August 4, 2017 OAN Newsroom

A NATO soldier is dead and several others injured following a suicide bombing attack in Kabul.

The incident occurred Thursday, just a day after two American soldiers were killed in a Taliban claimed bombing in southern Afghanistan.

Reports say the ambushed convoy belonged to the U.S. military, and claim the suicide bomber was a member of the Taliban.

According to officials, the NATO soldier who died was not American, but no other details were released.

A NATO statement says those injured are being treated at a U.S. military hospital, and are in stable condition.

An Afghan policeman stands guard near to the site of a suicide bomber struck at a NATO convoy in Kandahar southern of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2017. A suicide bomber struck a NATO convoy near the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Wednesday, causing casualties, the U.S. military said. (AP Photo)

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NATO Soldier Killed, 6 Injured in Afghanistan Suicide Bombing - One America News Network (press release)

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday (Aug 3) that ties between the alliance and Moscow were at their most difficult phase since the Cold War, blaming Russia for its role in the Ukraine conflict.

Speaking after United States President Donald Trump said relations between Washington and Moscow had hit an all-time low, the alliance's chief said Russia's "destabilisation" of eastern Ukraine had helped scupper hopes of a diplomatic reset.

"I think (it) is correct to say that Nato's relationship with Russia is more difficult than it has been any time since the end of the Cold War," Stoltenberg told CNN.

"At the end of the Cold War, we hoped to develop a close partnership with Russia.

"But especially after the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the continued Russian destabilisation of eastern Ukraine, the relationship between Nato and Russia has deteriorated considerably."

Stoltenberg said that Nato was committed to avoiding a further spike in tensions and was pursuing a twin-track approach of "defense deterrence and dialogue."

"As long as we are strong, as long as we are predictable, we can also engage in political dialogue with Russia to try to avoid escalation and avoid a new Cold War," he said.

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Nato says Russia ties most 'difficult' since Cold War - The Straits Times

By William TuckerContributor, In Homeland Security

Pursuing national interests is difficult for any nation-state; in some cases, it is hard just to define one nations interests. Nonetheless, diplomats and politicians try to hammer out agreements in pursuit of their national interests in the most efficient and expeditious manner possible.

Agreements are not perpetual, however, and long-dormant issues can rise to the forefront if a nations strategic picture changes. It is the strategic picture that sets the priorities of some interests above others.

Long-Term Alliances Are Difficult to Maintain

Security is one issue that can vex the most experienced heads of state. But the need for security can lead to alliances or collective security agreements.

Alliances are difficult to maintain, however, because the overriding interests that brought the parties into the alliance can change. The pursuit of collective security, a much less binding agreement, becomes stressed once the participating parties interests diverge or the security threat that prompted the agreement ceases to exist. In some cases, the threat might remain, but it could be perceived differently by the concerned nation-states.

In Henry Kissingers book World Order, the former Secretary of State defines the diplomatic ideals fostered by President Woodrow Wilson:

An alliance comes about as an agreement on specific facts or expectations. It creates a formal obligation to act in a precise way in defined contingencies. It brings about a strategic obligation fulfillable in an agreed manner. It arises out of a consciousness of shared interests, and the more parallel those interests are, the more cohesive the alliance will be. Collective security, by contrast, is a legal construct addressed to no specific contingency. It defines no particular obligations except joint action of some kind when the rules of peaceful international order are violated. In practice, action must be negotiated from case to case.

Kissingers words bring to mind the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and its uncertain future. NATO was conceived after World War II by political scientists and policymakers to prevent a repetition of the mistakes of the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. This treaty forced severe reparations on a defeated Germany, which led to the rise of National Socialism and Hitler.

Halford Mackinder, a British geographer, is considered one of the founding fathers of both geopolitics and geostrategy. In his 1943 article for Foreign Affairs, The Round World and the Winning of the Peace, Mackiner called for the formation of an alliance among the U.S., Britain and France, along with an agreement with the USSR. This alliance would formalize a response to any post-war attempt to rearm Germany.

Mackinders idea was to use the natural geography of the region to dissuade future German aggression. What Mackinder could not foresee was the division of Germany into two separate nations by the victorious allied powers, whose wartime alliance began to fray even before the Potsdam Conference in the summer of 1945. For the United States and the United Kingdom, the resulting Potsdam Agreement was less about preventing a rearmed, expansionist Germany and more about restraining an expanding Soviet Union.

Two years into the postwar period, U.S. diplomat George Kennan, writing under the pseudonym X, penned his famous Long Telegram. It was published in Foreign Affairs in 1947 as The Sources of Soviet Conduct. Kennans article became a framework not just for a North Atlantic alliance, but also for a larger policy of Soviet containment.

The Sources of Soviet Conduct became an instructive thesis for dealing with the Soviet Union. One often overlooked fact was that Kennan was a U.S. State Department official. The willingness of the U.S. to enter into an international alliance in 1949 was seen as an important change in American foreign policy from prewar isolationism to postwar international peacekeeper.

Signing of the North Atlantic Charter Creates the International NATO Alliance

The United States was a rising power before World War II, and the Allied victory cemented the U.S. as not just a great power, but also as one of two global superpowers. The signing of the North Atlantic Treaty, creating the international NATO alliance in Washington, D.C., on April 4, 1949, is important because it led to the large-scale influence the U.S. still wields in NATO, providing the organization with direction and a common cause.

The idea that the Eurasian landmass could potentially fall under the control of a single political body, i.e., the Soviet Union, was then perceived as an existential threat by Washington.

Naturally, the victorious but devastated nations of Europe also viewed the Soviets as a threat and feared becoming Moscows next conquest. The founding members of NATO were brought together by a common interest viewed from different perspectives. But their differences could be overlooked because the net result was the same: mutual defense against a common threat.

When the Soviet Union Collapsed, NATO Expanded

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, NATO began to expand and moved the eastern frontier back toward Russia. Several former member-states of the Warsaw Pact joined NATO, pushing back the direct threat of a Russian ground invasion from the border of a once-divided Germany to the eastern borders of Poland and the Baltic States.

These states have been the most vocal in pushing NATO members to reaffirm their dedication to Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty. That article commits all NATO members to consider an attack on one member as an attack on all of them.

Nations further to the west have been keener to reach an understanding with Russia over issues such as Moscows invasion of Crimea and support of Syria, because they are reliant on Russian energy to run their economies. With projects such as the Nord Stream gas pipelines meant to bypass former East Bloc states, it is clear that the interests of many NATO members have diverged.

For its part, the U.S. has tried on several occasions since the 2008 invasion of Georgia to improve its relationship with Russia. But it appears that the interests of the two nations are intractable.

With the most recent round of U.S. sanctions targeting Russia and its energy sector, the break between Moscow and Washington and between Berlin and Warsaw has become more profound. Can NATO survive these divisions?

Typically, alliances are not eternal because the nations that make up the group cannot be expected to defer their interests perpetually. NATO is now seeing this firsthand, but its not the only time there has been strife in the organization.

For example, France pulled out from NATOs military command in 1963, while member-states Greece and Turkey nearly went to war on several occasions during the Cold War. The NATO alliance endured, however.

