border delays may prevent its products from making it to the U.S. in time for spring training.

“If it takes us extra time to get the product in the hands of the best players in the world, then that’s a problem,” Sam Bat President Arlene Anderson told CTV News.

Similar fears are being echoed by the struggling auto manufacturing sector, where officials warned that a slow down at the border could trigger job cuts.

“This could results in layoffs,” Canadian Auto Worker President Ken Lewenza said. “It could result in temporary shut downs and there’s a tremendous amount of workers out there that don’t get paid during three or four hour disruptions.”

The failure to avert the U.S. spending cuts comes alongside news that the Canadian economy has stalled over the last three months.

Flaherty waned Friday of deeper spending cuts in the upcoming federal budget, though he said the Conservative government remains on track to balance the budget by 2015.

With a report from CTV’s Richard Madan

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources CTV News
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DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Asia's Military Spending To Surpass Europe's For First Time

Defense War News Updates: DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Asia's Military Spending To Surpass Europe's For First Time
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Yifei Zhang - IBT
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 26, 2012: 2012 will be a historic moment in the shift of global power from the West to the East. According to expert estimates and figures on military spending, in 2012 Asia's spending on defense will eclipse Europe's for the first time in the modern era.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies, a UK-based think tank focusing on global military and political research and analysis, released its influential "Military Balance 2012" report back in early March.

The report claims that since 2008, financial crises in the West have led to major reductions in defense spending in Europe. Drawdowns in Afghanistan and Iraq will likely contribute to decreasing numbers in the future. Meanwhile, Asia's continued economic growth, and efforts to modernize and build military forces there, have reinforced higher spending. In the IISS calculations, Europe does not include Russia, and Asia does not include the Middle East, but does include Australasia.

While per capita spending in Europe is still higher, press releases form the institute say that "Asian defense spending is likely to exceed that of Europe, in nominal terms, during 2012." The U.S. accounted for nearly half of all worldwide military spending in 2011, a figure which may be in slight decline over the following years due to defense cutbacks.

IISS says that in real terms, declines in defense spending by 16 out of 28 member states of NATO exceeded 10 percent between 2008 and 2010. Asian spending increased almost 3.2 percent in real terms between 2010 to 2011.

Planned spending on defense, from different countries worldwide, 2011. Graphs from IISS.

Five countries -- China, Japan, India, South Korea, and Australia -- accounted for more than four-fifths of all regional defense spending. A major focus of spending in Asia is geared towards building newer, bigger fleets of warships and aircraft. Further geographic distances, greater territorial distributions of water, and the predominance of air and naval forces in modern warfare are the main factors driving Asian funding for air forces and navies.

Nations such as China and India are developing new and more powerful ballistic and cruise missiles as well as aircraft carriers. All of the five countries above, save Australia, have active space programs aimed at deploying greater systems of satellites for surveillance and communications, as well as plans for building next-generation stealthy super-jets, like the U.S. F-22 Raptor.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Yifei Zhang - IBT
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DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Defense Spending Bill Includes Provision To Keep Air Guard Jets

Defense War News Updates: DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Defense Spending Bill Includes Provision To Keep Air Guard Jets
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources by William Petroski
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 14, 2012: A defense spending bill proposed Monday in the U.S. House would block the Air Force from eliminating F-16 aircraft at the 132nd Fighter Wing in Des Moines until a cost-benefit analysis can be completed.

U.S. Rep. Tom Latham said the legislation would freeze the proposed retirement of Air Force aircraft, including the Iowa Air National Guard’s F-16s. The bill would require the Air Force to finish the cost-benefit study by October, with a review by the nonpartisan General Accounting Office within 120 days of its completion.

The bill is sponsored by the Republican-led House Appropriations Committee, on which Latham serves. The Iowa Republican said he believes a review will ultimately show the 132nd Fighter Wing operates cost-effectively and should continue flying F-16 combat aircraft over the long term. He called Monday’s action a major step forward.

“This is a great victory, and we are going to fight to save the 132nd Fighter Wing,” Latham said in a phone interview from Washington, D.C.

