Nato chief says Russian nuclear threats are 'deeply troubling and dangerous'
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Jens Stoltenberg says Russian plans such as the deployment of nuclear-capable missiles near the Polish border would ‘fundamentally change’ European security
Russia’s provocative rhetoric and its dramatic expansion of flights by nuclear bombers are deeply troubling and dangerous, the Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday.
Russia’s plans to deploy nuclear-capable missiles in Kaliningrad – near Poland’s border – and its threat to move nuclear forces in Crimea would “fundamentally change the balance of security in Europe,” Stoltenberg warned, in a speech during a visit to Washington.
Russia’s nuclear sabre-rattling is unjustified, destabilising and dangerous
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 The Guardian |
Nato chief says Russian nuclear threats are 'deeply troubling and dangerous'
The Guardian In blunt language, the Nato chief delivered a scathing critique of Russia's behaviour over the past year – including Moscow's armed intervention in Ukraine – and vowed the transatlantic alliance would redouble its commitment to “collective defence ... Obama, NATO Chief Denounce Russia's 'Increasingly Aggressive' PostureVoice of America Russia's nuclear threats 'deeply troubling': NATO chiefYahoo News NATO Secretary General Says Russia's Nuclear Threats DestabilizingWall Street Journal Deutsche Welle-DefenseNews.com -National Post all 189 news articles » |
 New York Times |
Armed With Google and YouTube, Analysts Gauge Russia's Presence in Ukraine
New York Times WASHINGTON — An unusual investigation using publicly available videos, smartphone photographs and satellite images shows that Russia is continuing to defy the West by conducting protracted military operations inside Ukraine, according to an ... Is Russia about to invade Ukraine?Vox In Kyiv Vs Moscow Fist Fight, Russia (Barely) Holding Up As Ukraine Against ...Forbes Exclusive: Russia masses heavy firepower on border with Ukraine - witnessReuters Daily Beast-Sydney Morning Herald all 504 news articles » |
Officials said the arrests of top FIFA officials would not derail Russia from hosting the World Cup in 2018.
U.S. investigators believe the identity thieves who stole personal information of more than 100,000 taxpayers from an Internal Revenue Service website are part of a criminal operation based in Russia.
Russia's army is massing troops and hundreds of pieces of weaponry including mobile rocket launchers, tanks and artillery at a makeshift base near the border with Ukraine, a Reuters reporter saw this week.
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 Российская Газета |
Госдеп США признал нарушения перемирия на Донбассе силовиками
Российская Газета Госдепартамент США в среду вновь констатировал, что режим прекращения огня на Украине нарушается, в том числе и правительственными войсками. Это признал на ежедневном брифинге представитель американского внешнеполитического ведомства Джефф Ратке, комментируя ... Крым будет под санкциями до его возвращения УкраинеУтро.Ru США признали, что Киев нарушает минские соглашенияВерсии.сом Американцы не снимут санкции, пока РФ не вернет КрымУра-Информ Апостроф -ГОЛОС АМЕРИКИ Все похожие статьи: 85 » |
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan seems to have assumed a new, unofficial role this week as the country’s chief news media critic.
Pentagon: Live Anthrax Accidentally Sent to US Labs, Overseas Military Facility by webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
Over two dozen people are undergoing precautionary treatment for anthrax after the U.S. military accidently shipped live samples of the deadly bacteria to civilian commercial labs in nine states and a military lab in South Korea. Officials say four laboratory workers in the United States, along with 22 personnel at Osan Air Force Base outside of Seoul, may have been exposed to anthrax shipped from the Army's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. The facilities were supposed to receive dead anthrax spores as part of a Pentagon program to develop a test to identify biological threats in the field. The laboratories that received the live anthrax spores are located in California, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin. The laboratory in Maryland alerted authorities about the live samples it received late last week. Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steven Warren reassured the American public that there is no known risk and no suspected or confirmed cases of infection in lab workers. The military says the live anthrax sample sent to Osan Air Force Base has been destroyed. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control is investigating. Warren said the Pentagon has stopped shipping anthrax spores until the investigation is complete. Contact with live anthrax can lead to a severe flu-like illness that could be fatal if not treated early.
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Таджикский командир ОМОН присоединился к «Исламскому государству»
Газета.Ru Пропавший таджикский командир ОМОН Гулмурод Халимов обанружен в Сирии в рядах террористической организации «Исламское государство». об этом сообщает ТАСС. Об этом стало известно из его видеообращения, в котором он пояснил свое решение. Он отметил, что ... Командир таджикского ОМОНа уехал в Сирию воевать на стороне исламистовРБК Глава ОМОН Таджикистана присягнул на верность "Исламскому государству"Московский комсомолец Командир таджикского ОМОН перешел на сторону «Исламского государства»Взгляд Информационное агентство России ТАСС -Ozodagon Все похожие статьи: 34 » |
Fifa President Sepp Blatter has pulled out of a third scheduled public appearance since the arrest of seven Fifa executives at their Zurich hotel yesterday morning.
 РБК |
Фонд Горбачева призвал провести в России новую перестройку
РБК Предложения озвучены в докладе «Ценности перестройки в контексте современной России», презентация которого состоится в четверг, 28 мая, в рамках круглого стола, посвященного 30-летию начала преобразований в СССР, сообщает Интерфакс. В своей работе эксперты Фонда и ... "Горбачев-фонд" призвал Россию вернуться к ценностям перестройкиМосковский комсомолец Фонд Горбачева: России нужна новая перестройкаИА REGNUM России нужна новая перестройка, считают в фонде ГорбачеваTopnews24.ru Интерфакс Все похожие статьи: 76 » |
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Fifa's major sponsors have put pressure on the organisation in the wake of an unfolding corruption scandal, after the launch of two criminal probes and the arrest of nine Fifa officials.
