01.09.2010.
ODBRANA Magazine in issue 119 of 1 September
The fact that during the visit to China the delegation of the Ministry of Defence was received by the President of the All-People Chinese Congress, Mr Wu, while the last year it was the Vice President of China Shi Ji Ping, speaks about great support of China to the Ministry of Defence and also the overall support to Serbia, Minister Šutanovac said after the meeting with the first man of the Chinese Parliament expressing the hope that this support will bring the improvement of the overall political and economic relations between Serbia and China.Ministers of Defence of Serbia and Canada, Dragan Šutanovac and Peter MacKay, met on 27 August in the House of Guards in Topcider. After the talks, Minister Šutanovac pointed out that this was the first visit by the high delegation of the Ministry of Defence of Canada after a long period of time and an opportunity to extend and promote the already good cooperation.
Major General Bozidar Forca, PhD, Head of the Strategic Planning Department said in his interview for ODBRANA that in all three spheres of development of the defence system, such as strategic-doctrinal, legal-normative, and organisational-functional, we may say that we are interoperable with the strongest, most developed countries, and especially with our neighbourhood. In the strategy and doctrine, we virtually speak the same language, that is, we are talking about the same aspects, taking into account the specificities of our own system in particular, General Forca said, noting that in creating the Draft long-term development plan of the Serbian defence system a modern approach to defence planning has been applied based on defining strategic orientation and required capacity of the Serbian Armed Forces.
The event of the 96th anniversary of the Cer battle has been marked. The victory of the Serbian Army on Cer, as any great victory, is woven from many individual efforts of officers, NCOs and soldiers. A victory takes thousands of personal achievements, sacrifices and heroic deeds about which the history does not write often, but which are real and decisive for the outcome of war operations. These nameless soldiers contribute to the magnificence and genius of these military leaders by their determination and courage – Chief of General Staff General Miletic emphasized at a ceremony in Tekeriš.
The day of 1st September is marked as the Day of the Personnel Service. The steps made in this service today, willingness to be educated, trained and to continuously develop shape to a large extent the Serbian Armed Forces in the future. Tendency that the right people come to the right place can be achieved only by increasing transparency in the work and providing high-quality competition, which is supported by the realization of many already completed and some just initiated projects in the Human Resources Sector of the Ministry of Defence.
Due to the well done promotion of the professional soldier vocation, the First Brigade, in cooperation with the local authorities of Pancevo, provided that the response of candidates for military duties in that component of the Armed Forces is satisfactory and that the manning is realised in continuity.
The two-day Main Planning Conference on the occasion of the international command staff simulation exercise SEESIM 2010 – South Eastern Europe Simulation 2010, which is to be implemented from 18 to 25 October in Albania has been recently held at the Joint Operations Command of the Serbian Armed Forces General Staff.
A number of 41 countries will take part in this year's telecommunications exercise "Combined Endeavour 2010" in Germany, including the representatives of NATO and the Combined Corps "Northeast", or about 1,500 members of different armed forces. More than 1,200 tests have been contracted to be done by the participants. The Serbian Armed Forces, which has 76 tests, will be represented by 32 officers, NCOs and military employees, 26 of which will be performed in Germany.
On the slopes of the Mountain Rajac, the driving of two vehicles made by "Zastava-trucks" has been recently demonstrated. This is a prototype of a light off-road non-combat vehicle New Turbo Rival and minibus – landscape New Turbo Rival, an ecological environmentally friendly vehicle driven on compressed natural gas – methane (CNG).
Special contribution in this issue is dedicated to the economic and military rise of China.
With rifle in hand, no days of school, malnourished, and left on their own, sleeping under the open sky, some boys and girls do not play "war". Battlefield is their playground. According to the United Nations estimates, more than 300,000 children are forced to fight on some of the battlefields from Asia to Latin America. Children's hands perpetrate even the most brutal crimes to prove themselves in the cruel world of "the big ones". The data from the field show that the actual figure is much higher than the statistics of the United Nations. Apart from children who were forcibly mobilized, it is not a negligible number of small soldiers "mercenaries" who receive money in return for services rendered during the war.
Strategic Research Institute of the Defence Policy Sector of the Serbian Ministry of Defence has initiated in 2009 a medium-term project – Implementation of simulation in the study of physiognomy of modern war. The motivation for such research has arisen from the scope of work of the Institute – elaboration of theoretical and methodological bases of research in the field of security challenges, crises and armed conflicts, research of the issues set out in the strategic documents and monitoring of foreign experiences.
Exhibition of photographs "Missing Lives" dedicated to the missing persons during the wars in former Yugoslavia was opened in front of the Art Pavilion "Cvijeta Zuzori?" at Kalemegdan, and on that occasion, the book was promoted under the same title. The sponsors of the project are the Commission for Missing Persons of the Serbian Government and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The exhibition "180 years of Guard in Serbia" was to mark the Day of the Military Museum – 22nd August, the day on which, in 1878, Prince Milan signed the Act on the establishment of the museum. It was the ruler's birthday (10th August, OS), and on that occasion the act on the independence of Serbia after the Berlin Congress was read.
It's been 69 years since the April War and heroic death of almost the entire crew of the monitor ship Drava, who defended to the last breath not only their ship, but also the dignity of the youngest branch of the Serbian Army – Navy.
Snezana Stan?eti?, physical training officer for the First Brigade, is the current champion in the veteran selection of the Balkans in the athletic events of running at 200 and 400 meters, with still uncontested record set in Athens in 2006 and this year's Serbian veteran selection record holder in the running at 100 and 400 meters. Working with professional members of the First Brigade she achieves outstanding results in their physical readiness.
ODBRANA can be purchased at newsstands of ŠTAMPA and FUTURA PLUS and at the military bookstore in 22 Vasina in Belgrade at the price of 100 dinars.
