WAVY-TV | NATO staff members teach VB students about different cultures WAVY-TV (WAVY) Surrounded by little hands and waving flags from countries all over the world, Lieutenant Colonel Jens Assum was one of nine NATO Allied Command Transformation (ACT) members who visited Holland Elementary School on Wednesday. Assum ... |
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NATO staff members teach VB students about different cultures - WAVY-TV
Some 6,000 troops from 14 countries are taking part in the alliances Baltops (Baltic Operations) exercise in Poland and Germany this month
SUPERSONIC bombers have spearheaded an amphibious assault as part of a massive Nato military exercise on Russias doorstep.
Some 6,000 troops from 14 countries are taking part in the alliances Baltops (Baltic Operations) exercise in the Batlic Sea this month.
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Dramatic pictures show troops storming a beach in Ustka, Poland, yesterday.
Soldiers and vehicles charged ashore as aircraft whizzed by overhead in a terrifying display of force.
The manoeuvres began in Szczecin, Poland, on June 1, and will end in Kiel, Germany, tomorrow.
The aim of the exercise which is taking place in Russias backyard is for Nato and its allies to strengthen cooperation.
US Navy Vice Admiral Christopher Grady said: What we want to do is practice and demonstrate the ability to deliver sea control and power projection at and from the sea.
Baltops involves troops from Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, the UK, the US, Finland and Sweden.
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Some 50 ships and submarines and over 50 aircraft were also present for the drills including B-1 and B-52 bombers, and F-16 fighter jets.
US Navy Commander Edward Chandler said: This exercise is a great opportunity for the United States, Nato allies and partners to practice air and maritime integration.
Baltops is not a new event, and has been taking place since 1972.
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Grady added: Weve maintained a consistent level of participation over the last couple of years.
Its a very large exercise with a lot of moving parts and the participants will provide that realistic and challenging training were looking for.
The exercise comes after US B-52 bombers were intercepted over the Baltic by Russian fighter jets.
SU-27s were deployed to head off the aircraft, which the US says were flying in international airspace at the time.
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The Baltic has been a source of tension between Nato and Russia in recent times, with both sides building up their military presence in the region.
Baltic States like Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania fear they could be next on Vladimir Putins hit-list after Russias invasion of Ukraine in 2014.
Just last month, Russia announced it was planning to beef up its Baltic fleet with new warships and fighter jets.
According to an analyst writing for state-owned Sputnik News, the deployment is in response to aggressive manoeuvres by Nato powers.
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Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine says shes alarmed over Russian reaction to NATOs newest member, a country with close military ties to Maine: Montenegro.
The Maine National Guard has a longtime state partnership with Montenegro, and actually helped them get ready for ascension into NATO something Im very proud of, she says.
The Balkan country, part of the former Yugoslavia, became the 29th member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on June 5.
Speaking at an Appropriations subcommittee hearing, Collins told Defense Secretary James Mattis that shes concerned by Russian statements indicating possible retaliation.
Thats truly provocative language and I just want to encourage you to keep sending the right signals to our NATO allies, she says.
Currently, the 2018 budget calls for $4.8 billion and $9 million for the European Reassurance Initiative and the State Partnership Program, respectively.
Maines guard unit has been partnered with Montenegro since 2006.
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Susan Collins Says Russia Had 'Truly Provocative' Reaction to Montenegro Joining NATO - Maine Public
General Petr Pavel, Chairman of the NATO Military Committee visited Sydney and Canberra while in Australia 9 to 14 June 2017. During his visit, the Chairman met with Mr. Brendan Sargeant, Acting Secretary of the Department of Defence; Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin, the Chief of the Australian Defence Force; Vice Admiral David Johnston, Chief of Joint Operations; Major General Gavan Reynolds, Australias Military Representative to NATO; Commodore Luke Charles-Jones, Acting Australian Fleet Commander; Captain Ashley Papp, Commanding Officer of HMAS Canberra; The Honourable Dr. Brendan Nelson, Director of the Australian War Memorial; and Major General Simone Wilkie, Commander of the Australian Defence College. General Pavel also attended a meeting of the Special Chiefs of Service Committee.
After meeting with Vice Admiral David Johnston, Chief of Joint Operations, the Chairman received briefings on the current Australian Operations and Missions and toured the Joint Operations Command Headquarters. General Pavel remarked on the professionalism of the Australian Armed Forces and their ability to plug in quickly to both NATO-led and multinational Operations and Missions. We can learn from each other, share best practices, develop common standards and reinforce each others efforts to all our benefits. I have the utmost respect for the Australian Defence Forces who contribute to peacekeeping and multinational operations and missions in their region but also around the world because they strongly believe it is the "right thing to do"' stated the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee.