The funeral has been held of prominent Ukrainian separatist commander Aleksei Mozgovoi, who was killed in a mysterious gangland-style hit on May 23. The May 27 funeral was attended by members of his unit, the Ghost battalion, and residents in rebel-held Alchevsk. It concluded with a volley of gunfire in his honor. Rebel leaders have said Kyiv was behind the attack, a drive-by killing in which his car was sprayed with bullets, but he was also known to have fallen out with Luhansk's...
Russia has accused the United States of applying legal force “far beyond its borders” following the US indictment against FIFA officials and their arrests.
Federal prosecutors are seeking a seven-year prison sentence for a Kazakh friend of the convicted Boston Marathon bomber who allegedly obstructed a police investigation into the deadly 2013 attack.
RFE/RL has recorded dramatic evidence of the cease-fire in Ukraine being violated, with pro-government forces coming under sustained shelling in the village of Shyrokyne. The attack, filmed on May 24, resulted in one Ukrainian soldier dying of shrapnel wounds and another being wounded. Ukrainian military officials said Russian-backed separatists were using weapons of 120-150 mm caliber, which should have been withdrawn 50 kilometers from the front line under the terms of the February cease-fire agreement, although this could not be independently confirmed. There have been frequent reports of shelling at Shyrokyne, near the strategic port of Mariupol, since the cease-fire was agreed. OSCE observers have also recorded heavy shelling there.
Carter Urges China to Stop Island Building in S. China Seaby webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter Wednesday said the United States will be the primary security power in the Asia-Pacific region for years, and he demanded China immediately stop island building in the South China Sea. Carter said during a visit to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii that all countries in Asia, including China, must stop militarizing their dispute over an island chain and settle it peacefully. "We want a peaceful resolution of all disputes and an immediate and lasting halt to land reclamation by any claimant. We also oppose any further militarization of disputed features," Carter said. "China's actions are bringing countries in the region together in new ways. They're increasing demand for American engagement in the Asia-Pacific. We're going to meet it." Carter added that the U.S. will "fly, sail and operate" wherever international law allows. China has been reclaiming land and building artificial islands in the Spratlys -- a group of islands over which several Asian countries claim sovereignty, including China, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines. But China with its powerful military has been much more aggressive in asserting its claim. "With its actions in the South China Sea, China is out of step with both international norms that underscore the Asia-Pacific security architecture and the regional consensus in favor of a non-coercive approach to this and other long-standing disputes," Carter said. Last week, China ordered a U.S. Navy surveillance plane flying near the islands to leave the area. The Pentagon says the jet was flying over international waters and it refused to leave.
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In the last six months an estimated 80,000 migrants have made the arduous journey by boat from Syria across the Mediterranean.
The French foreign minister and his British counterpart have severely criticized FIFA and called for the election of the world soccer association's president to be delayed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the United States on Thursday of meddling outside its jurisdiction in the arrest of top officials from soccer's world governing body, FIFA.
Russia’s Vladimir Putin accuses United States of ‘meddling’ over Fifa arrests by Guardian sport and agencies
• ‘This is yet another blatant attempt to extend its jurisdiction to other states’
• Russian president says arrests are ‘clear attempt’ to stop Blatter re-election
• Fifa crisis live: Blatter under pressure amid arrests
• Russian president says arrests are ‘clear attempt’ to stop Blatter re-election
• Fifa crisis live: Blatter under pressure amid arrests
Vladimir Putin has accused the United States of meddling outside its jurisdiction by arresting officials from Fifa.
“This is yet another blatant attempt [by the United States] to extend its jurisdiction to other states,” the Russian president said on Thursday.
Continue reading...Britain PM Travels to 4 EU States, Presses Case for Reformby webdesk@voanews.com (Associated Press)
Prime Minister David Cameron set off Thursday on a whirlwind visit to four European capitals, pressing his case that Britain needs to renegotiate its relationship with the 27 other members of the bloc. It will be a tough sell. France's foreign minister signaled resistance to any major concessions on Britain's push for less centralized EU control. The trip began as Cameron's government revealed the question British voters will be asked in a referendum by the end of 2017: “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union?” Cameron said Wednesday that he expected the referendum bill, which is being published Thursday, to make it through Parliament and into law in “extra quick time.” The bill would allow British, Irish and Commonwealth citizens to vote in the referendum, but not most U.K. residents from other EU states. Cameron wants Britain to stay in the EU, if he manages to negotiate a new, looser relationship with the group. “We believe the right policy is reform, renegotiation and referendum,” he said, expressing confidence that Britain's bid for a new relationship with the EU would succeed. Cameron plans to travel to the Netherlands, France, Poland and Germany on Thursday and Friday as part of his efforts to talk with all of the leaders of the EU member states before a European Council meeting late next month. A planned trip to Denmark was canceled because Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt called a snap election. On Thursday, Cameron will meet Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte followed by talks at the Elysee Palace with French President Francois Hollande. On Friday, he meets with Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz in Warsaw before traveling to Berlin for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. European leaders have expressed a desire to accommodate Britain, but it's unclear how far they will go to meet Cameron's desire for change - especially to the right of EU citizens to live and work anywhere in the bloc. Other leaders have warned Cameron that free movement within the bloc is non-negotiable, but he hopes to gain agreement to restrict immigrants' right to claim benefits for a period of up to several years. Hours before Cameron arrived in Paris, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius warned Thursday that Cameron's plan for a referendum is “very risky.” Speaking on France-Inter radio, he said France is open to “improvements” in the way the EU functions, but “if it's about creating a specific status for Britain, so that it has advantages without constraints, then it's ‘No.’” British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said it was understandable that “some of our partners will adopt a hard line at the start of the negotiations.” “We expect our European Union partners to engage with us in delivering a package that will enable the British people to decide that Britain's future is best delivered inside the European Union,” he told the BBC.
