4 Messages
Digest #5019
Messages
Fri May 2, 2014 6:25 am (PDT) . Posted by:
"Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/
Press TV
May 2, 2014
First NATO warplanes land in Estonia
Four Danish F-16 warplanes have touched down in Estonia, marking the first time NATO aircraft are stationed in one of Russia’s neighboring countries.
The aircraft, accompanied by a 60-strong supporting team, landed on Wednesday in the Amari air base in the west of the Baltic state.
NATO is beefing up its military presence in the Baltics in order to ease concerns created by Russia-US tensions over the crisis in Ukraine.
“Your arrival in Estonia and the opening of the Amari base to regular NATO flights increases the security of our region,” said Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Roivas in a welcoming ceremony.
He said he is convincing NATO allies to “stay in Estonia” as the “work on the security of Estonia and Europe is far from over.”
Estonian defense forces spokesman Roland Murof said that before the arrival of the Danish warplanes NATO’s sole Baltic air base was in northern Lithuania.
Earlier this week, 150 US troops arrived in Estonia.
Poland has sent four MiG-29 aircraft to Lithuania, Britain contributed four Typhoon fighter jets and France deployed four Rafale jets to Poland.
The deployment of NATO forces is part of the military alliance’s bid to strengthen its presence in Eastern Europe.
NATO also plans to augment its air defenses and carry out military exercises in East European countries.
NATO’s expanded military presence comes against the backdrop of the crisis in Ukraine.
Tensions between the West and Moscow heightened after Crimea declared independence from Ukraine and became part of Russia following a referendum on March 16.
==============================
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==============================
Press TV
May 2, 2014
First NATO warplanes land in Estonia
Four Danish F-16 warplanes have touched down in Estonia, marking the first time NATO aircraft are stationed in one of Russia’s neighboring countries.
The aircraft, accompanied by a 60-strong supporting team, landed on Wednesday in the Amari air base in the west of the Baltic state.
NATO is beefing up its military presence in the Baltics in order to ease concerns created by Russia-US tensions over the crisis in Ukraine.
“Your arrival in Estonia and the opening of the Amari base to regular NATO flights increases the security of our region,” said Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Roivas in a welcoming ceremony.
He said he is convincing NATO allies to “stay in Estonia” as the “work on the security of Estonia and Europe is far from over.”
Estonian defense forces spokesman Roland Murof said that before the arrival of the Danish warplanes NATO’s sole Baltic air base was in northern Lithuania.
Earlier this week, 150 US troops arrived in Estonia.
Poland has sent four MiG-29 aircraft to Lithuania, Britain contributed four Typhoon fighter jets and France deployed four Rafale jets to Poland.
The deployment of NATO forces is part of the military alliance’s bid to strengthen its presence in Eastern Europe.
NATO also plans to augment its air defenses and carry out military exercises in East European countries.
NATO’s expanded military presence comes against the backdrop of the crisis in Ukraine.
Tensions between the West and Moscow heightened after Crimea declared independence from Ukraine and became part of Russia following a referendum on March 16.
==============================
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==============================
Fri May 2, 2014 6:27 am (PDT) . Posted by:
"Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff
http://www.aco.nato.int/video-
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Allied Command Operations
May 1, 2014
VIDEO: NATO AIR STRENGTH TRIPLES IN BALTIC STATES:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
==============================
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==============================
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Allied Command Operations
May 1, 2014
VIDEO: NATO AIR STRENGTH TRIPLES IN BALTIC STATES:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
==============================
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==============================
Fri May 2, 2014 11:36 am (PDT) . Posted by:
"Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff
http://en.itar-tass.com/world/
Itar-Tass
May 2, 2014
Russia to call extraordinary meeting of UN Security Council over operation in Ukraine
Russia is calling an extraordinary meeting of the United Nations Security Council over the punitive operation staged by the Kiev authorities in Ukraine’s southeastern regions, a spokesman for Russia’s permanent mission at the United Nations told ITAR-TASS on Friday.
“Russia is calling an open meeting of the United Nations Security Council over Kiev’s punitive operation,” the spokesman said, adding that the meeting would begin after a closed-doors meeting of the United Nations Security Council dedicated to the Council’s schedule for 2-3 May.
