Category: Europe

US sends military EUCOM team to Kiev

A team from the US European Command arrived in Kiev, Pentagon Press Secretary, Rear Admiral John Kirby confirmed during Department of Defense press briefing.

“At the request of the State Department, a small survey and assessment team from US European Command did arrive today at the embassy in Kiev to assess, advise, and provide recommendations to the US embassy and their staff there about possible US support to the Netherlands, Australia, Malaysia, and other partners that are conducting the Malaysia Air recovery operations,” Kirby said.

Although Kirby mentioned that the US team arrived in Ukraine only to assess and advice and assured that the military would not leave Kiev, he took a while to answer the provocative question.

Kirby added that the team consists of experts “in communications, logistics, survey…a wide swathe of military occupational specialties” that will be helpful in Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 crash recovery operations.

Kirby has also been very confused when asked question about the Pentagon allegations that Russian multiple-launch rocket systems have moved into the southeastern regions of Ukraine. In the end, he had to admit that he does not have any particular details with regard to the alleged heavy equipment flow across border.

“I don’t have any specific information about their whereabouts right now. We do continue to see the flow of some heavy equipment across the border to assist separatists. Some of it’s ephemeral. It doesn’t stay. Some of it does. It’s difficult to get a bead on exactly what’s going and when,” Kirby added.

Washington has repeatedly accused Russia of supplying weapons to the self-defense forces in eastern Ukraine. In response, Moscow denied any involvement in the Ukrainian conflict and warned against making such repeated allegations repeatedly while no evidence can be presented.

Protesters shut down Israeli arms factory in Britain

A group of pro-Palestine activists have allegedly shut down operations in a Staffordshire factory that they say supplies arms to Israel.

Around 10 activists from the London Palestine Action Group have taken to the roof of Elbit systems, an Israeli company with a subsidiary based in Shenstone, near Birmingham.

According to the LPAG, Elbit systems is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of unmanned aerial drones, which many suspect the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have used in their ongoing offensive in Gaza.

According to the group’s Tumblr blog, the activists chained the doors of the factory shut, and are demanding the closure of the factory, along with‘all forms of military trade and cooperation with Israel.’

The blog goes on to say: “The factory that we are occupying produces engines for drones and is owned by Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest military company and the world’s largest drones producer. Drone engines manufactured at this factory have been [sic] exported to Israel in 2010, 2011 and 2012 and Elbit Systems drones are being used in Israel’s ongoing massacre. Any claims that components manufactured at this factory are not being used in Israel’s current attack on Gaza are not credible.”

The group also says that the factory is part of the ‘Watchkeeper program’ which “is leading the manufacture of a new generation of drones for the UK military.”

The protest began in the early hours of Tuesday morning, with protesters hanging a banner across the factory roof saying “UK: Stop arming Israel”.

Source: RT

War in Eastern Ukraine catastrophic envoy warns

The situation in eastern Ukraine was described as a catastrophic, full-blown war by Russia’s UN envoy, Vitaly Churkin, during the latest UN Security Council meeting. Russia has also called for an international humanitarian mission to be launched.

Fighting between Kiev’s army and self-defense forces intensified on Tuesday, with the Ukrainian military using heavy weaponry around Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. According to witnesses, the Ukrainian army resorted to multiple rocket launchers, including Uragan launchers and cruise missiles, RIA Novosti reported citing local militia.

Cruise missiles were spotted flying over the city of Gorlovka on Tuesday, while Uragan launchers were seen near the town of Snezhniy, witnesses told the news agency. Explosions reportedly caused by airstrikes were also heard within the city of Donetsk.

Amid the increased violence, Russia called for an emergency UN Security Council session on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine on Tuesday.

Russia’s UN envoy proposed the deployment of an international humanitarian mission, along with Russian humanitarian aid under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

“We propose to send convoys of Russian humanitarian aid under the auspices of the ICRC, to Donetsk and Lugansk, as well as other towns in Ukraine, where internally displaced persons are concentrated in the eastern regions,” Churkin said.

He noted that eastern Ukrainians urgently require food, medicine, medical equipment, water purification systems, and electricity generators.

“By any human standards, the situation in the east, especially in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, is catastrophic,” Churkin said. “Today with certainty we can and should be talking about a real war – the International Committee of the Red Cross officially acknowledged the internal armed conflict in the east of Ukraine.”

“Artillery, tanks, as well as rockets are used. There is continuing information from locals about the use of phosphorus bombs and cluster bombs,” Churkin added. “There is indiscriminate shelling of housing blocks and critical civilian infrastructure. In many small towns about 80 percent of houses have been destroyed, according to most conservative estimates. More than 600 buildings have fallen.”