Discussions with Acting Secretary of the Department of Defence, Mr. Brendan Sargeant and Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin focused on the current security challenges and the benefits of working together to find global solutions to shared threats. While attending the Special Chiefs of Service Committee, General Pavel took the opportunity to thank Australia for its continued commitment to the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission to train, assist and advise the Afghan Armed Forces and Institutions. You have played a significant role in Afghanistan and your service men and women do a magnificent job. We should continue to build on our shared experiences, stressed General Pavel.
During his visit to the Australian War Memorial, the Chairman met with The Honourable Dr. Brendan Nelson, Director of the Australian War Memorial and toured the Commemorative Area. Participating in the Last Post Ceremony with Air Chief Marshal Binskin, General Pavel paid his respects and laid a wreath at the base of the Pool of Reflection in honour of all the Australian fallen who have given their lives in service, protecting freedom, peace and security.
Visiting the Australian Defence College, General Pavel was greeted by Major General Simone Wilkie, Commander of the Defence College. After delivering a speech on NATO's Strategic Challenges, the Chairman held a Question and Answer session with the students. He stressed the interconnectivity of current security challenges and the need to continue to work together to find common solutions.
Concluding his visit to Australia, the Chairman visited Fleet Headquarters where he met with Commodore Luke Charles-Jones, Acting Australian Fleet Commander. Discussions focused on the need to protect global commons, increase interoperability and preparedness. Touring the flagship HMAS Canberra, General Pavel received a guided tour from Captain Ashley Papp, Commanding Officer, as well as a briefing on the ship's capabilities.
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Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov held a meeting with NATO Assistant Secretary General Camille Grand.
This has been reported by the press service of the NSDC.
During the meeting, the interlocutors discussed Russia's hybrid aggression against Ukraine, the issues of cooperation with NATO countries in military and technical sphere and cybersecurity, as well as the transition of the security and defense sector of Ukraine to the NATO standards and of its military-industrial complex.
"NATO demonstrates unity regarding Russia's actions, which are extremely dangerous to world order, Camille Grand said.
Grand also added that NATO does not ignore the topic of the annexation of Crimea by Russia and events in the east of Ukraine. "NATO considers Ukraine one of the most important partners and is very optimistic about the prospects of our cooperation, he stressed.
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Macedonia is taking steps to settle a long-running argument with Greece in order to restart its bid to join the European Union and NATO. Russia and Serbia are not happy about it.
On Monday, Zoran Zaev, the Balkan states new prime minister, traveled to Brussels to tell European leaders that a compromise with Greece to settle a 27-year-old dispute over the use of the name Macedonia is in the works. Macedonias foreign minister, Nikola Dimitrov, and his Greek counterpart, Nikos Kotzias, are expected to meet in Athens Wednesday.
I know that if we have friendly relations and a good approach then a solution is feasible, Zaev told reporters Monday.
Zaev then said he wanted to join both the European Union and NATO in the shortest possible time. As a bid to pour some oil on troubled waters, he suggested that his country could participate using the rather clunky name it employs at the United Nations Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, or FYROM. Calling the country simply Macedonia puts it at odds with Greece, a country with a northern region of the same name a region that Athens has long worried Skopje covets. In large part because of the name fight, Greece vetoed Macedonias entrance into NATO in 2008.
Now, just after admitting Montenegro, the transatlantic military alliance seems open to Macedonian membership eventually.
We want to see your country as part of a stable, democratic, and prosperous region. NATOs doors are open, we support all aspiring countries, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Monday, standing beside Zaev. The Macedonian leader is expected to deliver a report on reforms demanded by Brussels Wednesday.
Whos not thrilled about the prospect of Macedonia joining NATO: Russia, which warns against any additional expansion of the alliance. According to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), Russia has been spreading propaganda to disrupt politics in the Balkan nation for nearly 10 years.
Russian officials have denied the charge. The claims of the OCCRP, sponsored by the U.S. state funds and George Soros clearly fit into the frame of anti-Russian hysteria, retorted the Russian Embassy in Macedonia. (The charges against Russia, however, are not far-fetched: The Kremlin allegedly plotted a coup on the eve of nearby Montenegros October 2016 parliamentary elections.)
Macedonias neighbor, Serbia, is also none too pleased about Skopjes westward tack. Belgrade was bombed by NATO in 1999 during the Kosovo War and has nursed a grudge against the alliance ever since. A majority of the countries bordering Serbia including, most recently, Montenegro are already NATO members. Macedonias ascension raises the possibility that the alliance could encircle the Serbs. Officially, Serbia maintains a policy of military neutrality, but Belgrade has held exerciseswith Belarus and Russia for the past three years running.