Today, NATO consists of 29 independent member countries and is no longer dedicated to containing the USSR and its Warsaw Pact allies. Instead, it is an organization in need of leadership, direction and, above all, a common cause.

Without such direction and accommodation of each members national interests, the alliance cannot be expected to function much longer in its current form. Indeed, the ties that bind NATO are frayed and in need of mending.

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NATO's Dilemma: The Ties That Bind Nations Together Are Fraying - In Homeland Security

"Two US service members were killed in action in Kandahar, Afghanistan, when their convoy came under attack" on Wednesday, Pentagon spokesman US Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said in a statement.

Earlier Wednesday, the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission, which trains and advises Afghanistan's military and police, confirmed that the attack had resulted in casualties.

"Resolute Support can confirm a NATO convoy was attacked this afternoon in Kandahar. The attack did cause casualties," the statement said.

The high-profile attack targeting the coalition comes as President Donald Trump's administration is attempting to determine its commitment to and strategy for Afghanistan and the wider region and could be seen as an attempt to shape that debate.

Secretary of Defense James Mattis told Congress that the strategy would be decided upon by mid-July but has since said that the administration is continuing to work on it.

In the absence of an administration policy on Afghanistan Sen. John McCain, the Republican chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said Monday he would work to produce a strategy for winning the conflict in September.

"Eight years of a 'don't lose' strategy has cost us lives and treasure in Afghanistan. Our troops deserve better," McCain said in a statement.

US and coalition casualties in Afghanistan have become rarer in recent years, falling dramatically since the Afghan government assumed responsibility for combat operations in 2014. But there has been an uptick in recent months as US forces have become more directly involved in the fight against the local ISIS affiliate.

Wednesday's bombing is the latest attack to rock southern Kandahar province, which borders Pakistan, in recent months.

At least 26 Afghan soldiers were killed and 13 more wounded last week in a Taliban attack on an army camp in the province's Khakrez district, the Afghan Ministry of Defense said.

Violence also continues elsewhere in the country.

CNN's Ehsan Popalzai contributed to this report.

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Afghanistan: Two US soldiers killed in NATO convoy attack ...

An American helicopter hovers over a NATO convoy struck by a suicide bomb Wednesday. The Pentagon says the attack, which unfolded near the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, killed two U.S. service members. STR/AP hide caption

An American helicopter hovers over a NATO convoy struck by a suicide bomb Wednesday. The Pentagon says the attack, which unfolded near the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, killed two U.S. service members.

Two U.S. service members were killed Wednesday when a NATO convoy came under attack outside the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, according to the Pentagon. It was not immediately clear how many people were wounded in the violence, which unfolded near an American base.

The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying a militant carried out a suicide attack with a truck packed with explosives.

NATO's Resolute Support mission in the country confirmed an assault on its convoy but did not offer further details. "We are working to gather additional information as quickly as possible," the coalition said in a statement.

As NPR's Tom Bowman notes, the Taliban rose to prominence first in Kandahar Province in the 1990s, but in recent years, U.S. and Afghan forces have largely pushed the militant group from the area.

"The last American combat deaths in Kandahar were in 2014," Tom says, "but during the past year, the Taliban have made inroads once again in Kandahar."

The Pentagon is considering sending nearly 4,000 more troops to the country to train their Afghan counterparts, joining a U.S. contingent that currently numbers roughly 8,500.

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Ambush Hits NATO Convoy In Afghanistan, Killing 2 US Service Members - NPR

WASHINGTON With exercise Saber Guardian coming to a close in Eastern Europe and more than 30 exercises stillto take place during the remainder of 2017, NATO is continuing to build its readiness. Gen. Tod Wolters, commander of NATOs Allied Air Command,highlighted for Defense News the importance of these exercises from the air perspective of the multi-domain effort.

What you want to do is out-work them, out-exercise them, out-train them, he said on how to best NATOsadversaries, such as Russia.

Wolters likened NATO to an athlete, perched in theater in a three-point stance, ready to move forward on the drop of a dimein response to nefarious events.

To maximize get readiness, Wolters emphasized training, training and training as the best way to integrate both layered capabilities and layered domains for this level of maximum readiness. And to get the best juice for your squeeze, he said, the alliance should train with the resources available.

As an example, he said NATO has seven nations that are on the brink of bringing fifth-generation F-35 aircraft into theater. But a crew of mixed fourth- and fifth-generation aircraft makes for an operational challenge.

As the aircraft train in an integrated group, he said, the crews learn how the other types of aircraft react to different situations. They become familiar with communication systems and work out the kinks, allowing for a cohesive crew, he added, in turn increasing deterrence capabilities.

This idea also extends to the interoperability of domains. Each NATO exercise, he said, is designed to incorporate several domains and ensure that allies operate smoothly, side by side and add to a greater effect.

Each one of these exercises they improve your speed, they improve your understanding of the environment, he said. You gain a greater intellectual grasp of what the problem could be, and you certainly gain a greater degree of confidence.

For Wolters, communication is also key to readiness and efficiency. This is especially true in relation to the air domain, as pilots must be cognizant of their environment through which they fly as well as coordinate with operations in other domains.

Wolters said he sees a great willingness from NATO countries both to train and provide understanding in their air domains. And he sees investments being made in ensuring the linkage between domains is open and flowing, allowing an awareness of what other groups are accomplishing.

This greater motivation to participate in exercises and cooperate across borders comes from the recent acceleration of readiness and NATOs shift from assurance to deterrence. Wolters said this shift has driven counties to secure their airspace and not only allow but participate in NATO activities.

The Turkish Air Force maintains airspace security not only for its own aircraft, but also for the aircraft taking off from Turkish soil to participate in Operation Inherent Resolve, the multinational joint task force battling the Islamic State group.

You have to be on your toes 24/7, 365 to make sure you understand exactly what is taking place, he said. Its not easy. You have to embrace it intellectually.

But training, training, training in maintaining a razor-sharp edge is critically important, he added. And weve had great success up to this point there.

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NATO readiness strategy: 'Out-exercise them, out-train them' - DefenseNews.com

With the Islamic State defeated in Mosul and on the ropes in Raqqa, NATO is trying to assess what its role could or should be in the post-caliphate phase of the counterterrorism fight to come. The alliance has an important role to play, but it should stick close to its traditional mission and skillset. At its core, NATO is a military alliance, not a counterterrorism (CT) agency.

The spike in international terror incidents in the West and the unrelenting instability rocking the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, provided a stark backdrop for the blunt comments of President Trump about NATOs need to do more on counterterrorism. NATO, then presidential-candidate Trumpsaidin May 2016, was obsolete.

NATO is not new to the CT mission, having invoked Article 5 for the first time after 9/11 and soon launching the largest combat operation in its history in Afghanistan in response to the terror attacks against the United States. NATO has developed particular expertise at training local security forces in Afghanistan to take on the Taliban, al-Qaeda and ISIS and stabilize the country.

Similar NATO training missions have focused on CT capabilities in in the MENA region as well, including in Egypt, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia. NATO surveillance planes support the anti-ISIS coalition, and at the NATO summit in May, the alliance announced it would become a full member of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.

But given the nature of the terrorist threats today, it should not surprise anyone that bothformerandcurrentNATO secretaries general recently concluded there is more NATO can and should do on CT. Despite the near-term battlefield defeat of the so-called caliphate in Syria and Iraq, the terrorism forecast is grim.

