M.N.: Emboldened by the Crimean "anschluss" and the success of the "special war" in Eastern Ukraine, which are the results of Obama's unpreparedness and incomprehensible inaction, to put it mildly; the Russian spies and "little green men" of various persuasions and tasks, in cahoots with the local "fifth columns" of recent Russian emigres and their broad coalition of multicolored allies, from far left to far right, became openly, unprecedentedly, intolerably brazen and viciously covertly aggressive, standing just a step away from the actual war: "...Russia does not play by Western rules, and Putin and his Kremlin, being Chekists to their core, place great value on what I term Special War, meaning a shadowy amalgam of espionage, propaganda, and terrorism that Western states are poorly positioned to counter." - Putin Turns Up His Special War Against Europe by John R. Schindler
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M.N.: Emboldened by the Crimean "anschluss" and the success of the "special war" in Eastern Ukraine, which are the results of Obama's unpreparedness and incomprehensible inaction, to put it mildly; the Russian spies and "little green men" of various persuasions and tasks, in cahoots with the local "fifth columns" of recent Russian emigres and their broad coalition of multicolored allies, from far left to far right, became openly, unprecedentedly, intolerably brazen and viciously covertly aggressive, standing just a step away from the actual war: "...Russia does not play by Western rules, and Putin and his Kremlin, being Chekists to their core, place great value on what I term Special War, meaning a shadowy amalgam of espionage, propaganda, and terrorism that Western states are poorly positioned to counter."
Over the last year, since the Russian theft of Crimea, I’ve unambiguously warned that Vladimir Putin means what he says and he will not shy away from confrontation with the West, even at the risk of major war. Opportunities to deter this resurgent Russia, which I counseled many months ago, were punted on by the U.S. and NATO, so we now face a serious risk of war with Putin over his mounting hegemony in Eastern Europe. Ukraine is just the beginning.
As I’ve long made clear, Russia does not play by Western rules, and Putin and his Kremlin, being Chekists to their core, place great value on what I term Special War, meaning a shadowy amalgam of espionage, propaganda, and terrorism that Western states are poorly positioned to counter. At the end of the last year I predicted that the Kremlin’s Special War against the West was sure to rise, and so it has in the first quarter of this new year.
Last week I explained how Russian espionage against the Czech Republic — no congenital hater of the Russians like, say, Poland or the Baltics — had become so serious that Prague had expelled three Russian spies in recent months, amid warnings from Czech counterintelligence that at least a quarter of the outsized number of Russian diplomats in the country were actually spies posing as diplomats.
Over the last year I’ve explained in detail how Russian intelligence abroad, encompassing the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) and the military’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), have increased the scope and intensity of their operations against many NATO countries, including France, Germany, Hungary, and Poland. [M.N.: And I would add, the USA too, of course.] Most of these operations are undertaken by SVR or GRU officers serving under what the Russians term Legal cover, meaning they are pretending to be diplomats, trade representatives, and whatnot.
But in recent years there has also been an uptick in operations by spies whom the Russians term Illegals, meaning intelligence officers who serve abroad without any official protection, often posing as third-country nationals. The massive 2010 round up of a whole network of SVR Illegals in the United States proved a serious blow to the Kremlin, and their espionage still exhibits weaknesses, as evidenced by the recent arrest of an SVR Illegal operating in New York, a second-rater who did not belong to the elite of Russian spies.
Such Kremlin activities extend beyond NATO as well, and now it’s Sweden’s turn. A neutral that’s prone to downplaying threats on political grounds, and is always careful not to needlessly aggravate the Russian bear looming across the Baltic Sea, Stockholm has nevertheless had enough of clandestine Russian shenanigans in their country. This week they have gone public with the extent of the Kremlin’s Special War being waged against Sweden.
According to the Swedish Security Service (Säpo), at least one-third of the Russian diplomats in the country are actually spies. Recent months have seen repeated incidents of Russian intelligence provocations — submarines off the coast, SVR and GRU ramping up clandestine in-country operations — and Stockholm is worried, particularly because Kremlin efforts to recruit spies inside Swedish military and political circles are increasingly obvious.
Gone are the bumbling, vodka-swilling Russian spies of the 1990’s, when the Soviet collapse curtailed much espionage abroad. Since 2006, SVR and GRU operations against the West have risen steadily, to the point that current activities are as intense in number and audacity as they were at the height of the Cold War. Sweden is no exception, and Säpo’s chief analyst noted that Russian spies today are “highly educated and often younger than during the Soviet era. They are driven, goal-oriented and socially competent.” Not to mention that this is only talking about Russian Legals, not Illegals, who can be assumed to add to the ranks of Kremlin spies in Sweden, perhaps considerably.