Photo credit: EMMANUEL DUNAND/Getty Images
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Macedonia's New Leader Aims to Join the EU and NATO | Foreign ... - Foreign Policy (blog)
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in Saint Petersburg, Russia, June 2, 2017. (AFP photo)
Russian President Vladimir Putin has again criticized the expansion of NATO, saying the Western military alliance has become a tool in the hand of the United States to advance its foreign policy.
Once a country becomes a NATO member, it is hard to resist the pressures of the US. And all of a sudden any weapons system can be placed in this country, Putin said in an interview aired late on Tuesday, while calling NATO an instrument of Americas foreign policy.
The Russian president said Moscow would not remain idle and watch NATOs increased military activity at its western borders, adding that the alliance was committing a big, glaring mistake by engaging in more build-up at Russias doorsteps as it would drag both the United States and Russia into a new arms race.
He said Russia would show a suitable response to NATOs eastward expansion, adding that Moscows countermeasures would be much cheaper, if not quite as technologically advanced.
It may be [rough] but it will be effective. We shall preserve this so-called strategic balance, Putin said.
The president also argued against claims by the United States that NATOs deployment of missile systems in eastern European countries was to deter potential threats from countries such as Iran, saying he did not see any point in NATO's expansion after the demise of the Soviet Union and now that Iran and world powers had agreed on a deal on Tehrans nuclear program.
Iran has abandoned all nuclear military weapons programs. The United States agreed with it and signed the corresponding document. However, the missile defense program with its elements in Europe continues further. Against whom is it aimed?" Putin said.
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Russian president says NATO instrument of US foreign policy - Press TV
YEREVANOn June 13, Armenian President Serge Sarkisian received the North Atlantic Treaty Organizations (NATO)Secretary Generals Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, James Appathurai.
(L to R) James Appathurai and Serge Sarkisian, during their June 13 meeting (Photo: Press Office of the President of Armenia)
Welcoming the guest, the Sarkisian noted that such visits are a good opportunity to discuss the agenda of NATO-Armenia cooperation, as well as exchange ideas on the regional and international developments.
During their meeting, Sarkisian recalled his meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, which took place at the NATO headquarters on Feb. 27. Appathurai, for his part, thanked the Armenian President for the reception and expressed gratitude to Armenia on behalf of the organization for its participation in efforts aimed at the establishment of peace and contribution to the international peacekeeping missions in Afghanistan and Kosovo.
Appathurai also stressed that in the recent years Armenia-NATO relations have developed in the climate of confidence and mutual understanding and that he will leave Armenia with a conviction to continue that efficient cooperation.
Upon Appathurais request, Sarkisian briefed him on the process of shifting to a new system of governance and the significance of the constitutional amendments as well as on the developments regarding the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict resolution.
A day earlier, on June 12, Appathurai said the issue of increasing the number of troops participating in NATO-led missions will be on the agenda of the Armenian Defense Ministers upcoming visit to Brussels.
All NATO allies are concerned by the increasing level of armaments in the region also because its increasing the level of hostilities and political tension. Two of the members of the OSCE [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe] Minsk GroupFrance and the U.S.are NATO allies. We can all see from the activities and statements of the Minsk Group like all NATO allies they are committed to a peaceful resolution. Overall, NATOs position is to seek a reduction in tension, a reduction in hostilities and a peaceful resolution, Appathurai said.
We do follow very closely the security situation in the region, receive regular updates, and there is a higher level of concern among the allies with regard to the situation. As you know over the past year we have seen more military activity, higher level of military rhetoric, casualties and military exchanges, he added.
During the press conference, Appathurai said that while NATO is not directly engaged in the Karabagh issue, its position is to support the OSCE Minsk Group. We would support any steps by the two countries or the Minsk Group that would help decrease tensions, he said, adding that he welcomed the balanced foreign policy that Armenia has.
It causes us no complication that Armenia is in the CSTO or the Eurasian Economic Union. From NATO point of view Armenia is and has been a reliable partner, Appathuirai said.
Well continue the static cooperation and the practical improvements where it makes sense for both parties, he added.
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NATO Representative Visits Yerevan, Calls Armenia a Reliable Partner - Armenian Weekly
Cuiavian University in Wloclawek, Poland agreed on 7 June 2017 to support NATOs work with partners on defence education through advanced distance learning (ADL).
Defence education is a key agent of transformation and NATO is using it to support institutional reform in partner countries. Through its Defence Education Enhancement Programme (DEEP), the Alliance advises partners on how to build, develop and reform educational institutions in the defence and military domain in the form of peer-to-peer conversations. E-learning is becoming a global trend in defence and military domains and DEEP is using it to improve efficient military education in some partner countries.
Cuiavian University is supporting Ukraines DEEP programme in building e-learning capacity for the National Defence University in Kyiv. It is also an active institution within the European Higher Education Area under the Bologna Process which sets the basic framework for the three cycles of higher-education qualifications, bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees and in the European Union student exchange programme Erasmus.
