another_liberal
another_liberal's JournalLooks like there is more dissension in NATO's ranks.
Several of the most important members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are not all that keen about long term pre-positioning of large numbers of Western combat troops and aircraft in eastern European States. The Germans and others realize there is, of course, only one logical reason for such placement of NATO assets: In preparation for an all-out war with the Russian Federation.
74% of Germans oppose permanent NATO bases in Poland and Baltics.
Nearly three-quarters of Germans oppose having permanent NATO military bases in Poland and the Baltic states as a buffer against Russia, a new poll reveals. The opinion reflects a growing trend within Europe opposing further NATO eastern expansion. In the Forsa poll for the Internationale Politik magazine's latest edition slated for Friday, 74 percent of those surveyed were against the idea, while only 18 percent supported it, Reuters reports. Opposition to NATO expansion in Eastern Europe remains highest in former Communist eastern Germany, Forsa said.
Poland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia - all former members of the Soviet bloc – fear that Russia poses a military threat following recent events in Ukraine, and have asked for further security guarantees from their NATO partners. Poland first proposed the idea of increasing the US military presence in Eastern Europe, with Polish Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak calling on the Pentagon to deploy as many as 10,000 American troops in his country in April. The Three Baltic States welcomed the idea that same month.
As a result, thousands of NATO troops held exercises in the region earlier this month, NATO warships have intensified patrols in the Baltic Sea, and jet fighters have likewise stepped up their air patrols. The alliance has tripled the number of fighter jets based in the Baltics and NATO's top military commander, US Air Force General Philip Breedlove, said in May that NATO would consider permanently stationing troops in Eastern Europe.
Russia claims that would violate a 1997 agreement, in which both sides committed to avoid "any potentially threatening build-up of conventional forces in agreed regions of Europe, to include Central and Eastern Europe."
(snip)
Read more at: http://rt.com/news/168400-germany-opposes-nato-bases/
Iraq crisis: Maliki rejects call for 'salvation' government – live updates
Source: The Guardian
Maliki rejects unity government call as a 'coup'
AFP has more on Maliki's rejection of a unity government.
"The call to form a national emergency government is a coup against the constitution and the political process," Maliki said in a televised address, "The dangerous goals of forming a national emergency government are not hidden. It is an attempt by those who are against the constitution to eliminate the young democratic process and steal the votes of the voters," said the Iraqi leader.
Maliki's electoral bloc won by far the most seats in April 30 parliamentary elections with 92, nearly three times as many as the next biggest party, and the incumbent himself tallied 720,000 personal votes, also far and away the most. But he fell short of a majority in Iraq's Council of Representatives, and has had to court the support of rivals in order to form a government.
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/middle-east-live/2014/jun/25/iraq-crisis-nato-meets-as-us-military-advisers-arrive-in-baghdad-live-updates
What will we do now? Spend a few billion dollars organizing massive opposition party street demonstrations, to destabilize Maliki's hold on the Capital, Baghdad? That seems to be our current M.O. when we need an elected (but uncooperative) national leader removed.
Does Democratic Underground favor an independent Kurdistan?
Secretary Kerry's separate stop in Irbil to visit the Kurdish President shows how important that region of northwest Iraq has suddenly become to American hegemony in the Middle East. Kurdistan is the only stable and largely reliable partner we have left in Iraq, but do we want them to stay "in Iraq," or should we support their declaration of independence, as a sovereign Kurdish nation? Most experts do agree independence is the ultimate Kurdish goal. They do have a thriving, oil-based economy. Their military is small but well-equipped and thought to be capable. If not now, when will the Kurds ever have a better chance to claim a homeland?
. . .
US officials believe that persuading the Kurds to stick with the government in Baghdad will help keep Iraq together. "If they decide to withdraw from the Baghdad political process, it will accelerate a lot of the negative trends," said a senior state department official.
Massoud Barzani, the Kurdish president, hardly provided a ringing endorsement for the Iraqi government, "We are facing a new reality and a new Iraq," said Barzani at the start of his meeting with Kerry. Earlier, he blamed prime minister Nouri al-Maliki's "wrong policies" for the violence and called for him to quit, saying it was "very difficult" to imagine Iraq staying together.