As ISIS loses territory, the terrorist threat it poses in the region through itsprovincesand terrorist cells and in the West may increase (at least in the short term) as it devolves from governance to insurgency and terrorism. Returning foreign terrorist fighters (FTF) present one threat, compounded by the social-media-driven phenomenon ofhomegrown violent extremism(HVE), which in turn can include a spectrum of terrorist threats from foreign-inspired, enabled or directed plots.

There is no light at the end of the tunnel with respect to the Syrian tragedy, a jihadist enterprise that has givenal-Qaedaa new lease on life, a group that is also resurgent in the Arabian Peninsula and in Africa. To Europes south,Libyapresents a variety of security threats that show no signs of abating and threaten stability across North Africa and into the Sahel, and, as the Manchester attack suggests, up into Europe as well.

Europols 2017TESAT reporthighlights the threats posed to Europe by regional instability outside the EU, including the Western Balkans, Caucasus, Africa, Middle East and in NATO-member Turkey.

The latest Global Trendsreportpublished by the U.S. National Intelligence Council focuses on two key trends that will significantly impact the future direction of theterroristthreat:

First, the resolution or continuation of the many intra- and inter-state conflicts currently underway most importantly, the Syrian civil war, but also conflict in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and the Sahel, Somalia, Yemen, and elsewhere will determine the intensity and geography of future violence.

The key factor this will impact is the spread of ungoverned space, which to date has created an environment conducive to extremism and encouraged the enlistment of thousands of volunteers eager to fight.

The second factor is how we deal today with the foreign fighter and migrant phenomena. If not properly managed, these will become the recruiting pools for tomorrows terrorist groups.

What more could NATO do in the counterterrorism arena?As the latest State Departmentreporton counterterrorism notes, NATOs added-value in the CT space comes in the three cones of its current strategy: improving threat awareness, developing CT capabilities and enhancing partner engagement.

The creation of a newNATO Strategic Direction-South (NSD-S) Hubin Naples is a welcome development and should help NATO improve situational awareness along NATOs southern flank and provide long-range, horizon-scanning analysis and policy recommendations for NATO HQ, SHAPE and the North Atlantic Council.

This effort should leverage resources to address both existing and future regional security challenges. NATO should play a greater role countering FTFs and the migrant crisis, as an example of current challenges. The EU counterterrorism coordinator hascalledfor increased connectivity between NATO soldiers and Europol for the timely sharing of biometric and other tactical intelligence collected in the field.

NATO could also do more on maritime security related to the EUs migrant crisis, he added. But the NSD-S Hub will have the biggest potential impact getting ahead of future problems by partnering NATO officers and analysts with academics and subject-matter experts to focus international engagement (primarily training) in areas that would benefit from being preemptively inoculated from projected instability.

For example, NATO could focus efforts to prevent the spread of violent extremist organizations in relatively stable but fragile states, such as Tunisia. This must be made a strategic priority over a 10-20-year horizon.

At the end of the day, the NSD-S Hub cannot be just a response to President Trump, in which case it will be focused more on being seen to be doing something rather than actually generating effects. To get ahead of the trajectory of the tomorrows terrorist threat, we must collectively address the two key factors laid out by the NIC: contending with the foreign terrorist fighters coming out of Syria and Iraq and addressing the festering conflicts that createlooming disequilibriaand the ungoverned spaces in which tomorrows threats can fester.

Matthew Levitt is the Fromer-Wexler fellow and director of the Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that seeks to advance a realistic understanding of American interests in theMiddle Eastand to promote thepoliciesthat secure them.

The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the views of The Hill.

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NATO's role in fighting post-caliphate ISIS looms large - The Hill (blog)

"Two Spanish F-18 jets assigned to NATO's Baltic Air Policing mission scrambled from Estonia's Amari Air Base on Tuesday morning to intercept unidentified non-NATO military aircraft near Estonian airspace," acting NATO spokesman Dylan White said in a statement.

He added that Finnish jets also scrambled to intercept the Russian aircraft which he identified as two MiG-31 fighter jets and an AN-26 transport plane.

NATO's Baltic Air Policing mission involves allied aircraft securing the airspace of the Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

The incident between NATO and Russian military aircraft comes less than 24 hours after US Vice President Mike Pence visited Estonia where he reaffirmed America's commitment to NATO's collective defense clause in the face of Russian aggression.

"No threat looms larger in the Baltic States than the specter of aggression from your unpredictable neighbor to the east," Pence said an appearance with the leaders of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

"Under President Donald Trump, the United States of America rejects any attempt to use force, threats, intimidation, or malign influence in the Baltic States or against any of our treaty allies," he added.

The incident also saw the Spanish aircraft "accidentally" entering Finnish airspace.

"In handing over the intercept to the Finnish jets, the Spanish jets accidentally entered Finnish airspace. NATO's Air Command has explained the incident to the Finnish Air Operations Centre to improve future coordination," White said.

Finland, which is not a member of NATO, appeared to confirm the incident Tuesday with its ministry of defense issuing a statement saying the two Spanish jets were "suspected of having violated Finland's airspace on Tuesday morning."

"We have seen an increase in air activity in the Baltic region, but with few exceptions, the vast majority of the intercepts are conducted in a safe and responsible manner by all parties," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters last month following a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council.

He also referred to a Finish Initiative which recently convened a working group of representatives from Russia, NATO, Sweden and Finland to discuss the issues involving the congested Baltic airspace.

"They are working in a good way," Stoltenberg said.

Original post:

NATO jets intercept Russian aircraft near Estonian airspace - CNN

Civilian and security forces walk inside a minority Shiite mosque after a suicide attack in Herat, Afghanistan on Aug. 1, 2017 reportedly killed at least 20 people.Hamed SarfaraziAP

(KANDAHAR, Afghanistan) A suicide bomber struck a NATO convoy near the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Wednesday, causing casualties, the U.S. military said.

Lt. Damien E. Horvath, a military spokesman, could not say how many casualties there were, or provide their nationalities. The NATO mission, known as Resolute Support, "can confirm that a NATO convoy was attacked in Kandahar. The attack did cause casualties," he said.

Kandahar police spokesman Zia Durrani also confirmed the attack and the area on the edge Kandahar was quickly cordoned off.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Eyewitness Ghulam Ali, who runs a mechanics shop near the attack site, said the intensity of the blast knocked him out. When he came to he saw one military vehicle ablaze on the road. He stepped out of his shop but a sudden burst of gunfire drove him back inside.

He heard helicopters arriving and saw soldiers being taken away from the scene but could not determine the extent of their injuries.

Shah Agha Popal, who runs a vehicle parts shop also nearby, said he also saw soldiers being taken away by two helicopters. "But I couldn't tell if they were wounded or if they were dead," he said.

The combined U.S. and NATO troop contingent currently in Afghanistan is about 13,500. The Trump administration is deciding whether to send about 4,000 or more U.S. soldiers to Afghanistan in an attempt to stem Taliban gains.

The attack came as Afghan authorities in western Herat province tightened security ahead of a mass funeral for the victims there of an attack the previous evening that killed 29.