Cuiavian University is proud that NATO has acknowledged our strong e-learning capacity and we are keen to expand our mutual cooperation from the DEEP Ukraine to other NATO partners, said Prof. Stanislaw Kunikowski, Rector of Cuiavian University.
Being active in both the European Union (EU) and NATO, the university is keen to bolster joint NATO-EU future cooperation in the ADL area by developing common e-learning modules together with the DEEP Programme and the European Security and Defence College.
Your university has proven to be a reliable provider of knowledge and expertise and the Defence Education Enhancement Programme will work with you for the benefits of NATO partners military education institutions that want to reform their educational system and introduce new teaching techniques, said Mariusz Solis, DEEP coordinator at NATO.
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NATO partners with Polish university for e-learning - NATO HQ (press release)
When President Donald Trump travels to Poland this week to meet with its embattled president Andrzej Duda, the two will have a lot to talk about. Both are alternately ridiculed and pilloried in the international press and both are intensely disliked at European Union headquarters in Brussels. Both have been labeled nationalists, demagogues and even dictators-in-the-making. And both of them question NATOs capacity to act as an effective defensive force.
Since taking office in 2015, Duda has consistently pushed for a stronger NATO presence in Poland. He used his first major English-language interview as president to push for Poland to replace Germany as the real eastern flank of the alliance, and his government has put real money on the table toward that end. Poland is one of only five NATO members to meet its 2 percent of GDP military spending commitment.
By comparison, Germany spends 1.19 percent of its GDP on defense, sixteenth among the twenty-nine NATO members. Poland also meets the less well-known NATO target that at least 20 percent of defense spending should be on equipment, with 25.8 percent of its budget going to procurement. Germany, by contrast, spends only 13.7 percent of its defense budget on equipment, with the result that some German units are armed with broomsticks instead of guns.
What a change a century makes. Until its virtual dismantling in the 1990s, the German Bundeswehr was NATOs main fighting force. While France cowered safely behind a line of American bases in the United Kingdom, West Germany and Italy, the Bundeswehr contributed the majority of NATOs frontline troops, tanks and airplanes. In the darkest days of the Cold War, West Germany was the bulwark of European defense. No longer. With Germany now lacking the capacity to mount any serious military operationand no other European country ready to step into the breachNATO's vaunted Article 5 commitment to collective defense has become, in effect, a unilateral U.S. security guarantee. Trump has now publicly accepted the mantle of that responsibility. But that doesnt change the fact that all for one and one for all only makes sense if all have the capacity to help the one.
It is becoming clearer by the day that most Europeans now understand Article 5 as a one-way American commitment to their security. It is true that NATO stood by the United States on September 11, with some NATO countries (the UK in particular) making serious commitments and suffering serious casualties in Afghanistan. But the military budgets of Americas NATO allies declined precipitously between 200815. Only a few are now able to defend themselves, never mind come to the aid of others.
In Europe, Poland is now NATOs central front, and the Polish government is aching for a more permanent NATO (read: American) presence in the country. The simple fact is that Poland is now the bulwark of Europe. It needs American help to hold the line. And given its deep involvement in Ukrainian affairs, Poland is likely to be ever more useful to the United States as an outpost at the heart of Eastern Europe.
Neither Trump nor Duda is likely to be impressed by European Commission president Jean-Claude Junckers call for a European defense capability to match those of the United States, China and Russia. Speaking in English at a European security conference in Prague, Juncker proposed what has been called a defense spending spree of 90 million euros over three years. Thats equivalent to just $100 million, or about the cost of a single F-35 fighter. Over three years.
Ironically, European leaders bristled last month in Brussels when Trump publicly and privately berated them for not spending enough on defense. Now, despite their overwhelmingly negative response to Trumps demands, they are calling for more European spending on defense. But calling for and doing are two different things. European leaders specialize in calling for. America is better known for doing.
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Lieutenant General Jan Broeks, Director General of the NATO International Military Staff (DGIMS) visited Romania on 9-11 June 2017. During his visit, Lieutenant General Broeks addressed the Black Sea and Balkans Security Forum and held staff talks with Romanian officials.
At the Black Sea and Balkans Security Forum, Lieutenant General Broeks participated in a panel on the Security challenges in the Black Sea area and the Balkans. Other participants in the panel included: Mr. Dan Dungaciu, member of the Scientific Council of the New Strategy Center (Chair); General Nicolae Ciuc, Chief of the Romanian General Staff; Mr. Mustafa Aydin, rector of Kadir Has University Istanbul and president of the International Relations Council of Turkey; Mr. Przemysaw urawski vel Grajewski, advisor for defence issues to the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs; and Mr. Robert Bari, Lecturer at the Croatian Defense Academy.
