Russia says will build up Arctic military presence

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev visit the Arctic last year, where Moscow is increasingly seeking to assert its influence Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev visit the Arctic last year, where Moscow is increasingly seeking to assert its influence [POOL/AFP/File]

Russia will build up its military presence in the Arctic over the next year, the defence minister said Tuesday, as Moscow seeks to assert its influence in the strategic region.

The EU’s ‘Internal Enemies’

BERLIN (Own report) – In view of the conflict between Brussels and Rome over Italy’s national budget, the German establishment is increasing its demands to resolutely fight the “internal enemies” of the EU. The Union must “now be vigorously defended,” wrote a leading German daily. The Italian government coalition is “not worth risking the country’s fate.” The Italian government is being put into question, because it refuses to continue to submit to German austerity dictates. Berlin’s dominance over the EU is also being met with mounting protests in other member countries. Poland and Hungary are not the only countries, where controversies are intensifying. Anger at Berlin is also growing in France. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the founder of “La France insoumise,” who, with almost 20 percent, barely missed making the run-offs in the 2017 presidential elections, has now called for “France to withdraw from all EU treaties.” The German elite’s reaction is becoming more hostile.

Mattis: China’s Island Militarization Continues

James Mattis (Getty Images)

 

Beijing’s South China Sea encroachment on agenda for meetings in Southeast Asia

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis this week voiced new U.S. opposition to China’s continued militarization of islands in the South China Sea.

“We remain highly concerned with continued militarization of features in the South China Sea,” Mattis told reporters on Monday as he traveled to Vietnam.

Mattis also said China is using predatory economics to seek control over other nations.

State of the Union

A German-dominated United States of Europe with its respective European Army is on the rise — out in the open.

The Fourth Reich has landed.

 

BERLIN/BRUSSELS (Own report) – The EU must develop the capacity “to shape global affairs” and act as “architect of tomorrow’s world,” declared Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission during his “State of the Union” speech yesterday. The speech is modeled on the famous annual “State of the Union Address” presented by the US President to a joint session of Congress. Juncker particularly wants to accelerate the EU’s militarization and the fortification of its external borders. While the German-dominated Union is striving to become a global power, at all costs, tensions within the EU are growing significantly. The disciplinary action adopted yesterday by the European Parliament against Hungary, which has been undermining democratic rights for years, exacerbates the conflict between the West European centers of power and the EU’s eastern members. The blatant prosperity gap between the EU’s center and the impoverished periphery continues unabated. Serious violations of human rights, particularly against refugees, accompany the internally disunited Union’s striving for a global role.

The Militarization of the Sahel (II)

 

BERLIN/PARIS/BAMAKO(Own report) – Nearly five years after the European military mission was launched in Mali, experts are describing the country’s situation as a disaster and warning against Berlin and Paris’ further militarization of the Sahel. Mali “has never” seen “such a level of violence” as “currently,” says a former French diplomat. The regional conflicts cannot be solved militarily, explained the International Crisis Group, a pro-western think tank, using the example of a Burkinabe province at the border with Mali, where, even though it was possible to suppress jihadi unrest, for the time being, the conflict can again flare up at any time, because the reasons for the unrest have not been dealt with. Nevertheless, the German government supports the creation of an intervention force of the “G5 Sahel” group of countries, which launched its first military operation yesterday. Despite the disastrous consequences of militarization, the Bundeswehr is using the Mali mission as the focus of its PR campaign.

NATO Beefs Up Logistics Infrastructure for Offensive Operations

 

Some very important news is kept out of spotlight and undeservedly so. Bits of information pieced together indicate that very quietly the North Atlantic alliance is gearing up for large-scale combat operations. War preparations are not limited to weapon systems deployments and troop movements that hit headlines. No combat can be waged without logistics.

Divide and Rule

BERLIN/PARIS (Own report) – With today’s special summit of four heads of state, Berlin is preparing the EU’s transformation in response to the Brexit. The German chancellor will meet in Versailles this afternoon with France’s president and the prime ministers of Italy and Spain. Selected southern EU members have been included in alleged leadership meetings with the German chancellor to prevent a southern European bloc from emerging, which could possibly, in the future, put an end to German austerity dictates. With Great Britain’s exit, the neo-liberal oriented EU countries are loosing the necessary quorum for a veto in EU bodies. Berlin could also encounter problems with the Eastern European “Visegrád Group,” which does not want to support the emergence of a powerful integrated core around a German hub, because it would consolidate a two or even three-class EU. Reinforcement of the EU’s anti-refugee border-management and particularly its resolute militarization are emerging as the common denominators for the Union’s transformation.

WORLD WAR III? US fears China will win any conflict because strength of Red Army’s fleet

Eight-plus years of deterioration through the Obama years and previous administrations and the turning of a blind eye to China have allowed it to rise and put America in jeopardy. The Chinese military has been on par with American capability for at least half of Obama’s term and is now cemented. America is now having to play catch-up, which will buy the PLA at least another four to eight years of time to get ahead and become even more entrenched.

Let one thing be clear: China isn’t pushing America out of the Asia-Pacific… it already has. It won’t be regained without a bloodbath.

 

China’s military power should not be underestimated according to experts [Getty]

 

US COMMANDERS are in fear of conflict with China because of the likelihood the Asian powerhouse would win, it has been claimed.

