NATO exercise to be biggest since Cold War

 

NATO’s Trident Juncture 18 exercise will draw in 45,000 troops, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday, unveiling what officials confirmed would be the alliance’s biggest manoeuvres since the Cold War.

Treasury Hits Russian FSB for Underwater Reconnaissance of Internet Cables

An undersea fiber optic cable / Getty Images

 

Moscow plans to attack undersea cables in future conflict

The Treasury Department on Monday announced the imposition of economic sanctions against Russian entities engaged in targeting undersea internet cables and cyber spying inside critical U.S. infrastructures.

The department announced sanctions on five companies and three Russians linked to the Federal Security Service, the main Kremlin intelligence service, known as the FSB, that has been linked to Russian election meddling in 2016.

For the first time, Treasury revealed one of the sanctioned companies, Divetechnoservices, has worked with the FSB since 2007 to spy on underwater cables used to connect the internet around the world.

“Russia has been active in tracking undersea communication cables which carry the bulk of the world’s telecommunications data,” the department said in announcing the sanctions.

Netanyahu: Trump Is Very Likely To Order Attack On Syria

דמשק בכוננות ספיגה: פקיד בכיר אמר לחדשות עשר כי בדיונים ביטחוניים שהתקיימו ביממה האחרונה העריך ראש הממשלה @netanyahu שהנשיא טראמפ צפוי, בסבירות גבוהה, להורות על תקיפה אמריקנית בסוריה בתגובה לשימוש שעשה משטר אסד בנשק כימי @BarakRavid

— חדשות עשר (@news10) April 10, 2018

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes US President Trump is very likely to order an attack on Syria, a senior Israeli official tells Israel’s Channel 10 news.

Bloomberg, however, reports that Trump is said to have not made a decision yet on Syria despite the fact that he canceled a trip to South America, citing the crisis in Syria. 

U.S. Plans Largest Ever Oil & Gas Lease Sale In Gulf Of Mexico

 

The largest oil and gas lease sale for waters in the Gulf of Mexico in U.S. history will occur on March 21st, according to an announcement by the Trump administration on Friday.

Less than a year ago, a similar auction in the same body of water generated little interest from energy companies.

Trump’s stealth North Korea move sidelines China, could be game-changer

President Donald Trump and China’s Xi JInping in Florida.

 

Just how the shape of the new global strategic architecture will settle out as the framework for the 21st Century is still open to challenge, but the key dynamic — the initial door to that new world — is now being opened by a deliberately-orchestrated U.S.-North Korea confrontation.

What is emerging beyond this door is an overarching strategic alternative to the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) démarche of “One Belt, One Road” dominance of the Eurasian and Indo-Pacific geopolitical space, and an alternative, or balance, to the PRC’s reach into Africa and the Americas.

The confrontation between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean (DPRK) leader Kim Jong-Un is very much just between those two leaders, with the People’s Republic of China somewhat marginalized. Beijing is now fighting to find a path into this equation.

Springboard into the Pacific Region

BERLIN/CANBERRA (Own report) – To reinforce its position in the Pacific region, Berlin is initiating a regular dialogue with Australia at foreign and defense ministerial levels. Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier are participating in the first “German-Australian 2+2 Dialogue” held today in Berlin. The meeting, which will be repeated at regular intervals, is one of the measures initiated in early 2013 to enhance cooperation between Berlin and Canberra, in light of the shift of global policy priority from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In view of its growing economic and political importance, Washington considers China to be its main rival of the future. Therefore US President George W. Bush (2002) and US Foreign Minister Hillary Clinton (2011) explicitly declared this to be “America’s Pacific Century,” and Washington has begun redeploying its military forces closer to the People’s Republic of China. Explicitly claiming to “help shape the global order,” Berlin also feels obliged to reinforce its position in that region.

Admiral Warns: Russian Subs Waging Cold War-Style ‘Battle of the Atlantic’

Russia has stepped up its submarine operations and is regularly probing U.S. anti-submarine networks in a new “Battle of the Atlantic,” the commander of U.S. 6^th Fleet said.