Ukrainian special forces have started a punitive operation in the city of Sloviansk early on Friday morning. “A full sweep operation was launched” with armoured vehicles and warplanes involved in it, a representative of the city militia told ITAR-TASS. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry stated that two Ukrainian Air Force’s helicopter gunships Mil Mi-24 had been downed and a military transport helicopter Mi-8 had been damaged in clashes.
Three people, including two servicemen and a militiaman were reported killed.
Earlier, Ukrainian Security Service’s anti-terrorism centre reported about “the gunfire at a third helicopter gunship” which participated in a special operation in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk, the country’s security service stated at its website on Friday.
“A person was wounded” in the gunfire. The country’s Security Service also claimed that “nine checkpoints were taken under control on the outskirts of Sloviansk.
Ukrainian army helicopter gunships delivered strikes at massive gatherings of civilians in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk, a city resident said on Friday.
“Helicopter gunships have made several attack runs and delivered strikes,” the eyewitness said.
Russia's Foreign Ministry: Kiev authorities violate rudely April 17 Geneva statement Sloviansk people’s mayor Vyacheslav Ponomarev has made a video address to local residents earlier in the day asking children, women and pensioners not to leave their homes and asked men to “give all their aid” to policemen.
“Our city was attacked, our city is being stormed, we suffer some losses,” Ponomarev said, adding that “We will protect our city, we will win.”
Ponomarev’s address to Sloviansk residents was delivered shortly after local residents started making a live shield on the roads leading to the city and near checkpoints to prevent Ukrainian law enforcement columns from entering the city.
Ponomarev also noted that one person was killed and another one was wounded in the military strikes on the city.
==============================
http://en.itar-tass.com/
Itar-Tass
May 2, 2014
Russian Foreign Ministry urges West strongly to give up destructive policy over UkraineRussia May
MOSCOW: The Russian Foreign Ministry demanded decisively the West should “give up their destructive policy towards Ukraine and those who declared themselves as authorities in Kiev should stop a punitive operation and any violence against their own people, should release political prisoners and should ensure full freedom for activity of journalists.”
“This will allow starting a real process of de-escalation,” the Russian Foreign Ministry stated.
“It is needed to organize immediately a really full-fledged political dialogue with all regions involved to work out generally acceptable agreements about the future of the country and not to try to imitate reforms in a narrow circle of the self-proclaimed “coalition of winners,” the Russian diplomatic agency said.
Kiev cuts ways for peaceful settlement
Shooting resumes in east Ukraine’s Sloviansk - police Backing organizers of a state coup in Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, in their policy for a forcible suppression of protests “the United States and the European Union take a huge responsibility, actually cutting ways for peaceful settlement of current crisis,” the Russian Foreign Ministry stated.
“With this in view, Washington’s strong refusal, in defiance of the April 17 Geneva statement, to support an initiative to organize a dialogue between representatives of Kiev authorities and south-eastern Ukrainian regions under the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) aegis does not look accidental at all,” the Russian diplomatic agency noted.
==============================
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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/
Stop NATO website and articles:
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.
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==============================
Itar-Tass
May 2, 2014
Russia to call extraordinary meeting of UN Security Council over operation in Ukraine
Russia is calling an extraordinary meeting of the United Nations Security Council over the punitive operation staged by the Kiev authorities in Ukraine’s southeastern regions, a spokesman for Russia’s permanent mission at the United Nations told ITAR-TASS on Friday.
“Russia is calling an open meeting of the United Nations Security Council over Kiev’s punitive operation,” the spokesman said, adding that the meeting would begin after a closed-doors meeting of the United Nations Security Council dedicated to the Council’s schedule for 2-3 May.
Ukrainian special forces have started a punitive operation in the city of Sloviansk early on Friday morning. “A full sweep operation was launched” with armoured vehicles and warplanes involved in it, a representative of the city militia told ITAR-TASS. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry stated that two Ukrainian Air Force’s helicopter gunships Mil Mi-24 had been downed and a military transport helicopter Mi-8 had been damaged in clashes.
Three people, including two servicemen and a militiaman were reported killed.
Earlier, Ukrainian Security Service’s anti-terrorism centre reported about “the gunfire at a third helicopter gunship” which participated in a special operation in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk, the country’s security service stated at its website on Friday.
“A person was wounded” in the gunfire. The country’s Security Service also claimed that “nine checkpoints were taken under control on the outskirts of Sloviansk.
