by Chriss W. Street 5 May 2014 1601post a comment The Associated Press reported Monday that Gen. Herbert Carlisle, Commander of United States Air Forces in the Pacific, acknowledged a significant increase in the activities by Russian long-range strategic aircraft flying along the California coast.
There was no comment about whether the aircraft were nuclear capable, but it has not been since the Cold War ended in the early 1990s that Russian patrols have skirted the West Coast and California.
Gen. Herbert J. "Hawk" Carlisle is the Commander of Pacific Air Forces; Air Component Commander for U.S. Pacific Command; and Executive Director, Pacific Air Combat Operations Staff, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. As the PACAF, he is responsible for Air Force activities spread over half the globe in a command that supports 45,000 Airmen serving principally in Japan, Korea, Hawaii, Alaska and Guam.
Speaking Monday, May 5th at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a bipartisan Washington DC think tank, General Carlisle said there had been long-range Russian air patrols to the coast of California and a circumnavigation of the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam. He noted that a U.S. F-15 fighter jet intercepted a Russian strategic bomber that had flown to Guam.
General Carlisle linked the increased activity and incursions to the situation in the Ukraine. He said Russia was demonstrating its capabilities and gathering intelligence on U.S. military exercises.
He further admitted that there has been a sharp increase in Russian air patrols around Japanese islands and Korea. General Carlisle added that there was more Russian ship activity in the area, too.
Last week Breitbart News reported that reported that the Dutch Air Force had scrambled two F-16s to intercept a pair of Russian Bear strategic bombers approaching Dutch airspace from the North Sea. The Russian nuclear-capable bomber provocations seemed to be an effort to strain the NATO air forces, which have organized under a joint security arrangement for over 125 extra planes to patrol airspace over the Baltic States and near the Ukraine border.
The California incursions may also have involved Tupolev Tu-95 Bear Bombers, which were the Soviet Union's first intercontinental strategic bomber. Because of its distinctively swept-back wings and four turbo-fan engines that each drives two contra-rotating propellers, the plane is one of the noisiest military aircraft on the planet.
By sending patrols to the European and California coasts, the Russians must have wanted their intrusions to be visible on every radar site in the region to generate the greatest possible amount of media awareness.
May 6th, 2014, 18:10
Malsua
Re: World War Three Thread....
If they are in our airspace unannounced, we should force them to land and make a big stink about it.
If they are 300 miles out....shrug.
May 7th, 2014, 00:27
Ryan Ruck
Re: World War Three Thread....
Please, oh please, Ruskies. Whatever you do, don't nuke California.
To quote The Gunny from Full Metal Jacket, "That would break my fucking heart."
A wind-up to a general war might not get rid of the fruits and flakes automatically-in fact it might straighten some out with a dose of reality instead of bronies and furries-but what you want to bet that many of that State's 'Patriotic Immigrants just wanting their fair share of the American dream' would reverse-immigrate very quickly out of the United States altogether, within weeks?
May 12th, 2014, 13:27
American Patriot
Re: World War Three Thread....
U.S. to Conduct Strategic Bomber Exercise
Nuclear drills follow ‘massive’ Russian war games last week
The U.S. Strategic Command, which is in charge of waging nuclear war, will hold large-scale bomber exercises this week—days after Russia held what Moscow called “massive” war games simulating a U.S. and NATO nuclear attack.
Ten U.S. B-52 bombers and up to six B-2 strategic bombers will take part in the war games called “Global Lightning 14” from Monday through May 16, the command said in a statement late Sunday.
The purpose is to “demonstrate flexibility and responsiveness in training scenarios throughout the continental U.S.,” the command said in a statement from its Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska headquarters.
“This exercise provides unique training opportunities to incorporate the most current technology and techniques in support of our mission,” said Adm. Cecil Haney, Strategic Command commander. “Continued focus and investment in our strategic capabilities allow US Stratcom to deter, dissuade, and defeat current and future threats to the U.S. and our allies.”
Global Lightning, planned for more than a year, will began days after Russian President Vladimir Putin last week oversaw what Russian defense officials called a “massive” nuclear war drill that simulated U.S. and NATO nuclear attacks.
Stratcom said in its statement, in an apparent reference to the Russian war games, that “the timing of the exercise is unrelated to real-world events.”
Tensions remain high between the United States and Russia over Moscow’s military annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and ongoing pro-Russian unrest in eastern Ukraine.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Sunday declined to categorize Russia as an enemy, despite its aggression in Ukraine.
“We’re not at war with Russia, so do define an enemy as being at war or not at war?” Hagel said on ABC’s This Week.
Russia is “an adversary in Ukraine, sure,” he said.
“But I think that’s a little simplistic to get into either enemy, friend, partner, so on,” Hagel said. “Russia continues to isolate itself for a short-term gain. The Russians may feel that somehow they’re winning, but the war was not about just short term.”