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 The Guardian |
Russia's Vladimir Putin accuses United States of 'meddling' over Fifa arrests
The Guardian Putin added that the arrests were a “clear attempt” to prevent the re-election of Sepp Blatter as Fifa president and that the Swiss had Russia's backing. “It looks very strange, the arrests are carried out on the request of the USA side,” he said ... Russia and US at loggerheads as sports world stunned over FIFA corruption ...9news.com.au all 402 news articles » |
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The general director of a large Russian company has escaped with his life after being shot multiple times by a suspected hit man in southwest Moscow, news reports said Thursday.
With Fifa facing its greatest crisis in history and two separate criminal corruption probes, it can be difficult to keep track of who is accused of what. Here’s the rap sheet in full – as well as what might happen next.
Missing Tajik Police Commander Appears On Internet, Says Has Joined IS by noreply@rferl.org (RFE/RL's Tajik Service)
A top Tajik police commander who has been missing for weeks has reappeared on the Internet, claiming that he has joined the Islamic State (IS) militant group in protest at official restrictions on religious observance back home.
 Newsweek |
Russia Clamps Down on 'Undesirables' With New Law
Newsweek Dmitry Zimin, creator of the Dynasty Foundation, attends the PolitProsvet awards ceremony, which highlights achievements in political and civic education, in Moscow on May 27, 2015. ARussian law passed in 2012 designated his foundation a "foreign ... and more » |
Putin: FIFA Arrests Are Case of US Meddling Abroadby webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized the United States on Thursday for its corruption indictment against officials from football's governing body, calling the case an attempt to spread its jurisdiction to other countries. The world's most popular sport was plunged into turmoil this week when seven senior soccer officials were arrested on U.S. corruption charges and face extradition from Switzerland. Putin said in televised comments that it was an "obvious attempt" by the U.S. to prevent the reelection of FIFA President Sepp Blatter, 79, whom Russia is supporting. That vote is due to happen Friday with Blatter facing one opponent in his bid to win a fifth term. "If anything happened, it did not happen on U.S. territory and the United States has nothing to do with it," Putin said. “This is yet another blatant attempt (by the United States) to extend its jurisdiction to other states." Russia is hosting the next edition of FIFA's premier event, the World Cup, in 2018. Putin's comments follow a similar message from Russia's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday, which called the case an "illegal extraterritorial application of American law." There was no immediate U.S. reaction to Putin's remarks. The awarding of the 2018 games to Russia is part of a Swiss investigation into allegations of mismanagement and money laundering. Some material for this report came from Reuters.
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The Russian Army has brought large numbers of troops and hundreds of pieces of military hardware to an area near the Ukrainian border, a Reuters correspondent reports.
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Russia dropped seven positions in a ranking of the world's most competitive economies released this week as investment remained low amid geopolitical tensions over Ukraine and a burgeoning recession.
Russia’s military is reportedly gathering troops and stockpiling weaponry, rocket launchers and tanks at a military base close to the border with Ukraine.
Russia’s military is reportedly gathering troops and stockpiling weaponry, rocket launchers and tanks at a military base close to the border with Ukraine.
US Working to Enhance Training for Iraqi Troopsby webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Thursday that defense officials are looking at ways to enhance efforts to train and equip pro-government forces in Iraq as they battle Islamic State fighters. Speaking to reporters traveling with him on a trip to Asia, Carter said recent events in Iraq, where the militants seized the provincial capital of the sprawling Anbar province west of Baghdad, have shown the need for a "capable ground partner." The U.S. has been conducting airstrikes in Iraq since August, but so far ruled out sending in any ground troops of its own. WATCH: US-led coalition gives weapons to Iraqi troops Will of Iraqi troops questioned Carter questioned the "will" of Iraqi government troops after the fall of Ramadi, prompting the White House to respond with comments reaffirming U.S. support for the Iraqi mission against the Islamic State. The defense chief said Thursday that speeding up training and getting equipment to the battlefield will affect Iraqi forces with "their confidence in their ability to operate." He said the effort should also include preparing Sunni fighters to join the fight. "I think one particular way that's extremely important is to involve the Sunni tribes in the fight," he said. "That means training and equipping them." Multi-sectarian force needed White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Wednesday that the U.S. believes the fight in Ramadi will require a multi-sectarian force to succeed. "And the reason for that is Iraq is a very diverse country and they are going to need every element of their diversity to counter this specific threat ... and it is going to require a multi-sectarian security force to take the fight to ISIL [ Islamic State ] and to not just drive ISIL out of the country, but also to hold the ground," he said.
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New York Times |
Is Russia about to invade Ukraine?
Vox Russia is massing troops and hundreds of pieces of heavy military equipment, such as tanks and artillery, along Ukraine's border. That's according to Reuters reporter Maria Tsvetkova, who saw and took photos of the deployments on Wednesday. The same ... Armed With Google and YouTube, Analysts Gauge Russia's Presence in UkraineNew York Times In Kyiv Vs Moscow Fist Fight, Russia (Barely) Holding Up As Ukraine Against ...Forbes Biden: Sanctions on Russia until peace in UkraineMilitary Times Daily Beast-Sydney Morning Herald all 522 Military Times all 504 news articles » |
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Порошенко заявил о намерении России взять под контроль «всю Украину»
РБК Выступая на 8-м Киевском форуме по безопасности, Порошенко высказал мысль, что внутреннего конфликта на Украине нет, а язык, вера, вопросы земли и вступления в НАТО не раскалывают страну. Главной проблемой безопасности он назвал агрессию со стороны государства, ... Порошенко: Киев готов к переговорам с Донбассом, но лишь после выборовРИА Новости Петр Порошенко предлагает закрыть границу с РоссиейBBC Russian Порошенко хочет наказать политиков, допустивших внеблоковый статус УкраиныУНИАН Подробности -РИА Новости Украина Все похожие статьи: 339 » |
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Russian Military Losses In Peacetime To Be Classifiedby noreply@rferl.org (RFE/RL)
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree that classifies military losses while conducting special operations in peacetime.