Ukrainian army helicopter gunships delivered strikes at massive gatherings of civilians in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk, a city resident said on Friday.
“Helicopter gunships have made several attack runs and delivered strikes,” the eyewitness said.
Russia's Foreign Ministry: Kiev authorities violate rudely April 17 Geneva statement Sloviansk people’s mayor Vyacheslav Ponomarev has made a video address to local residents earlier in the day asking children, women and pensioners not to leave their homes and asked men to “give all their aid” to policemen.
“Our city was attacked, our city is being stormed, we suffer some losses,” Ponomarev said, adding that “We will protect our city, we will win.”
Ponomarev’s address to Sloviansk residents was delivered shortly after local residents started making a live shield on the roads leading to the city and near checkpoints to prevent Ukrainian law enforcement columns from entering the city.
Ponomarev also noted that one person was killed and another one was wounded in the military strikes on the city.
==============================
http://en.itar-tass.com/
Itar-Tass
May 2, 2014
Russian Foreign Ministry urges West strongly to give up destructive policy over UkraineRussia May
MOSCOW: The Russian Foreign Ministry demanded decisively the West should “give up their destructive policy towards Ukraine and those who declared themselves as authorities in Kiev should stop a punitive operation and any violence against their own people, should release political prisoners and should ensure full freedom for activity of journalists.”
“This will allow starting a real process of de-escalation,” the Russian Foreign Ministry stated.
“It is needed to organize immediately a really full-fledged political dialogue with all regions involved to work out generally acceptable agreements about the future of the country and not to try to imitate reforms in a narrow circle of the self-proclaimed “coalition of winners,” the Russian diplomatic agency said.
Kiev cuts ways for peaceful settlement
Shooting resumes in east Ukraine’s Sloviansk - police Backing organizers of a state coup in Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, in their policy for a forcible suppression of protests “the United States and the European Union take a huge responsibility, actually cutting ways for peaceful settlement of current crisis,” the Russian Foreign Ministry stated.
“With this in view, Washington’s strong refusal, in defiance of the April 17 Geneva statement, to support an initiative to organize a dialogue between representatives of Kiev authorities and south-eastern Ukrainian regions under the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) aegis does not look accidental at all,” the Russian diplomatic agency noted.
==============================
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Stop NATO website and articles:
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==============================
Fri May 2, 2014 11:36 am (PDT) . Posted by:
"Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff
http://www.stripes.com/news/
Stars and Stripes
May 2, 2014
Hagel: Russia poses ‘long-term’ challenge to NATO
By Jon Harper
WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Friday that Russia will challenge the NATO alliance for years to come, and urged other alliance members to ramp up their defense spending.
Earlier this year, Russia annexed Crimea, and Moscow has massed tens of thousands of troops and other military assets along Ukraine’s eastern border. The U.S. and other countries have suggested that pro-Russian separatists fomenting unrest in eastern Ukraine are at least partially controlled by the Kremlin.
[T]he U.S. has deployed additional troops and aircraft to Poland and the Baltic States. But Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said near-term measures aren’t sufficient, and he called on other members of NATO to boost their defense spending with an eye on Russian provocations as a problem that won’t go away anytime soon.
“Over the long term, we should expect Russia to test our alliance’s purpose, stamina, and commitment,” Hagel told an audience at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars in Washington on Friday.
Under previous agreements, all NATO members are supposed to be spending at least 2 percent of their GDP on their militaries, but only a handful of the alliance’s 28 members have fulfilled their pledges. The Defense Department is hoping that fears stoked by Russia’s latest military moves will open a political window for greater European investment in collective defense.
U.S. officials have long complained that other NATO countries haven’t shouldered their share of the burden when it comes to alliance security. In his speech, Hagel noted that the U.S. spends three times as much on defense as its other NATO allies put together, despite the fact that the combined GDP of the other 27 members is larger than America’s economy.
“In recent years, one of the biggest obstacles to Alliance investment has been a sense that the end of the Cold War ushered in the ‘end of history,’ an end to insecurity — at least in Europe — and the end from aggression by nation-states. Russia’s actions in Ukraine shatter that myth, and usher in bracing new realities,” Hagel said.
“We must see renewed financial commitments from all NATO members [because] Russia’s actions in Ukraine have made NATO’s value abundantly clear.”