A suicide attacker opened fire inside a mosque packed with worshippers at evening prayers, before detonating his explosives. A second explosion came 10 minutes later.

No one has claimed responsibility for that attack either, but it came a day after the Islamic State group warned it would strike Shiites. The Sunni militant group considers Shiite Muslims as apostates.

Herat provincial spokesman Jilani Farhad said that to reduce the possibility of more attacks, a planned Shiite protest against the attack was to be held just before the burial on Wednesday afternoon, rather than at a separate time and location.

Along with the 29 killed, 64 people were wounded, 10 of them critically.

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Suicide Bombing Strikes NATO Convoy in Afghanistan - TIME

Bob Mercer attends the World Science Festival Gala in New York in 2014. Andrew Toth / Getty Images

Federal election filings show that Cambridge Analytica received $11.7 million from Trump and Cruz super PACs in 2015 and 2016. It received $5.7 million from a separate super PAC, Make America Number 1, which first supported Cruz and then Trump, and is primarily funded to the tune of $15.5 million by hedge-fund billionaire Robert Mercer.

Related:

Mercer, who declined to comment, is also an investor in Cambridge Analytica. Mercer did not respond to a request for comment.

SCL, which was founded in the U.K. more than a decade ago, created Cambridge Analytica as a U.S. arm in 2013. Alexander Nix, who is the CEO of Cambridge, has been a director at SCL since 2003.

According to a company spokesman, however, Cambridge Analytica and SCL Group are "two very different companies that shouldn't be conflated." The two companies, which are both private, have "separate management, staff, and offices," he said. "The group is being reorganized in order to improve brand identity. Henceforth all political and commercial work is being conducted as Cambridge Analytica and all our government work as SCL Group. A corporate reorganization along these lines will follow."

In the past SCL Group has been involved in elections around the world from St. Lucia to Nigeria. That work has only involved free and fair elections, the spokesman said. All work on U.S. elections has been conducted by Cambridge Analytica.

SCL Group was awarded its first contracts with the State Department in February and March of 2017 to help the government's Global Engagement Center (GEC) effect behavior change amongst potential recruits to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

The two contracts, totaling $496,232, are described as "target audience research." The contracts were not opened up for competitive bidding due to "national security" concerns before they were awarded to SCL, according to the website

In 2015 SCL Group ran a NATO training program on behavioral change science at the NATO-affiliated Centre of Excellence in Latvia.

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Trump-Linked Data Firm Removes State Dept., NATO Logos After NBC Questions - NBCNews.com

Arthur I. Cyr More Content Now

We are with you, we stand with you on behalf of freedom. Vice President Mike Pence spoke those words on July 30 in Estonia, the first stop on trip that includes Georgia and Montenegro. Given political turmoil and uncertainty in Washington, as well as Russias military assertiveness, the visit of Karen and Mike Pence to Eastern Europe is extremely important as well as timely.

The Baltic States of Latvia and Lithuania as well as Estonia were forcibly occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940. Exile groups from the Baltics become influential in the United States, and elsewhere. All three nations became NATO members in March 2004.

Montenegro became NATOs newest member in early March 2017. The tiny Baltic state had been campaigning for alliance membership for over a decade.

The rapid weakening and then collapse of the Soviet Union and communist regimes in Eastern Europe ended the Cold War, but also the relative stability of that era. President Vladimir Putin emphasizes nationalism, and has made military moves to expand Russias territorial control.

In 2014, Russia invaded Ukraine and annexed the territory of Crimea. The overt invasion of Ukraine by Russias army, after months of covert aid to rebel forces, generated the most serious crisis in Europe since the Balkan wars of the 1990s and perhaps since World War II.

In 2008, Russian troops invaded a portion of Georgia, following an attack by Georgian troops on South Ossetia. This territory, as well as Abkhazia, had declared independence from Georgia. Russia encouraged and supported these breakaway efforts, though the international community has clearly rejected them.

The end of the Cold War was a great victory for the policy of restraint and deterrence, termed Containment, supported by every United States president from Harry Truman when the Cold War commenced, to George H.W. Bush when the conflict ended.

NATO endures, for good reasons. Bureaucracies naturally seek self-perpetuation, but strategic realities provide persuasive justification. General war in Europe was avoided for a century between the final defeat of Napoleon and the outbreak of World War I. A Concert of European nations, brokered by Great Britain, helped keep the general peace.

NATO today arguably represents an approximate counterpart to the uncertain but generally effective Concert. The alliance has operated well beyond the nations of the North Atlantic region, including not only on the margins of Europe but in distant territory, including notably Afghanistan

Article 5 of the NATO treaty states that an attack on one member amounts to an attack on all. The al Qaeda strikes on New York and Washington D.C., and in the sky over Pennsylvania, triggered this clause, for the first time.

Todays alliance leaders in Europe are articulate and effective, including in particular German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Chancellor Merkel is spearheading expansion of Germanys roles in international humanitarian relief. She has also provided arms to Kurds fighting Islamic extremists in Iraq.

Another outstanding leader is David Cameron, Britains Prime Minister from 2010 to 2016. He termed Russias aggression unacceptable and unjustified, and bluntly stated that any efforts to appease Putin would be a repetition of the same mistakes made by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in accommodating Adolf Hitler in 1938. Britain and Germany have highly effective militaries.

Since 2002, NATO has renewed practical efforts to develop rapid reaction military capabilities. The credibility of the alliance is essential. The Pences highly visible visit is a diplomatic complement to such efforts.

Arthur I. Cyr is Clausen Distinguished Professor at Carthage College and author of After the Cold War. Contact at acyr@carthage.edu.

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Arthur I. Cyr: Pence trip underscores importance of NATO and current threats - Ashland Daily Tidings

Updated at 5:07 p.m.

BRUSSELS President Trump did not explicitly endorse the mutual-aid clause of the North Atlantic Treaty at the NATO summit on Thursday despite previous indications that he was planning to do so, keeping in place the cloud of ambiguity hanging over the relationship between the United States and the alliance.

Speaking in front of a 9/11 and Article 5 Memorial at the new NATO headquarters, Trump praised NATOs response to the 9/11 attacks and spoke of the commitments that bind us together as one.

But he did not specifically commit to honor Article 5, which stipulates that other NATO allies must come to the aid of an ally under attack if it is invoked.

The only time in history that Article 5 has been invoked was after the September 11 attacks, a fact that Trump mentioned. The memorial Trump was dedicating is a piece of steel from the North Tower that fell during the attacks.

NATO, Meet Donald Trump

We remember and mourn those nearly 3,000 people who were brutally murdered by terrorists on September 11, 2001, Trump said. Our NATO allies responded swiftly and decisively, invoking for the first time in its history the Article 5 collective-defense commitment.

Trump did refer to commitments, saying of the memorial, [t]his twisted mass of metal reminds us not only what weve lost, but forever what endures: the courage of our people, the strength of our resolve, and the commitments that bind us together as one. ... We will never forsake the friends who stood by our side. And we will never waver in our determination to defeat terrorism and to achieve lasting prosperity and peace.

The New York Times reported on Wednesday evening that Trump would use the speech to finally endorse Article 5. Though top members of his administration, including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Vice President Mike Pence have done so, Trumps refusal has shaken NATO allies.