As always, these spies are recruiting sources, disseminating disinformation, and fomenting dissent in the host country, per longstanding Russian espionage practice. This has become so serious that Stockholm now considers Russia to be the top threat to Swedish national security. The Säpo analyst bluntly explained, “There are hundreds of Russian intelligence officers around Europe and the West. They violate our territory every day … We see Russian intelligence operations in Sweden—we can’t interpret this in any other way—as preparation for military operations against Sweden.”
There’s the rub. Every week of late, Putin turns up the heat on NATO and the West: diplomatic threats, aggressive maneuvers with combat aircraft, the movement of late–model missiles to Kaliningrad, putting Stockholm, Warsaw, and Berlin within easy range of Russian tactical nuclear weapons. Now, Putin either wants open war against the West — not just the clandestine games of Special War — or he wants us to think he does: in either case, this is a terrifying situation.
Many believe that Putin thinks he can use the threat of nuclear blackmail to gain a free hand for Russian aggression in Eastern Europe, and they may be right. Certainly there is little in NATO reactions to Russian aggression to date that suggests a backbone is forming in Berlin, Paris, or Washington, DC. Whether or not the Kremlin wants major war is known only to Putin and the tiny circle of advisors, all hard-edged Chekists like himself, whom the Russian leader listens to.
For now, Special War will continue to achieve Kremlin aims, possibly without major war, while laying the intelligence groundwork for that bigger conflict, should that happen. Today’s news brings word that Polish counterintelligence has detected an air force officer spying for Moscow. He is reported to have passed classified information about Poland’s wing of F-16 fighters, the backbone of Polish defense against the Russians, in what may constitute a serious blow to NATO readiness on the Alliance’s exposed eastern frontier.
Another day, another Russian spy in the West detected. You can expect more of this. If we’re lucky, our conflict with Putin, which is being orchestrated by the Kremlin, will remain confined to SpyWar. Yet how robustly the West confronts Russian Special War — which is ultimately a question of politics, not counterespionage — is a good benchmark for how effectively we can deter a major, and possibly nuclear, war. Without political will, all the West’s acumen in military and intelligence affairs will matter little compared to the robust will shown by Vladimir Putin, who is playing for keeps, and intends to win.
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 Sydney Morning Herald |
Russia, China, others snub UN meeting on Crimea
Sydney Morning Herald United Nations: Russia, China, Venezuela and Angola snubbed an informal United Nations Security Council meeting on Thursday on human rights in Crimea a year after Russia seized the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine, diplomats said. Russia's ... Ukraine-Russia Crisis: Russian Soldier Arrested Allegedly Trying to Cross ...International Business Times Russia, China, others snub UN meeting on Crimea human rightsReuters Crimean Tatar leader urges continued sanctions against RussiaChristian Science Monitor Bloomberg all 106 news articles » |
NSA Chief: US Needs Offensive Strategy to Deter Cyber Attacksby webdesk@voanews.com (Reuters)
The United States needs to step up its offensive cyber capabilities, a top security official said on Thursday, warning that looming defense budget cuts could hurt efforts to bolster the nation's cyber military facilities and make the country more vulnerable. Admiral Mike Rogers, director of the National Security Agency and commander of U.S. Cyber Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that too many adversaries can attack the United States without fear of retaliation. "We focus primarily on the defensive, but I think now we're at a tipping point where we not only need to continue to build on the defensive capability, but we've also got to broaden our capabilities to provide policymakers and operational commanders with a broader range of options," Rogers said. Rogers did not elaborate on what specific capabilities the United States needs. For years, U.S. officials have said that cyberattacks from another country can constitute an act of war and that they reserve the right to respond, but they have generally remained tight-lipped about offensive cyber-capabilities. The issue gained prominence after the Obama administration last year blamed North Korea for a cyberattack on Sony Pictures. Defense officials have also argued that mandated budget cuts known as sequestration would slow the process of building a stronger cyber force. Rogers pushed that argument again on Thursday. A 2011 law directed the Pentagon to cut nearly a trillion dollars from its projected spending over a decade, but the department's budget for the 2016 fiscal year is asking for a $35 billion boost above federal spending caps. Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said the Sony attacks exposed "serious flaws in the Obama administration's cyber strategy, and that lack of a strong deterrent strategy increases the resolve of the nation's cyber enemies." "I am concerned that a strategy too heavily weighted towards defense is a losing strategy. Moreover, at the current levels of investment, we are at great risk of having a hollow cyber force," McCain said.