Kurdish troops have taken control of Kirkuk, which was abandoned by the Iraqi army after Isis forces seized Mosul at the beginning of a lightning campaign. The Kurds consider Kirkuk – just outside their autonomous zone – their historic capital; its capture makes it more tempting for the Kurds to go it alone rather than sticking with an unpopular and tottering regime.
The Kurdish region is home to several vast oilfields and has maintained stability, in stark contrast to the rest of Iraq. Senior Kurdish officials have said privately that they are no longer committed to Iraq and are biding their time for an opportunity to seek independence.
. . .
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/24/john-kerry-urges-kurdish-leaders-to-back-iraqi-government
More bad news for the Koch brothers, and for P. M. Harper.
The Koch brothers and the government of Canada now appear to be among main reasons we and our NATO allies find ourselves deeply involved in the Ukrainian crisis. Our disruption of the democratically elected Ukrainian government (last February) and our sponsorship of Kiev's military assaults against Russian-speaking separatists are directly linked to oil and gas sales (especially sales of Canada's partially Koch-owned shale oil). At the bottom is a desire on the part of some really greedy men to use our government and military, as much as possible, to keep Russian production off the international oil and gas market:
Putin: US unhappy with South Stream because it wants to deliver gas to Europe.
The US opposes the Russian South Stream gas pipeline project because it wants to supply gas to Europe itself, President Putin said on Tuesday. He called the situation an "ordinary competitive struggle."
“They do everything to disrupt this contract. There is nothing unusual here. This is an ordinary competitive struggle. In the course of this competition, political tools are also being used,” the Russian president said after holding talks with his Austrian counterpart, President Heinz Fischer, in Vienna, "We are in talks with our contract partners, not with third parties. That our US friends are unhappy about South Stream, well, they were unhappy in 1962 too, when the gas-for-pipes project with Germany was beginning. Now they are unhappy too, nothing has changed, except the fact that they want to supply to the European market themselves," Putin stated.
Should this happen, American gas “will not be cheaper than Russian gas – pipe gas is always cheaper than liquefied gas,” Putin stressed. Russia and Austria have signed an agreement to construct the Austrian arm of the US$45 billion South Stream gas pipeline project, which is expected to deliver 32 billion cubic meters of Russian gas to the country, bypassing Ukraine. But President Putin stressed that Moscow is not bypassing Ukraine for political reasons, "These are natural steps to expand the transport infrastructure," Putin said. "Moscow is not striving to bypass Ukraine."
He reminded that the Nord Stream, South Stream, and Blue Stream projects started a while ago, "It is wrong to always say that we are doing anything against anyone," Putin noted. He added that Russia, just like its “partners,” can and will “create the most favorable conditions, and have contacts and contracts with many partners.”
(snip)
Read more at: http://rt.com/business/168224-putin-usa-europe-gas/
The following article offers more details of the South Stream project's progress toward bypassing Ukraine, so as to bring Russian natural gas directly to the nations of southeastern Europe:
Austria and Russia sign South Stream gas pipeline treaty
Russia and Austria have agreed on a joint company to construct the Austrian arm of the $45 billion South Stream gas pipeline project, which is expected to deliver 32 billion cubic meters of Russian gas to the country, bypassing Ukraine.
At Tuesday's meeting in Vienna, the creation of South Stream Austria was announced.The company will be 50 percent owned by Gazprom, Russia's largest gas producer, and 50 percent by Austria’s OMV Group, the country’s largest oil and gas company. Construction on the Austrian section is expected to begin in 2015 and that the first deliveries will start in 2017, reaching full capacity in January 2018. OMV spokesman Robert Lechner was more optimistic, and said the first South Stream deliveries could come as early as 2016.
In April, Gazprom and the OMV Group signed a memorandum to implement the South Stream project in Austria. At Tuesday's meeting in Vienna, OMV CEO Gerhard Roiss said that South Stream fully complies with EU legislation. "This project- investment in European energy security- will fully comply with EU legislation," Roiss said, as quoted by ITAR-ITASS.
There has been controversy over South Stream, as is it needs EU approval so that it doesn’t violate Europe’s ‘Third Energy Package’, which says a company cannot both own and operate pipelines within the European Union. Bulgaria and Serbia, countries nearly 100 percent dependent on Russian gas, have faced pressure from the EU to halt construction. Ahead of Putin’s visit to Vienna, Austrian ministers said they remained committed to Russia’s South Stream project and that they plan to speed it up.
