National Interest USA

Ian McPhedran – From: The Daily Telegraph

TROOPS in Afghanistan face a new scourge after an American soldier died from a dreadful Ebola-like virus called Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever.

The tick-borne illness causes an agonising death as it transforms internal organs into soup and triggers uncontrollable bleeding.

Sgt Robert Gordon, 22, died in September after he was bitten on the foot by a tick at a base west of Kandahar.

The virus is transmitted by infected blood.

Australian soldiers work at forward operating bases across Oruzgan Province, northwest of Kandahar. Australian chopper crews service US bases throughout southern Afghanistan.

The disease was first reported in the Crimea in 1944, then in the Congo in 1956, according to the World Health Organisation. An outbreak was reported eight years ago in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s Baluchistan province, which borders Afghanistan.

The Australian Defence Force says it is aware of the risk from the deadly disease and is monitoring the spread of the tick.

Troops deploying to Afghanistan were warned about tick-borne diseases, uniforms were chemically treated, the use of insect repellant was mandatory and soldiers were taught how to examine their body for ticks, a spokesman said.

US forces have flown in 150,000 doses of swine flu vaccine following an outbreak of the deadly disease in the capital, Kabul. More than 10 people have died from the flu.

From correspondents in Beijing, China - AFP

A TOP China air force commander has called the militarisation of space an “historical inevitability”, state media said today, marking an apparent shift in Beijing’s opposition to weaponising outer space.

In a wide-ranging interview in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Daily, air force commander Xu Qiliang said it was imperative for the PLA air force to develop offensive and defensive operations in outer space.

“As far as the revolution in military affairs is concerned, the competition between military forces is moving towards outer space… this is a historical inevitability and a development that cannot be turned back,” Commander Xu told the paper.

“The PLA air force must establish in a timely manner the concepts of space security, space interests and space development.

“We must build an outer space force that conforms with the needs of our nation’s development (and) the demands of the development of the space age.”

Superiority in outer space can give a nation control over war zones both on land and at sea, while also offering a strategic advantage, Commander Xu said, noting that such dominance was necessary to safeguard the nation.

“Only power can protect peace,” the 59-year-old commander said in the interview given to coincide with this month’s 60th anniversary of the founding of the PLA air force.

China has long stated that it supported the peaceful uses of outer space and opposed the introduction of weapons there. Beijing has also sought to establish an international treaty to control the deployment of weapons in space.

In January 2007, China surprised the world by shooting down one of its own weather satellites in a test seen by many, including the United States, as a possible trigger of an arms race in space.