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US Troop Levels, Development Remain Focus of US-Afghan Talks by webdesk@voanews.com (Aru Pande)
Months after taking office in the first democratic transition of power in Afghanistan, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah will meet with U.S. President Barack Obama on March 24. The talks at the White House are expected to center on security, economic development and reconciliation with the Taliban. With most international combat forces gone from their country, Afghan military and police personnel have not only taken control of security, but also borne the brunt of Taliban violence that seems to be escalating, not ebbing. Nearly a year earlier Obama announced a timetable for U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. “We will bring America’s longest war to a responsible end," he said. Media reports this week quoted U.S. officials who say the commander-in-chief may be reconsidering his plan to cut in half by the end of 2015 some 9,800 U.S. troops currently serving in a training and counter-terror capacity. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest has not confirmed those reports. “The president will listen carefully to the advice that he is getting from his national security team and his military commanders on this matter - that is the pace of the drawdown," he said. The drawdown and whether to keep certain U.S. bases open longer than expected will likely be the focus when Ghani arrives in Washington for talks. This will be his first visit since taking power, succeeding former President Hamid Karzai who left office refusing to sign a bilateral security agreement with the United States. Ghani immediately signed the deal, lifted a Karzai ban on night raids and has pledged economic, electoral and security reforms. Aarthi Gunasekaran, with the Center for American Progress, says the talks, while focused on security and economic issues, will also be an opportunity for both nations to re-energize their commitment to each other. “The big part is assuring and finding recognition that if President Ghani is going to look at anti-corruption efforts and reform, ‘we are with you.’ And we are excited that they are really realizing that’s at the core of what needs to happen," said Gunasekaran. Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah have made economic development and growth a top priority - key in a country torn apart by decades of war and where nearly 70 percent of the Afghan population is under 25. Gunasakeran says with time, the focus of the U.S.-Afghanistan relationship will follow suit. “We will very much transition from a security lens perspective, to the economic development piece, especially," she said. The South Asia analyst says with the necessary reforms and progress, Afghanistan’s role in the international community can shift from being that of an economic beneficiary to an economic player in the years ahead.
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 U.S. News & World Report |
US to train 750 Ukraine troops as Russian aggression continues
Fox News With Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine continuing, the White House announced Wednesday the U.S. will begin training 750 Ukraine troops. The news came after a phone call between Vice President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko ... Putin urges billionaires to bring money back to RussiaU.S. News & World Report UPDATE 3-Putin downbeat on Russia economy, data shows slump gaining paceReuters Is Putin about to provoke conflict beyond Ukraine?CNBC Reuters Blogs (blog) -The Guardian -DefenseNews.com all 1,284 news articles » |
Study: 9.2% of Europe's Wild Bee Species Face Extinctionby webdesk@voanews.com (Reuters)
Almost one in 10 of Europe's wild bee species is at risk of extinction because of threats from the spread of farms and pesticides among other factors, a first assessment of the continent's bee populations showed Thursday. Bees are vital to food production but are in decline in many parts of the world. There are 1,965 wild bee species in Europe, and 9.2 percent of them are at risk of extinction while another 5.2 percent are likely to be threatened in the near future, according to the international study, funded by the European Commission. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said its study also showed that 57 percent of all European bee species, which include types of bumblebees, honey bees and solitary bees, were so little known that it was impossible to judge whether they were at risk or not. "We're laying down a benchmark'' to help judge trends, lead author Ana Nieto told Reuters. "We were shocked that there is not enough information for so many species.'' The bees' work in pollinating crops is worth an estimated 22 billion euros ($23.4 billion) a year in Europe, and 153 billion euros worldwide, according to the study. Cullum's bumblebee, found in Europe and Asia, was among those most at risk and was rated "critically endangered'' because of the loss of its favorite clover flowers to farming. The report said that threats to bees included more intensive farming, insecticides and climate change — causing more heavy rainfalls, droughts and heat waves that can harm bees and their access to food. The IUCN's members include governments, scientists and conservationists.
