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Prominent French Journalist Calls For France-Germany-Russia Alliance
Prominent French Journalist Calls For France-Germany-Russia Alliance
With the Ukraine civil war – courtesy of the constant prodding of the US State Department – inching ever closer to an all out military confrontation with Russia, and further escalation in terms of western sanctions on the Kremlin, as well as even more acute countermeasures and retaliation by Russia, increasingly more in Europe are asking themselves the question, if not in those exact words, “if the US said to fuck the EU, then why should the EU allign with the US?”
One person doing just that is prominent and controversial French writer and political journalist Eric Zemmour, who on Friday said that France and Germany, following the historical tradition, should work on forming an alliance with Russia.
“NATO is doing its utmost to present Russia as an enemy of the West and thereby justify its existence,” Zemmour wrote in Le Figaro Magazine. “Fortunately, France and Germany in due time blocked Ukraine’s accession to NATO, and that’s a positive fact,” the journalist said.
“Now when they finally coordinated their positions on establishing relations with Moscow, they should not stop halfway and should move towards forming a tripartite alliance with Russia,” he said, recalling numerous efforts in the past by “kings, emperors and presidents” of the three countries to set up such an alliance.
As further cited by Tass, such a bloc “will be the only chance for Europe to get rid of the United States protectorate and become, in the words of General de Gaulle, a ‘Free Europe’.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Russia deploying next-gen Nebo-M radar complexes to counter NATO threat
Russia deploying next-gen Nebo-M radar complexes to counter NATO threat
Russia has begun deploying the next generation of Nebo-M anti-missile radar facility systems as part of a responsive measure to a threat stemming from NATO anti-ballistic missile systems in Eastern Europe.
“The mobile multi-range programmable Nebo-M complex is capable of performing the tasks of providing information on small-sized aerodynamic and hypersonic targets in a difficult jamming background, as well as providing information for anti-missile weapon systems,” said colonel Aleksey Zolotuhin, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry’s press service.
The development and deployment of next-gen anti-missile systems featuring Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) technology is a top priority for the Russian Defense Ministry, as US anti-ballistic missile system are springing up in Romania, Turkey, Poland, and even in Spain.
The new Nebo-M 3-D radar system features a programmable multi-band design. The complex includes central data fusion and command post module as well as three radars, all deployed on separate high-mobility 8 x 8 24-ton vehicles. According to Aviatioweek, radars feed data to the command post using high-speed narrow-beam digital data links in the microwave band.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
‘Get NATO, foreign countries out of Ukraine to end civil war’ – Ron Paul
‘Get NATO, foreign countries out of Ukraine to end civil war’ – Ron Paul
The best thing for Ukraine is to force NATO, the US, and regional players out of the country, former US congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul said. Without foreign meddling in the civil war, Kiev will focus on the nation’s economic collapse.
READ MORE: Ron Paul: Western powers fomenting Ukrainian conflict, US should ‘stay out’
“Get the foreigners out of there [Ukraine], get the Europeans out, the US out, get NATO out, and get the Russians out,” Paul said at the International Students for Liberty Conference in Washington on Friday.“There will be less of a civil war going on there because they will have to worry about their debt. This is an economic matter too. You have to realize that the country is totally bankrupt.”
“I’m not pro-Putin, I’m not pro-Russia, but I’m pro-facts,” Paul stressed when defending his stance.“Crimea is not exactly a foreign country, according to the Russians. But I’m neutral on that,” the former presidential candidate stated.
Paul – a 79-year-old retired doctor who spent nearly three decades in the US Congress representing the state of Texas – reiterated his previous statements, noting that what happened in Ukraine last year was a“coup” that was planned by “NATO, EU” and western Ukrainians. “One thing for sure that we do know, is we [US] had the conversations between our State Department and our ambassador before the coup – who will we put in place. And they planned part of the coup.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Nuclear Specter Returns: ‘Threat of War Is Higher than in the Cold War’
Nuclear Specter Returns: ‘Threat of War Is Higher than in the Cold War’
The Ukraine crisis has dramatically worsened relations between NATO and Russia. With cooperation on nuclear security now suspended and the lack of a “red telephone,” experts at the Munich Security Conference warn any escalation in tensions could grow deadly.
