Germany Deploys Tanks, Troops To Lithuania To “Bolster Confidence In Face Of Russian Aggression”

German soldiers sit on a Bueffel (“buffalo”) armoured tank recovery vehicle in Grafenwoehr, Germany January 31, 2017, before deployment to Lithuania

 

Three weeks after the “largest US military deployment into Eastern Europe since the cold war“, consisting of thousands of tanks and troops under a planned NATO operation to “reassure the alliance’s Eastern European allies”, on Tuesday Germany started the deployment of tanks to Lithuania as part of the same NATO mission meant to “bolster confidence” in the face of what NATO member states call “Russian aggression.”

Germany is one of the countries that agreed to provide troops and weapons for the NATO mission, which involves deploying four battalions in Poland and the three Baltic states.

Edward Snowden is a Russian Agent

And now we know how Snowden ‘learned’ Russian so quickly.

The American people have been fooled for some time now, however, because of his track record it’s what we’ve known for a while here on Global Geopolitics. Because of him, what’s left of the intelligence community has been set back at least 20 years.

It’s clear to see he works for the other side:

Edward Snowden Is Acting Very Strange Inside Russia

Former KGB Agent Claims That Anna Chapman Tried to Seduce Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden was targeted by Russian spies 6 years BEFORE he exposed US secrets

Edward Snowden Seeking to Join KGB Veterans Group

Britain pulls spies as Moscow cracks Snowden files: reports

NSA Director: Snowden’s Leaks Helped Terrorists Avoid Tracking

DOD official: Snowden ‘stole everything — literally everything’

NSA Leaker “Outed” as Russian Agent

 

Foto: AFP

 

Note: For documentation purposes, the entire article will remain here, in both English und auf Deutsch.

 

Three years after Edward Snowden, the American IT contractor turned global celebrity, made his media debut in Hong Kong, the truth of what really happened in this sensational affair remains elusive. The outline is clear. Snowden left his job in Hawaii with the National Security Agency in May 2013 and appeared at Hong Kong’s Mira Hotel on June 1, having made off with more than a million classified intelligence documents belonging to the American government. A few days later, Snowden appeared on camera to announce that he was lifting the top secret mask off NSA, America’s biggest and most secretive intelligence service.

Yet significant questions remain. Where was Snowden from 21 to 31 May 2013? His whereabouts in that period are unknown. Why did he choose to repeatedly visit the Russian consulate in Hong Kong, even celebrating his 30^th birthday there? What did those visits have to do with his departure for Moscow on June 23^rd? Last, why has Snowden never left Russia, three years after his arrival?

Islamic State’s online army is a Russian front, says German intelligence

A German intelligence report alleges that the so-called ‘Cyber Caliphate’, the online hacker wing of the Islamic State, is in fact a Russian front, ingeniously conceived to permit Moscow to hack Western targets without retaliation. The group calling itself Cyber Caliphate first appeared in early 2014, purporting to operate as the online wing of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), later renamed Islamic State. Today the Cyber Caliphate boasts a virtual army of hackers from dozens of countries, who are ostensibly operating as the online arm of the Islamic State. Their known activities include a strong and often concentrated social media presence, and computer hacking, primarily in the form of cyber espionage and cyber sabotage.

Business with Obstacles

BERLIN/MOSCOW/KIEV (Own report) – Berlin is taking steps to possibly end sanctions against Russia. Today, almost one year after the signing of the Minsk II Agreement – whose full implementation is still considered as a prerequisite for ending the sanctions – the Bavarian Prime Minster, Horst Seehofer is expected to arrive in Moscow for talks on promoting the renewal of German-Russian business relations. Seehofer can build on decades of Bavarian-Russian cooperation. His visit to Moscow is closely coordinated with Germany’s federal government. The EU and NATO are also involved in Berlin’s cooperation efforts. Monday, Chancellor Angela Merkel also increased pressure on Ukraine’s President, Petro Poroshenko to finally obtain approval from Kiev’s parliament for the constitutional amendment providing Eastern Ukraine’s special status, as agreed upon in the Minsk II Agreement. Until now, nationalists and fascists have prevented this measure.