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Senators Seek US Strategy to Stop China's Maritime Reclamations by webdesk@voanews.com (Reuters)
Leading U.S. senators expressed alarm on Thursday at the scale and speed of China's land reclamation in the South China Sea and said a formal U.S. strategy was needed to slow or stop the work. In a letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, Republican Senators John McCain and Bob Corker and Democrats Jack Reed and Bob Menendez said that without a comprehensive strategy "long-standing interests of the United States, as well as our allies and partners, stand at considerable risk." They said China's land reclamation and construction in the South China Sea's Spratly archipelago gave it the potential to expand its military reach and was "a direct challenge, not only to the interests of the United States and the region, but to the entire international community." The letter said Gaven Reef had grown about 28 acres (114,000 square meters) in the past year and previously submerged Johnson Reef was now a 25-acre (100,000-square-meter) "island." Fiery Cross reef increased in size more than 11-fold since August. "While other states have built on existing land masses, China is changing the size, structure and physical attributes of land features themselves," the letter said. "This is a qualitative change that appears designed to alter the status quo in the South China Sea." It said any attempt by China to militarize the artificial islands could have "serious consequences" and could embolden Beijing to declare a new air defense zone in the South China Sea like it announced in 2013 in an area contested with Japan. The senators, who head the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the strategy should lay out "specific actions the United States can take to slow down or stop China's reclamation activities..." China claims about 90 percent of the potentially energy-rich South China Sea. It has defended its reclamation work there, saying it is not seeking to overturn the international order. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have overlapping claims. Chinese reclamation work is well advanced on six Spratly reefs and workers are building ports and fuel storage depots and possibly two airstrips. Experts say this will not overturn U.S. regional military superiority but could allow Beijing to project power deep into the maritime heart of Southeast Asia.
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Speaking in 2013, the Greek economist Yanis Varoufakis, now his nation’s finance minister, gestured obscenely while talking about the debt crisis. The editor of the video confirmed its authenticity.
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Greece’s finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, denied making an obscene gesture in reference to Germany during a 2013 lecture in Croatia, saying video of the talk was “doctored.”
US Urges New Natural Gas Links for Southeastern Europeby webdesk@voanews.com (Reuters)
U.S. energy envoy Amos Hochstein urged southeast European states to build new gas links and focus on smaller projects to curb reliance on supplies from Russia, rather than blockbuster pipeline deals. Countries in the region such as Hungary, Serbia and Croatia are looking to boost energy security following the collapse of the Kremlin-backed South Stream gas project that would have carried Russian gas through a pipeline bypassing Ukraine. An alternative floated by Moscow, the region's dominant supplier, would be Turkish Stream. It would pump gas originally planned for South Stream into Turkey and then possibly north into southeast and central Europe via new gas links. "It is hard for me to understand the difference between Turkish Stream and South Stream, outside the name and a slight deviation of the route," Hochstein told an energy conference Thursday. He said the region, which depends on Russia for almost all its gas, faced risks by looking for "easy magic bullets" that distract attention from separate, smaller projects. Hochstein said Russia would remain a "critical player" in European gas supplies, but other energy sources and routes were needed to boost security. He said improvements in infrastructure were needed, possibly with European Union help, to ensure gas from elsewhere gets to the region. The Trans Adriatic Gas Pipeline, for instance, is scheduled to carry Azeri gas to Europe by 2020. Connections between Greece, Bulgaria and north into Romania, Hungary and Serbia via pipelines capable of so-called reverse flows of gas would be far cheaper than rival "mega projects" and are "eminently doable," Hochstein said. He said U.S. officials have had several discussions with the new Greek government about putting a floating liquefied natural gas terminal in Thessaloniki, so the link between Greece and Bulgaria does not depend on the Southern Corridor project. The Southern Corridor is designed to improve the security of the European Union's energy supply by bringing natural gas from the Caspian region. Hochstein also urged Croatia to build an liquefied natural gas terminal on Krk island, which he said should be a top priority for Europe. "If you get the combination of the support that the EU can give, that's where the banks will come in, and some American companies as well as other companies are going to come in," he said. "I think Krk island is closer today to becoming a reality."
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 РБК |
Порошенко заявил о готовности провести референдум по устройству Украины
РБК Президент Украины Петр Порошенко заявил в интервью Euronews о готовности провести референдум по устройству Украины. Он отметил, что готов провести референдум по федерализации страны и затем действовать в соответствии с его результатами. По его словам, Украина ... и другие » |
Energy operators reliant on the sun prepared for a day of headaches as a total eclipse coincided with a supermoon.
