2 x 1

[rossana <rossana at comodinoposta.org>]

FINMECCANICA
AgustaWestland sbarca in Cina. La società di Finmeccanica leader mondiale 
nel settore elicotteristico ha firmato con la cinese Jiangxi Changhe 
Aviation Industries Company un accordo per la costituzione di una 
joint-venture per la produzione in Cina dell'elicottero biturbina leggero 
A109 Power (nella foto la versione utilizzata dalla guardia costiera 
americana)

http://www.corriere.it/edicola/index.jsp?path=ECONOMIA&doc=FONOTI

La Germania riduce le basi militari

Berlin. Defense Minister Peter Struck of Germany said Tuesday he intended 
to close 105 of the country's military bases as part of a strategy designed 
to modernize the armed forces and prepare them for the 21st century.
Struck said the closings and reductions would take effect by 2010, leaving 
the German Army "fitter" and more capable of dealing with new challenges 
and threats.
The move, however, comes at a difficult time for Struck, who is being urged 
by Finance Minister Hans Eichel to find ways to trim the defense budget. 
From another flank, Struck is under pressure from NATO and the European 
Union to increase defense expenditures, especially on new military equipment.
Struck said the closings could save €200 million, while the sale of land 
once the army leaves could lead to more savings, although it is unlikely 
any money earned from such sales would be allocated to the Defense Ministry.
The reduction in number of garrisons, from a total of 496, will affect 
almost all of the 16 German states and lead to between 10 and 1,000 job 
losses. The armed forces will be reduced from 285,000 to 250,000 and the 
number of civilian posts will be sharply reduced as well. The number of 
brigades will be slashed from 22 to 12.
"This is not an easy decision for me," Struck said at a news conference. 
But he insisted it was necessary to make a final break with the era of the 
Cold War. During that time, Germany, like other countries belonging to the 
North Atlantic Treaty Organization, maintained large and inflexible armies 
trained for territorial defense that could withstand a conventional attack 
from the Soviet-dominated Warsaw Pact military alliance.
The announcement, however, is a double blow for some German communities, 
especially those where U.S troops have been based over the past five 
decades. The Pentagon has said it intends to sharply cut back the number of 
its troops stationed in Germany and close several bases as part of its own 
restructuring plans. Struck said the final details of those reductions 
would be made next summer. "We are having consultations with our U.S. 
counterparts," he said.
Despite this, the restructuring of Germany's armed forces may go some way 
toward reassuring its NATO and European Union allies that Berlin is taking 
military reform seriously even though Struck has constantly battled with 
the Finance Ministry for more money. Struck's defense budget for last year 
amounted to 1.4 percent of gross domestic product compared with France's 
2.4 percent and Britain's 2.6 percent.
Germany, too, has long been criticized by its allies for being too slow in 
introducing reforms and spending on military equipment and hardware in a 
way that could make its army more flexible, agile and capable of carrying 
out high-intensity combat missions.
Germany did not, for instance, have sufficient heavy air transport carriers 
when it wanted to send its troops to Afghanistan in 2003.
Instead, the troops had to be sent part of the way by train.
Yet German defense analysts said that unlike with its NATO allies, 
Germany's Defense Ministry inherited special problems when the Berlin Wall 
collapsed 15 years ago. After 1990, when the two Germanies were united, the 
government had to find ways to deal with the 175,000-strong army from the 
former East Germany, which swelled the armed forces of the united Germany 
to over 500,000.
Instead of moving away from territorial defense, the Defense Ministry spent 
the first half of the 1990s reducing those forces, finally bringing the 
number down to today's figure of 285,000.
It also spent much time closing giant garrisons in eastern Germany in 
addition to cleaning up the hazardous waste left by the 350,000 Russian 
soldiers who left Germany in 1994.
Furthermore, as NATO countries called on Germany to start playing a role in 
international peacekeeping missions during the Balkans wars of the 1990s, 
German politicians were inhibited from doing so because of the legacy of 
World War II combined with a deeply ingrained pacifism, particularly by the 
Greens and the Social Democrats.
Both parties feared a greater role by its armed forces would lead to 
accusations that Germany was reverting to militarism.
Paradoxically, since the late 1990s, Germany's armed forces have begun to 
play a prominent role in peacekeeping missions under the leftist coalition 
headed by Gerhard Schröder's Social Democrats in coalition with the Greens 
led by Joschka Fischer, who forced the Greens to change their attitude 
toward peacekeeping missions.
Germany now has 10,000 soldiers deployed in the Balkans, the Horn of Africa 
and Afghanistan.
Struck said the reforms would also focus on having more soldiers for 
international peacekeeping missions.
The plan is to have 35,000 highly trained soldiers for specialized and 
combat missions and a further 70,000 troops for long-term peacekeeping 
missions. The remainder would be used for civil defense.
In the meantime, however, conscription will continue, although its future 
is slowly being made an issue as Germany gradually moves toward creating a 
professional, standing army.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/11/02/news/berlin.html