War Games in the Pacific

WASHINGTON/BERLIN (Own report) – German soldiers will soon participate in maneuvers in the Pacific and will be on hand as observers on patrols in the South China Sea, according to announcements by the US Navy and the French Minister of Defense, Florence Parly. At a top-level conference in Singapore last weekend, Parly declared that Paris will dispatch warships to the South China Sea in the next few days and will also navigate through the territorial waters of Islands China claims as its territory. According to Parly, German military observers will embark on these ships. At the same time, German soldiers are preparing their participation in the US led RIMPAC 2018 maneuver, taking place mainly near Hawaii. RIMPAC is the world’s largest international maritime exercise. During RIMPAC 2016 German soldiers trained in “liberating” an island, which, according to the scenario, was held by the “Draco” militia. “Draco” is the Latin term for “dragon” – a symbol for China.

NATO’s Northern Expansion (II)

 

BERLIN/BRUSSELS/STOCKHOLM(Own report) – Officially neutral Sweden can be considered a “de facto member” of NATO, a Swedish foreign policy expert confirmed in a new German foreign policy periodical. Last fall’s large maneuver in Sweden sent a clear “message” that the country’s neutrality has “de facto been suspended,” completely changing the entire military “map” of the Baltic region “to NATO’s advantage.” In fact, back already in the 1990s, Sweden had begun to build links to the western war alliance; crucial decisions had been taken already before the Ukraine conflict’s escalation and Crimea’s integration into the Russian Federation. The Bundeswehr is heavily involved in integrating the Swedish armed forces into NATO’s structures, focusing on naval cooperation. This cooperation is aiming at including the Swedish military into NATO’s naval operations. The cooperation of the naval forces is not limited to NATO’s framework, but may also be within that of the EU.

Toying with a World War (II)

BERLIN/DAMASCUS (Own report) -While jihadi militias pursue their military offensive launched on the weekend in Aleppo, the German government is increasing its pressure on Russia. “As the most important supporter of the regime” in Damascus, Moscow must provide “a sound agreement for Aleppo,” demanded German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. But it was in fact the militia that broke the ceasefire initiated by Russia late last week and it was they who were also preventing the evacuation of the civilian population by firing at the escape corridors, as a British journalist reported from Aleppo. Similar practices are being used by the militia in the Iraqi town of Mosul, however these are being described for what they are, i.e. the IS is using civilians as “human shields.” The German government is intensifying its pressure on Russia, at a moment when Moscow is reinforcing its military strength in the Eastern Mediterranean with the deployment of an aircraft carrier battle group near the Syrian coast, aimed at achieving an equal footing with the western powers. A German Bundeswehr frigate is accompanying the French aircraft carrier “Charles de Gaulle” in the same region, where the Russian aircraft carrier “Admiral Kuznetsov” is going. Particularly the German Green Party leadership is raising demands for declaring a no-fly zone over Syria – preparing another escalation, risking a direct war with Russia.

Is Europe Finally Ready for an Army?

Caption: (Gary Dorning)

 

Demands for it are getting louder than ever. Here is why we know it will happen.

Top leaders in Germany, France and the European Union are calling for a pan-European military. Such a military would be a truly world-shaking development. Yet many dismiss the idea because it has yet to materialize despite a long-term desire to create it.

But now, a European military seems likelier than ever. The attacks in Paris and Nice, as well as those occurring elsewhere in Europe, have left France desperate for European military help. Germany is more willing than ever to take the lead in Europe, and is remilitarizing. And Britain’s vote to leave the European Union removes Europe’s biggest obstacle to building a combined military.

Germany, Italy may increase submarine fleets

The German and Italian Navies are looking to increase their submarine fleets again in light of evolving security challenges, senior officials said at the Subcon 2015 conference on submarine technology organised by ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) in Kiel.

Germany

An “arc of instability” now spans several continents, exacerbating maritime security challenges, and the Ukraine crisis has highlighted the need to still consider more traditional security challenges, noted Vice Admiral Andreas Krause, the head of the German Navy.

Billions for European Wars

And here you begin to see the European Army portion of the upcoming United States of Europe literally shaping up courtesy of Germany and it’s Fourth Reich which dominates the EU. They want America and NATO out.

 

BERLIN (Own report) – The German Defense Minister announced new multi-billion Euro armament projects, aimed at Germany’s and the EU’s greater independence from the USA. Ursula von der Leyen announced yesterday that the Bundeswehr would purchase the Medium Extended Air Defense System “MEADS” to replace the “Patriot” air defense system. Whereas the “Patriot” system had to be imported entirely from the United States, a consortium with significant German participation will manufacture MEADS. It is estimated to cost about four billion Euros, with another four billion having been already invested. With MEADS, Germany would achieve more “autonomy in security policy,” according to a CSU party military policy specialist. The German Navy will also receive four MKS 180 multi-role warships worth around four billion Euros, better suited for waging distant wars more effectively and over more extended periods. Other armament projects, such as a German-French battle tank, serve the consolidation of the EU’s arms industries or – as with the “Euro-drone” – are aimed at achieving more independence from the US arms industry. The A 400M Airbus airlifter crash in early May is seen by observers in the context of these efforts to achieve autonomy.