British minister resigns over Gaza

A Foreign Office minister has resigned from the Conservative government in Britain, saying its policy on the crisis in Gaza is “morally indefensible”.

Baroness Warsi wrote on her Twitter feed that she was leaving with “deep regret”.

Lady Warsi, who was previously chairman of the Conservative Party, became the first female Muslim cabinet minister when David Cameron took office in 2010.

The prime minister thanked her for her “excellent work”, adding that he wanted an “unconditional ceasefire” in Gaza.

Labour backed Lady Warsi’s comments, but Chancellor George Osborne called her resignation “disappointing and frankly unnecessary”.

Lady Warsi grew up in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, and worked as a solicitor before entering politics. She was demoted from the cabinet to a middle-ranking Foreign Office post in 2012, being made minister for faith and communities at the same time.

She wrote on Twitter on Tuesday: “With deep regret I have this morning written to the Prime Minister & tendered my resignation. I can no longer support Govt policy on #Gaza.”

Several backbench Conservative MPs have called on Mr Cameron to take a more robust line with Israel amid concerns its actions in Gaza are “disproportionate”.

Source: BBC

Apocalypse Blair

Mr Blair paid a singer to sing If I Ruled The World to him

While Gaza writhes in agony, Middle East Peace Envoy Tony Blair’s private jet last week was in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Two months earlier Blair had certainly visited Las Vegas and Los Angeles on the same journey. In Las Vegas Blair was paid a large but undisclosed sum to attend a conference of hedge fund managers. His meetings in Los Angeles were “private”.

I have been unable to discover whether Blair was on his jet last week, or it was Cherie shopping or Alistair Campbell following up on the “business opportunities” for Blair from the July meetings. But he was evidently not in the Middle East. Just before the jet left for the USA he was in Britain hosting a lavish and deeply tasteless birthday party for his wife, two months before her birthday.

From the Daily Mail:

Guests sang Happy Birthday to Cherie, as waiters brought a garish pink-coloured cake into the marquee.

Mr Blair, whose role is to hammer out a ceasefire in times of conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians, spent large sums of money to have celebrities perform to Ma Cherie Amour. Bobby Davro then impersonated a blushing Mr Blair, and sang If I Ruled The World, from the musical Pickwick.

Yesterday the Guardian announced Blair’s new role as adviser to the Government of Azerbaijan, to add to the money he gets from advising Sisi of Egypt, Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, numerous Gulf despots and any other dictator who does not realise that the Blair brand has become even more toxic than their own.

Blair’s attendance at the July conference of hedge fund managers was appropriate, as they are the epitome of the heartless irresponsibility and short term financial outlook of the new capitalism which Blair so heartily embraced. His fellow guest speaker at that conference was Francis Ford Coppola. I went to bed last night mulling this article and the aptness of combination of Tony Blair and Apocalypse Now.

Then I woke up this morning to the news that after twenty years of peace fighting had broken out between Blair’s brand new client, Azerbaijan, and Armenia. The man really is cursed. Perhaps once you voluntarily brought so much war and terrible death, there is no way to stop. Apocalypse Blair. He should rename that private jet The Four Horsemen.

Source: Craig Murray

Germany, Switzerland oppose blind EU sanctions against Russia

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier insists on continued talks with Russia over Ukrainian crisis resolution.

Trust between the West and Russia “is doubtlessly undermined seriously,” the German foreign minister said in an interview with German Sunday edition Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung published on Sunday. However, this should be realised that “without co-operation with Moscow this is hardly possible to reach a political solution in Ukrainian conflict,” he said.

Commenting on EU sectoral sanctions imposed on Russia, the minister added that EU states had different histories of co-operation with Russia “which determines their relations with Russia also in different ways.” Moscow may take retaliatory measures, therefore, “no one should be surprised that sanctions will take some costs.”

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 airliner’s crash in Ukraine’s Donetsk region on July 17 has changed the situation dramatically, the German minister said. “But fury and indignation cannot and should not be the last say in foreign policy,” Steinmeier added.

Switzerland opposes blind duplication of EU anti-Russian sanctions. It will make Switzerland’s position weaker as a neutral-status country, said chief of the Swiss Federal Department for Economic Affairs, Education and Research.

Johann Schneider-Ammann said in an interview with Swiss newspaper Schweiz am Sonntag published on Sunday.

“This role will be weakened, if we duplicate EU sanctions,” Schneider-Ammann said, recalling that Switzerland presides in the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) this year.