Trump has been a harsh critic of NATO overall, at one point calling it obsolete. He has repeatedly criticized other allies for not paying their fair share of the defense burden of the alliance. He has pushed the alliance to do more to combat terrorism. At the NATO leaders summit, counter-terrorism and burden-sharing will dominate the agendanot Russia.

Trump did mention the Russian threat in his remarks on Thursday. The NATO of the future must include a great focus on terrorism and immigration, as well as threats from Russia and on NATOs eastern and southern borders, he said.

But he spent the bulk of the speech haranguing the other members of the alliancestanding only feet from himfor not meeting their spending obligations.

Twenty-three of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying and what they are supposed to be paying for their defense, Trump said. We should recognize that with these chronic underpayments and growing threats, even two percent of GDP is insufficient to close the gaps in modernizing, readiness and the size of forces, he added. Two percent is the bare minimum for confronting todays very real and very vicious threats.

Trump even took a slight dig at the new NATO headquarters, which are being unveiled in time for this leaders meeting. I never asked once what the new NATO headquarters cost, Trump said. I refuse to do that. But it is beautiful.

After the speech, televisions in the press center at NATO showed Trump in discussion with a group of other leaders including NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

NATO had sought to make Trumps inaugural visit as smooth as possible. The conferences two topics of focusspending and counterterrorismare the two main thrusts of Trumps critique of the alliance.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer, speaking to the pool reporters after the speech, said that despite the presidents omission, Were not playing cutesy with this. Hes fully committed.

If you are standing at a ceremony talking about the invocation of Article 5 after 9/11 and talking about that, that is a pretty clear indication of the support that exists for it, Spicer said. Ive seen some of the questions Ive gotten from you guys, but theres 100 percent commitment to Article 5.

In a press conference on Wednesday before the summit, Stoltenberg had downplayed Trumps silence on Article 5. He said that because Trump has expressed support for NATOwhich he declared no longer obsolete during Stoltenbergs visit to Washington last monthhe has also of course expressed strong support of Article 5, because Article 5, collective defense, is NATOs core task.

At a press conference after the leaders meeting on Thursday, Stoltenberg was asked repeatedly about Trumps refusal to verbally commit to Article 5. He maintained his position, arguing that Trump has shown sufficient commitment to NATO, and thus to Article 5. President Donald Trump dedicated a 9/11 and Article 5 memorial, Stoltenberg said. And just by doing that he sent a strong signal. We have had a clear message from the U.S. administration, he added, citing assurances he received from top administration officials as well as from Trump himself in meetings. Its not possible to be committed to NATO without being committed to Article 5.

Asked if Trumps demands about burden-sharing had troubled any allies, Stoltenberg said they had already heard Trump being blunt on spending before. We have to invest in defense not just to please the United States but we have to invest in European defense because it is in our own interest to do so, he said.

Continued here:

Trump Declines to Affirm NATO's Article 5 - The Atlantic

Even more worrying, top American military officers say, is that the maneuvers could be used as a pretext to increase Russias military presence in Belarus, a central European nation that borders three critical NATO allies: Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.

The great concern is theyre not going to leave, and thats not paranoia, Gen. Tony Thomas, the head of the United States Special Operations Command, told a national security conference in Aspen, Colo., in July.

Peter B. Zwack, a retired one-star Army general who was the American defense attach in Moscow from 2012 to 2014, said: First and foremost, the messaging is, Were watching you; were strong; weve learned a lot; dont mess with Russia.

Western military officials caution that the United States and Russia are not on the brink of war. But they expressed concern that the heightened Russian military activity could lead to unintended confrontations.

For this installment of the Zapad maneuvers, a Cold War relic revived in 1999 and held again in 2009 and 2013, Russia has requisitioned enough rail cars to carry 4,000 loads of tanks and other heavy equipment to and from Belarus.

Airborne,

Assault and

Special Forces

New units deployed after 2013.

Units existing in 2013

redeployed and/or expanded.

Units existing in

2013 and after.

New units deployed after 2013.

Units existing in 2013

redeployed and/or expanded.

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in 2013 and after.

The Russians already have about 1,000 air defense troops and communications personnel stationed in Belarus, and logistical teams are surveying training sites there. By mid- August, advance elements of the thousands of Russian Army, airborne and air defense troops that are to participate in the exercise are expected to arrive. The rest of the force is expected to reach Belarus by early September ahead of the Zapad exercises, scheduled for Sept. 14 to 20.

The United States is taking precautions, including sending 600 American paratroopers to NATOs three Baltic members for the duration of the Zapad exercise and delaying the rotation of a United States-led battle group in Poland.

Look, well be ready; well be prepared, said Lt. Gen. Frederick B. Hodges, the head of United States Army forces in Europe. But were not going to be up on the parapets waiting for something to happen.

In 2014, Russias stealthy forays into eastern Ukraine and its rapid capture of Crimea were seen as skillful exercises in hybrid warfare, a combination of cyberwarfare, a powerful disinformation campaign and the use of highly trained special operation troops and local proxy forces.

But there is nothing subtle about the tank-heavy unit at the heart of the coming Zapad exercise.

The First Guards Tank Army, made up mainly of forces transferred from other units, including elite motorized and tank divisions near Moscow, has an extensive pedigree. The unit battled the Germans during World War II on the Eastern Front and eventually in Berlin before becoming part of the Soviet force that occupied Germany. In 1968, it participated in the invasion of Czechoslovakia to crush the Prague Spring.

After the end of the Cold War, the unit was withdrawn to Smolensk, near the border with Belarus, before being disbanded in 1998. But it was reconstituted by Mr. Putin to give the Russian military more offensive punch and present a visible demonstration of Russian power.

That name was chosen for a reason, said Philip M. Breedlove, a retired four-star Air Force general who served as NATO commander. It sends a very clear message to the Baltics and Poland.

In addition, the Russians have fielded a new motorized division near Smolensk, close to the border with Belarus, which could be used in conjunction with the tank unit. In combination with the highly mobile tank army, that force has about 800 tanks, more than 300 artillery pieces and a dozen Iskander tactical missile launchers.

That is more tanks than NATO has in active units deployed in the Baltic States, Poland and Germany put together, not including armor in storage that would be used by reinforcements sent from the United States, noted Phillip A. Karber, the president of the Potomac Foundation, who has studied Russian military operations in and around Ukraine.

There is only one reason you would create a Guards Tank Army, and that is as an offensive striking force, General Hodges said. This is not something for homeland security. That does not mean that they are automatically going to do it, but in terms of intimidation it is a means of putting pressure on allies.

Mr. Karber cautioned against exaggerating the First Guards Tank Armys capability, noting that not all of its units were fully manned and that some of the most modern tanks earmarked for it have not arrived.

But if fully deployed into Belarus, he said, it will be a powerful offensive formation and a way for the Russian military to rapidly project power westward, which is all the more important for Moscow. The collapse of the Soviet Union meant that Russian forces lost Belarus and Ukraine as buffers.

Just the presence of the First Guards Tank Army near the Polish border would put NATO on the horns of a dilemma, Mr. Karber said. Does NATO reinforce the Baltics or defend eastern Poland? NATO does not have enough forces to do both in a short period of time. It adds to the political pressure Russia can bring to bear to keep the Baltic nations and Poland in line.