In an article for the U.S. Naval Institute’s June issue of Proceedings, Vice Adm. James Foggo III outlined a new era in U.S. and Russian submarine warfare he dubs “The Fourth Battle of the Atlantic.”

In his piece, Foggo compares the current uptick in Russian submarine posture to the great submarine battles between the Allies and the Germans in World War I and World War II and the Soviets and the U.S. during the Cold War.

The Rise and Fall of a Superpower

An article from 2000 with lessons for today:

 

(©iStock.com/Diane Labombarbe)

 

Building the Panama Canal was one of the greatest chapters in American history. It helps to reveal how America became a superpower, if we understand the complete history. Today we see an almost totally different spirit in our leaders. The meaning behind that change contains the strongest warning ever for America!

How much do Americans understand their own history? We are called the world’s greatest superpower ever! But how did we rise to such heights? Most Americans are ignorant of how it all happened. And that ignorance places us in grave danger!

Our building and now surrendering of the Panama Canal reveals a large part of the story. It gives a powerful insight into the rise and fall of the world’s greatest superpower.

President Theodore Roosevelt led our people to build the Panama Canal. He had a spirit and courage that I don’t see in our leaders today.

WORLD MATTERS: Yes, European conservatives agree, U.S. politics and media are in free fall

Pardon an outburst from a fervent friend of the United States: Yes, Secretary of State John Kerry is right! This year’s election campaign is indeed an embarrassment to America!

As Kerry said, America’s friends around the world are shocked. I am a European conservative, and I am shocked. I speak with friends in Europe every day, including senior officials in Germany and seasoned political observers in France. And they are shocked by this country’s descent into abject vulgarity at a time when the world yearns for American leadership displaying wisdom and values.

Understanding Russian Political Ideology And Vision: A Call For Eurasia, From Lisbon To Vladivostok

Perhaps the next superpower on the world stage will indeed be a Paris-Berlin-Moscow axis. It’s often said here on Global Geopolitics that Germany’s Fourth Reich will lead the new superpower, which is to say a United States of Europe. That may strongly be the case, but a twist as described here, can also come into play. This isn’t the first time “from Lisbon to Vladivostok” has been mentioned.

Whatever it may look like, a new superpower emerging certainly isn’t far away as America suicides itself into the history books. The next chapter in world history isn’t going to be the end of the world, but the end of America as we know it.

 

The five-pointed red star, symbolizing both communism and socialism. This photo accompanied the article in Russia in Global Affairs (Source: Russia in Global Affairs, March 3, 2016).

 

Introduction

In a landmark treatise titled “Russia’s Foreign Policy: Historical Background,” published March 3, 2016 in the Russian foreign affairs journal Russia in Global Affairs, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov challenged the Western perspective on Russia with an analysis of Russian history. According to Lavrov, Russia has played an important role in shaping both European history and contemporary European policies. He writes that contrary to the belief widespread in the West that Russia is Europe’s” political outsider, “it is an integral part of the European context, adding that while throughout history Russia’s power has been obstructed by European countries, Europe’s geography, and its historical, intrinsic interconnection with Russia, signifies that the former will always have to consider the latter. Lavrov also sketches out a bipolar world in which Russia confronts the U.S. by expanding its own realm of political influence and power from the Atlantic to the Pacific, as part of a new political entity – Eurasia. The vision of Eurasia and the resultant political goals are in essence an ideological blueprint for an ideological agenda to counter the U.S.

This report will present the Russian perspective, political ideology, and goals, as set out not only by Foreign Minister Lavrov but also by Russian President Vladimir Putin, and citing these ideas’ roots in recent history. It will not, however, include an examination of the extent to which these ideas and goals can actually be implemented at this time, given the country’s current economic, political, and structural situation

Prepare to Be Blindsided in 2016

Column: The only thing we can predict in politics is that we’ll be surprised

Target: Paris. More than 130 die in a terrorist attack on a Friday night in November. No one sees it coming. Global panic ensues.

