Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Thursday, 18 February 2016

The European Union Times


Posted: 18 Feb 2016 10:41 AM PST

Walls of tumbleweed from neglected farmland are causing havoc in the Australian city of Wangaratta, encircling homes and threatening livestock.
It might sound like the unlikely plot of a 1950s B-movie, but the weed – also known as hairy panic grass or witchgrass – has blown into a residential neighborhood. The invasion has prompted local authorities to hold an emergency summit, reports ABC News.
Images from the area show bundles of the bristly tumbleweed blocking front doors to homes and forming barriers outside driveways.
The toxic weed originated in nearby farmland among neglected hay crops, and was not prevented from spreading into local neighborhoods.
An information pamphlet about animal health, produced by Australia’s Department of Primary Industries, explains that the grass contains toxins which can cause serious liver damage, photosensitivity and jaundice in sheep.
Signs of poisoning include swelling of the head or sunburn on the nose and ears of sheep.
The Department warns the golden, spindly grass is “most toxic when it is young, lush and growing rapidly”, but it is not dangerous to humans.
Wangaratta resident Jason Perna described to ABC News how he woke to find six meters of tumbleweed outside his home.
“It makes it difficult to get the car out in the morning – if you can find it,” he said.
In a bid to find some silver lining to the tumbleweed takeover, some residents are considering harvesting the hairy panic grass for scarecrows.
The online reaction to the grass invasion has been a mix of shock and amusement.
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Posted: 18 Feb 2016 08:58 AM PST

In what we can only conclude is one of the most bizarre reports ever circulated in the Kremlin, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) is reporting today that the global leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow,arrived in Antarctica earlier today where he joined up with the vast Federation naval armada transporting from Saudi Arabia the mysterious “Ark of Gabriel”, entrusted to Russia’s care by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, and performed an “ancient ritual” over it read from a “secret text” given to him by Pope Francis just days prior in Cuba when these leaders of Christianities two top sects met for the first time in nearly 1,000 years.
According to this MoD report, and which we had previously reported on in our 6 December 2015 report Russia Begins Transport Of Saudi Arabia’s Mysterious “Ark of Gabriel” To Antarctica, the mysterious “Ark of Gabriel” was first discovered in Mecca on 12 September 2015 by a construction crew tunneling under the Masjid al-Haram Mosque (Grand Mosque) and who, when attempting to unearth it, were all killed by a massive “plasma emission” that killed a further 107.
Even worse, this report continues, on 24 September 2015, during a second attempt to unearth the mysterious “Ark of Gabriel”, another massive “plasma emission” killed an estimated 4,000 more people—but which Saudi officials blamed on a stampede.
Quoting from the original MoD report as to what Saudi officials did next we can read:
“After the catastrophic death toll involved with the Saudi’s second attempt to remove this mysterious “device/weapon”, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill was then contacted by the Grand Mosque emissaries in regards to one of the oldest Islamic manuscripts possessed by the Russian Orthodox Church that was saved from the Roman Catholic Crusaders in 1204 when they sacked the Church of Holy Wisdom (now known as Hagia Sophia) in Constantinople (present day Istanbul, Turkey) titled “Gabriel’s Instructions To Muhammad”.
Important to note, and virtually unknown in the West, were that the Roman Catholic Crusades (and like they mirror today) were not only against the peoples of Islamic faith, but also against those having Russian Orthodox faith too—and why, during these crusades, the Russian Orthodox Church not only protected their own religious libraries from being destroyed, but also those belonging to Muslims.
As to the contents of this ancient Islamic manuscript, “Gabriel’s Instructions To Muhammad”, it centers around a group of instructions given to Muhammad by the Angel Gabriel in a cave called Hira, located on the mountain called Jabal an-Nour, near Mecca, wherein this heavenly being entrusted into Muhammad’s care a “box/ark” of “immense power” he was forbidden to use as it belonged to God only and was, instead, to be buried in a shrine at the “place of worship the Angels used before the creation of man” until its future uncovering in the days of Yawm al-Qīyāmah, or Qiyâmah, which means literally “Day of the Resurrection”.
On 6 December 2015, this report notes, Federation naval research vessel Admiral Vladimisky departed the Saudi Arabian Port of Jeddah with the “Ark of Gabriel” bound for Antarctica accompanied by a vast naval armada ordered for its protection by President Putin and that (strangely) also included capsules with Russian soil to be placed in the areas of military glory and burial sites of Russian sailors at selected ports of call along the long journey to theSouthern Ocean.
Upon his learning of the “grave and global implications” associated with this mysterious “Ark of Gabriel”, this report continues, Pope Francis contacted Patriarch Kirill requesting an “urgent and immediate” meeting while warning that “the end is near”—after which Patriarch Kirill agreed to meet the Roman Catholic Church leader in Cuba on 12 February, an historic meeting between these two leaders that had not taken place between these church’s leaders in nearly 1,000 years.
Though the exact nature of the talks between Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis remain classified at much higher level then we’re granted access to, MoD analysts in this report do state that an “ancient secret manuscript” was given to Patriarch Kirill by Pope Francis that pertains to the “Ark of Gabriel” whose legend behind it claims it was written directly by the “watchers” (angels?) described in the Book of Enoch.
And just hours ago, this report concludes, Patriarch Kirill, while using this “secret text” given to him by Pope Francis, preformed an “ancient ritual” over the “Ark of Gabriel” in the Russian Orthodox Holy Trinity Church (the only church in Antarctica) and where immediately thereafter this mysterious artifact was transported into the vast interior of this cold and foreboding continent by a highly specialized Spetsnaz (Special Forces) unit to a destination, and purpose, not identified by the MoD.
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Posted: 18 Feb 2016 07:55 AM PST