In Lebanon, Many Refugee Girls Choose Marriage Over Povertyby webdesk@voanews.com (John Owens)
Pressured into marriage by her parents as part of a desperate effort to survive, Safia has given up on the dream she once had. “I wanted to continue my education and my life,” the 16-year-old, who is married to Omar, a man nearly a decade older than her, told VOA. “I wanted to be a teacher, but my ambitions don’t exist any more.” Safia is one of a growing number of refugees in Lebanon for whom finding a husband was not a matter of choice but of economic necessity. Torn away from their livelihoods and homes by war, families struggling to provide for their children have, in recent years, increasingly looked to marriage as an answer. And with bride and groom sometimes no older than their early teens, the dangers for those involved can be high. Transferring the burden Child marriage in the region pre-dates the outbreak of the Syrian war. According to UNICEF in 2009, six percent of women aged 20-24 in Lebanon had married under the age of 18 – a practice mainly limited to certain poor, rural parts of the country - while the pre-conflict figure within Syria was 13 percent. However, the devastating impact of the war on the displaced has driven up the numbers, says UNICEF child protection officer Nisrine Tawily Najjar. “The main drivers are prolonged displacement, and it can be a strategy for economic survival,” Najjar said. “It is seen as a way of reducing the economic burden on the families. However, it is simply transferring the burden from the caregivers to the child themselves." Close to home It is a circumstance all too familiar for Safia’s parents. The family had lived comfortably in Raqqa, Syria – the Islamic State group's self-proclaimed "caliphate" - until they were driven out by conflict in 2013. Sitting next to Safia, her mother Sabah explained that her husband Tarek, formerly in the construction business, had not been able to find a job for the last year. Now relying on U.N. handouts to feed their 10 children, Sabah explained she and Tarek pushed their daughter into marriage despite their own deep misgivings, and despite Safia’s initial tearful objections. “She is still a child, and getting married is a big responsibility. She doesn’t know how to deal with family problems, or her husband, who has needs.” Marriage is often seen by parents as a way of ensuring their child’s stability and protecting their child from the threat of sexual violence. But Najjar argued that for girls especially – the husband is often still young, but older than the wife - such marriages close off access to education and the prospect of employment. Marriage also brings with it the risk of sexual trauma and health problems, especially in childbirth. Just days before speaking to VOA, Safia had suffered a miscarriage. The risk of complications, as well as maternal mortality and infant mortality, are far higher among these young girls, Najjar added. Currently there is no legislation in Lebanon setting a minimum age to marry, and an attempt last year to introduce a bill making the practice more difficult has so far failed to be passed into law. In place of any laws, approval over marriages is often given by the religious leader in a community. Tackling the taboos With under reporting of child marriages common and reliable statistics sorely lacking, the Ministry of Social Affairs is set to back more in-depth research into the topic later this year. UNICEF’S Najjar said the organization is working with Lebanese NGO KAFA on a gender-based violence program that addresses child marriage. KAFA’s Eliana Aslan explained that the program, which includes interactive games between children and the women that care for them as a way of broaching taboo subjects, had seen some success. However, a number of major hurdles exist for those like KAFA, whose program has reached around 5,000 of what some estimate to be more than 1.5 million refugees in the country. “Many of the mothers are cooperative, and know that what we’re saying is in some way right, but the mother does not have power like the father does," Aslan said. “We have to engage men to have the best impact regarding this issue” she said, adding that men were often unwilling to be involved in such programs. And though the efforts of those like KAFA have helped, it is likely they will only be able to do so much while refugees continue to face poverty. For Safia, who participated in the sessions with her mother, education on the matter did not prevent her marriage from taking place. Now with her family in their tented settlement in the Beka'a region after a month living with her husband in Beirut as he unsuccessfully sought a job, she told VOA: “They didn’t have an impact. Even after the sessions I still had to get married.” *The names of Safia and her family have been changed to protect their identity
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Президент Путин засекретил информацию о погибших военных в мирное время
Радиостанция ЭХО МОСКВЫ Глава государства поправил перечень сведений, которые относятся к гостайне. Теперь ей стали потери личного состава министерства обороны России в мирное время в период проведения спецопераций. Ещё недавно это касалось только погибших в военных конфликтах. Путин засекретил данные о погибших военных в мирное времяРБК Потери в спецоперациях в мирное время стали гостайнойРоссийская Газета Путин засекретил данные о погибших российских военных в мирное времяРБК Украина BBC Russian -НТВ.ru -Lenta.ru Все похожие статьи: 140 » |
Russia Update: May 28, 2015 by Liveblog Team
UK Prime Minister David Cameron has now joined Sen. John McCain and others in calling for FIFA president Sepp Blatter to resign amid the corruption investigation of 9 sports officials. A new leadership could put in jeopardy Russia’s hosting of the World Cup in 2018.
Welcome to our column, Russia Update, where we will be closely following day-to-day developments in Russia, including the Russian government’s foreign and domestic policies.
The previous issue is here.
UPDATES BELOW
Russia This Week:
- Is ‘Novorossiya’ Really Dead?
- From Medal of Valor to Ubiquitous Propaganda Symbol: the History of the St. George Ribbon
- What Happened to the Slow-Moving Coup?
- Can We Be Satisfied with the Theory That Kadyrov Killed Nemtsov?
- All the Strange Things Going On in Moscow
- From Medal of Valor to Ubiquitous Propaganda Symbol: the History of the St. George Ribbon
- What Happened to the Slow-Moving Coup?
