Russian defence chiefs blame US for global security risks

Top Russian defence officials lashed out at the United States Thursday, accusing it of undermining global security by funding revolutions and expanding NATO in a bid to contain Russia.

Speaking at a conference in Moscow attended by his counterparts from North Korea, Greece and Pakistan, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said the world order needs to be redefined in a speech that focused heavily on the perceived threat from the United States.

“We live in a watershed moment of history. We are the ones to determine the parameters of world order,” Shoigu told the annual Conference on International Security.

“We are concerned that the stability constructed after World War II is beginning to careen,” he said. “Some countries who consider themselves winners in the Cold War are attempting to dictate their will to others.”

Frequently using the term “some countries” to refer to the United States and its closest allies, Shoigu accused Washington of destabilising the post-Soviet sphere by luring countries away from Russia with investment and supporting popular uprisings.

“The main goal is to tear away from Russia the countries tied to it by culture and history,” he said.

“Of course, the biggest tragedy among the ‘colour revolutions’ is Ukraine,” Shoigu said, contrasting the “peaceful” transition of Crimea to Russia with “violent propagation of the European choice” by Kiev’s current leadership.

Russia deployed its special forces in February to Crimea, formally annexing it from Ukraine in March, shortly after the uprising in the Ukrainian capital led to the ouster of pro-Moscow former president Viktor Yanukovych.

The chain of events unravelled into a year-long conflict in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian separatists and Kiev, which has claimed over 6,000 lives. Moscow has denied Western claims the Kremlin is supporting the insurgency.

“NATO countries are seeking to seize geopolitical space, building up military potential in Eastern Europe and drawing closer to Russia,” Shoigu said.

The sharp remarks were a contrast to President Vladimir Putin’s statements that Russia’s only enemies are terrorism and organised crime.

“We don’t consider anyone an enemy among participants of global dialogue,” he said Thursday in his annual phone-in session with the nation.

Shoigu’s speech was echoed by a report on threats to Russia by chief of its General Staff Valery Gerasimov, also heavily focused on the “growing military potential” of NATO and the decision by the US to “reshape the world to its liking” in a quest for “absolute domination.”

“One cannot but notice the negative effect on Russia’s military security” of NATO’s continuing expansion eastward, Gerasimov said, accusing it of holding drills and other activities near Russian borders.

“Clearly NATO’s measures to strengthen the bloc and increase its military capabilities are not of a defensive nature,” he said.

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I’ll restore military ties with US –President Elect Gen Muhammadu Buhari

The President-elect, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on Tuesday said his administration would restore military cooperation with the United States of America.

In an article published by the New York Times in its Tuesday edition, Buhari promised to among other things reformed the military.

The outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration had cancelled the training component of its military cooperation with the US citing a lack of sincerity on the part of the Americans for its decision.

But Buhari said, “My administration would welcome the resumption of a military training agreement with the United States, which was halted during the previous administration. We must, of course, have better coordination with the military campaigns our African allies, like Chad and Niger, are waging in the struggle against Boko Haram. But, in the end, the answer to this threat must come from within Nigeria.”

Buhari also said he would deploy additional troops in the battle foul away from civilian areas in the south and the north central parts of the country.

In the article, the President-elect said, in the fight to end the Boko Haram insurgency, “We must start by deploying more troops to the front and away from civilian areas in central and southern Nigeria where for too long they have been used by successive governments to quell dissent.

“We must work closer with our neighbours in coordinating our military efforts so an offensive by one army does not see their country’s rid of Boko Haram only to push it across the border onto their neighbour’s territory.”

A member of the Buhari team, who pleaded for anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media said, “Without being told, you should know that what he is simply saying is that under his administration, the military will revert to their constitutional role of defending the nation against external aggression QED.”

It was also gathered that the military would be overhauled and professionalised while the police would be better empowered to take the leading role in internal security.

According to the New York Times article, which carried Buhari’s byline, the incoming administration will aside from using the military to deal with the terrorists’ threat, it will pay greater attention to counter-terrorism initiatives.

Buhari noted that his administration would seek to address why young people were attracted to join the sect. He identified some of the reasons to include poverty and ignorance.

He said, “Indeed Boko Haram – which translates in English, roughly, as “western education is sinful” – preys on the perverted belief that the opportunities that education brings are sinful.

“If you are starving and young, and in search of answers as to why your life is so difficult, fundamentalism can be alluring. We know this for a fact because former members of Boko Haram have admitted it: They offer impressionable young people money and the promise of food, while the group’s mentors twist their minds with fanaticism.

“So, we must be ready to offer the parts of our country affected by this group an alternative. Boosting education will be a direct counter-balance to Boko Haram’s appeal.

“In particular we must educate more young girls, ensuring they will grow up to be empowered through learning to play their full part as citizens of Nigeria and pull themselves up and out of poverty. Indeed, we owe it to the schoolgirls of Chibok to provide as best an education as possible for our fellow young citizens.”

He observed that Boko Haram feeds off despair, lack of hope that things can improve. The former Head-of State also argued that by attacking a school, and kidnapping more than 200 schoolgirls, it sought to strike at the very place where hope for the futurewas being nurtured, and the promise of a better Nigeria.

“It is our intention to show Boko Haram that it will not succeed,” he said.

The retired army general also promised that his administration would not only defeat the sec

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Arizona cop hitting man with car

Police in Arizona said Tuesday that an officer who intentionally used his car to run into a suspect with a rifle probably saved the man's life.

The man's lawyer strongly disagrees. Video of the incident has stirred debate about what type of force police should have used to detain a man with a gun.

"Everything in the video seems to point towards an obvious excessive use of force. It is miraculous that my client isn't dead," said attorney Michelle Cohen-Metzger.