So according to Pope Francis “Europe is like Sara,” the non-child bearing wife of Abraham, “which first gets scared but then smiles secretly” and he said that “in the end, Europe will smile to migrants.”
“Europe must and can change. It can and must reform itself. If it is unable to financially help the countries of origin of refugees, you must face the problem of how to address this great challenge that is primarily humanitarian, but not all.”
But the thing is, when he says “Europe” he’s not talking about Vatican city – the micro-country he lives in. Vatican city has only taken in two “refugee” families. There are many parks which could be converted into “refugee” camps. So why has this not even been proposed? Why are there no refugee camps next to the Vatican?
What’s even more interesting is that in September 2015, an Arab journalist posed as a Syrian “refugee”, then asked priests and Vatican city officials to give him help, only to be sent away on all occasions.
And this is after the Pope called on “every parish, every religious community, every monastery, every sanctuary of Europe” to take in at least one immigrant family.
        
Posted: 18 Feb 2016 07:26 AM PST

As Hungary’s central bank buys guns and bullets to protect against “international security risks,” a report citing a source close to the EU Commission suggests that the deepening chaos of the migrant crisis could force the EU to begin closing its borders to refugees on March 1st.
Danas, a daily newspaper published in Belgrade, Serbia, is reporting that, “The European Union will close the borders for refugees from the war zones of the countries of the Middle East on March 1.”
The article cites an individual “in Brussels close to the European Commission” as the source for the story.
“As we were told, closing borders to refugees will be gradually implemented, mainly for refugees from Iraq, Afghanistan and then at the end of the process and from within Syria,” states the report.
If the report is accurate, the EU’s decision to close its borders to the flood of migrants that have poured into the continent over the last year represents an acknowledgment that its open border policy has been a massive miscalculation.
The move would also vindicate European countries such as Hungary that took steps to secure their own borders as soon as it became apparent many months ago that the clear majority of the “refugees” were not from war-torn areas but were in fact economic migrants fleeing to a higher standard of living.
Indeed, the Hungarian central bank is now so alarmed at the level to which the migrant crisis has been allowed to spiral out of control, it is stockpiling guns and ammunition to protect against “international security risks” arising out of the migrant influx.
“Hungary’s central bank…. is now beefing up its security force, citing Europe’s migrant crisis and potential bomb threats among the reasons,” reports Bloomberg. “The National Bank of Hungary bought 200,000 rounds of live ammunition and 112 handguns for its security company, according to documents posted on a website for public procurements.”
Any decision by the EU to close its borders could be a desperation move to try and rescue the Schengen free movement area, which is on the verge of collapse, a situation that could lead to the demise of the European Union itself.
Last month, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble warned that if the legitimacy of the Schengen agreement continued to be eroded by the migrant influx, the EU would face a “tremendous, enormous” threat to its existence.
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Posted: 18 Feb 2016 07:01 AM PST

