NATO is refocusing their efforts toward Russia in light of Vladimir Putin’s invasion and takeover of Crimea last year.
NATO wants to prevent Russia from doing the same thing to other former Soviet Republics.
“We have reasons to believe that Russia views the Baltic region as one of NATO’s most vulnerable areas, a place where NATO’s resolve can be tested,” said Sven Mikser, Estonia’s defense minister.
“If the Russians sense a window of opportunity, they will use it to their advantage,” said Estonia’s chief of defense, Lt. Gen. Riho Terras. “We must make sure there’s no room for miscalculation.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has been traveling to the capitals of NATO member nations to talk about the refocus on Russia. He has pledged the U.S. to give weapons and loan commandos to a new NATO rapid reaction force.
The U.S. will also place heavy weapons and tanks in the Baltics and Eastern Europe for the first time.
NATO is facing issues with member nations such as Germany, Italy and France not being in favor of going to war with Russia should an invasion of Estonia or other former Soviet republics take place.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Monday that the U.S. will send weapons, aircraft and troops as needed to NATO’s new rapid reaction force. The force will defend Europe in the event of an aggressive move by Russia or ISIS.
President Obama made the commitment last year during a NATO summit but Carter is revealing the details of the plan.
“We do not seek a cold, let alone a hot war with Russia,” Carter said at Atlantik Brucke, a Berlin think tank that focuses on the German-U.S. relationship. “We do not seek to make Russia an enemy. But make no mistake: we will defend our allies, the rules-based international order, and the positive future it affords us. We will stand up to Russia’s actions and their attempts to re-establish a Soviet-era sphere of influence.”
The U.S. will provide intelligence and surveillance capabilities, special operations forces, transport aircraft and a range of weapons from bombers and fighters to ship-based missiles. A large ground force is not part of the U.S. commitment.
Carter is attending his first NATO meeting as Defense Secretary and plans to bring a two-pronged approach to NATO’s needs: the first is a strong defense against Russia in an attempt to stop them from establishing a Soviet-era influence on the region while partnering with Russia to fight Islamic terrorism.
U.S. officials are watching the economic situation in Greece with concern that it might lead to a situation where Russia could gain influence over a NATO member.
Greece, on the verge of bankruptcy, has been struggling with members of the European Union regarding debts and loans to cover costs. If Greece defaults, Russia could swoop in with economic help and turn that nation against the West.
“You can easily see how geopolitically this would be a gift to Russia,” says Sebastian Mallaby at the Council on Foreign Relations. “You do not want Europe to have to deal with a Greece that is a member of NATO but which all of a sudden hates the West and is cozying up to Russia.”
President Obama and his administration have been quietly talking with German leaders about getting the EU to resolve the standoff with Greece. Apparently the EU’s issues with Ukraine have factored into the Greece discussions.
The Greek prime minister traveled to Russia last week to meet with Russian president Putin.
Russia has been working to weaken the EU’s support for sanctions which require all 28 member nations to approve before going into effect. If Greece remains in the EU but receives major support from Russia, they could block further sanctions.
“We still believe that Europe remains united against Russia and what they’re doing,” says John Kirby, state department spokesman, when asked about the potential impact of a Greek default.
“I think coming out of the G7 you saw a lot of unity in Europe for continued sanctions against Russia and the possibility for increased sanctions to further isolate Russia.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that his nation would be adding more than 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) to their nuclear arsenal.
“More than 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles able to overcome even the most technically advanced anti-missile defense systems will be added to the make-up of the nuclear arsenal this year,” Putin, flanked by army officers, said in a speech at an arms fair west of Moscow.
The announcement comes a day after NATO members along the Russian border agreed to place U.S. tanks and heavy weapons in their countries. The move is being called “the most aggressive act since the cold war” by analysts.
The actions are seen in response to the current tension in Ukraine and Russia’s unwillingness to back down from their efforts to destabilize that nation.
ICBMs have a maximum range of 3,400 miles. Putin did not state what kind of ICBMs would be placed into the Russia arsenal.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Russia was “saber rattling” and attempting to further degrade an already dangerous situation.
A former ISIS member has testified that a member of NATO is considered an ally of the terrorist organization by ISIS leadership.
Turkey, which has been dragging its feet in joining the world coalition to stop the terrorist group, is reportedly allowing the terrorists to freely cross their border and move supplies and weapons into Iraq and Syria.
