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Black Sea Turning Into "Zone Of Dangerous Military Confrontation": Russian Foreign Ministry

The Black Sea is turning into a zone of dangerous military confrontation, Yuri Pilipson, director of the Fourth European Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said in an interview with RIA Novosti.

This was the diplomat’s answer to a question of how NATO exercises affect the security situation in the region.

“It is quite obvious that this kind of “training” provokes, and does not prevent, conflict situations,” the diplomat said.

According to him, Russia will continue to take measures to ensure national security with the help of both diplomatic and other instruments.

“We have repeatedly warned that the escalation of military-political tension directly at our borders carries a confrontational charge,” added Pilipson.

From June 28 to July 10, the Sea Breeze 2021 military maneuvers took place in the Black Sea. Up to five thousand servicemen, 40 aircraft and 32 ships from NATO member countries, as well as Ukraine, took part in them. They were watched by the duty forces of the Black Sea Fleet.

Shortly before the start of the exercise, the British destroyer HMS Defender crossed the Russian border near the Crimean Cape Fiolent. The Russian border patrol ship, after repeated warnings, fired warning shots, and the Su-24M fired warning bombings along the Defender’s course.

London argued that the destroyer was not fired upon and that it never entered Russian territorial waters. However, a journalist on board confirmed that the ship had deliberately violated the Russian border.

President Vladimir Putin called this incident a provocation, which was undertaken to show the West’s disrespect for the choice of the Crimeans. According to him, the military development of the territory of Ukraine causes deep concern for Russia – this concerns the real vital interests of the country and the people.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Iran Says It Chased Off US Spy Plane During Large-Scale Hormuz Exercises

September 13, 2020

Iran Says It Chased Off US Spy Plane During Large-Scale Hormuz Exercises

On Friday the AFP reported on some surprising statement from Iran’s military, which however remains unconfirmed from the US side:

The Iranian navy on Friday said it drove off American aircraft that flew close to an area where military exercises were underway near the Strait of Hormuz.

*US Navy P-8A Poseidon, file image via Boeing*

Specifically it was claimed that three total American aircraft, including a P-8 spy plane, a MQ-9 drone and a RQ-4 drone, were caught entering Iran’s air defense identification zone and were picked up by their radar.

Iran’s navy claimed that after “ignoring warnings by Iran’s defense systems to keep away from the drill zone” the American planes were tracked by an Iranian drone before “they changed course and left the zone.”

The Iranians are in the midst of three-day “Zolfaghar 99” exercises in the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil transit point, with the drills stretching into the Indian Ocean.

Despite Washington’s maximum pressure campaign still intense as ever in the form of sanctions, the kind of direct conflict witnessed early this year with the killing of the IRGC’s Qassem Soleimani has been largely absent this summer.

Recall that days following the US drone strike on the elite commander while exiting the Baghdad airport, Iran responded with major missile strikes on US bases in Iraq, which in a sense remained “the final word” on the matter.

Likely not wanting to escalate things to a full-blown war, the Trump administration did not retaliate for the missile attack, which reportedly left dozens of US troops with concussion type injuries.

Australia Conducts It’s “Largest Amphibious Assult Since WWII”

July 19, 2019

Australia Conducts It’s “Largest Amphibious Assult Since WWII”

A joint Australian-U.S. military exercise, called Talisman Sabre 2019, will continue through early August following this week’s Australian-led amphibious landing at Langham Beach, Queensland, Australia, reported Naval Today.

Forces from around the world (the U.S., New Zealand, United Kingdom, and Japan) practiced one of the most massive beach assault since World War II off the eastern coast of Queensland.

Maj. Gen. Roger Noble, deputy chief of joint operations for the Australian Defence Force, noted the beach assault was the critical portion of the monthlong exercise.

“The relationship between the Australian and the United States is the cornerstone of our regional stability. Practicing [working together] builds our flexibility to achieve our shared aims,” he said.
“A credible amphibious capability significantly broadens the options for Australia and the United States to fulfill these requirements,” Noble said in a statement Wednesday.