Apple will appeal a California judge’s order to help prosecutors unlock an encrypted iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters, with CEO Tim Cook saying the move would compromise customer security.
Cook confirmed the company’s position in an open letter posted on Apple’s website Wednesday, saying that “the U.S. government has asked us for something we simply do not have, and something we consider too dangerous to create”.
“They have asked us to build a backdoor to the iPhone,” he added.
On Tuesday at the US District Court in Los Angeles, US Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym issued a 40-page statement requiring Apple to give “reasonable technical assistance” to the FBI.
Prosecutors are seeking special software needed to bypass encryption and a self-destruct feature built into an iPhone owned by San Bernardino County and used as a work phone by Syed Rizwan Farook, one of the attackers in the December 2 San Bernardino mass shooting.
The judge gave Apple five days to show that the order is “unreasonably burdensome” – a new stipulation in the dispute between national security and digital privacy advocates.
Cook argues that the ruling threatens the security of Apple customers: “We oppose this order, which has implications far beyond the legal case at hand.”
He insists Apple has supported the FBI in the San Bernardino case, but is drawing the line at the creation of “backdoor” access to iPhones:
“Specifically, the FBI wants us to make a new version of the iPhone operating system, circumventing several important security features, and install it on an iPhone recovered during the investigation. In the wrong hands, this software — which does not exist today — would have the potential to unlock any iPhone in someone’s physical possession.”
Cook dismisses the government’s suggestion that this would be a once off situation, instead warning that the technique could be used as “the equivalent of a master key, capable of opening hundreds of millions of locks”.
“No reasonable person would find that acceptable.”
The iPhone 5C that San Bernardino shooter Farook used has an auto-erase function which destroys all of its encrypted data if it detects a hacker.
The FBI hopes to be able to automatically generate innumerable possible passwords until the correct one is found, with Apple’s assistance.
“Apple has the exclusive technical means which would assist the government in completing its search, but has declined to provide that assistance voluntarily,” the US Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles told reporters Tuesday.
Investigators already obtained Farook’s iCloud data through back-up versions, but the most recent of the back-ups is only as recent as October, meaning Farook “may have disabled the feature to hide evidence”, prosecutors said.
For months the debate between tech companies and national security officials has grown to a fever pitch. Ideally, the government would like a backdoor for all encrypted devices, so that a court order automatically grants them access, but encryption experts say that would create more problems than it would solve, leaving all encryption and major parts of the internet open to hackers or at the very least, giving foreign technology firms an upper hand in providing security to customers.
National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden has been weighing in on the iPhone controversy on Twitter, pointing out how easily the changes sought by the FBI could make it to break into an iPhone:
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Posted: 17 Feb 2016 10:12 AM PST

Presidential hopeful Jeb Bush became the target of countless Internet jokes Tuesday after tweeting out a photo of a personal firearm.
The Republican presented the handgun, engraved with the words “Gov. Jeb Bush,” to his 470,000 Twitter followers using only one word: “America.”
Bush, who just five months ago admitted to owning zero firearms according to The Telegraph, was instantly bombarded with replies mocking the photo.
According to a new CNN poll of likely South Carolina Republican primary voters, Jeb Bush is currently at 10%, followed only by Ben Carson at 6% and Ohio Gov. John Kasich at 4%.