The Russians have also announced that the First Guards Tank Army will be the first formation to receive the T-14 Armata tank, a new infantry fighting vehicle, as well as advanced air defense and electronic warfare equipment.

A more immediate concern, however, is whether Russia will use the Zapad exercise to keep Belarus in line. Belarus has long worked closely with Moscow, and its air defense units are integrated with Russias to the east. But with friction between the nations autocratic president, Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, and Mr. Putin have come reports that Belarus is reluctant to host more Russian forces permanently.

As part of the maneuvers, units of the First Guards Tank Army are expected to establish a forward command post in western Belarus, and to hold exercises in training areas near Brest, on the Polish border, and Grodno, near Poland and Lithuania.

Russian officials have told NATO that the maneuvers will be far smaller than Western officials are anticipating and will involve fewer than 13,000 troops. But NATO officials say the exercise is intended to test Russias contingency plans for a major conflict with the alliance and will also involve Russian civilian agencies.

We have every reason to believe that it may be substantially more troops participating than the official reported numbers, Jens Stoltenberg, NATOs secretary general, said in July.

Adding to the concern, the Russians have yet to agree that international observers can monitor the Zapad exercise. American officials have long said that monitoring is important, given the difficulty of Western intelligence in determining whether Russian military activity is merely an exercise or a preparation for an armed intervention.

The United States, in contrast, allowed Russian, Chinese and even North Korean observers to monitor a recent Army exercise, called Saber Guardian, in Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria.

At least two battalions of First Guards units, or some 3,000 armored troops, are expected to participate in the Belarus maneuvers. The total number of Russian troops, security personnel and civilian officials in the broader exercise is expected to range from 60,000 to as many as 100,000.

The question NATO officials are asking is whether all of the troops and equipment in Belarus will leave.

Said General Hodges, I am very interested in what goes in and what comes out.

Michael R. Gordon reported from Washington, and Eric Schmitt from Washington and Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base, Romania.

A version of this article appears in print on August 1, 2017, on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Russian Exercise On NATO Border Has U.S. on Alert.

Continued here:

Russia's Military Drills Near NATO Border Raise Fears of Aggression - New York Times

Two U.S. soldiers were injured after their Black hawk helicopter made a hard landing early Tuesday.

The crew members suffered minor injuries when their copter crash landed in the Achin District in eastern Afghanistan as a result of a mechanical issue, according to a statement released by NATO.

A U.S. HH-60 Black Hawk suffered a mechanical issue that resulted in a hard landing during operations near Achin, Nangarhar early this morning, The NATO-led Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan said in a statement. Rescue personnel safely recovered the crew. Two crew members suffered minor injuries in the landing and are receiving treatment at a coalition medical facility.

The aircraft is being recovered and the incident is under investigation.

The Taliban in a statement claimed they opened fire on the helicopter, killing everyone on board. The insurgents routinely exaggerate their gains and casualties they inflict in battle.

The Achin District is the home to hundreds of militants from ISIS-Khorasan or ISIS-K, the Islamic States Afghanistan affiliate. They are the same extremist group that claimed responsibility for the attack on the Iraqi Embassy in Kabul on Monday.

The region is where American troops are supporting Afghan security forces in a campaign against the ISIS affiliate.

This past April, two U.S. Army Rangers were killed kight ISIS in Achin, just weeks after the U.S. Military dropped the Mother of all Bombs, or MOAB on an ISIS cave complex.

Lucas Tomlinson is the Pentagon and State Department producer for Fox News Channel. You can follow him on Twitter: @LucasFoxNews

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Black Hawk Down: NATO helicopter has hard landing in Afghanistan; 2 injured - Fox News

It's the height of summer and that stainless steel bracelet is making your wrist feel uncomfortable and sweaty. (The leather band isn't so lovely, either.) What you need is a stylish solution worn by British spies and watch enthusiasts alike.

You need a NATO strap.

The NATO strap wasn't developed by the defense alliance of the same name but rather the British Ministry of Defence. (The NATO name came from its stock number.) The design of the strap is perfect for rugged conditions. It's a one-piece strap that slides underneath the case so that the skin never touches metal. It's great on hot days because the nylon wicks moisture away from the skin. It also means the strap will stay on the wrist even if a spring bar pops out.

The real beauty of the NATO is its simplicity. It's inexpensive (though fancier leather variants exist), infinitely adjustable, available in dozens of colors and patterns, and is extremely comfortable on the wrist.

Whether it's an Aston Martin, a vodka martini, or a Rolex Submariner an association with the James Bond franchise makes a product all the more desirable. And how did the most iconic Bond (Sean Connery, don't @ me ) in his most iconic movie (1964's Goldfinger) wear his Rolex? On a NATO strap, as any self-respecting British naval commander would.

The strap only features in the movie for a split-second but it was enough to cement the diver's watch/NATO combination as a classic look.

The humble NATO doesn't care about the social standing or bank balance of its owner. It looks just as good on a $40 Timex Weekender as it does on a $5,000 Omega Speedmaster . It even fits perfectly with sportier haute horlogerie pieces like the Patek Phillipe Nautilus .

As with all things watches you can spend as much or little as you like. I've tried many of the brands available on Amazon and found BluShark's Premium Nylon at around $17 to be the best balance of budget and quality. (Skip anything around the $10 mark, the nylon is thin and the buckles are poor quality.)

For those looking for something more special, Omega has launched eight new NATO straps with a handy online tool to match the strap to your timepiece. Theirs start at $180.

Weve included affiliate links in this article. Click here to learn what those are.

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Your Watch Needs a NATO Strap - Fortune

Lithuania hopesthe U.S. willdeploy as many as seven air force jets on its territory when European neighbors Russia and Belarus flex their military muscles nearby in the Zapad drill in September, the Baltic news site Delfi reported Monday.

Speaking after a meeting in Estonia withother Balticleadersas well asvisiting U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said she believed Washington would deploy almost twice as many jets as the current NATO commitment to her country.

Read more: Russia suggests NATO troops wont join its tank Olympics because they are not ready for the challenge

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Lithuania and Estonia both currently host four foreign air-force jets on their airfields. a measure intended to protect NATOs airspace in the Baltic, in an area that directly borders Russia. Grybauskaite said she and other Baltic leaders were happy to see the U.S. supported them not only in words but in real deeds.

Pence pledged U.S. support for NATO allies in the Baltic region, though it was not immediately clear if he had told Grybauskaite about the prospective U.S. deployment.

The three Baltics are the only former Soviet republics currently in the alliance. Since Russias annexation of Crimea and backing of insurgents in Donbas, both territories in ex-Soviet state Ukraine, the Baltic states' worryabout a similar scenario in northeastern Europe has peaked.

Currently, more people in each of the three countries fearwar more than extremist attacks. Officials in Vilnius, Lithuania, are concerned about the upcoming Zapad military drill, fearing Russia may act as it has before and announce a tide of overlapping military drills to run in parallel, dramatically increasing the scale of its military activity.

Lithuanias Defense MinisterRaimundas Karoblis has called the drill a simulated attack on NATO in the Baltics, though Russia denies that the drill will be offensive in character or lack transparency.