U.S. officials have said some 40,000 to 80,000 Russian troops are deployed within a short distance of Ukraine’s eastern border.
Russia is seeking to create a federated state in Ukraine as part of Putin’s announced plan to restore elements of the Soviet Union. The Russian leader regards many of the former Soviet republics surrounding Russia, including Ukraine, as the “near abroad” that Moscow wants to control.
The Russian war games included the test launch of a SS-25 Topol intercontinental missile and two SS-N-23 submarine-launched ballistic missiles. Additional missile firings included six Russian air-launched nuclear-capable cruise missiles.
It could not be learned if Global Lightning will include U.S. missile launches.
A Stratcom spokeswoman declined to provide further details of the exercise.
“Global Lightning 14 is designed to provide training opportunities and to test and validate command and control procedures for U.S. Strategic Command and its subordinate units,” said Army Lt. Col. Stephanie Bounds, the spokeswoman.
“Just as technology changes, so do the threats. This exercise provides the opportunity to incorporate the most current technology and techniques in support of our mission.”
The command “is constantly honing its capabilities to deter, dissuade, and defeat current and future threats to the U.S. and our allies,” she said.
Bounds declined to provide details of the exercise but said: “All activities are designed to test and validate command and control procedures for U.S. Strategic Command and its subordinate units.”
A U.S. official said the U.S. Cyber Command, part of Strategic Command, will take part in the exercises that are said to include simulated cyber attacks against Strategic Command communications and command systems.
Mark Schneider, a former Pentagon nuclear strategy official, said the Russian exercises appeared intended as a political message to the West.
Schneider said Russia usually holds its nuclear drills in the fall and the timing of last week’s war games “suggests to me that the intent was nuclear intimidation against NATO over the Ukraine.”
Moscow on April 14 also conducted a test launch of a new ICBM called the SS-27 by NATO that carried multiple simulated warheads that analysts say potentially violated the 2010 New START arms treaty.
Moscow and Washington also have been battling over Russia’s plan to upgrade aircraft used in conducting permitted spy flights over the United States that intelligence officials say could undermine U.S. security. The flights are carried out under the Open Skies Treaty.
Russia temporarily blocked a U.S. overflight of Russia and a spokesman mentioned the dispute over the new Russian aircraft in criticizing U.S. officials.
The Obama administration also recently turned down a proposal from Russia aimed at resolving differences over U.S. and NATO missile defenses in Europe. Moscow is opposing the deployment of interceptors and radar in the region and has charged the United States with seeking to counter Russian strategic offensive missiles.
The administration insists the missile defenses are aimed at countering Iranian long-range missile threats.
May 12th, 2014, 13:34
American Patriot
Re: World War Three Thread....
Iran Unveils New Missile Equipped With MRV Payloads
The surface-to-surface Zelzal missile is equipped with thirty 17-kg bombs which can destroy a wide range of targets and is a proper option for targeting airport runways and equipments, installations and facilities on the ground.
The solid-fuel missile with a 300-km range is among the most important missiles which can attack enemy targets and bases in short distances.
Zelzal was unveiled on Sunday in the presence of Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei in a two-hour tour of the IRGC’s Aerospace Exhibition, where state-of-the-art equipment and hardware were showcased.
The missile was earlier test-fired in 2011 during the drills, codenamed Payambar-e Azam (The Great Messenger) 6, but it was then armed with regular payloads.
In the drills, 9 Zelzal missiles were fired concurrently by triple launchers. The launchers granted the country the ability to fire larger numbers of Zelzal missiles with a much shorter time needed for doing preparations.
Then this March, the Iranian Defense Ministry announced that it had equipped its Qadr H and Qiam ballistic missiles with its newly developed MRV payloads.
The two missiles are capable of carrying different types of ‘Blast’ and ‘MRV’ payloads, and can destroy a wide range of targets. The new version of Qadr H and Qiam can be launched from mobile platforms or silos in different positions and can escape missile defense shields due to their radar-evading capability.
Qadr is a 2000km-range, liquid-fuel and ballistic missile which can reach territories as far as Israel. Qiam is also a new type of surface to surface and cruise missile of Iran.
A Multiple Reentry Vehicle payload for a ballistic missile deploys multiple warheads in a pattern against a single target. (As opposed to Multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle, which deploys multiple warheads against multiple targets.) The advantage of an MRV over a single warhead is that the damage produced in the center of the pattern is far greater than the damage possible from any single warhead in the MRV cluster, this makes for an efficient area attack weapon. Also, the sheer number of Warheads make interception by Anti-ballistic missiles unlikely.