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Posted: 17 Feb 2016 09:47 AM PST

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?
Apparently they are. Just consider what Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told CNN…
Saudi Foreign Minister Jubeir made clear that his country’s troops would not go it alone.
“I can tell you that there is some serious discussion going on with regards to looking at a ground component in Syria, because there has to be a possibility of taking and holding ground, that one cannot do from the air.”
“We are saying we will participate within the U.S.-led coalition, should this coalition decide to send ground troops into Syria, that we are prepared to send special forces with those troops.”
But if the Saudis try to take Damascus and remove Assad by force, the Syrians and their allies will certainly fight back. That means that the Saudis will be fighting Hezbollah, the Iranians and the Russians.
Needless to say, Saudi Arabia is going to need a lot of help to do that.
So that may explain why Saudi Arabia has organized the largest “military exercise” in the history of the Middle East. CNN finally reported on this gigantic gathering of military forces in northern Saudi Arabia earlier today…
Saudi Arabia launched a massive military exercise that will include troops from 20 nations, state media reported Monday.
The drill, dubbed North Thunder, involves Arab and Muslim countries, according to the Saudi Press Agency. It’s taking place in King Khalid Military City in northeastern Saudi Arabia.
The news agency did not provide much information on what the exercise entails but called it “the largest in the region’s history.” The agency said it will involve air, sea and land forces.
This is the list of nations that are reportedly participating in these “exercises” so far…
-Saudi Arabia
-Jordan
-Bahrain
-Senegal
-Oman
-Qatar
-United Arab Emirates
-Sudan
-Kuwait
-the Maldives
-Morocco
-Pakistan
-Chad
-Tunisia
-Comoro Islands
-Djibouti
-Malaysia
-Egypt
-Mauritania
-Mauritius
As I discussed yesterday, 350,000 soldiers, 20,000 tanks, 2,450 warplanes and 460 military helicopters are reportedly gathering for these “military exercises”.
To me, that seems to be a great deal of overkill if the goal is just “training”.
Here is more about these “exercises” from RT…
The Saudi state agency made the announcement on Sunday, adding that participating troops will begin arriving in “the next few hours.”
The oil-rich nation described the exercises as “the largest and most important” military drills in the region’s history.
The so-called “Northern Thunder” exercise will take place in the north of the country and will include air, sea and land forces. SPA said that it will show that Riyadh and its allies “stand united in confronting all challenges and preserving peace and stability in the region.”
So are these forces massing for a ground invasion of Syria?
We shall see.
In the end, we probably won’t have to wait too long before we find out the answer.
Meanwhile, Turkish officials continue to assert that they may have to establish a “safe zone” for refugees in northern Syria. Since thousands of refugees are continually pouring their direction, they claim that they have no other choice but to go in and take control of the situation.
In fact, Turkey has already established several very large refugee camps on the Syrian side of the border…
Some 100,000 Syrian refugees are being looked after in camps inside Syria close to the Turkish border, including 35,000 who this month fled a Russian-backed regime offensive in northern Aleppo province, a top Turkish official said Friday.
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan, whose country has come under increasing pressure to open its border to people fleeing the violence, said the refugees were being accommodated in nine camps just across the border with Syria.
But make no mistake – this is not just about helping refugees.
The truth is that ISIS has been using Turkey as a home base for years, and hundreds of millions of dollars of ISIS oil has been shipped into Turkey where it has then been sold to the rest of the world. Barack Obama knows about all of this, and yet he has refused to do anything to stop it.
At this point the cooperation between ISIS and Turkey has become so obvious that even CNN is admitting that ISIS militants are being resupplied from Turkey…
To the east of Aleppo, Kurdish forces are, with American support, eyeing the remaining ISIS strongholds along the Turkish border — Jarablus and Manbij. The U.S. wants ISIS out, to remove its access to resupply of materiel and fighters from Turkey.
Meanwhile, Turkey, America’s NATO ally that is engaged in a brutal but often unseen war with the Kurds’ allies in Turkey’s southeast, doesn’t want the Kurds to advance, and may stop at nothing to prevent that.
Fortunately, the Russian bombing campaign has pretty much put an end to the endless parade of ISIS oil trucks that were entering Turkey, and now the primary supply line to Sunni militants in the strategically important city of Aleppo is about to be cut off.
The corridor that runs through the city of Azaz is vitally important, and the Prime Minister of Turkey recently insisted that the Turkish government “will not allow Azaz to fall”…
Turkey shelled YPG positions for a third straight day on Monday to try to stop its fighters seizing Azaz, just 8 km from the border. Ankara fears the Kurdish militia, backed by Russia, is trying to secure the last stretch of around 100 km along the Syrian border not already under its control.
“We will not allow Azaz to fall,” Davutoglu told reporters on his plane on the way to Ukraine. “If they approach again they will see the harshest reaction,” he said.
Unfortunately for the Turkish government, it appears that Azaz is already slipping away from the militants. The following was reported by an Iranian news source…
Ankara is likely to take action to counter the Syrian military and allied groups on choking up a supply link on which militants relied to get weapons and logistics.
Syrian troops and Lebanon’s Hezbollah fighters have retaken the town of Azaz, located to the northwest of Aleppo, prompting Saudi Arabia and Turkey to hint at deployment of ground forces to the region.
Asked if Ankara might act to reverse the gains, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (seen below) said on Friday, “Wait for the next few days and you will have the answer,” Turkish paper Hurriyet reported.
Wait for the next few days and you will have the answer?
That sounds rather ominous.
Like I said yesterday, I don’t think that I have ever seen a scenario which was more likely to lead to World War III than the one that we are watching play out right now.
Do Saudi Arabia and Turkey actually expect to waltz into Syria and start taking territory without a response from the Syrians, Hezbollah, the Iranians and the Russians?
And if fighting does break out, how is the United States possibly going to stay out of it?
The truth is that Saudi Arabia and Turkey would never invade Syria in the first place without the express approval of the Obama administration.
The next couple of weeks are key. If we can get into early March without an invasion, by that time Saudi Arabia and Turkey may have missed their window. The troops gathered for the massive military exercise in northern Saudi Arabia will start to go home, and by then the Sunni militants remaining in Aleppo will probably be pretty much completely defeated.
But will Saudi Arabia and Turkey really be willing to walk away after pouring so much time, effort and money into the conflict in Syria? They had dreamed of turning Syria into a full-blown Sunni nation, and if they give up now Syria will end up being dominated by Iran and Hezbollah. It will be a result that is far worse than if they never tried to overthrow Assad in the first place.
So my gut feeling is telling me that Saudi Arabia, Turkey and their Sunni allies are not done in Syria. But their obsession with that country threatens to plunge us into World War III, and if that happens the consequences will be felt by every man, woman and child on the entire planet.
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Posted: 17 Feb 2016 09:14 AM PST