Each of the Baltics and Poland have a multinational NATO battalion deployed on their territory to serve as treadwire in the face of Russias own, more numerous, westernmost forces. Lithuania has requested that the U.S. deploy air defense missiles on its territory as part of these security assurance measures.

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Mike Pence's Baltics Visit Prompts Hope NATO Will Double Jet Deployment During Russia War Game - Newsweek

Wall Street Journal (subscription)

How US Allies Undermine NATO Wall Street Journal (subscription) Worse, many of these free riders also punish U.S. companies for manufacturing weapons used by the Pentagon to defend NATO allies and other countries. Specifically, several NATO member governments have divested from or even criminalized the ...

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How US Allies Undermine NATO - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

US Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen Pence disembark their plane after arriving at the airport in Tallinn, Estonia, on July 30, 2017. /

Raigo Pajula / AFP/Getty Images

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence arrived Sunday in Estonia for meetings with the presidents of three Baltic nations in northeastern Europe, the first stop of a four-day European tour.

The vice president and his wife, Karen Pence, arrived in the Estonian capital, Tallinn, to kick off the European tour that also includes stops in Georgia and Montenegro.

Pence is scheduled to meet with the leaders of the Baltics - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - on Monday. He is expected to pledge Washington's commitment to NATO's mutual defense, an important issue for the former Soviet republics that border Russia.

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President Trump said Friday that the U.S backed NATO Article 5 and thanked the Romanian leader for fighting alongside American troops in Afghanis...

In a press pool interview, Pence said he was sent to Europe by President Donald Trump "with a very simple message."

"That is that 'America First' doesn't mean 'America Alone,'" Pence told Fox News. "Our message to the Baltic states my message when we visit Georgia and Montenegro will be the same: to our allies here in Eastern Europe, we are with you."

Later Sunday, he held talks with Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas.

Issues included Estonia's current holding of the European Union presidency, trade, cybersecurity and the continuing tensions in the Baltic Sea region, where Russia and NATO have increased their military presence in recent years.

"NATO's collective position of deterrence and defense has strengthened in the Baltic region and the U.S.A. is indispensable to ensuring the security of our immediate neighborhood, as well as all of Europe," Ratas said in a statement.

Ratas told Estonian broadcaster ERR he also brought up the possible deployment of Patriot surface-to-air missiles in his country. Lithuania also has said it would be eager to have the missiles in its territory.

The U.S. military displayed Patriot missiles in Lithuania earlier this month after having used them in an exercise there. Poor anti-aircraft defense is seen by experts as the weakest link for NATO in the Baltics.

2017 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Pence begins 3-nation European tour in NATO member Estonia - CBS News

Two followers of a cult-like group have died of apparent suicide in the past five years, but their former leader Sherry Shriner says they were murdered by the U.S. government.

On July 15, Steve Mineo allegedly asked his girlfriend to shoot him in the head. Mineo, 32, had been having issues with Shriners cult that believes in reptilian aliens, his girlfriend told police when they arrived. Five years earlier, another follower of Shriner, 22-year-old Kelly Pingilley, died after swallowing 30 sleeping pills.

In both cases, Shriner says shadowy forces were responsible. For instance, NATO killed Pingilley because she believed in the god Yahuah.

Shriner preaches online from Ohio that the world is being taken over by reptile aliens; that a superpowered substance called orgone can destroy demons, clones, and zombies; that Jesus is actually Satan and that only followers of the god Yahuah will go to heaven. But for all their talk of end-times salvation, its their members who keep dying young.

Sherry Shriner basically runs a death cult based on fear, Pingilleys brother Nate told The Daily Beast. Theres always something major thats going to happen every month. She tells her followers that the world is ending, basically Planet X is coming and Planet X is gonna crash into Earth, or minotaurs are gonna jump from the surface of Planet X. These are all literal things Kelly told me were gonna happen.

These apocalyptic visions seemed out of character for Pingilley, a Lutheran former cheerleader in suburban Detroit. She was a sweet soul who, when she observed an old man struggling to cut his steak in a restaurant, got up and cut it for him, Nate said.

Shriner also has stories about Pingilley. They met when Pingilley was 19 or 20, Shriner says, when Pingilley was struggling with the choice of going to college or spending what time we have left on this for earth, for Yah and doing things He needed done as we headed into the Last Days.

Pingilley, always a helper, started working as a transcriber for Shriners radio show Aliens in the News.

Pingilley also joined Shriner and her followers on missions to New York and Kentucky, where the group believed they were battling the New World Order. At Fort Knox, Pingilley claimed she helped liberate a group of beautiful turtle people from a government prison, Shriner claimed. In New York City, Pingilley joined her on a hunt for a government base that extended all the way over to the Bronx and had tunnels extended out to everywhere, even midtown and Times Square, NY.

Shriner said the god Yahuah made her followers invisible for the mission, and that New York City would now be on the bottom of the Atlantic if not for their efforts.

On her blog, Pingilley described her new beliefs as a reawakening.

A little over a year ago, she wrote in her first post in January 2011, I woke up againspirituallythe way I had been when I was a kid.

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But her excitement appeared to sour over the next two years. Her writings became increasingly untethered from reality, and she wrote of visions and voicesperhaps the symptoms of undiagnosed schizophrenia, her brother suggested.

One week before her death in December 2012, Pingilley said the apocalypse was near. Yahuah had shown her a strange symbol, which foretold invasion by an alien race that would eat and enslave humans, she wrote.

On the night of Dec. 28, she left a note on her pillow and drove off to a snowy wildlife park with a bottle of sleeping pills to kill herself.

Shriner fills peoples heads with delusions of grandeur tells them theyre really angels with magic powers in human form, Nate said. Part of why my sister killed herself was to reach that next level of spirituality. She was convinced in her suicide note that she was off to fulfill some great destiny.

When hunters found her body in the park the following morning, she was wearing a necklace with a pendant of orgone, the supposedly supernatural substance central to Shriners teachings. A photograph of Pingilley before her death shows her wearing an orgone pendant that Shriner currently sells on her website for $44, plus shipping.

Kelly didnt hitch a ride on a spaceship. She didnt die peacefully, Debra McCorkle, a family friend told the Detroit News after Pingilleys death. It was a cold and silent death alone in the woods. She was looking for God and Shriner steered her into some weird crap.

Shriner disagrees, saying a NATO death squad murdered the troubled young woman.

Kelly just pissed people off because she was supposed to kill me 3 months earlier on a trip to NYC with me and she refused to kill me, Shriner told The Daily Beast, adding that the alleged murder orders came from the White House I was #2 on Obamas death list for 8 years she was coming to my house before we headed to NYC she was supposed to kill me when she got here so the trip would never happen.

On one of her followers blogs, Shriner spun Pingilleys death into a conspiracy theory of its own.

She didnt give up without a fight and they left all the fake evidence NATO is involved. Shriner wrote in the days after Pingilleys death.

Shriner turned the tragedy into a rallying cry for her surviving followers.

Obama is on the march folks, if youre not with him and the Alien New Age youre against them, she warned in the dark eulogy. They have their lists, and theyre going to work on them Kellys death is a wake up call that they are after Yahs people.