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Obama Greets Iranians on Nowruzby webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
U.S. President Barack Obama sent Nowruz or new year's greetings to Iranians Friday, telling them that this year is the best opportunity in decades to pursue a different future between Iran and the U.S. Obama said this moment may never come again. With a deadline for a nuclear agreement a little more than a week away, he said the days ahead will be critical. He appealed to the Iranian people to speak up for the future we seek. He said Iranian leaders have a choice between two paths. “If they cannot agree to a reasonable deal, they will keep Iran on the path it’s on today -- a path that has isolated Iran and the Iranian people from so much of the world, caused so much hardship for Iranian families, and deprived so many young Iranians of the jobs and opportunities they deserve.” Nowruz is the Iranian new year -- the first day of the Persian calendar that coincides with the first day of spring.
Antibiotic Use in Livestock to Grow, Raising Resistance Concerns by webdesk@voanews.com (Steve Baragona)
When people rise out of poverty, experts say, the first thing they want to do is eat better. For most people, that means meat. In the last half century, rising global prosperity in Asia alone means people there are eating nearly four times as much meat, milk and dairy as before. To satisfy that demand, farms have become much more concentrated, packing lots of livestock into smaller spaces. “As the animals are crowded together, often times the easiest way to deal with some of the problems of crowding is to give them antibiotics,” said Gail Hansen, a veterinarian with the Pew Charitable Trusts, a research and advocacy group. Hansen said antibiotics help the animals stay healthy and grow faster. But bacteria develop resistance to the drugs, and those resistant bacteria can spread to people. Doctors say it’s one of several factors in the growing problem of antibiotic resistance worldwide. In the United States, at least 2 million people get drug-resistant infections each year, and at least 23,000 die from them. Ramanan Laxminarayan, head of the Washington-based Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy, said the problem is about to get worse worldwide. "The quantum of use in the animal sector, we think, is about to increase dramatically, and that cannot be good for human health,” he said. In a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, he and his colleagues used U.N. data on how and where livestock are raised today. Following recent trends in demand, they projected how production would change by 2030. “The increase in demand is going to make agriculture shift to more intensive methods of production, which tend to use greater quantities of antibiotics,” Laxminarayan said. The researchers estimated a 67 percent increase in total livestock antibiotic use worldwide. In middle-income countries like China, India and Brazil, they said they expected usage to double. But Hansen says it does not have to be that way. “The developing world doesn’t have to make all the same mistakes that we made — ‘we’ being the United States and Europe,” she said. Hansen noted that Europe has banned the use of antibiotics to boost animal growth, and the U.S. is discouraging the practice.
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 Последние новости России и Украины, главные новости дня. |
США решили тренировать украинских бойцов Национальной гвардии
Последние новости России и Украины, главные новости дня. Военные эксперты из США и других стран НАТО намерены осуществлять комплексную подготовку трёх украинских батальонов нацгвардии. США подтвердили готовность проводить тренировки для украинских военных. abp. 01Авто; 02Война и мир; 03Знаменитости; 04Игры и софт; 05 ... и другие » |
The debate over an obscene gesture by Greece’s finance minister took a comic turn as a German satirist claimed to have faked video of it.
More Assertive Japan Seen Positively in Washingtonby webdesk@voanews.com (Idrees Ali)
The security alliance between Japan and the United States is expected to feature prominently in talks between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Barack Obama during the Japanese leader’s state visit to Washington next month, according to foreign policy experts. His visit will come at a time when Japan is forming a more assertive foreign security policy, something some officials in Washington are welcoming. The cornerstone of this policy has been an agreement last year to reinterpret part of the Japanese constitution, known as Article 9, which prohibits the country from going to war or having a military. What this means will depend on security legislation passing through the Japanese parliament, said Scott Harold, deputy director of the Center for Asia Pacific Policy at the RAND Corporation, a Washington-based research institute. “We have long wanted the Japanese to reinterpret that (Article 9)… It’s about burden sharing,” a U.S. defense official told VOA ahead of Abe’s visit. Analysts believe the agreement for the reinterpretation was at least partially based on the need for Japan to play a greater role in defense cooperation between the United States and Japan, something Abe has been pushing. Japan-US Security Alliance After the Islamic State terrorist group beheaded two Japanese hostages in Syria recently, the local and international media began raising questions about how Japan would respond. However, well before that incident occurred, Japan started taking steps toward creating a more proactive security policy. While the Japanese constitution has remained largely untouched for more than half a century, the reinterpretation could allow Japan to come to the defense of an ally under attack, known as “collective