Presidential candidate and former Florida State Governor Jeb! Bush raised his hand at a South Carolina campaign event Tuesday after supporter and South Carolina Rep. Lindsey Graham polled the number of Democrats in the crowd.
Jeb Bush had a face-palm moment Tuesday during a town hall event in South Carolina, raising his hand when his audience was asked to indicate if they were Democrats considering a crossover vote for him.
‘How many of you are Democrats?’ asked South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham.
Several hands shot up – including Bush’s.
He was likely trying to encourage others to participate, but the gesture generated online catcalls almost immediately.
‘JEB BUSH IS NOW A DEMOCRAT,’ one self-described grandmother and Donald Trump supporter wrote on Twitter.
‘Even more Jeb mistakes? This one’s huge!’ added an Illinois voter in another tweet.
Bush has brought Graham on the campaign trail with him in the Palmetto State, along with his brother – former President George W. Bush – who had his own history of embarrassing moments while running for office.
He famously said after winning the presidency that people had ‘misunderestimated me.’
Weeks earlier, during a campaign stop in Wisconsin, he said that ‘families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream.’
But perhaps the worst ‘Bushism’ came in January 2000 in South Carolina.
‘Rarely is the question asked, “Is our children learning?”‘ George W. said then.
Jeb Bush is currently running in fifth place in South Carolina, out of the six remaining Republican presidential candidates.
Donald Trump, who has mercilessly framed him as a ‘low energy candidate’ and a ‘loser,’ leads the field in advance of Saturday’s GOP primary election.
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Posted: 17 Feb 2016 08:50 AM PST