En Route to New Conflicts (III)

TOKYO/BERLIN (Own report) – The German Chancellor’s trip to Japan, early next week, takes place in the midst of the expansion of military relations between Berlin and Tokyo. Particularly the German Navy is regularly cooperating with its Japanese counterparts, with which it carries out tactical maneuvers at the Horn of Africa. Since some time, army and air force have also been extending their antennas toward Japan. Parallel to Germany’s efforts, Great Britain and France have also been intensifying their military policy relationships to Japan. The same goes for NATO, which, just last year signed an “Individual Partnership and Cooperation Programme” with the Japanese government. Already two years ago, German government advisors had recommended that Germany “participate in the USA’s political and military re-orientation toward Asia.” This would mean the reinforcement of western positions in the direct territorial vicinity of the Peoples Republic of China, with the intention of rolling back its political power. Berlin and the EU also see Japan, the USA’s key ally in Asia, as an important partner in their rivalry with Beijing.

The German Path to an EU Army (1)

Have you ever wondered what the world would like, post-Pax Americana?

As America suicidally declines, here’s your next likely superpower to fill the vacuum: A German-led EU/United States of Europe with a European Army.

The structure is set and all it needs is a unifying factor to tie the knot, such as a large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine or a large-scale islamic terrorist attack within Europe. Europe already has a high amount of disdain for NATO and would feel more comfortable without it.

Here we also see how much influence and control Germany already wields within Polish and Dutch military circles.

This is also mainly why Germany wants Great Britain out and the British want out. It’s a matter of sovereignty whereas the immigration ‘issue’ is only an excuse for Merkel wanting to push Britain out should Britain put a halt to it.

 

BERLIN (Own report) – The German government is accelerating the creation of an EU army by means of bilateral military cooperation. The German-Polish “declaration of intent” on military cooperation of the two countries’ armed forces, signed in the middle of the week, is the most recent example. The agreement includes the exchange and joint training of officers as well as “placing combat battalions under the other’s command.” Poland’s military already has more than 130 German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks with another 120 due to be added by 2015. A sales contract to this effect was signed last year, only a few months after an agreement “reinforcing” cooperation between the Navies of the two countries was signed. At the time, German Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière (CDU) spoke of a “totally new quality” in the military cooperation between Germany and Poland. His successor, Ursula von der Leyen (CDU), has gone a step further and had her ministry declare that the intended German-Polish military cooperation is a “trendsetting milestone for the development of European integrated military structures.”

The Crimean Conflict

KIEV/BERLIN (Own report) – As the Crimean crisis escalates, the German Navy is dispatching one of its spy ships to the Mediterranean. The “Alster,” which had already been carrying out espionage on the Syrian war zone, is reported to have sailed from its homeport. Whether it will pursue a route through the Mediterranean to the Black Sea remains the Bundeswehr’s secret. With the Crimean conflict, the power struggle over the Ukraine is involving an area of utmost geostrategic importance to Moscow. The Russian Black Sea Fleet is stationed on the Crimean Peninsula, which is considered “Russia’s diving board into the Mediterranean,” where Russia has increased activities since 2013, seeking to counterbalance the USA. It is already being speculated, that the pro-western putschist government could annul the accord on stationing the Black Sea Fleet, thereby depriving Russia of this strategic position. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Moscow has had to watch how NATO has expanded its position in the Black Sea – with Bundeswehr participation and at the expense of Russia. Crimea’s geostrategic importance explains why Germany – unlike in the case, for example, of Yugoslavia – is trying to prevent the peninsula’s secession and a rapprochement with Russia by all means.

Zones of Future Conflicts

BEIJING/WASHINGTON/BERLIN (Own report) – German government advisors are warning against an arms race and possible military confrontations in East Asia. As a recent study by the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) explains, China’s attempts to take control over its coastal waters and its maritime trade routes collide with the USA’s attempts to uphold Washington’s claims to maintain its “international leadership role.” The arms buildup of the Chinese Navy and the initial shift of US armed forces to the Pacific are colliding head-on and could – in the worst case – result in armed conflict. In effect, as a NATO partner of the United States, Germany would also be implicated in cases of conflict. German naval vessels are already being incorporated with growing frequency into the US Navy’s combat units. Berlin is also contributing to the expansion of NATO military cooperation with the pro-western countries of east and Southeast Asia, and the Pacific regions through military policy measures and arms exports. German naval circles are also demanding that the German Navy soon be given an arms upgrade and an offensive posture.

Vatican bank president’s links to warship manufacturing blindsides Holy See

In the Vatican there’s a German pope, a German bank president with connections to German aristocratic families as well as a German military connection. Is history repeating itself?

ATICAN CITY — The Vatican was drawn into a new controversy Friday after acknowledging that its bank’s new president is also chairman of a shipbuilder making warships — a significant conflict for an institution that has long shunned ties to military manufacturing.

The Vatican announced to great fanfare that Pope Benedict XVI had signed off on one of the last major appointments of his papacy, approving Ernst von Freyberg as president of the Vatican’s bank, officially known as the Institute for Religious Works.

The Vatican spokesman was caught off-guard, though, when a journalist noted that the German shipbuilder von Freyberg chairs, Blohm + Voss, is known for its military ship construction.

Afghanistan—Guess Who’s Not Leaving?

Much publicity is being given to the drawdown of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. As to the strength of commitment to and the true nature of the drawdown, we shall have to wait to see what U.S. plan will emerge in the wake of the recent U.S. presidential elections.

…

Enter Germany.