Hagel called for the inclusion of finance ministers and senior budget officials at a NATO ministerial meeting, while arguing that “talking amongst [defense ministers] is no longer good enough.”
He said the alliance must beef up its military capabilities, exercises, and joint planning. But he said nonmilitary measures are also needed in the face of Russian aggression. Hagel emphasized the need to wean Europe off its dependence on Russian energy supplies, noting that the U.S. Department of Energy has conditionally approved export permits for liquefied natural gas that would add up to more than half of Europe’s gas imports from Russia.
...
In the post-Cold War era, NATO officials have said that they see Russia as a potential strategic partner, and the West has made efforts to increase defense cooperation with its former enemy, to varying degrees of success. But Hagel seemed to question whether that is still a viable path, in light of events in Ukraine.
“Today, NATO must stand ready to revisit the basic principles underlying its relationship with Russia,” he said.
The Pentagon chief’s remarks came a day after Alexander Vershbow, the deputy secretary-general of NATO, went even further, telling reporters that Russia should now be considered an adversary rather than an alliance partner.
==============================
Stop NATO e-mail list home page with archives and search engine:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/
Stop NATO website and articles:
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.
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==============================
Stars and Stripes
May 2, 2014
Hagel: Russia poses ‘long-term’ challenge to NATO
By Jon Harper
WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Friday that Russia will challenge the NATO alliance for years to come, and urged other alliance members to ramp up their defense spending.
Earlier this year, Russia annexed Crimea, and Moscow has massed tens of thousands of troops and other military assets along Ukraine’s eastern border. The U.S. and other countries have suggested that pro-Russian separatists fomenting unrest in eastern Ukraine are at least partially controlled by the Kremlin.
[T]he U.S. has deployed additional troops and aircraft to Poland and the Baltic States. But Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said near-term measures aren’t sufficient, and he called on other members of NATO to boost their defense spending with an eye on Russian provocations as a problem that won’t go away anytime soon.
“Over the long term, we should expect Russia to test our alliance’s purpose, stamina, and commitment,” Hagel told an audience at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars in Washington on Friday.
Under previous agreements, all NATO members are supposed to be spending at least 2 percent of their GDP on their militaries, but only a handful of the alliance’s 28 members have fulfilled their pledges. The Defense Department is hoping that fears stoked by Russia’s latest military moves will open a political window for greater European investment in collective defense.
U.S. officials have long complained that other NATO countries haven’t shouldered their share of the burden when it comes to alliance security. In his speech, Hagel noted that the U.S. spends three times as much on defense as its other NATO allies put together, despite the fact that the combined GDP of the other 27 members is larger than America’s economy.
“In recent years, one of the biggest obstacles to Alliance investment has been a sense that the end of the Cold War ushered in the ‘end of history,’ an end to insecurity — at least in Europe — and the end from aggression by nation-states. Russia’s actions in Ukraine shatter that myth, and usher in bracing new realities,” Hagel said.
“We must see renewed financial commitments from all NATO members [because] Russia’s actions in Ukraine have made NATO’s value abundantly clear.”
Hagel called for the inclusion of finance ministers and senior budget officials at a NATO ministerial meeting, while arguing that “talking amongst [defense ministers] is no longer good enough.”
He said the alliance must beef up its military capabilities, exercises, and joint planning. But he said nonmilitary measures are also needed in the face of Russian aggression. Hagel emphasized the need to wean Europe off its dependence on Russian energy supplies, noting that the U.S. Department of Energy has conditionally approved export permits for liquefied natural gas that would add up to more than half of Europe’s gas imports from Russia.
...
In the post-Cold War era, NATO officials have said that they see Russia as a potential strategic partner, and the West has made efforts to increase defense cooperation with its former enemy, to varying degrees of success. But Hagel seemed to question whether that is still a viable path, in light of events in Ukraine.
“Today, NATO must stand ready to revisit the basic principles underlying its relationship with Russia,” he said.
The Pentagon chief’s remarks came a day after Alexander Vershbow, the deputy secretary-general of NATO, went even further, telling reporters that Russia should now be considered an adversary rather than an alliance partner.
==============================
Stop NATO e-mail list home page with archives and search engine:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/
Stop NATO website and articles:
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.
To subscribe for individual e-mails or the daily digest, unsubscribe, and otherwise change subscription status:
stopnato-subscribe@
==============================
