Scaparrotti nominated to replace Breedlove at EUCOM, NATO
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European Union leaders and Turkey reached a tentative deal this week to help stem the flow of migrants to the Continent.
Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti was tapped Friday to command U.S. and NATO forces in Europe, where he will face a once tranquil security environment transformed by old Cold War tensions with Russia and a refugee crisis threatening Europe’s political order.
Russian defense procurement will drop by about 10% this year as low oil-and-gas prices drain income from the state budget, according to the head of the conglomerate that controls much of Russia’s military-industrial complex.
Crude-oil prices may have “bottomed out” as Iran’s return to the market has been less dramatic than the country promised, the IEA said.
The foreign ministers of China and Russia are opposing the possible deployment of an advanced American missile-defense system in South Korea.
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Cologne police say a fourth man has been taken into custody after they released a series of photos of people suspected of sexual harassment and assaults in the city on New Year’s Eve.
President Vladimir Putin says the Russian military’s arms modernization program won’t be affected by budget cuts prompted by the country’s economic problems.
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel has criticized other European countries for shutting the door to refugees and migrants hoping to reach Europe via the Balkan route, the BBC reports.
European Union members Austria, Slovenia and Croatia — along with non-E.U. states Serbia and Macedonia — have all taken actions to prevent people from moving across their borders. Many people fleeing wars in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq — along with economic migrants — remain stuck in Greece as a result.
“Personally I think that Austria’s unilateral decision, and then those made subsequently by Balkan countries, will obviously bring us fewer refugees, but they put Greece in a very difficult situation,” Merkel told MDR radio in Germany on Thursday, according to the BBC.
A deal to return many migrants from Greece to Turkey, linked to resettlement of Syrian refugees in E.U. nations, is still to be finalized.
“If we do not manage to reach a deal with Turkey, then Greece cannot bear the weight for long,” Merkel said. “That’s why I am seeking a real European solution, that is, a solution for all 28 [E.U. members].”
[BBC]
A Russian media magnate and former aide to President Vladimir Putin who died in Washington last November was killed by blunt force trauma to the head, a medical examiner has ruled, contradicting initial reports that he had died of natural causes.
Mikhail Lesin, 57, once served as Russia’s Press Minister and helped establish the television news network Russia Today. He was found dead at Washington, D.C.’s Dupont Circle Hotel on Nov. 5; at the time, media outlets reported that he had suffered a fatal heart attack, quoting his family members.
On Thursday, however, Washington, D.C., chief medical examiner released a report detailing blunt force injuries to Lesin’s neck, legs, arms, and torso, and to his head, which apparently killed him, the BBC reported. Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck said that the case remains under investigation but did not specify if a crime was involved.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that officials in the country anticipate “clarification from Washington and relevant official data on the progress of the investigation.”
[BBC]
Obama Blasts David Cameron for U.K.’s Role in Libyaby Claire Zillman/Fortune
President Barack Obama made biting remarks about U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, blaming him for Libya’s descent into chaos after the ouster of long-serving autocrat Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
In a long interview about his foreign policy with the magazine The Atlantic, Obama said that Cameron was distracted by priorities at home as Libya descended into what he characterized as “a mess” (and privately referred to as a “s*** show,” according to the magazine).
“There’s room for criticism,” Obama said in a long interview about his foreign policy. “I had more faith in the Europeans, given Libya’s proximity, being invested in the follow-up.”
“The way I looked at it was that it would be our problem if, in fact, complete chaos and civil war broke out in Libya…But this is not so at the core of U.S. interests that it makes sense for us to unilaterally strike against the Gaddafi regime.”
Obama said Britain and other European powers did not do their part to try to keep the nation from spiraling into its current state of turmoil. He was scornful of France’s then president Nicolas Sarkozy’s ‘trumpeting’ of France’s involvement in the air campaign, after U.S. strikes had knocked out Gaddafi’s air defenses.
More generally, Obama criticized “free riders,” or world leaders who called for international action in war zones or in response to humanitarian crises but then do not commit enough of their own resources. “You have to pay your fair share,” he said.