During his address, Lieutenant General Broeks highlighted the importance of the Black Sea as a key strategic intersection linking NATOs Eastern and Southern flanks and the Balkans role as a gateway to Europe from the Southern Caucuses, the Eastern Mediterranean and the broader Middle East. Lieutenant General Broeks also stressed that the Region has become the central focus of Russias larger strategic ambitions and revisionist agenda, making it a potential flashpoint for future conflict on NATOs border.
While in Bucharest, the Director General met with Romanian military officials to discuss the security environment in the Black Sea region and the Romanian Armed Forces transformation process. Lieutenant General Broeks took the opportunity to thank Romania for hosting and activating the Multinational Division South-East Headquarters as well as its role in strengthening NATOs forward presence with a Romanian-led multinational framework brigade on land. They also discussed the deployment of the British Typhoon fighter aircrafts who will be working alongside the Romanian Air Force to help keep the skies over Romania safe, as part of NATOs Air Policing mission.
Finally, Lieutenant General Broeks praised Romania for its valuable contributions to NATOs Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan and to the KFOR peacekeeping mission in Kosovo.
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NewsBusters (blog) | Morning Joe Bashes Trump for Not Supporting NATO...After Trump Announces Support for NATO NewsBusters (blog) Following President Trump's declaration of support for NATO last Friday the cast of Morning Joe denounced and decried the President on Monday for -- not supporting NATO? Nicolle Wallace bemoaned the current state of foreign relations and how Donald ... |
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Russian President Vladimir Putin says that early on in his tenure he floated the idea of Russia joining NATO.
In a series of interviews with American film director Oliver Stone, Putin said he inquired about Russia joining the alliance when then-U.S. President Bill Clinton visited Moscow in 2000.
"During the meeting I said: 'Let's consider an option that Russia might join NATO,'" Putin recalled. "Clinton said 'Why not?' But the U.S. delegation got very nervous."
Putin had said in an interview several months before Clinton's June 2000 visit that he wasn't opposed to Russia joining the alliance, but his comment to Stone was the first public indication of his raising the issue.
Stone conducted the interviews in 2015-17. They are to be shown on U.S. cable channel Showtime in four parts beginning Monday. The first two hour-long segments were made available to news media before the showing.
In the segments, Putin portrays Russia under his leadership as seeking to improve ties, but frustrated by Washington's "imperialist mentality."
Despite Putin's onetime interest in joining NATO, in the interviews he criticized the alliance for expanding eastward to Russia's borders.
Putin defended the country's controversial law on banning dissemination to minors of "propaganda" legitimizing homosexuality, saying "the reasoning behind this law is to provide children with the opportunity to grow up without impacting their consciousness." Although there is widespread animosity toward homosexuality in Russia and authorities regularly deny gay rights activists permission to rally, Putin said "our society is liberal-minded to a great extent."
After Putin noted that there is no formal prohibition of gays in the military, Stone asked if Putin would take a shower on a submarine with a gay crewman.
"I prefer not to go to the shower with him. Why provoke him?" Putin said.
He also provided a rare bit of detail about his family, telling Stone that he had grandchildren. Little is known about his two daughters and Putin gave no additional clues, saying only that they were accomplished women.
"You're a very lucky man," Stone told him.
The segments also show Stone praising the film "Doctor Strangelove" as a formative insight into the Cold War, and he then watches it with Putin, who doesn't appear impressed. Stone then presents him with the package for the DVD of the film, forgetting to include the disc itself, and Putin jests: "Typical American gift."
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Putin talks NATO, gay rights in interviews with Oliver Stone - ABC News
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Mr Trump pledged the United States support for the mutual defence of NATO members, casting aside concerns that his failure to mention the commitment had weakened the alliance.
He said: I'm committing the United States to Article 5.
"Certainly we are there to protect, and that's one of the reasons that I want people to make sure we have a very, very strong force by paying the kind of money necessary to have that force.
But yes, absolutely, I'd be committed to Article 5."
Mr Trump made his comments while speaking to reporters at a news conference on Friday with visiting Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.
Article 5 states that an attack on one member is an attack on all members and binds the allies to come to that country's defence.
But, during his trip to Europe to meet NATO members, Mr Trump spent more time berating them for their lack of contributions than committing to Article 5.
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It left the heads of European countries deeply concerned at his lack of commitment and the fact that he didnt mention the clause in a speech at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
Instead, in that speech, Mr Trump demanded allies live up to a pledge to spend two per cent of their gross domestic product on defence by 2024.
There are rumours he had wanted to demand three per cent instead from member states, but had backtracked on that idea.
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He did not specifically mention Article 5, which has only been invoked once, after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
However, The White House later reaffirmed the commitment for him in a statement announcing that the president would visit Poland next month as part of his second foreign trip.