Cameron echoes Dr Strangelove’s plea for NATO

NATO needs a huge military build-up in eastern Europe’s “front line states”, the British Prime Minister wrote in a letter to the alliance’s Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, and the 27 other NATO country leaders.

Russia is the enemy and NATO must rethink its long-term relationship with Russia and strengthen the alliance’s ability to respond quickly to the threat, David Cameron declared on Saturday.

Cameron’s plea comes as senior British military personnel in June suggested that Britain’s defence spending would soon fall below Nato’s target of 2 per cent of gross domestic product.

Only four countries spend two percent of gross domestic product on NATO defence, signalling little enthusiasm for Cameron’s cause.

“In 2014, the world is more unpredictable than ever and we meet at another pivotal moment in the history of the alliance,” Cameron wrote.

Britain and the US have ripped up the rulebook of international law with their illegal and aggressive destabilisation of Ukraine, but Cameron nevertheless aimed his rant solely at “Russian aggression”.

Britain is being accused moreover of having committed war crimes in Iraq and Libya with NATO’s blessing by various members of Britain’s parliament.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu called for Tony Blair to be treated as other alleged war criminals earlier and be tried at the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

Cameron has also drawn fierce criticism because of his support for Israel’s attacks on Palestinians, qualifying as war crimes some legal specialists say.

His latest campaign against Russia suggests a need to shift the spotlight from the mounting tide against neo-British imperialist tendencies: “To the south, an arc of instability spreads from north Africa and the Sahel, to Syria, Iraq and the wider Middle East.

Cameron continued sternly: “So we must use the [coming Nato] summit [at the Celtic Manor resort near Newport] to agree how NATO should adapt to respond to and deter such threats [as Russia]; and to ensure the continued collective defence of all its members.”

He added that NATO had to address “the risks and challenges posed by failed states, regional conflicts, terrorism and cyber-attacks”.

Cameron’s drive towards war for Europe comes after what Downing Street insiders describe as the prime minister’s unusually animated response to the downing of a Malaysian airliner.

Number 10 insiders told the FT the “Ukraine crisis has signalled to the prime minister that Russia is no longer a lucrative potential export market” after Russia provided the international community with detailed data on the crash.

The British and Americans are increasingly frustrated as they have not managed to fully incriminate Russia for what they themselves describe as a “mistaken” missile attack on flight MH17.

Cameron’s comments echo a proposal by Nato’s Europe commander, General Philip Breedlove, nicknamed “Strangelove” after a character in a Stanley Kubrick film called Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.

According to the FT Breedlove advocates stockpiling a base in Poland with enough weapons, ammunition and other supplies to support a rapid deployment of thousands of troops against Russia.

Many more injured in German train collision

At least 35 people were reported hurt, four of them sustaining grave injuries, as two cars of a passenger train tipped over following its collision with a freight train on Friday night near the city of Mannheim in the southwest of Germany, AFP news agency reported on Saturday.

At least 12 reported hurt after two trains collide in Germany’s southwest

Previous reports assessed the number of injured in the accident at 12.

The two tipped-over cars of the Eurocity speed train en route from Austria’s Graz to Germany’s destination of Saarbruecken on border with France carried a total of 110 passengers at the time of the accident, which took place at around 19:00 GMT near Mannheim’s main station.

According to various reports, the accident did not result in graver consequences, in terms of human casualties, as the trains moved slowly at the time of their collision near Mannheim’s station, which is also one of the country’s major railway junctions.

AP news agency reported citing Germany’s national railway, Deutsche Bahn, that a total of five cars of the passenger train derailed with two of them tipping over and the emergency services evacuated approximately 250 people from the train following its collision with the freight train.

Putin and Obama discuss situation in Ukraine

The presidents agreed that the current state of things is in the interests of neither of the two states

Russian President Vladimir Putin, said after a telephone conversation with U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday, that Washington’s course towards building up sanction pressure was counterproductive and damaging bilateral relations and international stability, the Kremlin press service reported.

The two presidents exchanged views on the development of the acute crisis in Ukraine. “Despite considerable differences in assessments of a number of key aspects, both sides stressed that the top priority task was to immediately stop hostilities in Ukraine’s southeastern regions and launch a political process,” the press service said.

“In this context, the leaders of the two countries positively assessed the Minsk consultations of the Contact Group and stressed the necessity of continuing negotiations in this format,” the Kremlin said.

“The presidents agreed that the current state of things is in the interests of neither of the two states. In this context, they exchanged views on the prospects for the Russia-U.S. dialogue,” the press service said.

The telephone conversation was initiated by the U.S. side.

