California has dispatched 30 of its Air National Guardsmen, along with 30 civilian emergency medical specialists, to Ukraine for a week to participate in disaster response drills with more than 200 military and civilian counterparts from four Caucasus nations. In “Rough and Ready 2006,” the Californians are working side by side with teams from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, and host country Ukraine, responding to simulated terrorist strikes on an oil pipeline, a railway, and a shopping mall. It is the fourth such international exercise for the participants, held under the auspices of California’s State Partnership Program with Ukraine.
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.