The terrorist, calling himself “Sherko Omer”, is a former communications tech for ISIS. He said that Turkey is working with ISIS because of a common hatred for the Kurds.
“ISIS saw the Turkish army as its ally especially when it came to attacking the Kurds in Syria,” Omer said. “The Kurds were the common enemy for both ISIS and Turkey. Also, ISIS had to be a Turkish ally because only through Turkey they were able to deploy ISIS fighters to northern parts of the Kurdish cities and towns in Syria.”
Omer also said he has seen first hand the connection between the Turkish army and the terrorists.
“I have connected ISIS field captains and commanders from Syria with people in Turkey on innumerable occasions,” Omer said. “I rarely heard them speak in Arabic, and that was only when they talked to their own recruiters, otherwise, they mostly spoke in Turkish because the people they talked to were Turkish officials of some sorts because ISIS guys used to be very serious when they talked to them.”
The battle against Islamic terrorism is not going to end any time soon.
British Prime Minister David Cameron spoke to Parliament on Friday about the situation with ISIS and said that the battle to eliminate the terrorist entity is going to be prolonged and difficult.
“Beheadings, crucifixions, the gouging out of eyes, the use of rape as a weapon, the slaughter of children. All these things belong to the Dark Ages,” Cameron said.
“Left unchecked, we will face a terrorist caliphate on the shores of the Mediterranean and bordering a NATO member, with a declared and proven determination to attack our country and our people.”
Cameron is asking permission to send significant amount of British airpower to Iraq. Denmark is the latest country to join the coalition, sending seven F-16 fighter jets and pilots to Iraq for airstrikes.
Military analysts say the airstrikes have slowed ISIS progress.
Two Russian bombers carried out a series of practice cruise missile attacks on the United States last week during the NATO summit in Wales.
The bombers were identified as Russian Tu-95 Bear bombers. They flew over Iceland, Greenland and dipped over northeast Canada. The flights approached was is called a “launch box”, the optimum point for firing a nuclear weapon at the United States.
The test runs come as a Russian general is calling for the country to change their policies to make pre-emptive nuclear strikes on the United States and Europe the default position. Gen. Yuri Yakubov has been calling on Russia to classify the U.S. and NATO as “enemies” and that they need to “hash out conditions” where Russia could launch missiles.
The Russian aircraft stayed just outside of the North American Air Defense Identification Zone so the U.S. and Canadian Air Force did not send jets to intercept.
NATO officials held a summit last week to discuss Russia and their hostile actions toward Ukraine.
Former Cuban president Fidel Castro is blaming the United States and Israel for the creation of the Islamic terrorist group ISIS.
Castro says that Israel’s intelligence agency teamed up with U.S. Senator John McCain to create the terrorist entity. Castro made the claim in an article he penned for the Cuban state media and translated by Russia Today.
“Many people are astonished when they hear the statements made by some European spokesmen for NATO when they speak with the style and face of the Nazi SS,” Castro wrote. “Adolf Hitler’s greed-based empire went down in history with no more glory than the encouragement provided to NATO’s aggressive and bourgeois governments, which makes them the laughing stock of Europe and the world.”
The 88-year-old Castro has officially been out of power since his resignation but many western diplomats say that he is still consulted on any major decision for the country. His views on America and Israel likely will continue to be the stance of the nation until his death.
Afghanistan officials say that the death toll in the Friday landslides has topped 2,100 and could climb even higher.
Government officials say that the most tragic part of the entire event happened in the second landslide. A government spokesman said that 600 people who showed up to help those trapped in the first landslide died when they were buried in a second landslide.
Rescuers say that the area is still very unstable and that rescue workers and residents still in the area are at risk for another landslide. However, families have been saved from the landslide.
“Around 700 families were rescued,” Afghan National Disaster Management Authority spokesman Sayed Abdullah Homayun Dehqan said while adding that they are still short of the necessary supplies to expand rescues.
NATO’s Regional Command is organizing troops to help with the rescue efforts.
Taliban terrorists attacked the base of a logistics firm that supplies NATO troops, killing at least seven people in the homicide bombing raid.
Kabul’s police chief told the BBC that four terrorists drove a truck full of explosives into the compound. At least five base guards were killed in the bomb and gun attack. Continue reading →