Improved warhead designs allow smaller warheads for a given yield, while better electronics and guidance systems allowed greater accuracy. As a result MIRV technology has proven more attractive than MRV for advanced nations. Because of the larger amount of nuclear material consumed by MRVs and MIRVs, single warhead missiles are more attractive for nations with less advanced technology. The United States deployed an MRV payload on the Polaris A-3. The Soviet Union deployed MRVs on the SS-9 Mod 4 ICBM. Refer to atmospheric reentry for more details.
In recent years, Iran has made great achievements in its defense sector and attained self-sufficiency in developing and manufacturing its essential needs to military tools, weapons, equipment and systems.
Tehran launched an arms development program during the 1980-88 Iraqi imposed war on Iran to compensate for a US weapons embargo. Since 1992, Iran has produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles and fighter planes.
Yet, Iranian officials have always stressed that the country’s military and arms programs serve defensive purposes and should not be perceived as a threat to any other country.
The title of this article is not hyperbole. Indeed, war has broken out in Ukraine. Both the United States and the Russians are employing asymmetrical warfare, at least for the time being, in an attempt to control the country.
Since 1980 on the recommendation of Colonel Charlie Beckwith, in the aftermath of the failure of Operation Eagle Claw, the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) was established as a component command of the United States which answers to the Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). The express mission is to conduct classified military operations in an among the various clandestine forces in the United States (e.g. Seals, Rangers and civilian mercenaries such as Blackwater now known as Academi).
List of JSOC Commanders
Most Americans have never heard of JSOC. However, the long list of JSOC commanders is impressive and notable. One name of their former commanders that jumps off the page is LTG Stanley McChrystal, the former commander of forces in Afghanistan, who was fired for comments which were critical of President Obama and his handling of the war.
Rank and Name Start and End of Term
MG Richard Scholtes December 1980 to August 1984
MG Carl Stiner August 1984 to January 1987
MG Gary E. Luck January 1987 to December 1989
MG Wayne A. Downing December 1989 to August 1991
MG William F. Garrison August 1992 to July 1994
MG Peter J. Schoomaker July 1994 to August 1996
MG Michael Canavan August 1996 to August 1998
LTG Bryan D. Brown September 1998 to December 2000
LTG Dell L. Dailey January 2001 to March 2003
LTG Stanley McChrystal September 2003June 2008
VADM William H. McRaven June 2008 to June 2011
LTG Joseph Votel June 2011 to Present
The JSCO Mission Has Morphed
Originally, the JSCOC was created to ensure interoperability and equipment standardization, plan and conduct special operations exercises and training, develop joint special operations tactics and execute special operations missions worldwide. Essentially, JSOC was a commando operation.
The mission of JSOC has changed dramatically. The mission of JSOC is still asymmetrical, but the net effect is that JSCOC is capable of carrying combat operations on a national scale and this is what we are subsequently witnessing in Ukraine.
One day when the smoke clears from the ashes of World War III, historians will credit JSOC as the entity being responsible for the commencement of World War III in Ukraine as civilian mercenaries, acting under the authority of LTG Votel is instigating a civil war in Ukraine for the purposes of purging the country of pro-Russian forces.
Putin Plays the Victim Card
Putin has criticized the United States for using mercenaries to drive out pro-Russian forces from Ukraine.
Putin’s allegations of war mongering by U.S. forces has merit and are backed up the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag who recently reported that 400 U.S. mercenaries are working with the (illegal) junta government in Ukraine to crush opposition to the Western coup in the eastern part of the country designed to turn Ukraine away from Russia by eliminating anti-coup activists in Slavyansk and the Donetsk region.
Putin’s allegations swirl around the presence of mercenaries affiliated with Academi. The readers may remember Academi when it was known as Blackwater and then it changed its name to Xe following its involvement in the murder of 17 Iraqis in Nisour Square, Baghdad, Iraq, in 2007. This mercenary group keeps changing its name to stay one step ahead of the burning bridge and escape oversight from Congress.
Academi’s board of directors is very impressive as it includes former Attorney General John Ashcroft and former NSA director, Bobby Ray Inman. The company’s CEO is a retired Brigadier General, Craig Nixon.
Make no mistake about it, Academi’s presence in Ukraine is a JSOC operation. JSOC is being confronted by its Russian counterpart in Ukraine. The net effect is that we are seeing the beginning of World War III through the use of asymmetrical forces. At the moment, this may only be a proxy war, but it is escalating exponentially.
Putin Is a Hypocrite
Putin is accusing the United States of using mercenary soldiers in Ukraine as he is employing the exact same strategy. Three months ago, Russian troops without insignia appeared in Crimea during the takeover. This is the Russian equivalent to JSOC as they belonged to the infamous Vnevedomstvenaya Okhrana. This organization is indeed the “Blackwater” contracted by the Russian interior ministry to protect Russian military facilities and related assets. This Russian version of Blackwater seized airports in the Russian invasion of Crimea. Just like JSCOC Vnevedomstvenaya Okhrana do not wear Russian military uniforms and their use gives Russia government plausible deniability.