They billed it as showing America's support of Poland, as well as the president's commitment to strengthening NATO's "collective defence."
Mr Trump's omission in Brussels raised concerns on both sides of the Atlantic.
But White House aides said the president's support was implied even though he deliberately did not utter the words.
Still allies had questions about Trump's belief in the value of NATO, which he had termed "obsolete" during the presidential campaign.
On Friday, Trump noted that only a handful of NATO's 29 members - Montenegro joined just this week - were meeting the two per cent pledge. But he said the US would abide by its treaty obligations.
He said: "We're going to make NATO very strong.
"You need the money to make it strong. You can't just do what we've been doing in the past."
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Trump backs NATO defence pledge but again demands nations pay up - Express.co.uk
As Canadian soldiers join NATO troops in Latvia as part of Operation Reassurance, the tensions between Russia and its Baltic neighbours are especially felt in Latvian border towns.
Operation Reassurance is a multinational NATO mission aimed at discouraging Russian aggression in central and eastern Europe. Canada is deploying a total of 450 troops to Latvia to lead a battlegroup of soldiers from five other NATO countries: Italy, Spain, Poland, Slovenia and Albania.
The battlegroup is hoping to deter Russian troops from entering Latvian towns like Karsava, which is close to the Russian border and has a large Russian population. Following Russian annexation of Crimea in Ukraine more than three years ago, there are fears that similar scenarios could occur in Latvia.
One man, Juris, who lives near the Russian border, told CTV News that he welcomes the Canadian-led NATO battlegroup as a security guarantee in the region.
At the end of the day, he doesnt fear Russia and thinks tensions in the Baltics are mostly the result of posturing and politics. But he did express concern that the NATO troop build-up could provoke the Russians.
In September, Russia is planning to deploy thousands of troops for a military exercise just a few kilometres from the Latvian border as a show of force. For many Latvians, this is unsettling.
The Latvian government and NATO officials hope the Canadian-led battlegroup will send a strong message to Russia to stay inside its borders and out of towns like Karsava.
The Canadian troops will be stationed at Camp Adazi, a Latvian military base just outside of Riga.
With a report from CTVs Mercedes Stephenson
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Focus on Latvia-Russia border as Canadian troops lead NATO ... - CTV News
Serbia has formed an international legal team to file charges against NATO for using depleted uranium munitions during the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia.
The legal team, proposed bythe Serbian Royal Academy ofScientists and Artists, will bring together the best lawyers fromSerbia and also fromGermany, France, Italy, Russia, China, Britain and Turkey.
In March 1999, NATO launched a series ofairstrikes againstFederal Yugoslavia.
The aerial campaign and also NATOs military intervention inKosovo were not authorized bythe UN Security Council and, therefore, violated international law.
In an interview withRadio Sputnik, Vice President ofthe International Association ofRussian-Speaking Lawyers, Mikhail Ioffe, said that Serbia should have filed the lawsuits immediately afterthe 1999 bombings.
From a legal standpoint, they should have brought the charges when the damage [caused bythe airstrikes] was there foreveryone tosee, not now that its traces are no longer evident. Still, the damage they caused tothe peoples health is hard tomiss, Ioffe said.
He described the idea ofsuing NATO forthe 1999 airstrikes as viable.
Mikhail Ioffe also mentioned a number oflegal problems that would prove hard toresolve.
The question is whether the US will respond tothese charges or not. The other countries could likewise want toshirk responsibility forwhat they did. The biggest hurdle is that [the 1999 bombings] have not been recognized asan international aggression byany authoritative international body, the lawyer stated.
The UN refused toauthorize them, neither did they term the actions bythe US and its coalition partners asan act ofaggression. I guess this could be a matter forsome backdoor diplomatic bargaining Serbia could benefit from, Mikhail Ioffe concluded.
NATO launched air strikes inSerbia onMarch 24, 1999, withoutthe backing ofthe UN Security Council.
Codenamed Operation Allied Force, it was the largest attack ever undertaken bythe alliance and the first time that NATO used military force withoutthe approval ofthe UN Security Council and againsta sovereign nation that did not pose a real threat toany member ofthe alliance.
In the course ofthe campaign, NATO launched 2,300 missiles atalmost 1,000 targets and dropped 14,000 bombs, including depleted uranium bombs and cluster munitions.
More than2,000 civilians were killed, including 88 children, and thousands more were injured. Over 200,000 ethnic Serbs were forced toleave their homeland inKosovo.
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President Trump shocked NATO leaders at a private dinner in Brussels with strong-arm tactics and off-script gripes that they arent spending enough to support the alliance.