Stripes said the Australian military lacks a dedicated amphibious force. Rather, the Australian army rotates soldiers through land and sea postings, and the Australian navy is in command of sailing them close to the beach for attacks.

“This is completely foreign to almost all of us,” said Capt. Matthew Stevens of the Royal Australian Army’s 7th Infantry Regiment, who led the group of soldiers on the amphibious landing craft earlier this week.

The amphibious assault included more than 34,000 personnel, 30 ships, and 200 aircraft, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported Thursday.

Marines started aboard the USS Wasp, USS Green Bay, Royal Australian Navy ships, and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force vessels. The marines then used landing craft air cushion, amphibious assault vehicles, and combat rubber raiding crafts for the beach assault.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Marines Seize Pacific Island As Training For War With China

March 22, 2019

Marines Seize Pacific Island As Training For War With China

The 31st U.S. Marine Expeditionary Unit (31st MEU) seized a tiny island and airfield with special operations airmen and soldiers as part of a new island-hopping strategy.

Last week, 31st MEU, backed by the 3rd Marine Division, 3rd Marine Logistics Group and 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, members of the Air Force 353rd Special Operations Group, and Army soldiers with 1st Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group, conducted a series of simulated military exercises attacking and seizing Ie Shima Island located off the northwest coast of Okinawa Island in the East China Sea, reported Task Purpose.

The new military strategy, known as Expeditionary Advanced Base (EAB) Operations, will allow Marine units to seize, establish, and operate multiple small bases across the Pacific Ocean, a tactic that will be beneficial in a high-end fight with China.

During the exercise, special forces seized the island’s airport, 31st MEU then established a Forward Arming and Refueling Point. Marine Corps F-35B stealth fighters patrolled the island’s perimeter while C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft delivered heavy artillery pieces.

M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems were hauled in by the transport aircraft, carried out simulated long-range precision fire missions while stealth fighter jets conducted strikes with guided munitions.

“This entire mission profile simulated the process of securing advanced footholds for follow-on forces to conduct further military operations, with rapid redeployment,” the Marines said in a statement.

Task & Purpose said the EAB exercise is an updated version of the WWII-era island-hopping strategy.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Iran Navy Begins “Massive Drill” Stretching Across World’s Key Oil Chokepoints

February 22, 2019

Iran Navy Begins “Massive Drill” Stretching Across World’s Key Oil Chokepoints

Iran’s navy has begun a three day war game exercise on Friday in the Persian Gulf, in an expansive area encompassing Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, to the Sea of Oman and even stretching to northern parts of the Indian Ocean, state media reports. Some reports indicate the games could go on for as much as a week, but all emphasized the “large-scale” nature of the drills in which Iran’s navy will showcase the Fateh-class submarine — a domestically built sub carrying cruise missiles and torpedoes, as well as its Sahand destroyer.

The cruise missile-firing capable Fateh, or “Conqueror”, was launched for the first time at the start of this week and has been touted as “state-of-the-art” and with the ability to stay underwater for five weeks at a time. Crucially, the large exercises come after last week’s US-sponsored Warsaw conference in which both Israeli and US officials made threats of war with Tehran. Indeed during the conference Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu openly stated that he was attending the summit with an aim to “advance the common interest of war with Iran.”

*Iran state media montage from the first day of the military games.*

The games also come at a time when even foreign policy establishment insiders, such as the Council on Foreign Relation’s Steven Cook, increasingly acknowledge that the White House’s “march to war against Iran” is now “echoing the drumbeats” of the lead up to the 2003 Iraq invasion.

Writing in Foreign Policy, Cook warns:

Taken together—the Warsaw conference, Pence’s bullying of the Europeans, Bolton’s threatening video, and the broader background noise in Washington—the events of the past week were familiar in a foreboding way. The chatter about Iran has not become the war fever that gripped Washington in 2002 over Iraq, but the echoes of that year are not hard to miss in the Trump administration’s effort to shape the domestic and international debate about Iran.