The scientists had no idea that their experiment could spell the end of civilization. On Jan. 25, 1995, Norwegian and American researchers fired a rocket into the skies of northwestern Norway to study the Northern Lights. But the four-stage rocket flew directly through the same corridor that American Minuteman III missiles, equipped with nuclear warheads, would use to travel from the United States to Moscow.
The rocket’s speed and flight pattern very closely matched what the Russians expected from a Trident missile that would be fired from a US submarine and detonated at high altitude, with the aim of blinding the Russian early-warning system to prepare for a large-scale nuclear attack by the United States. The Russian military was placed on high alert, and then President Boris Yeltsin activated the keys to launch nuclear weapons. He had less than 10 minutes to decide whether to issue the order to fire.
Yeltsin left the Russian missiles in their silos, probably in part because relations between Russian and the United States were relatively trusting in 1995. But if a similar incident occurred today, as US arms expert Theodore Postol warned recently, it could quite possibly lead to nuclear catastrophe.
Deep Mistrust
“Five or six minutes can be enough time, if you have trust, if you have communication and if you can put this machinery immediately to work,” former Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said on the sidelines of last weekend’s Munich Security Conference. Unfortunately, he argued, this machinery works very poorly today, and there is great mistrust.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Nuclear Specter Returns: ‘Threat of War Is Higher than in the Cold War’
Nuclear Specter Returns: ‘Threat of War Is Higher than in the Cold War’
The Ukraine crisis has dramatically worsened relations between NATO and Russia. With cooperation on nuclear security now suspended and the lack of a “red telephone,” experts at the Munich Security Conference warn any escalation in tensions could grow deadly.
The scientists had no idea that their experiment could spell the end of civilization. On Jan. 25, 1995, Norwegian and American researchers fired a rocket into the skies of northwestern Norway to study the Northern Lights. But the four-stage rocket flew directly through the same corridor that American Minuteman III missiles, equipped with nuclear warheads, would use to travel from the United States to Moscow.
The rocket’s speed and flight pattern very closely matched what the Russians expected from a Trident missile that would be fired from a US submarine and detonated at high altitude, with the aim of blinding the Russian early-warning system to prepare for a large-scale nuclear attack by the United States. The Russian military was placed on high alert, and then President Boris Yeltsin activated the keys to launch nuclear weapons. He had less than 10 minutes to decide whether to issue the order to fire.
Yeltsin left the Russian missiles in their silos, probably in part because relations between Russian and the United States were relatively trusting in 1995. But if a similar incident occurred today, as US arms expert Theodore Postol warned recently, it could quite possibly lead to nuclear catastrophe.
Deep Mistrust
“Five or six minutes can be enough time, if you have trust, if you have communication and if you can put this machinery immediately to work,” former Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said on the sidelines of last weekend’s Munich Security Conference. Unfortunately, he argued, this machinery works very poorly today, and there is great mistrust.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Ukraine fighting continues as ceasefire looms
Ukraine fighting continues as ceasefire looms
Fierce fighting breaks out in country’s east amid claims by the United States that Russia is deploying heavy arms.
Fierce fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels has ensued just hours before a February 15 ceasefire, signed by European leaders, takes effect.
Friday’s fighting in eastern Ukraine cast doubts on the ceasefire and came as the United States accused Russia of deploying heavy arms to eastern Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Kiev warned that shelling of civilians in the rebel-held areas in the east had intensified.
Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine’s president, said continuing bombardment of civilians by pro-Russian separatist rebels was already undermining the peace plan reached in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, on Thursday.
The deal was negotiated by the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany.
At least 28 civilians and soldiers were reported killed in the latest upsurge in fighting.
Poroshenko expressed pessimism about the prospects for the ceasefire deal.