President Barack Obama says he doesn’t think Donald Trump will succeed him in the Oval Office.
Speaking with reporters at the ASEAN Leaders Summit in California, Obama said he doesn’t think Trump will win the general election come November. He said he has faith in the American people as they decide who is best to hold a “serious job”:
“I continue to believe Mr. Trump will not be president. And the reason is because I have a lot of faith in the American people… It’s not hosting a talk show, or a reality show. It’s not promotion, it’s not marketing,. It’s hard and a lot of people count on us getting it right.”
Trump responded to Obama’s non-endorsement with glee at an event in South Carolina. Saying one of the networks had called him for reaction on his way to the event, Trump said he told them, “You’re lucky I didn’t run last time when Romney ran or you would have been a one-term president.”
“It’s a great compliment,” Trump said of Obama’s comments.
Far from hurting Trump, Obama’s comments are likely to help him with voters.

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Posted: 17 Feb 2016 04:55 AM PST

China has reportedly put surface-to-air missile systems on one of the disputed South China Sea Islands, as tensions rise in the region over sovereignty claims. Beijing says its defense facilities won’t impede navigation or over-flight freedom in the area.
Satellite images taken by ImageSat International, and aired on Fox news, show two HQ-9 air defense system batteries of eight missile launchers, which have a range of about 200km, and a radar system on Woody Island. Dated February 14, one image showed Chinese hardware, whereas an image dated February 3 didn’t show any installations.
On Wednesday, at a news conference with his Australian counterpart, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said: “The limited and necessary self-defense facilities China has built on islands and reefs by Chinese personnel is consistent with the self-defense and self-preservation China is entitled to under international law.”
Commander of the US Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris, told a briefing in Tokyo on Wednesday that deployment of advanced Chinese air defenses in the region “would be a clear indication of militarization.”
The US Department of Defense refused to comment on its intelligence when asked by the Guardian, but said they are watching “these matters very closely.”
Spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Hong Lei said at a news conference on Tuesday: “Deploying necessary national defense facilities on its own territory is China’s exercise of self-preservation and defense, a right granted by international law to sovereign states.” The Chinese representative stressed the nation’s defense facilities “do not impede freedom of navigation and over flight in the South China Sea.”
Wang also suggested the reports were an attempt by “certain Western media to create news stories.”
“I also hope the media everywhere will turn your attention more to the lighthouse we have built on some of the islands, which is now in operation and has been very useful in assuring the safety of passing ships.”
Ahead of the meeting with Wang Yi, Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said she would challenge Beijing’s land reclamation activities in the South China Sea.
China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei have competing claims to the islands, while the US objects to the “militarizing” of the disputed area.
The deployment of surface-to-air missile system has also been noted by Taiwan’s Major General David, who told Reuters Taipei “will closely watch subsequent developments.” The general urged all the parties in the dispute to “refrain from taking any unilateral measures that would increase tensions.”
“We discussed the need for tangible steps in the South China Sea to lower tensions, including a halt to further reclamation, new construction and militarization of disputed areas,” American President Barack Obama said on Tuesday at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in California.
In a show of strength last month, American guided-missile destroyer, the USS Curtis Wilbur, sailed near Triton Island in the Paracel Islands, as part of a “freedom of navigation” drill in the disputed islands chain.
China responded by accusing Washington of being “the biggest cause of militarization in the South China Sea” and called the US Navy’s actions “highly dangerous and irresponsible.”
While Obama warned on Tuesday the “US will continue to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry defended its right to protect its territory.
When asked about deployment of air defense missile complexes to the Paracel Islands, China’s Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that military facilities on “relevant islands and reefs” had been in place for years, Reuters reports.
“China’s air and naval defensive deployments on the relevant islands and reefs have existed for many years,” the statement said, stressing that the Paracel Islands are China’s territory, so Beijing is acting within its rights to deploy defense facilities there.
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Posted by Roberto Abraham Scaruffi at 22:17