Iran’s drills in the coming days will further involve battleship exercises and amphibious and anti-amphibious warfare maneuvers, according to Iranian military statements.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

North Korea Blasts “Double-Dealing” US After Pompeo’s Canceled Trip

August 26, 2018

North Korea Blasts “Double-Dealing” US After Pompeo’s Canceled Trip

The war drums are starting to beat again.

The North Korean media lashed out at the “double-dealing” US for “hatching a criminal plot” against Pyongyang, days after Donald Trump told Secretary of State Mike Pompe to cancel his upcoming trip to North Korea. In an editorial, Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the North’s ruling party, said that US units based in Okinawa, Japan were staging drills aimed at “infiltration into Pyongyang.” The paper was citing an unnamed South Korean media outlet.

The US “is busy staging secret drills involving man-killing special units while having a dialogue with a smile on its face,” the paper wrote, adding that Pyongyang cannot help but note “the double-dealing attitudes” of Washington.

Resorting to language last week during the peak of the tensions between the US and North Korea, the newspaper said that “such acts prove that the US is hatching a criminal plot to unleash a war against the DPRK [North Korea] and commit a crime which deserves merciless divine punishment.”

The editorial, which did not mention the Pompeo visit, urged Washington to give up the “pointless military gamble” and implement the Singapore agreement, in which the leaders pledged to work towards a complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.

It wasn’t clear which drills the North was referring to; Okinawa is host to nearly half of the 47,000 US troops based in Japan. The troops repeatedly hold military exercises in the area.

A spokesman at the US Embassy in Seoul told Reuters that he had no information about the military exercise mentioned in the paper.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Iranian Navy Holds Drills In Persian Gulf After Threats To Block Strait Of Hormuz

August 5, 2018

Iranian Navy Holds Drills In Persian Gulf After Threats To Block Strait Of Hormuz

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard on Sunday confirmed rumors that they moved up the timing of a large naval drill in the Persian Gulf several days ahead of the Islamic Republic’s planned annual exercises, according to Reuters. State news agency IRNA said the war games were aimed at “confronting possible threats” from enemies.

“This exercise was conducted with the aim of controlling and safeguarding the safety of the international waterway and within the framework of the program of the Guards’ annual military exercises,” Guards spokesman Ramezan Sharif said, according to IRNA.

The U.S. military’s Central Command on Wednesday confirmed it has seen increased Iranian naval activity. The activity extended to the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway for oil shipments the Revolutionary Guards have threatened to block. –Reuters

While Iran didn’t comment on the size of the drill, Haaretz reported on Friday that “more than 100 vessels” would participate, citing a U.S. official.

The U.S. military’s Central Command on Wednesday confirmed it has seen an increase in Iranian naval activity, including in the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway for oil shipments that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have threatened to block.

“We are monitoring it closely, and will continue to work with our partners to ensure freedom of navigation and free flow of commerce in international waterways,” said Navy Captain Bill Urban, the chief spokesman at Central Command, which oversees U.S. forces in the Middle East. Central Command did not update its guidance on Thursday.

A third official said the Iranian naval operations did not appear to be affecting commercial maritime activity. –Haaretz

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Russia Warns: Increased US Marine Corps Presence In Norway Could Be Viewed As An Attack

June 20, 2018

Russia Warns: Increased US Marine Corps Presence In Norway Could Be Viewed As An Attack

Russia is hinting that a new wave of U.S. Marines in Norway, near the Russian border in the Troms region, could be viewed as an attack, the MarineTimes reported.

Last week, the Russian Embassy in Norway warned of consequences for the latest U.S. troop buildup, and on Friday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova criticized Norway for its expanded military cooperation with Washington.