NATO’s Nuclear Debate

BERLIN (Own report) – In view of the NATO Summit scheduled this year in Warsaw, the deployment of nuclear arms against Russia is being discussed within the German military and think-tanks. The Federal College for Security Studies (BAKS), for example, accuses Moscow of “neo-imperial aggression” against Eastern Europe and calls for a revival of the “nuclear deterrence” strategy. According to BAKS, the idea of a nuclear weapons-free world should be considered as “unrealistic” – after all, “disarmament is not the primary raison d’être of a nuclear weapon.” The government-affiliated German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) sees it similarly, and opposes particularly a general ban on nuclear weapons, proposed by a United Nations working group. Such a “nuclear arms ban treaty” would be in contradiction to NATO’s role as a “nuclear alliance,” SWP claims. It would, however, be “conceivable” to strengthen the” linkage between conventional and nuclear capacities” and the “inclusion” of nuclear arms “in exercise scenarios.”

U.S. Will Station New Nuclear Weapons in Germany Against Russia

German Tornado pilots regularly practice with dummies of American atomic bombs. (Source: ZDF)

 

Germany’s ZDF public television network headlines on Tuesday September 22nd, “New U.S. Atomic Weapons to Be Stationed in Germany,” and reports that the U.S. will bring into Germany 20 new nuclear bombs, each being four times the destructive power of the one that was used on Hiroshima. Hans Kristensen, the Director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, says, “With the new bombs the boundaries blur between tactical and strategic nuclear weapons.”

German fighter jets start patrolling Baltic skies with full ammo

From the Soviet propaganda outlet, Russia Today:

 

A Eurofighter Typhoon © Carl Court / AFP

 

German fighter jets are flying the Baltic skies fully armed “for the first time since the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis,” the DPA news agency reports citing the German Air Force’s Inspector General Karl Müllner. He explained the move was not about “escalation,” but it is needed to ensure parity when encountering a potential enemy. The German military official did not elaborate on which Air Force might become the enemy.

Müllner added that ammunition on board Eurofighters is also necessary to “motivate pilots” on missions in the Baltic skies.

German-Russian Flagship Projects

KASSEL/MOSCOW (Own report) – The German natural gas company, Wintershall Holding GmbH, is intensifying cooperation with Russia’s Gazprom and will receive direct access to large Siberian gas fields. Last Friday, the two companies announced they would finalize an asset swap this year, which would allow Wintershall to participate in the exploitation of two blocks in the Achimov formation of the Urengoy natural gas field. The deal had been signed back in 2013, but was canceled by Moscow in late 2014, because of the escalation of the conflict with the West. This resumption enables BASF’s subsidiary, Wintershall, to continue its rise in the global gas sector. The Austrian company, OMV, since July 1, under the management of former Wintershall CEO, Rainer Seele, is also participating. Gazprom, Wintershall, OMV and other gas companies have agreed to expand the Russia-to-Germany “Nord Stream” pipeline with two more pipelines. German business circles explicitly describe both as “flagship projects” and push for a rapid re-intensification of cooperation at the political level.

‘F**k US imperialism’: Germany’s ex-finance minister slams defense secretary’s Europe visit

Left-wing German politician and former finance minister Oskar Lafontaine has some harsh language message for US on its politics concerning Russia and Ukraine. He has also called on the EU to oppose Washington.

In a Facebook post which cannot be quoted fully quote due to strong language, Lafontaine, whose latest political post was co-chairman of the democratic socialist party The Left, called US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter the “Secretary of War”, and Washington’s policies “imperialism.”

Russia Will Have an Answer Ready if US Supplies Arms to Ukraine

The original article is in German but for translation purposes a rough version courtesy of Google will remain here in its entirety.

What the Russians have in response is yet to be seen. But one thing is clear, the Russians do not warn, they act, which can make things quite dangerous when poking a big bear in the eye with a tiny stick.

Ankündigung: Wenn Sie Lust auf eine deutschen Version haben, bitte auf den originales Quelle klicken. Schön Dank.

 

The US Senate has passed a law that sanctions against Russia should be tightened. At the same time, the US government is to supply Ukraine with military equipment worth 350 million dollars. Russia summarizes the law as a provocation and has announced a reaction if the law comes into force. President Obama has for the time being denied the law his signature.

All signs point to confrontation when the diplomacy can not prevail: US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov will meet on 15 December in Rome. One of the Agenda items will form the Ukraine conflict.

Between the US and Russia worsened again the sound: The US Senate has decided arms supplies and sanctions against Gazprom. Even US President Barack Obama denied the law his signature. But it should come, Russia will show a reaction, notify the State channel Russia Today.