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The Federation Council on Wednesday approved a request by President Dmitry Medvedev to grant him the right to send troops abroad without the consent of the senators, Interfax reported.
"This is about solving immediate tasks connected to a threat to the lives of Russian nationals, as well as fighting piracy and securing the safety of shipping traffic," Medvedev's envoy to the Federation Council, Alexander Kotenkov, told the senators before the vote.
In early November, Medvedev signed a bill into law that allows him to send troops abroad to fend off attacks on the Russian military, to deter aggression against a third country, to defend Russian citizens, to combat pirates and to protect ships.
Medvedev, who ordered the bill, had made it clear that he was motivated by last year’s five-day war, which started when Tbilisi tried to retake the breakaway, pro-Russian region of South Ossetia by force. Most residents in South Ossetia and Georgia's other breakaway region, Abkhazia, hold Russian passports.
The November law overlaps with the 2006 Law on Countering Terrorism, which allows the military to fight terrorists outside Russia. Under that law, the decision to deploy troops abroad is to be made by the president after getting a resolution from the Federation Council.
The provisions of the November law allowing Russia to defend foreign forces and countries apply to states that have signed military cooperation pacts with Russia, which include South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which Moscow recognized as independent after the August 2008 war.
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The headlines should read:
*HELP WANTED SUPPORTING U.S. ARMED FORCES AND COALITION FORCES*
There's one thing about the discussion of whether you agree with the surge, or disagree with the surge - it is a moot point - it's happening regardless of one's political affilations or ideology.
And where will the boots-on-ground, grunt labor force providing material support come from to feed, house and take care of all those U.S. and coalition troops?? How will the daunting task concerning the logistics of receiving these troops be addressed?? Exactly who will build, maintain and sustain the infrastructure for the new and existing bases in Afghanistan?? logcap4jobs.com provides some incredibly honest, raw, unfiltered, truly *viral* information for anyone considering going to work on the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program, and precisely what those intrepid enough to endure the living conditions for a hefty paycheck can expect. The U.S. and coalition troops look to civilians (primarily Americans), working on LOGCAP (Logistics Civil Augmentation Program) for their meals, to do their laundry, take out the trash, keep their living quarters warm in the winter, cool in the summer and much, much more. Imagine for a moment all the disciplines required to build a small city and you'll begin to get an idea of the scope of work necessary to perform the monumental task required to support so many troops - engineers, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, truck drivers, laborers, food service personnel, heavy equipment operators, administrative personnel, accounting and finance, HR, mechanics, water purification, refuse removal - the list goes on and on! All these services plus dozens more must be supplied to the war fighter in order for them to concentrate on the mission at hand - fighting the bad guys. logcap4jobs.com knows what it's talking about when it comes to the subject of supplying the support personell for what many have called the "civilian army" accompanying the troops.
It's a job.....and somebody's sure gotta do it.