- Can We Be Satisfied with the Theory That Kadyrov Killed Nemtsov?
- All the Strange Things Going On in Moscow
Special features:
- With Cash and Conspiracy Theories, Russian Orthodox Philanthropist Malofeyev is Useful to the Kremlin
- Alexey Navalny On the Murder of Boris Nemtsov
- Theories about Possible Perpetrators of the Murder of Boris Nemtsov
- Novaya Gazeta Releases Sensational Kremlin Memo
- Alexey Navalny On the Murder of Boris Nemtsov
- Theories about Possible Perpetrators of the Murder of Boris Nemtsov
- Novaya Gazeta Releases Sensational Kremlin Memo
Please help The Interpreter to continue providing this valuable information service by making a donation towards our costs.
President backs Sepp Blatter as football scandal strains already tense US-Russian relations
 Зеркало недели |
ЛНР: встреча контактной группы пройдет 2 июня
РИА Новости Ни от одного из источников - ни от контактной группы, ни от ОБСЕ - никакой информации об изменении даты встречи не поступало, заявил уполномоченный ЛНР на минских переговорах Владислав Дейнего. Представитель Луганской народной республики Владислав Дейнего. Архивное ... Заседание трехсторонней контактной группы пройдет 2 июня в Минске, после работы подгрупп - КучмаИнтерфакс - Украина Кучма сообщил дату новой встречи контактной группы в МинскеВзгляд Кучма подтвердил встречу в Минске по Донбассу 2 июняКорреспондент.net Полит.ру -Русская планета Все похожие статьи: 39 » |
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President Vladimir Putin on Thursday declared all deaths of Russian soldiers during special operations to be classified as a state secret.
Vladimir Kara-Murza, who collapsed and lost consciousness on Tuesday in mysterious circumstances, is the federal coordinator of the civic group Open Russia.
 New York Times |
Why the FIFA arrests made Russia so angry with the US
Washington Post (blog) News of the arrest of prominent officials in FIFA, world soccer's governing body, on U.S. federal corruption charges triggered a fair amount of jubilation among soccer fans, keen to see the murky administration of the world's most beloved sport cleaned up. Russia Says FIFA Corruption Investigation Is No Threat to 2018 World CupNew York Times Putin claims US meddling in FIFA, 2018ESPN FC England should host 2018 World Cup not Russia, says Lennart JohanssonThe Guardian CNBC-CBS News-Foreign Policy (blog) all 7,568 news articles » |
With the first anniversary of IS's capture of Mosul rapidly approaching, the city of more than 1 million remains an IS stronghold, and plans to recapture it have stalled. Analysts and activists warn that these delays are allowing IS to entrench its "death-and-destruction" culture in what was once known as the Pearl of the North.
Michel Platini has revealed that Uefa will reconsider its relationship with Fifa if Sepp Blatter retains the presidency in Friday's vote following the 14 arrests of current and former members made as part of a dual investigation into corruption allegations.
In Azerbaijan, opposition groups gathered for their traditional Republic Day rally. In recent months Azerbaijan has arrested a number of opposition activists, dissidents, and journalists in a crackdown on civil society that has been strongly criticized in the West.
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Baltimore Residents Fearful Amid Spike in Homicidesby webdesk@voanews.com (Associated Press)
Antoinette Perrine has barricaded her front door since her brother was killed three weeks ago on a basketball court near her home in the Harlem Park neighborhood of West Baltimore. She already has iron bars outside her windows and added metal slabs on the inside to deflect the gunfire. "I'm afraid to go outside," said Perrine, 47. "It's so bad, people are afraid to let their kids outside. People wake up with shots through their windows. Police used to sit on every corner, on the top of the block. These days? They're nowhere." Perrine's brother is one of 36 people killed in Baltimore so far this month, already the highest homicide count for May since 1999. But while homicides are spiking, arrests have plunged more than 50 percent compared to last year. The drop in arrests followed the death of Freddie Gray from injuries he suffered in police custody. Gray's death sparked protests against the police and some rioting, and led to the indictment of six officers. Residents feel abandoned Now West Baltimore residents worry they've been abandoned by the officers they once accused of harassing them. In recent weeks, some neighborhoods have become like the Wild West without a lawman around, residents said. "Before it was over-policing. Now there's no police," said Donnail "Dreads" Lee, 34, who lives in the Gilmor Homes, the public housing complex where Gray, 25, was arrested. "I haven't seen the police since the riots," Lee said. "People feel as though they can do things and get away with it. I see people walking with guns almost every single day, because they know the police aren't pulling them up like they used to." Police Commissioner Anthony Batts said last week his officers "are not holding back" from policing tough neighborhoods, but they are encountering dangerous hostility in the Western District. "Our officers tell me that when officers pull up, they have 30 to 50 people surrounding them at any time," Batts said. At a City Council meeting Wednesday, Batts said officers have expressed concern they could be arrested for making mistakes. "What is happening, there is a lot of levels of confusion in the police organization. There are people who have pain, there are people who are hurt, there are people who are frustrated, there are people who are angry," Batts said. "There are people, and they've said this to me, 'If I get out of my car and make a stop for a reasonable suspicion that leads to probable cause but I make a mistake on it, will I be arrested?' They pull up to a scene and another officer has done something that they don't know, it may be illegal, will they be arrested for it? Those are things they are asking," he said. Pattern of police violence Protesters said Gray's death is emblematic of a pattern of police violence and brutality against impoverished African-Americans in Baltimore. In October, Batts and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake invited the U.S. Justice Department to participate in a collaborative review of the police department's policies. The fallout from Gray's death prompted the mayor to ask U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch for a full-fledged probe into whether the department employs discriminatory policing, excessive force and unconstitutional searches and arrests. Baltimore was seeing a slight rise in homicides this year even before Gray's death April 19. But the 36 homicides so far in May is a major spike, after 22 in April, 15 in March, 13 in February and 23 in January. Ten of May's homicides happened in the Western District, which has had as many homicides in the first five months of this year as it did all of last year. Non-fatal shootings are spiking as well. So far in May there have been 91 – 58 of them in the Western District. And the arrest rate has plummeted. The statistics showed that even before Gray's death, police were making between 25 and 28 percent fewer arrests each month than they made in the same month last year. But in May arrests declined far more sharply. So far this month, arrests are down roughly 56 percent. Police booked just 1,045 people in the first 19 days of May, an average of 55 a day. In the same time period last year, police arrested 2,396 people, an average of 126 a day. In fact, police did not make any arrests in the triple digits between April 22 and May 19, except on two occasions. On April 27, when protests gave way to rioting, police arrested 246 people. On May 2, the last day of a citywide curfew, police booked 140 people. 'A lot of reasons' behind surge At a news conference Wednesday, Rawlings-Blake said there were "a lot of reasons why we're having a surge in violence." "Other cities that have experienced police officers accused or indicted of crimes, there's a lot of distrust and a community breakdown," Rawlings-Blake said. "The result is routinely increased violence." Rawlings-Blake said her office is "examining" the relationship between the homicide spike and the dwindling arrest rate. "It's clear that the relationship between the commissioner and the rank-and-file is strained," she said. "He's working very hard to repair that relationship." Emergency response specialist Michael Greenberger cautions against blaming the police for the violence. The founder and director of the University of Maryland Center for Health and Homeland Security, he said it's more likely a response to Gray's death and the rioting. "We went through a period of such intense anger that the murder rate got out of control. I think it's been really hard for the police to keep on top of that," he said. Baltimore resident Lee disagrees. He said rival gang members are taking advantage of the police reticence to settle scores. "There was a shooting down the street, and the man was standing in the middle of the street with a gun, just shooting," Lee added. "Usually, you can't walk up and down the street drinking or smoking weed. Now, people are everywhere smoking weed, and police just ride by, look at you, and keep going. There used to be police on every corner. I don't think they'll be back this summer." Batts acknowledged that "the service we're giving is off-target with the community as a whole" and he promised to pay special attention to the Western District. Veronica Edmonds, a 26-year-old mother of seven in the Gilmor Homes, said she wishes the police would return and focus on violent crime rather than minor drug offenses. "If they focused more on criminals and left the petty stuff alone, the community would have more respect for police officers," she said.
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Putin Classifies Information on Deaths of Russian Troops on 'Special Missions' by webdesk@voanews.com (Reuters)
President Vladimir Putin on Thursday declared all deaths of Russian soldiers during special operations to be classified as a state secret, a move that comes as Moscow stands accused of sending soldiers to fight in eastern Ukraine. Putin, who has repeatedly denied any involvement of Russian troops in a pro-Russian rebellion there, amended a decree that had previously classified only deaths of servicemen during war time as secret. Asked to explain the rationale behind Putin's move, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov had no immediate comment. Russian opposition activists released a report saying at least 220 serving Russian soldiers were killed in fighting in two hot spots in east Ukraine last summer and earlier this year. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March, 2014, after wresting control over the peninsula by deploying troops with no insignia. Russia initially vehemently denied the soldiers - who became to be known as "little green men" - were Russian troops. Putin only publicly admitted Russian soldiers had been deployed in Crimea nearly a month after signing legislation formally completing the peninsula's annexation. Troops on border Unrest soon moved to east Ukraine. The West now accuses Moscow of driving a separatist rebellion there by providing it with serving Russian troops, arms, training and intelligence. Russia has backed many of the separatists' political claims, but it denies direct military involvement in east Ukraine, where more than 6,100 people have been killed in more than a year of fighting between the rebels and Kiev's forces. A Reuters reporter witnessed earlier this week the Russian army massing troops without insignia and hundreds of pieces of unmarked weaponry on the border with Ukraine. Asked by Reuters if this indicated Russia planned an invasion of Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Peskov told a conference call with reporters: "I find the wording of this question, 'if an invasion is being prepared', inappropriate as such." A cease-fire has been in force in eastern Ukraine since February, but each side accuses the other of violations. Kyiv says it fears Russia could commit troops to a push to extend control by separatist forces along Ukraine's southern coast.
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Russian president Vladimir Putin accuses the US of trying to extend its jurisdiction through the Fifa bribery scandal. He voices his support for the Fifa president, although he believes the corruption investigations are an 'obvious attempt' to prevent Sepp Blatter from being re-elected Continue reading...
Scathing Report Says Russia At War With Ukraine, Putin Lyingby noreply@rferl.org (Ron Synovitz)
A Washington-based think tank on international affairs has released a scathing report on Russia's "direct military intervention" in eastern Ukraine, concluding that President Vladimir Putin has led his country into war and has lied about it.