The Air Force has proposed budget cuts that include eliminating all 21 of the Iowa unit’s F-16 aircraft, replacing them with a smaller unit based in Des Moines that would remotely control unmanned aircraft that would be flown elsewhere, such as Afghanistan.

The proposal would eliminate 378 people now serving with the 132nd Fighter Wing, including 81 full-time employees. The unit currently has about 1,000 airmen.

The provision affecting the Des Moines unit is within a subcommittee draft for the fiscal year 2013 defense appropriations bill, which will be considered today.

The measure includes $589 million to “pause” retirements of Guard and Reserve aircraft to allow time for more analysis of the plans.

Latham said he expects to vote in favor of the bill when it reaches the full committee, possibly as soon as next week.

He believes the measure could be passed by the full House of Representatives within the next few weeks. The proposal would then be considered by the Senate.

“I have not talked with the Senate side, but we will be making a strong case with them,” Latham said. “The House position will be very strong.”

In defending the 132nd Fighter Wing, Iowa National Guard officials have noted it has been recognized as one of the top units in the Air National Guard. In addition, Air Guard units operate at about 30 percent of the taxpayer expense when compared to active-duty Air Force units, officials said.

About 270 airmen from the Des Moines-based wing recently returned from a deployment to Afghanistan.

“I think there is no question that we can show that it costs much less to maintain readiness with the Guard wing than on the active-duty side,” Latham said.

“We have tremendously experienced pilots and maintenance people that would be lost with the closing. I think a true cost-benefit analysis will justify us maintaining the 132nd Fighter Wing in Des Moines.”

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources by  William Petroski
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DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: India’s Military Inferiority Complex

Defense War News Updates: DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: India’s Military Inferiority Complex
*Indian officials are preoccupied by China’s growing military power. They would do better to fix their own incoherent defense establishment.

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Trefor Moss - The Diplomat

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 24, 2012: Modern India is economically and strategically buoyant, and has every reason to feel confident as the 21^st century progresses. So it’s strange to think that this same confident place is developing an inferiority complex over China’s military power.

Never mind that New Delhi just announced a hefty 13 percent defense budget increase for 2012-13, or that the country is now the world’s biggest importer of military systems. Most Indian commentators seem to have digested these two pieces of news by focusing on the downside: that the country’s $39 billion defense budget remains quite modest compared with the $106 billion military budget at China’s disposal.

The critics should bear two things in mind before giving into defense budget envy. First, a 13 percent increase is actually very generous in the context of an Indian economy that’s only expected to grow by7.6 percent in the coming year. Larger increases aren’t only unaffordable but also strategically untenable, as they would alarm neighboring countries.

Second, the Indian military has long since accepted two facts of strategic life: that the Chinese military will always be bigger; and that it will always be richer.

That doesn’t mean the Chinese military will necessarily be better, and overcoming the comparative disadvantages of wealth and scale is what Indian military strategy, at least vis-à-vis China, is all about. The solution comes in two parts. First, the Indian military knows it has to focus on quality rather than quantity, investing in weapon systems that China, hindered by international arms embargoes, cannot match. It then also means capitalizing on regional unease about China’s rise and on forging smart alliances. China might be more powerful, but India knows it can be more popular.

The Indian media is therefore over hasty in viewing defense matters through the China inferiority lens. The Times of India, for example, headlined last week’s defense budget announcement by bemoaning the fact that the “Military plays catch-up but China [is] a long march ahead.”

That’s a self-defeating way to look at things. The important questions Indians should be asking are whether their government is giving defense the resources it needs – and based on successive double-digit spending increases, you’d have to say that it is; and whether that money is being used wisely to bankroll a coherent military modernization strategy. It’s when you look more closely at this second point that you begin to appreciate that India – not China – is its own worst enemy.

Writing in the Business Standard, Ajai Shukla observed this week that the Indian Army is being starved of funds, while the Navy and Air Force soak up all the investment. Indeed, the numbers don’t look good from the Army’s perspective. The Air Force has a capital expenditure to operational cost ratio of two to one; the ratio for the Navy is about three to two. By contrast, the Army spends six times as much on day-to-day running costs as it does on new equipment.