Behind closed doors at the May 25 meal, Trump told the heads of state that their agreement to eventually spend 2 percent of GDP on defense is not enough, sources who had been briefed on the meeting told Foreign Policy magazine.
Trump insisted they should aim for 3 percent.
The president also pushed the European allies to cough up back pay after years of under-spending pressuring them with the prospect of US defense cuts if they refused to fall in line.
It was a train wreck. It was awful, said a former US government official.
Trump pressed his point with sweet talk Friday by heaping praise on Romanian President Klaus Iohannis for the nations decision to surpass the 2-percent target for military spending.
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Trump said NATO isn't spending enough to support the alliance - New York Post
"I am committing the United States to Article 5," Trump said at Friday's press conference, referring to the alliance's principle that an attack on one NATO nation is an attack on them all.
"And certainly we are there to protect," Trump added, saying this is why the US is "paying the kind of money necessary to have that force."
"Yes, absolutely I would be committed to Article 5," he concluded.
But Trump declined to make the same statement during his speech at NATO headquarters in Brussels last month, when he scolded NATO leaders for failing to meet the alliance's defense spending guideline of 2% of GDP.
Appearing with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Friday, Trump also reiterated his call for NATO members to meet the guideline along with his claim that NATO members should repay what he regards as underpayments from previous years.
That didn't seem to bother Iohannis, who noted that Romania was the first country under Trump's administration to "step up to 2 percent of GDP for defense spending."
"I'm very glad that due to your strong leadership NATO decided to go against terrorism," the Romanian president said. "Your involvement made so many nations conscious of the fact that we have to share the burden inside NATO."
Ahead of Trump's comments Friday, Democrats had slammed the President for failing to commit to Article 5 while at NATO, as well as his comments during the campaign that the alliance was "obsolete."
"While it is important that senior officials such as the vice president, secretary of state and secretary of defense reiterate that commitment, explicit endorsement -- and the absence of an endorsement -- has meaning," seven House Armed Services Democrats, including ranking member Adam Smith of Washington, wrote in a letter Friday.
But Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican and ally of Trump in the Senate, argued Trump was just misunderstood.
"It's a good thing that President Trump made explicit what he plainly meant in Brussels last month: the United States stands by the collective security guarantee of NATO Article 5," Cotton said in a statement. "But make no mistake: uttering magic words does not deter aggressors like Vladimir Putin. Only the credible threat of military force does. And until Democrats and our European allies get serious about funding our common defense, deterrence in Europe will remain dangerously weak."
CNN's Dan Merica contributed to this report.
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The Canucks are on the ground in Latvia.
Canadian Army soldiers deployed near the Latvian capitol of Riga began arriving Saturday as the first part of an enhanced NATO role in the country, CBC News reports. Its a prominent mission as tensions continue to remain high with neighboring Russia, which controlled the Baltic nation throughout the Cold War.
The Canadian contingents commander says it wont be difficult to assesss whether or not NATO is successful in keeping the Russian bear at bay.
Its a funny mission success criteria, that if nothing happens, well all go home happy, but thats it, said Lt. Col. Wade Rutland.
The Canadians are the first of 450 soldiers that are expected to land in Latvia over the next week to maintain a stronger NATO presence near the capitol in a tactical position called the enhanced forward presence in military parlance.
They will lead a battle group composed of a multinational force of troops and heavy equipment from several European countries including Italy, Spain, Poland, Slovenia and Albania. The mission is expected to cost $348.5 million over the next three years.
Maj. John Hagemeyer, a company commander, jumped off the plane carrying his kit bag and exclaimed to CBC, Its good to finally be here. We want to be here. Latvia wants us here.
Latvia fears Russian aggression because of the past and the present. It was targeted by the Soviet Union when Stalin was allied with Nazi Germany from 1939-41 and was again occupied by Soviet soldiers in 1945. Today, after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, many Latvians wonder if the Russian arm wont reach further north in an attempt to retake land that many Russians view as part of their historic empire.
Though Canadians have been in Latvia before as part of NATO, the current mission has no expiration date. They will be staying at a Soviet-era base less than an hours drive from Riga. The military facility had fallen into disrepair of late and the Latvians have had to initiate some serious renovations.
But the Canadians are bringing it up to NATO standard. Lt. Col. Hugo Delisle is in charge of the 185 personnel who are preparing the site for operational readiness.
The soldiers right now have only had two days off in the last 45 days. Theyre working 10 hours a day to arrive at this point, said Delisle.
Though NATO will soon have over 4,000 combat troops in the Baltic region, that number is dwarfed by the size of the Soviet force that is facing them believed to be up to 70,000.
Hagemeyer isnt worried about Russias superiority in numbers.
Thats not our concern, he said. We are fully prepared for the highest levels of threat.
