Daily Archives: December 6, 2014

CrossTalk: Ukraine #39;s NATO Push
Ukraine #39;s Poroshenko says he wants voters to decide on NATO membership and soon. Is this a diversion from the real topic at hand like Ukraine #39;s collapsing institutions and economy?...

By: RT

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CrossTalk: Ukraine's NATO Push - Video

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Electric Eyewear FW01 Nato SKU:8277492 - Video

NATO HQ, Brussels: Moscow has continued to deny any involvement in the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, but NATO is stepping up its actions - putting together an interim force to deal with what it sees as a direct threat to it's eastern borders.

In Brussels, the 28 foreign ministers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) - announced an intermediate force to work as a deterrent for Russia while a plan for 4000 troops was set to be implemented in 2016.

Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, said two concrete outcomes emerged from the meeting on Wednesday (Dec 3): "One is the announcement of the establishment of an interim spearhead force which is increasing the readiness of our forces. And the other is that we agreed to maintain the continuous NATO presence in eastern part of our alliance. The readiness action plan is an important part of our response as an alliance to the threats we have seen developing both in the East and to the South.

One aspect that was not discussed however, was the government in Kiev's ambitions to one day become a member of NATO - a move that would infuriate Russia. But defence experts said it was not an important factor on the radar yet.

Marc Pierini of Carnegie Europe said: "They're not talking about Ukraine joining NATO. They're talking about the defence of Europe. You have to remember that in April last year, the last US tanks from the post-war, world war two period, were withdrawn, and this year, the first 50 came back."

Also on the agenda was NATO's withdrawal of it's mission in Afghanistan in a matter of weeks and the threat of the Islamic State.

Many of the foreign ministers including John Kerry will be remaining in Brussels - where they will be joined by a number of other foreign ministers from around the world - making up around 60 countries taking part in the US lead coalition against the Islamic State. The coalition will meet at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday (Dec 3).

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NATO steps up actions to deal with Ukraine crisis

NATO Envoy, Georgian Officials Discuss Implementation of Substantial Package

NATO Secretary Generals Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, James Appathurai, said implementation of a substantial package, endorsed by the Alliance at the Wales summit for Georgia, is going well.

Appathurai met in Tbilisi on December 4 PM Irakli Garibashvili; Defense Minister Mindia Janelidze; State Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Davit Bakradze, as well as parliament speaker Davit Usupashvili and representatives from opposition UNM party.

Speaking at a news conference after meeting the state minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, Appathurai said that the focus of his discussions with the Georgian officials was implementation of package of enhanced cooperation to help the country prepare for NATO membership.

I can tell you it [implementation of the package] is going well on the Georgian side and on the NATO side, he said.

The elements of this package include assisting defense capacity building in Georgia through embedded trainers, joint exercises and setting up of a joint NATO-Georgia training center in Georgia.

There will be a lot more Georgia in NATO and lot of NATO in Georgia, Appathurai said.

We welcome very much the speed with which Georgia has been working to define this new joint training center, Appathurai said, adding that NATO defense planning experts are already in Georgia, working closely with the Georgian colleagues on this issue.

He said that what now has to be defined is in essence what kind of training will be provided, what kind of military units and what size of units will be getting training in this center and how it will be integrated into Georgias own requirements and its other partnership activities.

Answers to these questions, Appathurai said, will also help Georgia to decide the best location for this center. I know there are only few options, he added.

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NATO Envoy, Georgian Officials Discuss Implementation of Substantial Package

BRUSSELS: NATO foreign ministers announced new support for Ukraines military and slammed Moscow for backing rebel forces Tuesday in a meeting that also focused on the alliances upcoming move to a training mission in Afghanistan. We strongly condemn Russias continued and deliberate destabilization of eastern Ukraine in breach of international law, said a statement from the NATO ministers and Ukraines Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, who attended by videoconference. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said they agreed to activate four trust funds which will help pay to upgrade Ukraines logistics, cyber warfare, command and control and medical services, and added a fifth to support wounded Ukrainian soldiers. Despite Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels saying Tuesday that they had agreed a new truce in the eastern rebel stronghold of Lugansk and were discussing a similar truce in Donetsk province, the ministers also pushed Moscow to honor a wider peace deal agreed in September. Russia must use its influence over the separatists to ensure they stop their attacks and abide by the cease-fire, the statement said, referring to the earlier deal. A NATO official said implementation is key to any new cease-fire. EU foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini, attending the meeting, said that if confirmed, the new truce accords would obviously be very good news. The NATO ministers were meanwhile also discussing plans to set up an interim quick reaction force to help the Cold War-era alliance to deal with new challenges of hybrid warfare and political upheaval, such as Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. At a September summit NATO leaders agreed to launch a spearhead force of around 4,000 troops by 2016 but on Tuesday they were discussing plans for an even faster, smaller force to be operational by early 2015. Norways Stoltenberg, who took over from Denmarks Anders Fogh Rasmussen as NATO chief on October 1, said the ministers aimed to agree on how to drive our alliance forward in a changing world, ready to deal with any challenges from the east or from the south. They also reviewed NATO efforts to reassure eastern members such as the ex-Soviet Baltic states and former Warsaw Pact member Poland by rotating aircraft, ships and troops through the region. The question of NATO membership for Ukraine was strictly off limits, diplomatic sources said. Stoltenberg stressed that it was up to individual countries to decide on their own if they wanted to join the alliance and that he would respect any decision taken. Kievs new government wants to restart the membership process interrupted by ousted leader Viktor Yanukovych, but Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly warned against such a move. As NATO prepares to end combat operations in Afghanistan its longest ever mission ministers were to close their meeting Tuesday in the presence of new Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and chief executive Abdullah Abdullah. NATO has agreed with Kabul on a training and advisory force of some 12,500 troops, mostly US, which will remain for several years. US Secretary of State John Kerry chairs a meeting of the 60-strong US-led coalition against IS at NATO headquarters on Wednesday, although NATO is not involved in the coaltion.

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NATO ministers boost support for Ukraine