However, such ratios are a fact of life when you have an army of over a million active personnel whose poor pay and conditions you are attempting to upraise over time. China, with its 2 million increasingly well-paid troops, has exactly the same headache of rising everyday bills eating away at budget increases. And there’s also no getting away from the fact that India, despite its expanding resources, can’t buy everything at once. With several costly Air Force and Navy programs currently underway, such as the procurement of the Dassault Rafale fighter and new naval frigates, the Army has been obliged to wait in line. Now, it can rightfully claim to have moved to the front of the queue.

Of greater concern is the tenacious ineptitude of India’s defense bureaucracy. In the last financial year, as in most others, the Defense Ministry failed to spend all of the cash at its disposal thanks purely to red tape. That’s the first thing that needs to be fixed.

The government then needs to redouble its efforts to introduce a functioning procurement system. More often than not, India’s attempts to buy equipment become tortuous and wasteful. In January, Army Chief Gen. V.K. Singh, himself a recent victim of his country’s eccentric bureaucracy, suggested wearily that, “the procurement game is a version of snakes and ladders where there is no ladder but only snakes, and if the snakes bite you somewhere, the whole thing comes back to zero.” His exasperation centered on the army’s efforts, initiated 10 years ago, to buy new artillery; the process has just resulted in the blacklistingof six foreign defense contractors but, as yet, no new guns.

Another example is the acquisition of 75 much-needed Pilatus PC-7 Mk II trainer aircraft, announced last year, which now faces delays – like so many procurements before it – over allegations of irregularities in the bidding process. Worryingly, though perhaps predictably, questions are now also being asked about the flagship Rafale procurement.

Third, the government should re-evaluate the role of the domestic defense industry, which currently does a lot of things badly. It should be made to start doing a few things well. India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) recently complained that it doesn’t have enough money – but that has never been its problem. The agency has a track record of initiating overambitious programs and then executing them poorly, as the travails of the Tejas light combat aircraft, to name but one example, continue to demonstrate. For the sake of both the taxpayer and the military, the Defense Ministry should focus the DRDO and the defense industry on developing a realistic core of indigenous capabilities, and then just import everything else.

So India is wrong to feel inferior just because China has more soldiers and more money. The problem is the incoherence of India’s defense establishment, from industry through to government – therein lies the inferiority. It’s a danger to Indian security that has nothing to do with China, and that’s within India’s own power to put right.

• India, China Show Military Grit
• India Military Eyes Combined Threat
• India Boosts Afghan Military Role
• Will India’s Military Revolt?
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*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Trefor Moss - The Diplomat
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DTN News - CHINA HIKES DEFENCE BUDGET: China Engaging In Military Buildup While US Cuts Forces

Defense War News Updates: DTN News - CHINA HIKES DEFENCE BUDGET: China Engaging In Military Buildup While US Cuts Forces
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources by Matt Lacy - Greeley Gazette
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 18, 2012: An expert on Communist China says the United States could be making a grave mistake by cutting back on defense spending while China is doing just the opposite.

Beijing recently announced a new defense budget of approximately $106 billion, which equates to an 11.2-percent increase. Cheng says this increase coupled with last years 12.7 percent increase means that China is now spending more on its military than all other Asian nations combined. The new budget comes at a time when the Obama administration, despite calling for a higher priority in Asia, is busily reducing the U.S. defense outlay.

While many critics of defense spending in the United States say that it is larger than the majority of the world, Dean Cheng, a research fellow at the Asian studies Center with The Heritage Foundation  says there are key differences between the two militaries.

“the U.S. is a key enforcer of international norms and safety. It is the American Navy, more than any other, that keeps the world’s sea lanes safe. It is the U.S. Air Force that provides space situational awareness, including conjunction warnings, to all other space-faring nations (including China) and manages the GPS constellation to global benefit—both without charge.”

He goes on to note that by contrast China's military budget is spent almost entirely on Chinese interests. While he acknowledges that with China having the second largest economy in the world it is expected that have a substantial military, and that while the Chinese defense spending increases by themselves should not draw alarm, there are other reasons for concern.

Cheng says there are two aspects of Chinese defense priorities that could spell problems for the United States.

