RUSSIAN ARMY HEMORRHAGING OFFICERS.

According to Defense Minister Igor Rodionov, the Russian armed forces have lost 147,000 officers over the past two-and-a-half years, over 80 percent of whom were under forty years of age. One result of this trend is that, despite concurrent force reductions, the armed forces now find themselves short 64,000 officers. This understaffing is said to be especially serious at the company and platoon level. (Nezavisimaya gazeta, August 29)

Norwegian Aid for Nuclear Clean-Up.