Read more at: http://rt.com/business/168044-austria-russia-south-stream/
U.S. "advisers" will not have official immunity under Iraqi law.
The "trainers and advisers" we're sending to help shore-up Iraq's crumbling military will have to rely on an unwritten and unofficial promise of immunity to the authority of Iraq's legal system. Our Defense Department reports they have received what they suggest are "acceptable assurances" from Iraqi representatives that our troops will have unofficial immunity for crimes they may commit on Iraqi soil. Despite the lack of formal freedom from prosecution for our people, we are still sending them American combat troops?
Iraq grants US Special Forces “acceptable assurances” on immunity.
Washington has secured “acceptable assurances” from Iraqi authorities shielding US Special Forces from local law. The deal comes as US forces are set to begin advising the embattled Iraqi army as Sunni militants continue their surge across the country. The Defense Department has yet to receive in writing immunity agreements for the troops, but "Iraq has provided acceptable assurances" for the 300 Special Forces troops President Barack Obama announced he would send to Iraq on Thursday, John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement.
“Many of you have asked today about the status of legal protections for the small number of military advisors that will be working inside Iraq,” Kirby said, “I can confirm for you that Iraq has provided acceptable assurances on the issue of protections for these personnel via the exchange of diplomatic note. Specifically, Iraq has committed itself to providing protections for our personnel equivalent to those provided to personnel who were in country before the crisis. We believe these protections are adequate to the short-term assessment and advisory mission our troops will be performing in Iraq. With this agreement, we will be able to start establishing the first few assessment teams."
The agreement, which came via “diplomatic note,” will see US advisors subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and not Iraqi law. The issue of US troop immunity has long been a sticking point between Washington and Baghdad. Obama ultimately decided to withdraw all US troops and trainers from Iraq in October 2011, after Iraqi authorities refused to sign up to a new Status of Forces agreement granting American forces immunity from local prosecution.
The US military and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel have since opposed sending any special operations teams to Iraq unless a written agreement was secured from Baghdad guaranteeing they would not be prosecuted under Iraqi law.
(snip)
Read more at: http://rt.com/news/168060-obama-immunity-forces-iraq/
Iraqi military facing ‘psychological collapse’ after losses, desertions
Source: Washington Post
BAGHDAD — The 300 U.S. advisers authorized to assist the Iraqi security forces will find an army in crisis mode, so lacking in equipment and shaken by desertions that it may not be able to win back significant chunks of territory from al-Qaeda renegades for months or even years, analysts and officials say.
After tens of thousands of desertions, the Iraqi military is reeling from what one U.S. official described as “psychological collapse” in the face of the offensive from militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The desperation has reached such a level that President Nouri al-Maliki is relying on volunteers, who are in some cases receiving as little as a week’s military training, to protect his ever-shrinking orbit of control.
“Over time, what’s occurred is that the Iraqi army has no ability to defend itself,” said Rick Brennan, a Rand Corp. analyst and former adviser to U.S. forces in Iraq. “If we’re unable to find ways to make a meaningful difference to the Iraqi army as they fight this, I think what we’re looking at is the beginning of the disintegration of the state of Iraq.”
The U.S. government has sped up the supply of reconnaissance equipment since the Iraqi military's rout in the key northern city of Mosul this month, but the Iraqi government has expressed frustration at the pace and scope of assistance.
(snip)
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/iraqi-military-facing-psychological-collapse-after-losses-desertions/2014/06/22/88ed659a-fa4a-11e3-8176-f2c941cf35f1_story.html
I wish this was not happening to those Iraqis who chose to believe our promises and agreed to work with our troops and diplomats. It is clear we owe them something for their trust and support; however, I honestly can not think of anything our military could do at this point which would not just make things worse, much worse, for them and for their pitiful country. No amount of American air power will solve this problem.
President Poroshenko's new "Peace Plan," a Russian point of view.
The video can be found at the entry for "12:13 GMT" (some images are very graphic):
http://rt.com/news/eastern-ukraine-army-operation-680/
Russia 'secretly working with environmentalists to oppose fracking'
Source: The Guardian.