Source: Itar-Tass

NATO confirms Kiev using ballistic missiles against recalcitrants

NATO has confirmed that Ukrainian forces have started using powerful ballistic missiles against militants in the east of the country. Kiev previously denied the fact, revealed to DW television by NATO sources in Brussels.

The use of missiles starting this week was first broken by CNN’s Barbara Starr on Wednesday, who cited “three sources” in the Pentagon who said that evidence had been obtained with satellite imagery.

A source in NATO’s press service speaking to Deutsche Welle also cited US intelligence. Confirming the strikes, the official did not provide any further details.

DW, which published the information on its Russian-language and Ukrainian-language websites, says that it has lodged an official query about the use of ballistic missiles with Pentagon, but has so far received no answer.

Most experts thought that the likely weapon involved in shelling the militants, who have been retreating in the face of an intensifying government offensive, was the OTR-21 Tochka.

The Soviet-era weapon, NATO reporting name SS-21 Scarab, the newest modification of which has a range of up to 185 kilometers, with a warhead that contains up to 500 kilograms of explosive materials. It is not a high-precision weapon, and has an accuracy radius of about 70 meters at best.

Meanwhile an international police mission to be deployed at the Boeing 777 crash site will have no arms, Ukraine’s vice-premier Vladimir Groisman said on Friday, Itar-Tass reported.

“An international commission headed by the Netherlands will decide whether a police mission is going to be sent to the crash site. No such decision has been made so far. Police officers who will work at the crash site will be unarmed,” Groisman, who heads the Ukrainian State Committee that investigates the crash causes, told a briefing in Kiev on Friday.

Source: RT

Le Pen a growing threat to mainstream politicians

The growing threat to France’s mainstream political leaders posed by Marine Le Pen, head of France’s National Front, has been underscored by an opinion poll putting her in the lead for the first time in the race for the next presidential election.

The charismatic Ms Le Pen has overtaken former centre-right president Nicolas Sarkozy in voting intentions if the first round of the election were held today, with socialist incumbent François Hollande trailing in third, according to the Ifop poll.

Ms Le Pen scored 26 per cent in the poll, up from 24 per cent in the last sounding taken in April, while Mr Sarkozy, widely expected to announce a political comeback in September, slipped six points to 25 per cent following court accusations of corruption levelled against him in early July.

The FN has been on the rise since Ms Le Pen took over leadership of the party from her father Jean-Marie Le Pen in 2011. She came third behind Mr Hollande and Mr Sarkozy in the 2012 presidential election with 18 per cent of the vote and the party has since grown as Mr Hollande’s popularity has slumped in the face of recession and rising unemployment.

In May’s European parliamentary elections, the FN won a nationwide vote for the first time, easily defeating both Mr Sarkozy’s UMP party and the socialists with a score of 25 per cent.

The latest poll, for the magazine Marianne, appeared to confirm the damage caused to Mr Sarkozy and the UMP by financial scandals and internal leadership wrangling that have sapped its ability to present a coherent opposition to Mr Hollande’s government, despite the president’s record-low personal approval ratings.

Mr Sarkozy was questioned under arrest and then placed under formal investigation on July 2 on suspicion of corruption, influence peddling and a breach of professional secrecy linked to a separate probe into his election campaign financing in 2007.

The UMP is also under investigation over allegations of covering up millions of euros in spending above legal limits in Mr Sarkozy’s 2012 campaign.

The Ifop poll underlined growing fears on both the mainstream left and right that Ms Le Pen is set to repeat the feat of her father in 2002 when he reached the second round of the presidential election by coming second, knocking out the then socialist candidate Lionel Jospin.

Most analysts continue to believe she would then be defeated in the run-off by whichever candidate she faced, as mainstream voters rallied to defeat her. The Ifop poll did not test second round voting intentions, but earlier polls have shown a narrower margin of defeat than the 82-18 per cent loss suffered by her father against Jacques Chirac in 2002, especially if her opponent were Mr Hollande.

Concerns that Mr Hollande is already heading for defeat have prompted speculation that the Socialist party might opt for another candidate. But the Ifop poll showed neither of the two likeliest alternatives, Manuel Valls, the reformist prime minister, nor Arnaud Montebourg, the leftwing economy minister, doing any better.

Source: FT

German officer to serve as US Army Europe’s chief of staff

A German Army brigadier general who recently served with NATO forces in Afghanistan is assuming duties as the chief of staff of U. S. Army Europe, the first time a non-American officer has held that position.

Brig. Gen. Markus Laubenthal, most recently the commander of Germany’s 12th Panzer Brigade in Amberg, and chief of staff of Regional Command North, International Security Assistance Force Afghanistan, will be stationed at USAREUR headquarters, Wiesbaden, Germany. He could report to duty as early as Monday.