A Marine with Marine Rotational Force-Europe 18.1 sends live rounds down range while conducting a squad attack during winter warfare training at Haltdalen Training Center, Norway, April 18, 2018. (Gunnery Sgt. Clinton Firstbrook/Marine Corps/MarineTimes)

According to Zakharova, the policy of the Norwegian government to support a doubling of Marines “in the country and deploy them near the border with Russia undermines mutual confidence.” Furthermore, she argues, the Marines’ presence in the Arctic country — a few hundred miles from the Russian border, in fact, could be an attack.

The statements come as the Norwegian government intends to add another 400 U.S. Marines to Norway before the most significant military exercise since the Cold War this fall.

However, the Marines are not permanently stationed in the country, only on a “rotational deployment,” the Norwegian defense ministry recently stressed.

“We paid attention to the reports of the Norwegian Ministry of Defense released on June 13, which contain Oslo’s agreement to double the US Marine Corps stationed on the Norwegian territory from 330 to 700 people, prolong their rotation presence there for five years, expand its footprint to the north, closer to the border with our country, and create infrastructure for warplanes at the expense of the US under the implementation of the so-called European initiative to deter Russia,” Zakharova said.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

NATO Sabre Strike Exercise: Scaring Russia with Multiple War Games of Unparalleled Scale

June 7, 2018

NATO Sabre Strike Exercise: Scaring Russia with Multiple War Games of Unparalleled Scale

This year, NATO has already organized about 100 exercises, 20 percent more compared to the same period in 2017. Saber Strike-2018, a large-scale US-led exercise involving 18,000 soldiers from 19 NATO members and partner nations, kicked off on June 3 to last till June 15. The scope of the exercise has been steadily expanding with every year. It was 11,000 troops in 2017, 9,000 in 2016, 6,000 in 2015, 4,700 in 2014 and 2,000 in 2013 – that’s how a relatively small drill turned into the regular deployment of substantial force in the proximity of Russia’s borders. Moscow expressed its concern about it at the NATO-Russia Council’s session held on May 31.

The annual multination training event organized every year since 2010 is being held across the training areas in Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Non-NATO countries taking part are Finland and Macedonia. Air assault landings are part of the scenario to hone the skills for launching offensive operations.

Sabre Strike is timed with Swift Response airborne drill in Latvia to culminate on June 8. It involves 800 paratroopers from US, Latvia, Lithuania, Israel and Poland.

There will be more exercises held in 2018 near Russia’s borders, including Trident Juncture, a really big one to take place in late October-early November to involve 35,000 troops from 30 nations along with 70 ships and about 130 aircraft and Anakonda organized by Poland in November. The latter will involve 100,000 servicemen, 5,000 vehicles, 150 aircraft and 45 warships. The scale is mind-boggling. One can imagine how much it costs! The Anakonda scenario includes preemptive strikes. If it’s not an open preparation for war than what is? US Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley believes it is. According to him, “Having large-scale NATO forces in the Baltic States and Poland, as well as the lack of transparency – we see serious preparation for a great war.” He knows what is talking about.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Is It Time for A Nice, “Little” Nuclear War?

April 19, 2018

Is It Time for A Nice, “Little” Nuclear War?

I have been accused by many of being cynical. My accusers make this claim in the context of my being “pessimistic, sardonic, or negative.” Having been a middle-school student crouching under his desk with a piece of notebook paper over his head during the “Cuban Missile Crisis,” a teenager expelled from high school for organizing a student walk-out against the Vietnam War, a witness to the Nixon “presidency,” and all and sundry since, I prefer to regard myself as a realist. A pessimistic, cynical realist.

I admit, I have devolved over the time since middle-school from a true believer in the myth of America as world policewoman, to a defender of the US Constitution as the last hope to avoid nuclear annihilation. Now, I see, I may have been wrong. Rather than harp on the “negative” aspects of nuclear war, I should have focused on how a “nice, little nuclear war” may actually be a good thing.