Suddenly the nation debates the future of the Syrian refugee program. Terrorism jumps to the front of voters’ minds. National security becomes the defining issue of the 2016 election. No one sees that coming, either.

Around two weeks after the Paris attack, Turkey shoots down a Russian fighter over Syria. Vladimir Putin calls it a “stab in the back” and sends more forces to the region. Barack Obama pleads for calm. Trending on Twitter: World War III.

Message to the World

BERLIN/ULM/BRUNSSUM (Own report) – The German Bundeswehr will play a leading role in “Operation Trident Juncture,” a large scale NATO exercise, set for late September. German NATO-General Hans-Lothar Domröse will command the exercise involving more than 36,000 soldiers. The German Armed Forces’ “Multinational Joint Headquarters” based in Ulm (Baden-Württemberg) will be the main coordinator. “Trident Juncture” will exercise a military intervention in a fictitious country at the Horn of Africa with NATO’s “Spearhead” response force, comprised mainly of Bundeswehr soldiers. According to the training scenario, not only will western troops be confronting a regular army and guerilla fighters, but will also encounter “food insecurity,” “massive population displacements,” “cyber-attacks,” “chemical warfare,” and “information warfare.” According to Lt. Gen. Richard Rossmanith, commander of the “Multinational Joint Headquarters Ulm,” “Operation Trident Juncture” will not only send a “message” to Russia: “Everyone should consider carefully about how they deal with us” – because NATO is “the strongest military alliance in the world” with a “360 degree” orientation.

Nuclear War: Russia Shocks US With Tactical Weapons, Pentagon Retaliates

America is too far behind to catch up. The funds to modernize the U.S. nuclear arsenal will be too little, too late, and is just a token offering to ‘look busy’ or prepared. After the funding is in place, it still takes years, if not a decade to go from the development to deployment stage. What they’re proposing now might not even account for inflation or go over budget in project finance.

The Soviets could also now shut down the U.S. if they wanted to, but it’s too early since there’s still a chance of damaging retaliation from whatever little capability still remains up the U.S. sleeve. The remaining means of retaliation still need to be sought out and crippled.

It’s beyond the point of no return. By the time 2017 comes around, America might find itself in checkmate — as if the easy disabling of an American warship by Russia over the Mediterranean wasn’t enough of a hint.

If you want insight on what it might look like before a Russian strike upon America, here might be a good idea and start: Spetsnaz’s First World War from the book “Spetsnaz. The Story Behind the Soviet SAS“.

 

Russia is in possession of strategic nuclear weapons far more advanced than the United States, and it will continue to lead the game with its new generation of missiles, according to a comprehensive report from the Russian political newspaper, PRAVDA. Indeed, if World War 3 erupts, Russian Vladimir Putin will win hands down, the report suggested.

The report titled Russia Prepares Nuclear Surprise For NATO, claims that Russia was able to amass its massive nuclear power because the U.S. had been dismissive and neglectful of achieving innovations in decades after winning the Cold War. Specifically, the U.S. had closed the possibility of developing high-precision long-range weapons that could eradicate enemies even without coming to direct contact. But Russia never stops innovating despite much criticism and the more accepted notion that the country is weak and the west is superior. At this point, Russia has “long-range cruise missiles of a new generation that will soon be deployed on submarines of the Black Sea Fleet and missile ships of the Caspian Flotilla,” PRAVDA stated.

Panama stops N.Korea ship over ‘weapon material’

PANAMA CITY (AFP) – Panama’s president said Monday that a North Korean ship captain tried to kill himself after the vessel was stopped en route from Cuba and found to have suspected missile material on board.

Outlining a dramatic sequence of events, President Ricardo Martinelli said the ship was targeted by drug enforcement officials as it approached the Panama Canal and was taken into port, but a search revealed cargo of far greater concern.

Iran plans to establish new navy base

The plans are part of Iran’s ambitions to exert its naval power outside the Persian Gulf, including sending warships to the Mediterranean and claiming it might someday have ships in the Atlantic.