A Russian cargo ship earlier blocked Ukraine’s boats from entering the Sea of Azov
The Ukrainian president calls for emergency session of his war cabinet after at least two sailors are injured in the strikes.
Ukraine says Russia has opened fire on its ships in the Black Sea and captured three vessels.
Two sailors have been wounded after two artillery boats were hit in the strikes, the Ukrainian navy said. Continue reading
Poland is set to increase its military by 53,000 part-time soldiers
THE Polish parliament has given the go-ahead to bolster its armed forces by recruiting an extra 53,000 soldiers to ward off the possibility of a Russian attack.
The force, made up of part time soldiers, would represent a third of all the Polish military personnel.
The bill has not yet been approved by the senate but is expected to pass as the ruling right-wing government has a majority in the chamber. Continue reading
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, Colonel Rupert Wieloch said he had “no doubt” that Russia had ambitions of invading Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, before insisting it was vital NATO forces asserted there presence in the region.
The comments come as 800 British soldiers, with tanks, drones and armoured vehicles, prepare to enter Estonia in May in a bid to reassure Baltic states over Russian aggression.
Our domestic tensions embolden our enemies.
Here is a sampling of some recent news abroad:
A Russian guard attacked a U.S. diplomatic official at the door to the American Embassy in Moscow, even as NATO leaders met to galvanize against the next act of Russian aggression.
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Iran rebuffed United Nations warnings and defiantly boasted that it will continue testing ballistic missiles. German intelligence believes that Iran, empowered by the release of $100 billion in impounded cash, is violating its recent American-led nonproliferation deal in an effort to import nuclear bomb-making technology. Continue reading
Previous posts on this include:
RUSSIA could launch an invasion in eastern Europe within “hours”, Poland and the Baltic states fear, amid an escalation in tensions between Nato and the Kremlin.
Deployments along Russia’s western border have increased in recent months, worrying Nato and its allies that the movements could be a cover for another Crimea-style land grab.
Asked about the likelihood of Russian aggression, Lithuania’s Defence Minister Juozas Olekas said: “We cannot exclude it … They might exercise on the borders and then switch to invasion in hours.”
Russian planes have carried out “simulated attacks” on U.S. jets over Syria in what is seen as a breach of last year’s military agreement between Moscow and Washington, a report said.
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Russia appears to have been spooked after the U.S. Air Force in November deployed 12 F-15 jets to Incirlik air base in southern Turkey, the report said. Half of those were F-15C Eagles, designed for air-to-air combat. Continue reading
For a perfect example of how current Russian propaganda works and its effects, please see the following post:
WAR 2020 Russia’s Information Agression
Combating Russian propaganda increasingly important front in information war
A new report by the Estonian Internal Security Service emphasizes the danger a resurgent Russia and a weakening European Union poses to stability and democracy in the region, highlighting Russian propaganda efforts in recent years.
The service, known in Estonia as Kaitsepolitseiamet or “Kapo,” produces an Annual Review summarizing trends and internal threats to Estonia. The 2015 Annual Review, released last week, includes sections on cyber security, preventing international terrorism, and fighting corruption, among other issues. Continue reading
Vladimir Putin’s announcement that he is pulling the main part of his armed forces out of Syria caught the world flat-footed. Putin’s word is not to be highly valued given his claims of no troops in Ukraine. He may not carry through as promised, but the announcement alone gives him the following domestic and foreign policy wins in descending order of importance:
First, the Russian air attack on rebel forces has saved, at least for the time being, Putin’s most important Middle East client, the Assad regime, from almost certain defeat. Continue reading
Europe abandoned ship a while ago. That’s why it’s creating it’s own European Army as an answer to the Russian and Middle East threats. America has been infiltrated, destabilized from within and is becoming unreliable on the world stage. Ask the Saudis why they created their own islamic NATO.
Europe is facing a convergence of the worst crises since World War II, and the overwhelming consensus among officials and experts here is that the U.S. no longer has the will or the ability to play an influential role in solving them.
At the Munich Security Conference, the prime topics are the refugee crisis, the Syrian conflict, Russian aggression and the potential dissolution of the European Union’s very structure. Top European leaders repeatedly lamented that 2015 saw all of Europe’s problems deepen, and unanimously predicted that in 2016 they would get even worse.
“The question of war and peace has returned to the continent,” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the audience, indirectly referring to Russian military interventions. “We had thought that peace had returned to Europe for good.” Continue reading
NATO members attend a meeting at their headquarters in Brussels. (JOHN THYS/AFP/Getty Images)
Russian mind games with nuclear weapons mean that NATO has to step it up, write top German think tanks.Europe wants to improve its use of nuclear power in response to Russia’s invasion of Georgia and Ukraine. Russia has paired its increased aggression and buildup of conventional forces with an expanded nuclear program, and Europe—especially Eastern Europe—is getting scared.
“Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, and Moscow’s associated nuclear threats, have triggered a new discussion in nato about enhancing its nuclear deterrent,” wrote the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (swp), a think tank responsible for advising the German Parliament, this month.
On Monday we brought you the latest from the main train station in Stockholm, where “gangs” of Moroccan migrant children have “taken over” the terminal.
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Many Europeans feel as though their countries have been invaded, for lack of a better word.
Well according to Sweden’s Major General Anders Brännström, being overrun by refugees isn’t the only invasion Swedes need to concern themselves with. Continue reading
Not only is NATO slow, it’s so slow refugees can move across the continent faster than its own convoys. In regards to the speed of a Russian attack, we’re talking 30 minutes to reach Poland before NATO can even roll out of bed and have planes taking off.
In a press briefing on Wednesday, Lt. General Ben Hodges of the US Army painted a stark picture of the military tensions and readiness in Europe.
“We’re playing catch-up a little bit,” Hodges declared during the 45-minute conference which covered a wide range of subjects, mostly focused on the theme of increasing NATO and EU readiness for possible Russian aggression.
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Despite the continued effort from the US and allied nations, Russian capabilities in the region remain a very real threat.
Specifically, Hodges pointed to Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad and their anti-ship missiles as being able to effectively keep US-led forces out of the Baltic sea. Continue reading
RUSSIA and the US are set for a cataclysmic clash, an MI6 chief has warned as Vladimir Putin’s continues its campaign of air strikes in Syria.
Former MI6 chief Sir John Sawers said there is a “real risk of a clash” as tensions boil between both superpowers amid Russia’s bombing crusade in Syria.
His warning comes as Defence Secretary Michael Fallon announced Britain is to station a “small number” of troops in the Baltic states in a further move to deter Russian aggression.
Russia has sent sophisticated jamming equipment to Syria that could blind NATO pilots in a further escalation of the stand-off in the Middle East.
The Krasukha-4 system has been spotted at a Syrian airfield being used by Russian fighter jets and its presence has been confirmed by US officials. The mobile system can disrupt surveillance by drones, satellites or western early warning aircraft.
It has a range of 300km, can also disrupt the systems of radar-guided missiles and would allow Russia to enforce a no-fly zone over President Assad’s military. Continue reading
Global Geopolitics 