Europe’s Next Generation Combat System

 

Former competitors are now collaborating against their new archenemy: the U.S.A. Should you be concerned?

Europe’s call for a European army raises various questions: How powerful would such an army be? What weaponry would it use? Would it be in support of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization? Or work against it? And finally, which nation would spearhead the endeavor: France or Germany?

The answer to these questions can already be seen in Europe’s arms industry.

The European Union’s joint military budget is already three times higher than Russia’s budget and approximately half of the United States’. And at this critical moment in history, Russia and the U.S. are being forced to make dramatic military cuts while Europe is boosting its spending.

On a State Visit to Berlin

 

BERLIN/ANKARA (Own report) – Turkish President Recep Tayyig Erdoğan’s arrival in Berlin on a state visit amid media reports of arms cooperation with his country and of state-sponsored denunciation, using a smartphone app of those – also in Germany – critical of his government. Erdoğan will be received with all protocolary state honors, since the German government wants to strengthen its ties to Ankara at all costs. There is a growing risk that Ankara will turn its back on the West. Germany seeks to strengthen these ties because of Turkey’s contribution to warding off refugees and particularly for geostrategic motives. Turkey is regarded as the indispensable isthmus to Germany gaining the much-coveted influence in Central Asia and the Middle East. Ankara is also facilitating the participation of Berlin in achieving an alignment in Syria, together with Moscow – but with the exclusion of Washington. Expansion of German-Turkish cooperation involves contracts in the billions for German companies and German participation in the development of Turkey’s own arms industry.

Erdoğans Transition

BERLIN/ANKARA (Own report) – The German government is negotiating new German Turkish arms deals, as was confirmed by the German Ministry of Economics. Brigitte Zypries (SPD), Minister of the Economy, spoke with the CEO of Rheinmetall weapons manufacturer about upgrading the Turkish Leopard battle tank. “In principle,” such deals with NATO partners “can not to be restricted,” according to Berlin. The German government is also seeking to re-invigorate German-Turkish economic cooperation, to strengthen bilateral relations. Germany does not want to loose Turkey as a “bridge” connecting Germany and the EU to the Middle East. Under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Ankara is not only strengthening the country’s economy and, in the long run, make it one of the world’s top ten economies (“Vision 2023”), he is also planning to transform the country into an independent regional power, forming alliances as it chooses – no longer dependent on the western states. The reorientation of its foreign policy is accompanied by the country’s transformation into a presidential dictatorship.

Assisting Famine

BERLIN/RIYADH (Own report) – This Sunday, Chancellor Angela Merkel is expected in the Saudi capital Riyadh for talks on the wars in Syria and Yemen, according to the Saudi media. Her talks in the Golf monarchy will therefore focus not only on expanding economic relations but on the proxy wars, Saudi Arabia is currently waging against Iran. Berlin supports Riyadh in these proxy wars – politically but also with the supply of weapons proven to have been used in Yemen. Saudi Arabia is strongly criticized for its war in Yemen, which is causing numerous civilian casualties. In addition, Riyadh’s maritime blockade of Yemeni ports is causing a famine. 2.2 million children are malnourished, including half a million who are severely malnourished and at imminent risk of death. In March, Berlin authorized the delivery of supplementary German patrol boats to Saudi Arabia, in spite of them being used to enforce the maritime blockade. Aid organizations are sounding the alarm.

Russia to Debut ‘World’s Deadliest Tank’

Has NATO-proof defense capabilities, radar-resistant paint

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The tank, called the Armata T-14, is designed to serve as the military’s main battle tank. It exhibits several unexpected and expensive features, including exterior paint that resists radar detection and NATO-proof defense capabilities.

The German Path to an EU Army (III)

BERLIN/THE HAGUE (Own report) – German politicians, military officials and the media consider the subordination of combat units of other European nations to German Bundeswehr command to be a role model for a future EU army. The integration of a paratrooper unit from the Netherlands into the German Army’s covert operations and counter-insurgency unit of the Rapid Forces Division (DSK) is considered a “milestone of integration.” An armored contingent from the Netherlands will soon be integrated into a German cavalry unit, along the same lines. The European Air Transport Command (EATC) stationed in Eindhoven, the Netherlands – currently under a German commanding officer – is also being praised as an “effective model of cooperation.” According to its own accounts, the Bundeswehr sees the EATC as a clear extension of its “radius of operations,” providing bases stretching “from be the Baltic Sea almost to Gibraltar.”

Germany Helped Prep Russia for War, U.S. Sources Say

It’s important to know that in the real world there is no such thing as ‘allies’, only strategic interests. Germany’s (among other nations) rising Fourth Reich has never had America’s best interests in mind for decades and its respective relationship with Russia underscores the fact. Meanwhile, the U.S. un-intelligence community remains behind the time and continiously bewildered by all sorts of events transpiring that they ‘didn’t see coming’, as if it’s a third-world nation agency.

Over the past few years, NATO countries have helped Russia revolutionize its armed forces. Now questions are arising about a German defense contractor that trained the Russian military.

The world was shocked when Russian special operations forces invaded Crimea with advanced technology, drastically improved operations, and with so much operational security that even agencies in the U.S. intelligence community didn’t see it coming. In Washington, government and congressional leaders are wondering how the Russian special operations forces got so good, so fast, without anyone noticing. Some are wondering how much help Russia had from the West.

In 2011, for example, the German defense contractor Rheinmetall signed a $140 million contract to build a combat simulation training center in Mulino, in southwest Russia, that would train 30,000 Russian combat troops per year. While the facility wasn’t officially scheduled to be completed until later this year, U.S. officials believe that Germany has been training Russian forces for years.

Millions for Billions

ATHENS/BERLIN (Own report) – New allegations of corruption have been leveled at leading German arms manufacturers. According to a former employee of the Greek defense ministry and several mediators of the arms industry, German arms manufacturers paid millions in bribes to induce Athens to purchase German weaponry, worth several billion Euros. Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and Rheinmetall were among the companies named. These deals helped inflate the country’s debts and were, therefore, in part responsible for escalating the crisis. Others, such as Siemens, had also paid millions in bribes to land lucrative contracts from Athens. According to a Greek journalist, who has done extensive research on corruption in Greece, German companies are the “main beneficiaries” of Greece joining the Euro zone because they subsequently profited from highly lucrative Greek government contracts. The sumptuous contracts helped plunge Greece into crisis while they, at the same time, helped the German industry to blaze its trail to the predominant position in Europe.

Germany Strengthens African Military Presence

One of the main points of discussion at last week’s high-level forum on defense and security in Berlin centered on raising the military protection of Germany’s raw materials sources.

Broadcast live via the government-financed media outlet Deutsche Welle, the forum—hosted by Berlin’s Federal College for Security Studies (baks)—had, as a top item on its agenda, ways and means of adding to the Bundeswehr’s existing presence in Africa within countries that are vital to the continuing supply of raw materials for Germany’s export-led economy.

Persian Gulf states ‘unable to protect themselves’

Despite massive spending on Western weapons, the Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf are “unable to secure themselves from any external threat” — meaning Iran — and are running up huge public and foreign debt, a Gulf think tank says.

Omar al-Shehabi, director of the Gulf Center for Development Policies in Kuwait, said that even though the defense expenditure of the six Gulf Cooperation Council states is the highest in the world, exceeding the combined military spending of Israel and Britain, they still have to “rely on Western countries to provide military protection and security.”