The head of one of the world’s leading groups of democratic nations has accused Russia of undermining projects using hydraulic fracturing technology in Europe. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato), and former premier of Denmark, told the Chatham House thinktank in London on Thursday that Vladimir Putin’s government was behind attempts to discredit fracking, according to reports.
Rasmussen said: “I have met allies who can report that Russia, as part of their sophisticated information and disinformation operations, engaged actively with so-called non-governmental organisations - environmental organisations working against shale gas - to maintain European dependence on imported Russian gas.” He declined to give details of those operations, saying: “That is my interpretation.”
Fracking, a process that involves blasting dense shale rocks with a high-pressure mixture of water, sand and chemicals to release the tiny bubbles of natural gas trapped within, has been the subject of protests in the UK and other parts of Europe, and is opposed by many environmental groups. It has been associated with methane leaks and the pollution of water sources in the US, and green campaigners fear that it will lead to a rise in the use of fossil fuels, exacerbating global warming.
Rasmussen made clear that fracking should be used, in his view, to increase Europe’s energy security, by providing a new source of gas and oil supply.
(snip)
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jun/19/russia-secretly-working-with-environmentalists-to-oppose-fracking
Why is this man still the top commander of an international military alliance devoted to maintaining peace and security in Europe? One has to remember that only last week this same genius, Secretary-General Rasmussen, publicly stated that, "Russia is the new enemy," of NATO. Will he be allowed to continue blabbering us toward a Third World War, or will someone finally tell him to shut the hell up!
Iraq's Maliki: I won't quit as condition of US strikes against Isis militants
Source: The Guardian.
A spokesman for the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has said he will not stand down as a condition of US air strikes against Sunni militants who have made a lightning advance across the country.
Iraq's foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, on Wednesday made a public call on al-Arabiya television for the US to launch strikes but Barack Obama has come under pressure from senior US politicians to persuade Maliki, a Shia Muslim who has pursued sectarian policies, to step down over what they see as failed leadership in the face of an insurgency. Dianne Feinstein, the chair of the Senate intelligence committee, told a hearing on Wednesday that Maliki's government "has got to go if you want any reconciliation", and Republican John McCain called for the use of US air power but also urged Obama to "make very clear to Maliki that his time is up".
The White House has not called for Maliki to go but spokesman Jay Carney said that whether Iraq was led by Maliki or a successor, "We will aggressively attempt to impress upon that leader the absolute necessity of rejecting sectarian governance." The US secretary of state, John Kerry, said Washington was focused on the Iraqi people, not Maliki.
Maliki's spokesman, Zuhair al-Nahar, said on Thursday that the west should immediately support the Iraqi government's military operation against Isis rather than demand a change of government. He insisted that Maliki had "never used sectarian tactics".
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/19/iraq-maliki-us-strikes-air-isis-sunni
If Senators Feinstein (D) and McCain (R) are both calling for Maliki to resign before airstrikes can begin, then we must actually be getting ready to resume combat air operations in Iraq. I hope our leaders realize, and remember, this would not be a decision the vast majority of Americans will agree with. Are we really going to start the slow slide into another Mid-East war?
UN Special Commission in Ukraine finds 257 civilians have died in fighting.
A total of at least 356 people, including 257 civilians, have so far died in the Kiev government's "anti-terrorism operation" against Lugansk and Donetsk People's Republics reports the UN Special Commission in Ukraine. Among the civilian dead are fourteen children:
UN: 356 killed, incl 257 civilians, in E. Ukraine military campaign
At least 356 people, including 257 civilians, have died since the beginning of the “anti-terrorist” operation in Ukraine’s eastern regions of Lugansk and Donetsk, according to UN calculations. There were 14 children among the dead.
The results prepared by the UN special commission in Ukraine have been presented by Gianni Magazzeni, head of European Department of the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights. According to Magazzeni, the final body count includes 257 civilians (of them 14 children), 11 more died in Mariupol plus two staff members of Voda Donbassa company .
The remaining 86 victims are the servicemen of Ukrainian army, including several dozen paratroopers and nine crew members of Ilyushin-76 who died in the recent plane crash not far from Lugansk airport.
(snip)
Read more and see video (some graphic) at: http://rt.com/news/166788-eastern-ukraine-death-toll/
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