self-defense,” said Tetsuo Kotani, a senior fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs, a Tokyo-based institution. The Japanese government has argued that if, for example, a U.S. vessel was to come under attack near Japan, it would have been unable to help the vessel because the attack did not threaten Japan. Any opening in security legislation is welcome, said Lt. Col. Jeffrey Pool, Pentagon spokesman for the Asia-Pacific region. The reinterpretation of Article 9 could, for example, potentially open the way for Japan to take part in more multilateral exercises in the region without the U.S. having to directly get involved, Pool said. A Japanese official in Washington familiar with the proceedings told on the condition of anonymity that while it could be seen as an increase in burden sharing, it was also “about Japan playing a bigger role.” He added that it may allow the U.S. to “contribute to the stability of the region in a bigger way.” US-Japan Defense Cooperation Guidelines In addition to the security legislation in Japan and the reinterpretation of Article 9, the U.S. and Japan are working on revising guidelines on defense cooperation last revised in 1997. Pool, from the Pentagon, said Japanese officials were making many of the updates to the document, with different options on the table in case security legislation in Japan did not pass. The document is expected to make advancements in the fields of cyber security and space cooperation, he added. The Japanese official in Washington said the guidelines were “loosely linked” to the security bills that are expected to be presented in parliament. Shihoko Goto, senior Northeast Asia associate at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, said the moves for a more assertive security policy also stemmed from concerns about the seriousness of the Obama administration to rebalance toward Asia. A number of different international crises have the attention of the U.S., from the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq to the low-intensity conflict in eastern Ukraine, Goto said. This, she added, was causing concern in Japan about whether the rebalancing toward Asia was a priority or not. Regional Dynamics Analysts agree that in addition to appeasing the United States, Abe has been pushing for the reinterpretation because of personal ambitions and recent geopolitical dynamics. Currently in his third term -- he won his most recent term in December after winning a snap election -- Abe leads a stable government and has been more focused on creating a more forceful Japan that will “remain relevant in the region,” Goto said. “If he’s thinking about his legacy, he wants to make sure Japan’s voice is heard on the international stage,” she added. Japan approved a record defense budget of $42 billion this year. In addition to a nuclear North Korea, Japan is concerned about what is seen as a more aggressive China, which announced a $145 billion military budget, second only to the U.S., said Goto. The most high profile dispute between Japan and China has been over a chain of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. Even though the dispute over the islands has been going on for decades, a decision by China to create an air defense zone over the region caused particular anger and concern in Japan. Despite the perceived threats around Japan, analysts believe that passing any security legislation will not be an easy task because of the peaceful history of Japan since World War II. At a party convention earlier this month, the opposition Democratic Party of Japan vowed to oppose Abe’s moves.
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 BBC News |
Ukraine crisis: EU links Russia sanctions to truce deal
BBC News European Union leaders have agreed to keep sanctions on Russia in place until the end of this year at the earliest. The sanctions, imposed because of Russia's alleged military intervention in Ukraine, are now linked to "complete implementation" of a ... EU agrees Russia sanctions to stay until Ukraine peace terms metReuters EU Links Lifting Russia Sanctions to Peace in UkraineABC News |
Russian FM: US Encouraging Military Solution in UkraineVoice of America
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EU Leaders Unlikely To Offer More To Eastern Partners At Upcoming Summit by noreply@rferl.org (Rikard Jozwiak)
EU leaders at an Eastern Partnership summit in Riga in May are unlikely to offer a closer relationship between the European Union and some of its eastern neighbors outside of the already negotiated association agreements, according to a paper seen by RFE/RL.
The European Union has decided to link its economic sanctions on Russia to the implementation of the Minsk agreement.
U.S. President Barack Obama has told Iranians this year represented the "best opportunity in decades" to pursue a different relationship between their two countries.
The Pentagon has announced that some 290 U.S. Army paratroopers will travel to western Ukraine next month to train three battalions of Ukrainian national guard troops.
 Российская Газета |
США отправят на Украину 290 десантников для обучения бойцов нацгвардии
Российская Газета США планируют приступить к обучению бойцов Национальной гвардии Украины в конце апреля. Такие сроки в четверг предварительно подтвердили в пресс-службе Пентагона, хотя конкретных дат пока называть не стали. ранее по теме. Фото: David B. Gleason/flickr.com Пентагон не ... Пентагон: США начнут обучение украинской нацгвардии в конце апреляВзгляд Американские инструкторы займутся обучением бойцов Нацгвардии с конца апреляНовости Украины | Новостное агентство ХАРЬКОВ Пентагон объявил о начале обучения украинских нацгвардейцевПрессОРГ24 - Новости Украины euronews -NewsMaker Все похожие статьи: 18 » |
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