The first thing he says is that the Chinese are focused on countering the US military. "So they buy things like anti-ship ballistic missiles -- which really are of use only against things like American aircraft carriers, but not against, say, Somali pirates," he offers.

Cheng says another advantage the Chinese military has is that it is still more of a local military operating near China rather than maintaining a global presence like the US. This means China can put all of its resources up against only a portion of the US military.

He goes on to note the Chinese Communist Party appears to be taking a more aggressive stance not only against US interests but against its neighbors Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. The government has been making claims of sovereignty over the South and East China seas and expanding its forces opposite Taiwan.

China is not the only military United States should be concerned about. While our military is facing the possibility of close to $1 trillion in cuts over the next 10 years and a reduction of up to one third of our military force, Russia is also engaging on a military buildup.

A 10 year, $640 billion military modernization underway in Russia will include 600 new aircraft, 1000 new choppers and an additional hundred ships added to the Russian Navy including 20 submarines.

By contrast, the Pentagon has said it may be forced to engage in involuntary separations to meet troop reduction goals of 67,100 soldiers form active and reserve Army units, 15,20 from the Marine Corps, 8,600 from the Navy and 1,700 from the Air Force as part of $487 in budget cuts. If Congress is unable to reach targeted spending cuts that were a part of the congressional deal reached during last years debt ceiling debate another $500 billion could be cut from the military budget.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources by Matt Lacy - Greeley Gazette
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DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: U.S. Budget Proposal Aims to Support Troops, Families

Defense War News Updates: DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: U.S. Budget Proposal Aims to Support Troops, Families
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources American Forces Press Service
 (NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - February 13, 2012: President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2013 budget proposal has several provisions for service members, veterans and their families.

According to an Office of Management and Budget fact sheet released today, the budget request includes:

-- $8.5 billion in Defense Department base funding to support military families, from child care and education for military children to counseling and employment programs for the entire family.

-- More than $1 billion through the Education Department’s Impact Aid program to local school districts where a military base may increase the number of students and decrease the property tax base that funds the local schools. Districts educating more than 368,000 children from military families receive these funds.

-- Funding for a 1.7 percent pay raise for service members -- the full amount authorized by law -- as well as a variety of monthly special skill-based payments, enlistment and re-enlistment bonuses, and other benefits.

-- About $2.4 billion for programs serving wounded, ill and injured service members, with $747 million of that total to address traumatic brain injury and psychological health needs, such as support for recovery care coordinators and enhanced access to care.

-- $465 million for medical research specifically focused on psychological health, TBI and post-traumatic stress disorder.

-- $259 million for the Labor Department’s Veterans Employment and Training Service, and $8 million for the department’s transition assistance program and grants for employment services to veterans. The budget request ends the Veterans Workforce Investment Program, supporting service delivery innovations through the Workforce Innovation Fund instead. The expanded transition assistance program makes employment workshops more accessible to retiring Reserve and National Guard members, as well as spouses of separating service members.

-- Continuing grants under the Homeless Veterans’ Reintegration Program at a level of $38 million.

-- Expanding entrepreneurship training for veterans and military families through the Small Business Administration’s National Veterans Entrepreneurship Training, a new $7 million program that will train up to 260,000 veterans annually.

-- $278 million for implementation of the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act. New caregiver benefits and services include training adapted to the veterans' individual care needs, a direct stipend payment and health care and mental health services.

-- Almost $1.4 billion to provide services through the Veterans Affairs Department for homeless and at-risk veterans. These funds will combat veteran homelessness through collaborative partnerships with local governments, nonprofit organizations, and the Housing and Urban Development, Justice and Labor departments.

Earlier today, officials said defense leaders are fully committed to assisting service members and their families.

The DOD budget request provides $1.3 billion in funding for child care space for more than 200,000 children, as well as $1.4 billion for family support centers and morale, welfare and recreation programs. It also commits $2.7 billion for the education of more than 61,000 students at DOD Education Activity schools in 12 countries and more than 33,000 students in seven states, Puerto Rico and Guam.

The request includes more than $50 million to improve public school facilities on military installations.

Military construction funding is set at $9.1 billion, and family housing at $1.7 billion.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources American Forces Press Service
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