Donald Trump’s heavy handed approach to the South China sea – a billion dollar trade route – has angered his counterpart in beijing.

While the White House insists it must have a say over the resource-rich stretch of sea, experts are warning he has bitten off more than he can chew with China.

A missile-packed military fortress surrounds China which has cleverly constructed islands which work as stationary aircraft carriers under the leadership of Xi Jinping. 

Torchbearer of the West

BERLIN/WASHINGTON (Own report) – In the run-up to the Munich Security Conference this weekend, leading German foreign policy experts are calling on the EU to reposition itself on the world stage, replacing the United States as the West’s “torchbearer.” Since Washington’s change of government, the United States no longer “qualifies as the symbol of the West’s political and moral leadership,” according to Wolfgang Ischinger, Chair of the Munich Security Conference. It is therefore up to Europe “to make up for this loss.” Chancellor Angela Merkel will hold a programmatic speech at this weekend’s conference, focusing on the future relationship between the EU and the USA. In anticipation of the looming power struggle, in the German capital, the EU is already being warned not to allow itself to be torn apart by outside rivals. Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Roth cautioned against “special deals” being made between individual EU countries and the new Trump administration. If there is sufficient coherence necessitating, for example, majority decisions in foreign policy, “we Europeans” could become an “impressive political and military power,” Ischinger cajoled.

Exclusive: China installs weapons systems on artificial islands – U.S. think tank

A satellite image shows what CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative says appears to be anti-aircraft guns and what are likely to be close-in weapons systems (CIWS) on the artificial island Johnson Reef in the South China Sea A satellite image shows what CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative says appears to be anti-aircraft guns and what are likely to be close-in weapons systems (CIWS) on the artificial island Johnson Reef in the South China Sea in this image released on December 13, 2016. Courtesy CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative/DigitalGlobe/Handout via REUTERS

The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) said its findings come despite statements by the Chinese leadership that Beijing has no intention to militarize the islands in the strategic trade route, where territory is claimed by several countries.

AMTI said it had been tracking construction of hexagonal structures on Fiery Cross, Mischief and Subi reefs in the Spratly Islands since June and July. China has already built military length airstrips on these islands.

China Warns U.S. Over South China Sea Presence

 

The Red Dragon government is not happy about a treaty reached between the United States and the Philippines last Friday…

The agreement allows for a “rotating” U.S. military presence on five Philippine bases in the South China Sea.

China believes this kind of presence is tantamount to “militarization.”

Kremlin’s French front

Infiltrate, redirect, divide… and conquer. The objective is not only to break the EU, but get NATO kicked out. And here, we see again new information being brought up that the refugee crisis was Russian orchestrated.

 

On December 13, France will hold the second round of regional elections, which are considered a dress rehearsal before the parliamentary and presidential elections in 2017. UNIAN gathered expert opinions on what the change of the French political elites would mean for Ukraine.

In the first round of local elections, the far-right National Front led by Marine Le Pen showed the best results in six out of 13 regions of the metropolis scoring 27.88% of the votes across the country. At the same time the Republicans Party led by Nicolas Sarkozy, in alliance with the centrists, took 26.98% and topped the lists in four regions. The ruling Socialists led by Francois Hollande received 23.33% becoming leaders in only three regions.

China to militarize its artificial islands from 2017: expert

A senior official from the Australian government told Garnaut that China hsd won the first round of its battle for control in the South China Sea by completing the construction of an archipelago of artificial islands. The United States and its allies, including Australia, can do very little to stop China from winning the next round as well, the official said, and the deployment of US warships and aircraft to the region to challenge China’s “unlawful” claims has proved indecisive.

The Usefulness of a Ceasefire

Sadly, 95% of the public will never see how radicalized Washington and Berlin made the new Ukraine. However, only one will reap the benefit: Germany’s Fourth Reich.

 

KIEV/BERLIN (Own report) – German foreign policy makers are proposing that tougher sanctions against Russia be discussed. In light of the escalating combat in Eastern Ukraine, we “unfortunately have to discuss tougher sanctions,” declared several representatives of the German political establishment’s transatlantic fraction. Berlin accuses the insurgents in Eastern Ukraine, and even Moscow of escalating the conflict. The escalation in Donetsk and Mariupol, however, followed the Kiev government’s decision to launch another wave of mobilization and arms buildup, which, according to observers, could be the prelude to a major military offensive. Kiev has also launched a long-term militarization of the country: Adolescents, and even children, will not only have to undergo a “national patriotic education” in school, but also learn “how to use rifles and Kalashnikovs.” Just a few days ago, the EU parliament passed a resolution to supply “defensive weapons” to Ukraine. Berlin had already authorized such supplies last year. Brussels is preparing a comprehensive propaganda campaign to accompany the escalation of the conflict.

The EU solidarity clause is leading to a militarisation of home-affairs policy

“On Tuesday, the representatives of the EU Member States in the Council adopted a decision on the so-called ‘solidarity clause’. Were a disaster or a loosely defined crisis to occur, the organs of the European Union would be obliged to assist using all the instruments at their disposal. This includes military resources”, warned Member of the Bundestag Andrej Hunko.

The proposal on ‘arrangements for the implementation by the Union of the Solidarity Clause’ was jointly presented by the Commission and the EU High Representative in 2012. A country can invoke the “solidarity clause” if a crisis “overwhelms its response capacities”. Mention is made of operational, policy and financial instruments and structures.