“Unfortunately after the Minsk agreement, Russia’s offensive has significantly increased. We still think that the agreement is in great danger,” he said during a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
“After what we concluded in Minsk, these are not only attacks against civilians but also against the Minsk agreement.”
The ceasefire, due to take effect from 22:00 GMT Saturday, will be the first test of the commitment by Kiev and pro-Russian separatists to the new peace plan.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
In His Thirst for War, Senator Jim Inhofe Releases Fake Photos of Russian Troops in the Ukraine
In His Thirst for War, Senator Jim Inhofe Releases Fake Photos of Russian Troops in the Ukraine
Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee first viewed the graphic pictures in December. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R., Okla.) then obtained the photos and worked to independently verify and confirm the authenticity of the photos, before providing them exclusively to the Free Beacon.
Inhofe said he hopes the images act as a wake up call to the Obama administration and American people, who largely have been spared from seeing the graphic violence inflicted upon Ukraine by the Russian-backed separatists…
Following publication of this story, serious questions have been raised about the authenticity of some of the photographs provided by Sen. Jim Inhofe (R., Okla.). Several images of the Russian convoys appear to have been taken in 2008, during Russia’s conflict with Georgia. Given the similarities between the earlier images and those provided by the senator’s office, the Washington Free Beacon is investigating further and will update as necessary.
Sen. Inhofe said in a statement: “The Ukrainian parliament members who gave us these photos in print form as if it came directly from a camera really did themselves a disservice. We felt confident to release these photos because the images match the reporting of what is going on in the region. I was furious to learn one of the photos provided now appears to be falsified from an AP photo taken in 2008.
– From the Washington Free Beacon’s article: Updated: Provenance of Photos Showing Atrocities Questioned
This is absolutely incredible. Incredible.
First of all, I don’t claim to have any idea about what is happening in Ukraine. Many people out there feel obligated to pick a side, but I can promise you that 99% of them don’t actually have a clue. I don’t think there are many “goods guys” on either side of this fight, and my assumption is that both sides are lying as much as possible. It’s a very sad situation, but very few people really knows what’s going on. That’s why I don’t comment on it much.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
How Stupid Do They Think We Are?
How Stupid Do They Think We Are?
Newsweek magazine headlined on February 5th, “‘Biggest NATO Reinforcement Since Cold War’ Sets Frontlines Against Russia,” and reported that, “According to general Charles Wald, former-deputy commander of U.S. European Command, … ‘The question for Europe is: is Putin creeping further and further west?’” Wald is quoted as saying that the case of Ukraine especially worries him. This article continues: “‘Is this a precursor to Russia moving into Moldova? Nagorno Karabakh has been bubbling up, and the Georgia issue is still unresolved. NATO has essentially set these [new military] bases in its frontline states,’ Wald says, referring to the countries’ proximity to Russian territory.”
So: Russia is moving too close to NATO countries, according to the U.S. ‘Defense’ Department.
But it’s a blatant lie. Actually, since 1999, 11 former members of the Warsaw Pact, countries, which had been allied with Russia during the communist Soviet Union throughout the Cold War, have switched to the U.S. military alliance against their former ally Russia, NATO: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Albania.
So: Russia hasn’t been moving at all, not an inch; but the U.S. certainly has — by surrounding Russia with its NATO missiles.
This Newsweek story is ‘news’ that’s published in a mainstream U.S. ‘news’ source, which people pay bad money for — it’s worse than a waste, it’s their being charged for U.S.-Government propaganda.
Here is authentic news, from an authentic news source — news which had been posted just four days earlier than that Newsweek lie, on February 1st — news that was posted at the Fort Russ blog, which not only is free, but it’s the most thorough and reliably truthful news site of all on the Ukrainian conflict:
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Russia warns US: ‘Don’t arm Kiev’
Russia warns US: ‘Don’t arm Kiev’
A close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin has told the European Parliament that “all-out war” could result if the US supplies arms to the Ukrainian government in Kiev.