He also said that he’d warned Cameron that the “special relationship” the two countries share would be in jeopardy if the U.K. joined other European NATO members in allowing its defense spending to fall below 2% of gross domestic product, the minimum threshold recommended by the alliance. Somewhat ironically, the U.K. spends more on defense than any other European NATO member except Greece.
The president made surprisingly harsh comments about his longtime ally.
President Barack Obama made biting remarks about U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, blaming him for Libya’s descent into chaos after the ouster of long-serving autocrat Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
In a long interview about his foreign policy with the magazine The Atlantic, Obama said that Cameron was distracted by priorities at home as Libya descended into what he characterized as “a mess” (and privately referred to as a “s*** show, according to the magazine).
“There’s room for criticism,” Obama said in a long interview about his foreign policy. “I had more faith in the Europeans, given Libya’s proximity, being invested in the follow-up.”
“The way I looked at it was that it would be our problem if, in fact, complete chaos and civil war broke out in Libya…But this is not so at the core of U.S. interests that it makes sense for us to unilaterally strike against the Gaddafi regime.”
Obama said Britain and other European powers did not do their part to try to keep the nation from spiraling into its current state of turmoil. He was scornful of France’s then president Nicolas Sarkozy’s ‘trumpeting’ of France’s involvement in the air campaign, after U.S. strikes had knocked out Gaddafi’s air defenses.
More generally, Obama criticized “free riders,” or world leaders who called for international action in war zones or in response to humanitarian crises but then do not commit enough of their own resources. “You have to pay your fair share,” he said.
He also said that he’d warned Cameron that the “special relationship” the two countries share would be in jeopardy if the U.K. joined other European NATO members in allowing its defense spending to fall below 2% of gross domestic product, the minimum threshold recommended by the alliance. Somewhat ironically, the U.K. spends more on defense than any other European NATO member except Greece.
The White House seemed to backpedal later from Obama’s comments, which were rare in their harshness towards a still-serving leader of the U.S.’s closest ally.
Ned Price, U.S. Security Council spokesman, said, “Prime Minister Cameron has been as close a partner as the president has had, and we deeply value the U.K.’s contributions on our shared national security and foreign policy objectives which reflect our special and essential relationship.”
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Venezuelan Congress Gives Preliminary Approval to Recall Billby webdesk@voanews.com (Associated Press)
Venezuela's opposition-controlled Congress has given preliminary approval to a bill that would put the country on the road to a presidential recall referendum. During floor debate Thursday, opposition lawmakers said they hoped the initiative would lead to a peaceful transition of power this year. Members of the ruling socialist party, which controls the presidency and most state institutions, said the legislation amounted to an attempted coup. Congress is expected to give the...
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CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro insisted on Thursday his opponents would fail in a new push to oust him this year and end 17 years of socialist rule in the OPEC nation.
BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Syrian army backed by Russian air strikes is aiming to capture the historic city of Palmyra from Islamic State to open a road to the eastern province of Deir al-Zor in an offensive that got under way this week, a source close to the Syrian government said.
U.S. news media are reporting that the Obama administration will publicly blame Iranian hackers for a 2013 cyberattack against a small dam in New York state.
Russia says the first delivery of its S-300 missile-defense system to Iran will take place in August or September this year.
Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak will meet with Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh on March 14 in Tehran to discuss how an oil-output freeze might apply to Iran, officials say.
The state dinner for Canada’s prime minister included celebrity guests born in his country, such as Ryan Reynolds, Sandra Oh, Michael J. Fox and Mike Myers.
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Only one winner from the latest US Republican debate
As BBC World News marks its 25th anniversary, we look back at the way it has evolved.
Obama trip to Cuba shows move away from focus on dissidentsby By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ, MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN and JOSH LEDERMAN
HAVANA (AP) -- Dozens of uniformed and plainclothes police watch silently every Sunday morning as white-clad dissidents file into Mass at Santa Rita Church in a leafy Havana neighborhood of mansions overlooking the Florida Straits....
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