Recent events in the Mideast, Syria, Jordon, and Israel indicate, to my cynical nature, that the USA may get the answer to all those “Nuke ‘Em” prayers so many Americans have been trumpeting for so long. If things “go wrong” with Syria, a “nice, little nuclear war” could be in the cards. You have Syria, with Russian troops present, being struck by US cruise missiles. This is dangerous enough. But in addition, you have the USA building up troops in Jordan as reported by the Marine Times on Friday the 13th of April, 2018:

As tensions come to a boil in Syria over an alleged chemical attack, thousands of U.S. troops and Marines will be gathering in neighboring Jordan for the start of a major training exercise.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

US Deploys Special Forces “Decapitation” Team To South Korea

October 16, 2017

US Deploys Special Forces “Decapitation” Team To South Korea

Today, the South Korean and U.S. navies kicked off massive combined drills off the coast of the Korean peninsula amid heightened tensions, a training exercise which North Korea has warned may prompt another ballistic missile launch potentially to coincide with the launch of the Chinese 19th Party Congress on October 18. The two allies plan to continue the Maritime Counter Special Operations Exercise (MCSOFEX) through Friday in the East Sea and the Yellow Sea.

As reported over the weekend, the drill involves the U.S. 7th Fleet’s aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) and two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers – the USS Stethem (DDG-63) and the USS Mustin (DDG-89). The carrier strike group will train with South Korean warships and other defense assets, such as the Sejong the Great Aegis ship and P-3 Orion anti-submarine aircraft in the East Sea.

And while details of the drill were well-known in advance, what was reported for the first time overnight from Yonhap is that a unit of U.S. special forces tasked with carrying out “decapitation” operations is also aboard a nuclear-powered submarine in the group, according to a defense source. So far, little else is known about why said decapitation team is on location, or whether it will be put into use, although it presence may explain Trump’s “calm before the storm” comment that beffudled the media two weeks ago.

Among other assets mobilized for the joint drill are F-15K, FA-18 and A-10 fighter jets, as well as AH-64E Apache attack helicopters, Lynx and AW-159 Wild Cat naval choppers. The U.S. has also deployed a Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) plane to closely monitor the North’s ground and naval forces.

Some more details about the drill from Yonhap:

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Arabia And Turkey Drop Hints That An Invasion Of Syria Is Imminent

February 16, 2016

Arabia And Turkey Drop Hints That An Invasion Of Syria Is Imminent

As you read this article, Turkish forces are massing along the border with Syria, and the largest “military exercises” in the history of the Middle East are being held in northern Saudi Arabia. The Saudis are publicly warning that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad “will be removed by force” if a political solution cannot be found, and Turkey is claiming that it may have to establish a “safe zone” in northern Syria “for humanitarian purposes”. Saudi Arabia, Turkey and their Sunni allies have poured massive amounts of money and arms into the conflict in Syria, and now that their Sunni insurgents are on the verge of total defeat, they are trying to come up with a way to justify going in there and doing the job themselves.

For the Saudis, their focus is on trying to convince everyone that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is an extremely dangerous dictator that must be removed at all costs. The following comes from the London Independent…

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will be removed by force if the peace process fails, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister has said.

“Bashar al-Assad will leave – have no doubt about it,” Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told CNN. “He will either leave by a political process or he will be removed by force.”

Saudi Arabia has sent troops and fighter jets to a Turkish military base ahead of a possible ground invasion of Syria.

So precisely who will be doing the “removing” if force is necessary?

Are the Saudis ready to send in ground troops?

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

NATO Conducts Rehearsal For Ukraine Siege: Mapping All NATO Drills Near Russia Since 2014

June 21, 2015

NATO Conducts Rehearsal For Ukraine Siege: Mapping All NATO Drills Near Russia Since 2014

In the fictional country of Botnia, “Birdman”, the rebel leader, lives in a ramshackle shed in the woods while his separatist troops fight to destabilize a NATO-friendly country from the also fictional town of Alpha, a make-believe rebel stronghold.

Fortunately for peace-loving “Bothnians”, Birdman is captured by Czech and Dutch special forces who, after repelling from attack helicopters, storm his wooden shed under cover of smoke bombs. Meanwhile, the separatists dug in at Alpha are defeated by a wave of Polish tanks assisted by German and Norwegian air cover.