Alexei Pushkov, a leading Russian MP, was addressing about 100 MEPs in the parliament’s foreign affairs committee.
He was speaking after President Barack Obama said he had not ruled out sending arms to Kiev if diplomacy failed.
The option of lethal defensive weapons was being examined, Mr Obama said.
Mr Pushkov, who is on the US sanctions blacklist, warned that American weapons could “expand the war and turn it into a real threat to the whole European security system”, Tass news agency quoted him as saying.
He is not on the EU list of top Russian politicians and industrialists subject to a visa ban and asset freeze, imposed after Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in March 2014.
He was invited to Strasbourg by the foreign affairs committee. He told European Parliament TV that arms supplies were the first step in the US involvement in the Vietnam War in the 1960s.
“First they sent weapons, then they sent military advisers, then troops to protect military advisers, then troops to fight the Vietnamese.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The Butlerian Carnival
The Butlerian Carnival
Over the last week or so, I’ve heard from a remarkable number of people who feel that a major crisis is in the offing. The people in question don’t know each other, many of them have even less contact with the mass media than I do, and the sense they’ve tried to express to me is inchoate enough that they’ve been left fumbling for words, but they all end up reaching for the same metaphors: that something in the air just now seems reminiscent of the American colonies in 1775, France in 1789, America in 1860, Europe in 1914, or the world in 1939: a sense of being poised on the brink of convulsive change, with the sound of gunfire and marching boots coming ever more clearly from the dimly seen abyss ahead.
It’s not an unreasonable feeling, all things considered. In Washington DC, Obama’s flunkies are beating the war drums over Ukraine, threatening to send shipments of allegedly “defensive” weapons to join the mercenaries and military advisors we’ve already not-so-covertly got over there. Russian officials have responded to American saber-rattling by stating flatly that a US decision to arm Kiev will be the signal for all-out war. The current Ukrainian regime, installed by a US-sponsored coup and backed by NATO, means to Russia precisely what a hostile Canadian government installed by a Chinese-sponsored coup and backed by the People’s Liberation Army would mean to the United States; if Obama’s trademark cluelessness leads him to ignore that far from minor point and decide that the Russians are bluffing, we could be facing a European war within weeks.
Head south and west from the fighting around Donetsk, and another flashpoint is heating up toward an explosion of its own just now. Yes, that would be Greece, where the new Syriza government has refused to back down from the promises that got it into office: promises that center on the rejection of the so-called “austerity” policies that have all but destroyed the Greek economy since they were imposed in 2009. This shouldn’t be news to anyone; those same policies, though they’ve been praised to the skies by neoliberal economists for decades now as a guaranteed ticket to prosperity, have had precisely the opposite effect in every single country where they’ve been put in place.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Pentagon deploys A-10 attack jets, 300 pilots to Germany amid Ukraine turmoil
Pentagon deploys A-10 attack jets, 300 pilots to Germany amid Ukraine turmoil
The US Air Force dispatched a dozen A-10 Thunderbolt II attack jets and about 300 airmen to Germany as part of a military exercise, which is expected to involve NATO allies in Eastern Europe amid simmering tensions over Ukraine.
The Cold War-era aircraft, nicknamed the Warthog, on Monday departed Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona for Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve.
READ MORE: Art of drills: 10 NATO war games that almost started armed conflicts
Lt. Col. Christopher Karns, a spokesman for the Air Force at the Pentagon, said the aircraft would“forward-deploy” to sites in Eastern European NATO states, where the units will participate in training with allied forces to “strengthen interoperability and…demonstrate US commitment to the security and stability of Europe,” he told military.com.
The highly reliable A-10 carries a seven-barrel GAU-8/A Avenger Gatling gun that fires 30mm rounds designed to destroy tanks and other armored combat vehicles.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Is Peace or War at Hand?
Is Peace or War at Hand?
King World News illustrates this article with photos. If you enjoy visuals, go here:http://kingworldnews.com/paul-craig-roberts-world-now-cusp-total-war/
At this time we do not know the outcome of the meeting in Moscow between Merkel, Hollande, and Putin.