Shriner posted the eulogy on Truth Seeker Blog, a website run by her follower Steve Mineo. And four and a half years after Pingilleys death, Mineo finally did heed a wakeup call: He denounced Shriner and set out to debunk her teachings.

Mineo had been a Shriner disciple since 2004, he said in one of his YouTube videos. But he and the self-proclaimed prophetess had a falling-out in May, after Shriner accused Mineos girlfriend of being a reptilian for eating raw steak. After weeks of infighting, Mineo and his girlfriend broke from Shriners circles and Mineo began making long videos about his former leader.

From May 29 to July 11, Mineo uploaded five videos attempting to expose Shriner. Then on July 15, he was murdered. His girlfriend, who had also been involved in the alleged cult, called 911 immediately after shooting him in the forehead in their apartment in Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania. She told police that Mineo was undergoing a lot of stress through problems with [a] cult, and that he asked her to kill him, according to a police report.

The report suggested that Mineo had been killed with the gun placed directly on the forehead, and that he did not appear to have struggled.

Mineo did not appear to know Pingilley directly, but he knew she died.

He talked about Pingilleys death during an interview with another Shriner cast-out named Richard Brown.

Im not trying to get vengeance, Im just trying to get the truth out, man, Mineo tells Brown in a YouTube video uploaded weeks before Mineos death. Because I can see the damage she causes people. I heard a woman named Kelly killed herself.

Brown tells Mineo to be patient. All things happen in the Lords time, Brown says. You cant intervene in what hes got planned for [Shriner]. Because if somebody else gets hurt the way Kelly got hurt, [Shriners] gonna pay for it big time.

Both men said Shriner and her followers had victimized them when they took a step away from the alleged cult. Brown said Shriner accused him of being a clone, or of having gone to hell.

If I was a clone, or if I was in Hell, why is it that I made a video about orgone all around me? Brown said of the supernatural substance, which supposedly destroys clones. Ive got tons of orgone all around me. She lied and said I told her to get rid of her orgone. I never said that. I actually went to her house and rebuilt her orgone stonehedge.

Mineo said Shriner accused his girlfriend of being a reptilian or a witch, and that her followers turned against him.

She runs her circle with an iron fist, Laurie Alexander, one of Mineos friends told The Daily Beast. Because if you do not believe in what shes teaching, shes like, thats fine. But youre at risk of not going to heaven if you dont believe what Im saying.

After Mineos death, Alexander spoke out against Shriner on Facebook, calling her Lizard Laurie and implicating her in Pingilleys suicide.

Now Im the reptilian, Alexander said. Shes going to have to get a new mode of attack, because this ones getting old very quickly.

Shriner says the allegations against herthat shes a cult leader, that her followers are dying of suicideare government conspiracies.

They tried to use [Pingilleys] murder to claim it was a suicide and then blame it on me..to smear me, she told The Daily Beast, adding they made Mineos girlfriend a pawn. Both gov psyops to try and smear me. Ive been at this a long time, they can shove their psyops up their arses.

Shriner appears to be weathering the second death exactly as the first. Shortly after Mineos death, Shriner uploaded a video calling his girlfriend a vampire who morphed her huge teeth out before killing him. A Shriner follower made a video playing Mineos most recent YouTube upload backwards. The garbled backwards speech sounded like gonna serve the devil, the follower claimed.

And Shriner still appears to be making money from her ministry. In addition to selling orgone for as much as $288 on her website, Shriner also solicits donations. A GoFundMe page says Shriner has pulled in more than $126,000 over the past three years. The donations have not slowed since Mineos death. If anything, theyve become more frequent.

Kelly Pingilleys brother said he doesnt know why, after two deaths and countless failed prophesies, people are still following Shriner.

Youd think every time one of her predictions doesnt come true, shed lose followers, but that doesnt seem to be the case, Nate said. If I had to say something of encouragement to people, it would be to tell them, look around you: The world isnt ending.

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Reptile Cult Leader Says Her Follower Was Killed by NATO - Daily Beast

CONSTANTA, Romania, July 28, 2017 The Danube River shore was shrouded in mist from smoke grenades as shells fired from naval guns burst in midair and legions of Romanian infantrymen, paratroopers and armored vehicles amassed on the beach. From behind them, a small contingent of U.S. Army Stryker vehicles cleared the way for the troops by raining gunfire down on the beach sands.

The event, a river crossing exercise that took place July 16 outside Bordusani, Romania, was one of dozens of combined combat-training exercises that U.S. Army Europe and the armed forces of 21 European partner nations conducted together as part of Saber Guardian 2017. The annual multinational combat-training exercise took place July 11-20 in locations across Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria and involved 25,000 troops -- 14,000 from the United States and 11,000 from Europe.

The exercise was the military's largest land-force exercise in Europe this year, said Marine Corps Col. Mark Van Skike, the chief of joint training and exercises for U.S. European Command. Saber Guardian is one of 18 exercises in Eastern Europe and the Black Sea that fall under the Eucom Joint Exercise Program.

Led by Bulgaria and the U.S., Saber Guardian was hosted by Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania. 'Other participants include: Armenia, Croatia, Czech, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.

Realistic Training

The U.S. and European units work and train together in realistic combat scenarios that prepare them to respond in unison to any new security crisis that emerges on the continent. They practice coordinating air, land, and sea forces to launch multidomain assaults or defense operations. And they cooperate to mobilize and transport multinational forces to an area at short notice.

"This is a tremendous experience. We're getting better in interoperability and in establishing secure communications, secure fires and a common operational picture," said Army Col. Jeff Shoemaker, chief of training, readiness and exercises for U.S. Army Europe.

Deterrence is also a core component of the mission. Brig. Gen. Timothy Daugherty, deputy chief of staff for operations for USAREUR, said the United States demonstrates through these exercises that it will stand with its European partners, and that all the participating nations together show that they can be a powerful unified fighting force -- and that adversaries who see this may be much less likely to launch an attack in the first place.

"That is absolutely a viable deterrent. When an adversary sees that we can consolidate troops very quickly and relatively effectively, that is a deterrent. We're deterring them, because they know that it would be costly to attack," Daugherty said.

U.S. Army Europe and its partners conducted the first Saber Guardian exercise in 2013. It took on added importance in its organizers' eyes a year later with Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea, said Army Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, the commander of U.S. Army Europe. European military leaders needed assurance that they and the United States could act together to prevent warfare from erupting further west into Europe's heartland, he said.

Hodges noted that NATO nations held a summit in July 2016 in Warsaw, Poland, in which they called for building a stronger "forward defense force" in Central and Eastern Europe to counteract new regional threats.

"With its illegal annexation of Crimea, Russia changed the security environment in Europe. That's why the alliance made the decision that we had to reassure our allies and deter further aggression," Hodges said.

In the meantime, the exercises can better prepare the militaries of NATO member nations if new crises emerge, Shoemaker said. But he, too, foresees Saber Guardian offering NATO some pathways forward.

"The goal is to synchronize the NATO exercise program with the USAREUR exercise program so that they complement one another," he said. "We have a number of countries that will leave Saber Guardian at a much better level of training, and certainly NATO will benefit from that. It builds the entire multinational military capability."

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U.S., NATO Forces Train to Deter and Defend in Saber Guardian ... - Department of Defense