Laubenthal also has served as military assistant to the deputy commander of operations and assistant chief of staff of operations for NATO forces in Kosovo.

As the major staff assistant to USAREUR commander Lt. Gen. Donald Campbell, Laubenthal will synchronize the command’s staff activities much as American predecessors have in the past.

“This is a bold and major step forward in USAREUR’s commitment to operating in a multinational environment with our German allies,” said Campbell.

“U.S. and German senior military leaders have been serving together in NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan for years. Sustaining the shared capability from this experience will benefit both the U. S. and German armies,” said Campbell who has headed the Army’s largest and oldest overseas command since 2012.

Source: Armytimes

Antwerp doctor refuses treatment to Jewish patient

A Belgian physician who refused to treat a Jewish woman with a fractured rib suggested she visit Gaza to get rid of the pain.

The physician made the remark on Wednesday while manning a medical hotline in Flanders, Belgium’s Flemish region, whose capital, Antwerp, has a sizeable Orthodox Jewish population, the local Jewish monthly Joods Actueel reported Thursday.

The woman, Bertha Klein, had her son, who is American, call the hotline at 11 p.m.

“I’m not coming,” the doctor reportedly told the son and hung up. When the son called again, the doctor said: “Send her to Gaza for a few hours, then she’ll get rid of the pain.” According to Joods Actueel, the doctor confirmed the exchange, saying he had an “emotional reaction.”

Health ministry officials were looking into the incident, according to the monthly’s online edition. According to Joods Actueel, the doctor knew the patient was Jewish because of Klein’s son’s American accent.

The family called a friend, Samuel Markowitz, who is an alderman of the Antwerp district council and a volunteer paramedic. He called the doctor to confirm the exchange, and also recorded their conversation.

Hershy Taffel, Bertha Klein’s grandson, filed a complaint with police for discrimination.

“It reminds me of what happened in Europe 70 years ago,” Taffel told Joods Actueel. “I never thought those days would once again be repeated.”

Joods Actueel editor-in-chief Michael Freilich said the incident is particularly alarming because it comes amid a string of recent incidents which involved boycotts against Jews in Belgium since the start of Israel’s attack on Hamas in Gaza on July 8.

Since then, an Orthodox Jewish woman was refused service at a clothes store in Antwerp, and police removed a sign in French and Turkish from a café near Liege which said dogs were allowed but Zionists and Jews were not.

Source: Jerusalem Post

Merkel, Putin in secret deal to end Ukraine tensions

Germany and Russia have been working on a secret plan to broker a peaceful solution to end international tensions over the Ukraine.

The Independent can reveal that the peace plan, being worked on by both Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin, hinges on two main ambitions: stabilising the borders of Ukraine and providing the financially troubled country with a strong economic boost, particularly a new energy agreement ensuring security of gas supplies.

More controversially, if Ms Merkel’s deal were to be acceptable to the Russians, the international community would need to recognise Crimea’s independence and its annexation by Russia, a move that some members of the United Nations might find difficult to stomach.

Sources close to the secret negotiations claim that the first part of the stabilisation plan requires Russia to withdraw its financial and military support for the various pro-separatist groups operating in eastern Ukraine. As part of any such agreement, the region would be allowed some devolved powers.

At the same time, the Ukrainian President would agree not to apply to join Nato. In return, President Putin would not seek to block or interfere with the Ukraine’s new trade relations with the European Union under a pact signed a few weeks ago.

Second, the Ukraine would be offered a new long-term agreement with Russia’s Gazprom, the giant gas supplier, for future gas supplies and pricing. At present, there is no gas deal in place; Ukraine’s gas supplies are running low and are likely to run out before this winter, which would spell economic and social ruin for the country.

Vladimir Putin at a natural gas pipeline in Vladivostok in Russia’s far east in 2011 (Getty) Vladimir Putin at a natural gas pipeline in Vladivostok in Russia’s far east in 2011 (Getty)
As part of the deal, Russia would compensate Ukraine with a billion-dollar financial package for the loss of the rent it used to pay for stationing its fleets in the Crimea and at the port of Sevastopol on the Black Sea until Crimea voted for independence in March.

However, these attempts by Ms Merkel to act as a broker between President Putin and the Ukraine’s President, Petro Poroshenko, were put on the back-burner following the shooting down of the MH17 plane in eastern Ukraine.

But insiders who are party to the discussions said yesterday that the “German peace plan is still on the table and the only deal around. Negotiations have stalled because of the MH17 disaster but they are expected to restart once the investigation has taken place.”

Source: The Independent