Libya: IS Stepping Stone to Europe?by webdesk@voanews.com (Cecily Hilleary)
A number of recent reports suggest that the Islamic State is not only making millions trafficking humans out of Libya, but smuggling its own fighters on boats headed across the Mediterranean to Europe. These reports have given added urgency to European Union ambitions to disrupt human smugglers and stem the flow of migrants into Europe — and to requests by the Libyan government for support. Libya’s appeal The fall of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011 brought about a resurgence of Islamic militant groups in Libya, many of whom were marginalized under Gadhafi’s rule. As the so-called Islamic State gained international attention through military successes in Iraq and Syria and savvy propaganda distributed on social media, some of those Libyan groups declared loyalty to ISIS. Last January, an IS supporter in Libya published a blog post titled, Libya: The Strategic Gateway for the Islamic State, later translated by the London-based Quilliam Foundation. The writer argued that because of Libya’s strategic location, majority-Sunni population and significant stockpiles of weapons, it was an ideal base for IS operations against “the Crusader coalition” – i.e., the West. He cited Libya’s long coastline and vicinity to Europe, “which can be reached with ease by even a rudimentary boat.” “According to many, it is easily possible to pass through Maritime Security Checkpoints and arrive in cities. If this was even partially exploited and developed strategically, pandemonium could be wrought in the southern Europe,” he wrote. It is almost impossible to gauge the numbers of IS fighters in Libya. Reports are largely anecdotal, and analysts caution against inflating the numbers. “It’s really important to recognize that there are agendas at work here, and we must be rational in dealing with them,” warned Charlie Winter, the researcher at the London-based Quilliam Foundation who translated the “Gateway” blog post. It’s also not clear whether the atrocities committed by Libyan groups professing allegiance to IS – like beheadings of Egyptian workers and an attack on a Tripoli hotel – were orchestrated by IS’s central leadership or if the Libyan groups are acting under their own direction. Money to be made Meanwhile, more than a 250,000 migrants crossed the Mediterranean last year in flimsy boats looking for a better life in Europe. Coming from Syria and Africa, they pay militants and tribal groups to navigate them across the Sinai or the Sahel to Libya. There, they hire human smugglers to ferry them to Europe in flimsy boats. The “fares” are exorbitant—anywhere from $800 to $2,500 or more. As many as 2,000 migrants have drowned in the Mediterranean this year—800 in a single disaster in April. The Islamic State in Syria and Iraq has made millions of dollars off the black market in oil, antiquities and humans; money laundering; “taxation” and other forms of extortion. If there is money to be made in human smuggling out of Libya, it’s not surprising that IS would want “in” on the action. “I think there probably is evidence to suggest that this is happening,” said Winter, who translated the “Gateway” blog post. “IS functions like a criminal gang in the areas that it controls. So of course wherever there is business and enterprise, the group will try to take a cut of that," he said. Recently, Abdul Basit Haroun told BBC Radio Five that while IS doesn’t govern smuggling operations in Libya, it taxes smugglers 50% of every fare they collect. And that amounts to a lot of money. According to Haroun, IS sends its own operatives along for the boat trip to Europe. "The boat owners have a list of who to take but some people come suddenly and they're told, 'take them with you,'" said Haroun. “…the European police don't know who is from IS and who is a normal refugee or not,” he said. But it is unclear in what capacity Haroun was commenting; media have alternately described him as a “warlord,” a Benghazi security chief and a gun smuggler. Winter says such reports should be greeted with some skepticism. “Just as we have to take reports from the other side of it, from the jihadist side of it, with a pinch of salt,” he said. “If we start taking everything that is said as sacrosanct, that could lead us down a very dangerous route.” He believes there is reason to be concerned about IS, but that concern is best focused on the countries in which it has a territorial presence. “The Islamic State’s key emphasis right now – its strategic priority – is on consolidation. It doesn’t seem to be on exportation,” he said. In other words, in the short term, IS is busy expanding its caliphate. EU steps up anti-smuggling efforts The European Union has approved a controversial plan to disrupt human smugglers operating in the southern central Mediterranean. “I think the EU’s plan is to stop boats that have just left the Libyan coast or just perhaps leaving the Libyan coast and then expect the smugglers to surrender or run away, and then they will destroy the boat,” Steve Peers, Professor of European Union and Human Rights Law at the University of Essex. Libya’s Ambassador to the United Nations Ibrahim Dabbashi initially rejected the plan as “worrying,” but Wafa Bugaighis, Libya’s charge d’affaires in Washington, said her government has appointed a special envoy to discuss the plan with European officials. “We believe in an increased presence of EU naval forces off Libyan waters to prevent illegal immigration and prevent smugglers of humans or other kinds of smuggling, whether oil, drugs or arms,” she said. “But any further action in Libyan water or on Libyan soil is very sensitive.” While officials said the migrants’ safety and disrupting human trafficking were the chief motives for the plan, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg acknowledged that worries over extremist groups using the migrants as cover to infiltrate Europe was a concern. “One of the problems also is that there might be foreign fighters, there might be terrorists trying to hide, trying to blend in among the migrants,” he said Monday. “And this underlines the importance that we have to respond to this turmoil.” Speaking on behalf of her government, Bugaighis said that the best way Europe and the United States can combat extremism and related criminal activity would be to support the region’s struggling democracies. “I believe that the international community should support peace and stability in Libya – not just for the sake of Libya, but for the sake of the region of southern Europe, of the Sahel and Sahara, of all our neighboring countries.”
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Friend of Boston Marathon Bomber Faces Up to 7 Yearsby webdesk@voanews.com (Associated Press)
A college friend of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev might have prevented a university police officer's shooting death by helping authorities find Tsarnaev instead of helping him, the officer's family said in a court filing Wednesday. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Officer Sean Collier was killed in an encounter with Tsarnaev and his brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, in Cambridge hours after authorities publicly released photographs and videos of them as suspects in the April 2013 bombing, which killed three people and injured more than 260. Tamerlan later died after a shootout with police in Watertown, and Dzhokhar was found hiding in a covered boat docked in a backyard there. Federal prosecutors filed the statement by Collier's stepfather, Joseph Rogers, along with a recommendation for a seven-year sentence for Tsarnaev's friend Dias Kadyrbayev. That sentence is the maximum agreed to when Kadyrbayev pleaded guilty last year to impeding the bombing investigation. Kadyrbayev is being sentenced June 2. A message seeking comment from his attorney wasn't immediately returned Wednesday. Prosecutors said there's no evidence Kadyrbayev knew about the plot to detonate two pressure cooker bombs loaded with shrapnel near the marathon's finish line. They said he recognized Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's photo when authorities released it and he removed Tsarnaev's laptop and backpack from his dorm room at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. "Had the defendant done the right thing, and called the police," Rogers said, "the Tsarnaev brothers' murderous rampage across Cambridge and Watertown may have been prevented." Tsarnaev's lawyers acknowledged his role in the deadly bombings, and he was convicted of many criminal charges. A jury last month sentenced him to death. Two more of his friends -- Azamat Tazhayakov and Robel Phillipos -- have been convicted of impeding the investigation. They are to be sentenced June 5.