The meeting with Putin was initiated by Merkel and Hollande, because they are disturbed by the aggressive position that Washington has taken toward Russia and are fearful that Washington is pushing Europe into a conflict that Europe does not want. However, Merkel and Hollande cannot resolve the NATO/EU/Ukraine situation unless Merkel and Hollande are willing to break with Washington’s foreign policy and assert the right as sovereign states to conduct their own foreign policy.
Unless Washington’s war-lust has finally driven Europeans to take control over their own fate, the most likely outcome of the Putin-Merkel-Hollande meeting will be more meetings that go nowhere. If Merkel and Hollande are not negotiating from a position of independence, one likely outcome after more meetings will be that Merkel and Hollande will say, in order to appease Washington, that they tried to reason with Putin but that Putin was unreasonable.
Based on Lavrov’s meeting in Munich with the Europeans, the hope for any sign of intelligence and independence in Europe seems misplaced. Russian diplomacy relied on European independence, but as Putin has acknowledged Europe has shown no independence from Washington. Putin has said that negotiating with vassals is pointless. Yet, Putin continues to negotiate with vassals.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
30,000 troops, 6 rapid units: NATO increases military power in Eastern Europe
30,000 troops, 6 rapid units: NATO increases military power in Eastern Europe
The NATO Response Force in Europe might increase to 30,000 troops, more than double the current 13,000, said the alliance’s secretary general after a defense ministers’ meeting in Brussels. Most of the troops are set to be stationed near Russia’s borders.
NATO’s rapid deployment forces will consist of a 5,000-strong brigade, sea and air-based elements and special task troops, said NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenber after meeting with the alliance’s 28 defense ministers in Brussels on Thursday.
Before the meeting he noted that he expected the ministers to “agree on several important elements of a package that increases our collective defense.”
The UK has already announced plans to deploy 1,000 troops and four multirole Typhoon fighter jets to join the Response Force in Eastern Europe.
The spearhead of that force will be 5,000 servicemen, distributed among six compact command centers in Eastern Europe, with about only 50 officers in each.
“It is a response to what we have seen from Russia over a period of time and it is in full accordance with our international obligations,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The Latest US Invasion Of Iraq Begins: US Military Search And Rescue Teams Arrive In Northern Iraq
The Latest US Invasion Of Iraq Begins: US Military Search And Rescue Teams Arrive In Northern Iraq
Despite numerous explanations that no boots-on-the-ground will be on-the-ground in Iraq in the war against Islamic State, it appears, as CNN reports, that the US military has moved Search-and-Rescue (S&R) assets to Northern Iraq as part of a “constant rebalancing” depending on the evolving airstrike-only mission.
Of course, as the ‘unnamed source’ was so quick to explain, this was in no way a response to threats from The UAE to pull out of the coalition unless S&R assets were placed in Iraq since, cynically speaking, the UAE demands are only the result of US demands that it demand it anyway.
However, as Bloomberg notes – on the heels of selling 170 M-1 Abrams tanks to Iraq indirectly ‘stimulating’ the US economy (“middle-class economics” don’t forget) – US allies are now withholding military power in an effort to get Obama to do more in Syria (which once again cynically-speaking – gives the President further excuse to provide billions in fresh military contracts to General Dynamics & Northrop Grummond) all in the name of peace, prosperity and the American way of life.
U.S. allies in the fight against Islamic State extremists are withholding military capabilities as leverage on President Barack Obama to do more in Syria, according to Bloomberg.
At issue are calls from the U.A.E. for U.S. pilot-rescue teams to be positioned closer to the Syrian battleground, where they’d be primed for quicker action, and from Turkey to impose a protected safe zone in Syria. Their demands create problems for Obama, who officials have said is wary of drawing the U.S. more deeply into Syria’s turmoil.
Underlying that issue is disagreement over Obama’s decision to make fighting Islamic State the priority over efforts to remove the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