This absurd, yet familiar-sounding plot actually describes the “mission” conducted by NATO’s rapid reaction force in Poland last week. The latest Noble Jump maneuvers come on the heels of similar war games carried out in early April and are designed to ensure that NATO countries can deploy rapidly and fight as one unit to deter what the West calls “Russian aggression.” Here’s more on the “Botnia” siege via Deutsche Welle:

“Birdman” is the name that maneuver planners have given the opponent in the Bothnian enemy camp. He must be retrieved from a wooden house in the middle of the military training grounds in the forest. Stationed in the nearby village of “Alpha” are his followers, armed militiamen, who have begun to destabilize the region in southwestern Poland.

The scene is recognizable as it is loosely based on the situation in eastern Ukraine, except this time, a NATO member has been threatened by “little green men”. After all, the planners want to make the situation as lifelike as possible. On command, masked Czech and Dutch Special Forces fast-rope out of US helicopters, throw smoke grenades, storm the wooden house and drag “Birdman” out. Scenes like this are reminiscent of films like “Black Hawk Down” or TV series, such as “Homeland”.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Isolated – China and Russia Demonstrate Closer Relationship with Joint Military Exercises

May 10, 2015

Isolated – China and Russia Demonstrate Closer Relationship with Joint Military Exercises

BEIJING — When a Chinese honor guard joins a military parade in Russia’s capital this weekend, watched by China’s President Xi Jinping, it will mark more than just a symbolic recognition of the two countries’ contributions to the Allied victory in 1945.

China’s participation also reflects an upgrade of its military ties with Russia, including joint naval exercises and a revival of arms purchases, that could complicate U.S.-led efforts to counter both nations’ expanding military activities, analysts and diplomats say.

They’ve basically come to a consensus that despite their differences over some national interests, they really face the same common enemy,” said Gilbert Rozman, an expert on China-Russia relations at Princeton University.

– From the Wall Street Journal article: China Parades Closer Ties in Moscow

One of the key themes here at Liberty Blitzkrieg has been the carelessness and ineptitude of those in charge of crafting U.S. foreign policy. I’m not naive, and I fully understand that the world is a dangerous place. Just as I believe individuals should have the right to defend themselves and their families with the right to bear arms, I also understand the importance of strong national defense.

The problem with current U.S. foreign policy is that it is not defensive in nature. Rather, all indications are that the U.S. government is acting offensively; primarily driven by ego and the will to dominate. Much of the world has come to see the U.S. not as a powerful partner, but as a narcissistic master. What American leadership fails to understand, is that by taking such a posture it is simply making others overseas feel paranoid and threatened, thus drawing them closer to each other and farther from the U.S.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

China, Russia Unveil First-Ever Mediterranean Joint Naval Exercise

May 1, 2015

China, Russia Unveil First-Ever Mediterranean Joint Naval Exercise

Sabre-rattling much? For the first time in history, Chinese and Russian navies will begin a significant joint naval exercise in The Mediterranean Sea in mid-May. As RT reports, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng, “The aim is to deepen both countries’ friendly and practical cooperation, and increase our navies’ ability to jointly deal with maritime security threats,” but diplomatically added “these exercises are not aimed at any third party and have nothing to do with the regional situation.” Against a background of this week’s “upgraded Japan-American military relationship” following Abe’s visit to Obama, as one analyst notes, “the geopolitical significance of its exercising alongside Russia will not be lost on the U.S. and NATO.”

The Chinese and Russian Navies have exercised together since 2012 in waters off Russia’s eastern seaboard; but as RT reports,

The Russian and Chinese Navies are to hold a joint exercise in the Mediterranean Sea in mid-May, a first in that part of the world. A total of nine warships from the two countries are to participate, Beijing said.

“The aim is to deepen both countries’ friendly and practical cooperation, and increase our navies’ ability to jointly deal with maritime security threats,” Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng said on Thursday in a monthly news briefing.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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