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Canadians First On The Ground With NATO Mission To Latvia - The Daily Caller
On the night of November 20, 1983, Armageddon went prime time. Over 100 million Americans tuned in to the ABC television network to watch the two-hour drama The Day After. This depiction of a hypothetical nuclear attack on the United States attracted a great deal of publicity and controversy. Schools made watching the film a homework assignment, discussion groups were organized in communities across the country, and even the secretary of state at the time, George Schulz, took part in a question-and-answer session hosted by ABC after the films broadcast. That a mere made-for-TV movie could garner such attention from a leading figure in the Reagan administration indicates how real the fear of a nuclear apocalypse was at the time. But almost no one watching that Sunday night realized just how close fiction came to reality in the fall of 1983.
The possibility of the worlds two greatest military powers destroying each other and the earth in a full-scale thermonuclear war was a fear shared by many throughout the world. At the time, both the United States and the USSR maintained huge nuclear arsenals of over 20,000 nuclear warheads each. In North America and Western Europe, nuclear freeze movements were gaining new members daily, with mass demonstrations that routinely numbered in the tens of thousands.
World events seemed to only reaffirm peoples fears. It was the third year of the presidency of Ronald Reagan, a man who had built his political career on a virulent hatred for all things communist. His 1980 victory over incumbent President Jimmy Carter had largely been the result of his hard-line stance against the Russians. A former film actor with a natural flair for the dramatic, Reagan both inspired and shocked people with his hardcore rhetoric, such as his statement before the British House of Commons in 1982 that the Marxist ideology would be relegated to the ash heap of history. Perhaps his most memorable and antagonistic remarks came on March 8, 1983, when Reagan referred to the Soviet Union as the focus of evil in the modern world and an evil empire.
The actions of the Reagan administration in its first three years backed up his uncompromising rhetoric. To match the USSRs huge expenditures on its armed forces, Reagan and Secretary of Defense Casper Weinberger initiated one of the largest peacetime military buildups in American history. Weapons programs such as the M1 Abrams tank, Trident nuclear submarine, and Stealth bomber were accelerated, while previously cancelled programs such as the B1 Lancer strategic bomber and the MX Missile were resurrected. To achieve the goal of creating a 600-ship navy, the Defense Department brought all four of its mammoth World War II-era Iowa-class battleships out of mothballs and returned them to active duty.
Star Wars and Fleetex 83: On the Brink of Nuclear War
On March 23, 1983, Reagan took the superpower rivalry to a new level when he unveiled the Strategic Defense Initiative Program during a live television address. The SDI program, more popularly referred to as Star Wars, was to provide an orbital shield that would protect the United Statesat least partlyfrom a nuclear strike. Reagan and supporters of the project argued that such a defense network, while not being able to completely block a full-scale strike from Russia, would at least cut down its effectiveness considerably and would be able to destroy smaller scale strikes, accidental nuclear launches, or missile attacks from rogue states. Reagan proposed to share the technology with the Soviets in a bid to eliminate the threat of nuclear war altogether.
To Yuri Andropov, then general secretary of the USSR, Reagans intentions spelled trouble. Andropov had dedicated his entire life to defending the Soviet Union, whether as a member of the partisans fighting behind German lines during World War II or as head of the Soviet secret police, the KGB. His supreme ambition to lead the nation had been realized with the death of Leonid Brezhnev in November 1982.
Andropov was scared to death of Ronald Reagan. He sincerely believed that Reagan meant what he said about the Soviet Union being an evil empire and seeing himself as a crusader who would not have any qualms in ordering the USSRs destruction. During the summer and fall of 1983, events only served to add fuel to Andropovs burning fears. In Western Europe, the United States prepared to deploy the latest generation of Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles (IRBM), the Pershing II. The Pershing missiles were a countermove to the Soviet deployment of the larger SS-20 IRBMs. But while the SS-20s could only reach targets in Western Europe, the Pershing IIs had the range to hit targets inside the USSR itself. It represented a new threat that the Soviets found intolerable.
In April and May of that year, as the rhetoric between Washington and Moscow escalated, the United States Navy conducted a series of fleet exercises in the Northwest Pacific known as FLEETEX 83. With more than 40 warships massed into three carrier battle groups, it was the largest concentration of American naval might in the Western Pacific since World War II. The massive exercise involved the counterclockwise sweep of these waters with the extreme right flank of the formation coming close to Russias Kamchatka Peninsula. Round-the-clock air operations from the carriers Enterprise, Coral Sea, and Midway were meant to make the Soviets respond by putting their eastern air bases on constant alert. During the course of the maneuvers, a combined flight of six F-14 Tomcat fighters from Midway and Enterprise flew over Zelyony Island in the Kuril Archipelago, a violation of Soviet airspace that the U.S. Navy later insisted was an accident, an explanation that the Soviets obviously did not accept.
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