The incident was recorded February 19 on the dashcam of two Marana police cars that were following the suspect, 36-year-old Mario Valencia.

In one video, an officer who was tailing Valencia at slow speed reports over the radio that the suspect has fired one round in the air with a rifle he is accused of stealing that morning from a Walmart.

Another patrol car zooms past, runs into the man from behind then hits a short cinder block wall next to a driveway. Video from Officer Michael Rapiejko's camera shows the officer running the man over and the windshield smashing as the car hits the wall.

"Oh Jesus Christ. Man down," the officer in the first car says.

Police in Marana, which is about a half-hour from Tucson, have justified Rapiejko's actions.

"If we're going to choose between maybe we'll let him go a little bit farther and see what happens, or we're going to take him out now and eliminate any opportunity he has to hurt somebody, you're going to err on the side of, in favor of the innocent people," Police Chief Terry Rozema said. "Without a doubt."

The situation warranted deadly force because the suspect was headed to an area where several hundred people were working.

"This officer made a split-second decision, and in retrospect, when all the dust clears, I think we look at this and say, yeah, there's things we can learn from this," he said, "but the entire community is safe, all the officers are safe, and even the suspect in this case is safe."

Cohen-Metzger said officers didn't make any effort to de-escalate the situation of a man "clearly suicidal, clearly in crisis."

"I find it ludicrous to say that we're saving this man's life whose suicidal by almost killing him," she said.

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Jonathan rejects amended constitution

President Goodluck Jonathan has rejected the amendments made to the 1999 Constitution by the National Assembly.

A top government official who pleaded anonymity told our correspondent on Tuesday that Jonathan vetoed the amendment on Monday.

The official said the decision of the President not to sign the document was because the amendment did not meet the provisions of Section 9 (3) of the 1999 Constitution.

The source explained that with the return of the document by the President, the letter accompanying it might be read on the floors of the two chambers of the National Assembly any time from Wednesday (today).

He said, “The President has vetoed the constitution amendment and he has sent it back to the National Assembly.

“The amendment did not meet the provision of Section 9 (3) of the constitution which talks about the need for four fifth of the National Assembly to agree with the amendment.”

Section 9 (3) of the Constitution reads:

“An Act of the National Assembly for the purpose of altering the provisions of this section, section 8 or Chapter IV of this Constitution shall not be passed by either House of the National Assembly unless the proposal is approved by the votes of not less than four-fifths majority of all the members of each House, and also approved by resolution of the House of Assembly of not less than two-third of all states.”

The rejected amended constitution granted approval for the separation of the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation from that of Minister/Commissioner of Justice.

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Buhari to move against pension for ex-governors

 President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), is to lead a campaign to repeal the pension laws for governors enacted by many states of the federation, Vanguard has learnt.
The proposal by the incoming president is based on what sources close to him affirm as the incongruity of the laws under the country’s socio-economic environment and also, as a way of demonstrating moral leadership from the top.
Majority of the nation’s 36 state Houses of Assembly have enacted generous pension entitlements for governors that in many cases provide 100 per cent pay for the incumbent governors buildings, generous medical allowances for them and their family members and annual holiday provisions, all of which are to last for life. Provisions in the pension allowances are also made for staff, security and vehicles that are renewable every three or four years.
Buhari’s inclination towards a review of the pension for former governors was first publicly declared few days to the presidential election at the All Progressives Congress, APC, retreat in Owerri, Imo State.
It’s scandalous
A source conversant with the development disclosed that Buhari told the governors that there was no way Nigeria could survive under the financial weight of the pensions that had been earmarked for governors. He was said to have described the pension laws as enacted by states controlled by APC and PDP governors as scandalous.
According to the source, “he was very blunt about it and said that it was something that was going to be done immediately, especially because it is not something that can be sustained.
“The feeling was that not only was it wrong and morally unconscionable, but that it was not something that should be encouraged, and he was appealing to them that it should be changed.”
However, the response of the governors, who were present at the retreat, was not immediately given.
It’s a welcome proposal —Keyamo
The development was, yesterday, welcomed by leading Lagos lawyer, Festus Keyamo, who described it as a fantastic proposal but disclosed that it was something that could, however, only be accomplished through moral suasion.
“Fantastic, fantastic. It is a very welcome proposal,” the Lagos lawyer, who backed General Buhari against President Goodluck Jonathan in last month’s presidential election said.
He, however, said the proposal was something that Buhari could only effect through moral suasion as the pension acts were enacted by state Houses of Assembly.
The crave for financial safety out of office was recently also extended to the legislature after the Lagos State House of Assembly passed pension laws to guarantee generous pension entitlements with proposals for former presiding officers of the house.
States that have passed the law
Many states of the federation had steadily been passing the law since return to civil rule. States like Lagos, Edo, Gombe, Oyo, and Rivers have passed the law, through which several former governors are already drawing applicable benefits, which in some cases are 100 per cent of what the incumbent is earning, while in others, some benefits in the pension laws are as high as 300 per cent of what obtains in some states.
100% of basic salary in Lagos
The Lagos State Governor and Deputy Governor Pensions Law of 2007 provides that “a former governor and family (spouse and children both married and unmarried) are entitled to free medical treatment which is not capped. Another highlight is that the ex-governor is entitled to a cook, steward, gardener and other domestic staff who are pensionable.
The benefits:
Annual Basic Salary: 100% of annual basic salaries of the incumbent governor and deputy.
Accommodation: One residential house in Lagos and another in FCT for the former governor; one residential house in Lagos for the deputy.
Transport: Three cars, two backup cars and one pilot car for the ex-governor every three years; two cars, two backup cars and one pilot car for the deputy governor every three years.
Furniture: 300 per cent of the annual salary. 

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