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I Told You So by John R. Schindler
I can’t help but take some pleasure in seeing the mainstream media, however belatedly, explain that the NSA defector Edward Snowden is a very useful tool for Vladimir Putin and his intelligence services in what I term their Special War against the West. I’ve been pointing this out, since it’s obvious to anybody actually acquainted with the ways of Russian intelligence, in considerable detail for a long time, so I welcome anybody who joins Team Reality, no matter how long it takes them to get there.
Putin is growing less subtle by the day, and in his latest rant about the FIFA scandal, which seems likely to expose some dirty Kremlin deals, he put in a good word about his boys Edward Snowden and Julian Assange (what exactly is the relationship between the Russians and Wikileaks? well, I told you that too). For a former KGB counterintelligence officer, this is pretty much showing your hand.
But a Russian hand in a lot of nefarious things has been visible, at least in outline, in many stories over the years that never got the media attention that they deserved. I called Cold War 2.0 after the Russian theft of Crimea, and it seems tough to deny that we’re in one now. And if we’re lucky it will stay cold. It may not. This recent tweet caused a firestorm:
Said a senior NATO (non-US) GOFO to me today: "We'll probably be at war this summer. If we're lucky it won't be nuclear." Let that sink in.
— John Schindler (@20committee) May 20, 2015
I’m not sure why this caused a ruckus, since the reality, visible to anyone with eyes to see, is that Russian aggression over the last year and more has created a very unstable environment in Eastern Europe. Not to mention that the Russian military was simulating nuclear attacks on NATO countriesas far back as 2009, back when ties between Moscow and the West remained far from chilly, indeed positively reset-y. The post-Cold War order has been destroyed by Russian acts in Ukraine, and we’re headed towards some sort of new system — whether through renewed Cold War or actual war remains to be seen.
I am increasingly pessimistic that a wider war can be averted, not least because Putin has been winning off his gambling, despite holding an intrinsically weak hand, and gamblers tend to keep playing when they’re winning. Top NATO officials are now signalling just how dangerous the situation is in Eastern Europe. Yesterday Jens Stoltenberg, the Alliance secretary general, denounced“Russia’s recent use of nuclear rhetoric, exercises and operations are deeply troubling,” adding the obvious, that “Russia’s nuclear saber-rattling is unjustified, destabilizing and dangerous.”
Mincing no words, a top NATO general announced that Russia could take over the Baltic states in just two days. Petr Pavel, the former head of the Czech armed forces and the incoming boss of the Alliance’s Military Committee, ruffled some feathers with his blunt statement, which accords with military reality. Lacking strategic depth, the Baltic states indeed could be overwhelmed by Russia in just a couple days: in other words, before they could be saved by NATO. General Pavel explained that NATO actions to counter Kremlin aggression have been “embarrassingly ineffective” — which, again, is a truth that we are unaccustomed to top Western officials saying in public.
Pavel added comments about weaknesses in NATO intelligence, which track with alarming wordsfrom his boss, General Phil Breedlove, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, about “critical” intelligence gaps regarding Russia, in particular the fact that, due to said espionage shortfalls, NATO cannot predict Kremlin moves with much certainty. The possibility of a Russian surprise attack on a NATO country, therefore, is worryingly real and not something we may see in time to deter it. Here again, Snowden’s defection to Russia after stealing over a million classified U.S. documents should be on the table in discussing why we’re in the dark on such important matters.
Of course, moving thousands of troops is a difficult thing to hide completely in this day and age, and yesterday Reuters broke the story that large numbers of Russian troops, armed with tanks and artillery, have been sighted near the Ukraine border, more or less opposite the strategic city of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov. Worse, Russians have been seen removing unit insignias from their vehicles and uniforms, in emulation of last year’s “little green men” episodes in Crimea and Southeast Ukraine. Putin is either readying to launch a renewed offensive in Ukraine or he wants the world to think he’s about to. Deception, what Russians call maskirovka, is a well-honed art there, so it’s possible this is yet another saber-rattle. But we don’t know yet. Though I suspect we’ll find out soon enough.
Fully a year ago, I explained how, with a modest amount of conventional deterrence, the West could prevent further Russian aggression. Despite pleadings of Alliance members for just such a bona fide deterrent force, nothing substantial has been done, and NATO has been content to have some showy exercises and photo-ops: the “embarrassingly ineffective” measures castigated by General Pavel. For want of a few brigades of NATO troops in Eastern Europe, we may get Russian aggression that could change the world, and not for the better. I hate to say it, but … I told you so.
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More ill-considered legislation from the Duma - this time on alcohol content - will cause headaches and expense for struggling Russian businesses writes columnist Georgy Bovt.
Hospitalized Opposition Activist Needs Treatment Outside Russia, Wife Says by By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
Vladimir Kara-Murza, who collapsed and lost consciousness on Tuesday in mysterious circumstances, is the federal coordinator of the civic group Open Russia.
The Russian president denounced what he said was “another blatant attempt by the United States to extend its jurisdiction to other states.”
Russia's Amur Tiger Numbers On The Riseby noreply@rferl.org (RFE/RL)
According to interim census results, the population of the Amur tiger in Russia has increased to as many as 540 individuals.
Russia's Foreign Ministry called the investigation into FIFA an illegal attempt by the United States to impose its laws abroad while the organizing committee of the 2018 soccer World Cup in Russia said it is ready to cooperate with investigators.
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