However, make no mistake about, this organization is carrying out operations in Ukraine as proxy members of the Russian military.
Russian Blackwater vs. American Blackwater
Which side can provoke the greatest war crimes by the other side? Which side can assassinate the central Ukrainian leaders on the other side? Which side can galvanize its Ukrainian sympathizers to pick up arms and begin killing the opposition?
The world witnessed these tactics in Kosovo and we are seeing it again. In the coming weeks we can expect to hear about the discovery of mass graves and a number of murders of key opposition leaders on both sides.
The strategy of the two sides is clear. Provoke sympathetic civilians to takeover Ukraine. The losing side will no doubt escalate its involvement in order to prevent the total loss of the country through the use of conventional military forces.
With NATO war games set to commence in Ukraine, Moldova, Bulgaria and Poland in late June/early July, Putin must move quickly to achieve victory. If Putin allows NATO to consolidate its forces in Ukraine, Russia would likely lose its foothold in the country.
At risk is Putin’s ability to blackmail Europe with gas, 66% of the total, which flows through Ukraine. Unless Putin is happy being the head of a regional power, and not a global power, he has a very short time left to act.
Putin has already announced that he will not hesitate to use nuclear weapons against conventional forces which would come against Russia. During the next four to six weeks, event are going to become very heated.
At the end of the day, there can be doubt. World War III has broken out in Ukraine and the dominoes of escalating events are falling one by one.
May 12th, 2014, 14:43
American Patriot
Re: World War Three Thread....
` Votes are in as People Turned out in their Droves with 97.5% for Independence ‘
#AceWorldNews – SLOVIANSK – In the town of Sloviansk as many as 97.5% of those who participated in last Sunday’s referendum voted for the state independence of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), the head of the territorial election commission, Vilia Bakhtashevich told ITAR-TASS.
The official said the turnout for the referendum was as high as 72.1% (72,575 residents of the town besieged by the Ukrainian forces, and 70,743 of them supported the state independence act of the DPR).
On Sunday the polling stations in Sloviansk had to stay open longer than expected, till 22:00 despite the night-time curfew effective from 20:00. #ANS2104
May 12th, 2014, 17:05
Avvakum
Re: World War Three Thread....
Now you know where some of 'Yanukovich's' money went;
"Putin is accusing the United States of using mercenary soldiers in Ukraine as he is employing the exact same strategy. Three months ago, Russian troops without insignia appeared in Crimea during the takeover. This is the Russian equivalent to JSOC as they belonged to the infamous Vnevedomstvenaya Okhrana. This organization is indeed the “Blackwater” contracted by the Russian interior ministry to protect Russian military facilities and related assets. This Russian version of Blackwater seized airports in the Russian invasion of Crimea. Just like JSCOC Vnevedomstvenaya Okhrana do not wear Russian military uniforms and their use gives Russia government plausible deniability.
However, make no mistake about, this organization is carrying out operations in Ukraine as proxy members of the Russian military."
And Putin's isn't running out of time exactly, he's created facts on the ground with the ethnic russian separatist movements that he hopes will act as a 'firebreak' to the Ukrainian Revolution in progress.
May 12th, 2014, 19:13
American Patriot
Re: World War Three Thread....
US starts countrywide nuclear drill after similar war games in Russia
The US Strategic Command, the agency responsible for country’s nuclear arsenal, will hold large-scale war games this week that will include 10 B-52 Stratofortresses and up to six B-2 Spirit bombers, along with other military and government agencies.
The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is a long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber built to carry nuclear weapons.
The Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit, also known as the Stealth Bomber, is an American strategic bomber, designed for penetrating dense anti-aircraft defenses that can drop up to sixteen 1,100 kg B83 nuclear bombs.
The exercise will be conducted from May 12-16 and is set “to deter and detect strategic attacks against the US and its allies,” the Strategic Command said in a statement.
“This exercise provides unique training opportunities to incorporate the most current technology and techniques in support of our mission. Continued focus and investment in our strategic capabilities allow US Stratcom to deter, dissuade, and defeat current and future threats to the U.S. and our allies.” said Admiral Cecil Haney, head of Strategic Command.
StratCom is the US’s nuclear command and is responsible for space operations, global strike, global missile defense; and global command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and combating weapons of mass destruction.
Though the timing of the exercise was declared as “unrelated to real-world events,” it does come on the heels of the recent war games in Russia. Announced in November 2013, military drills on countering nuclear strikes were overseen by President Vladimir Putin ahead of the May 9 celebrations dedicated to victory in World War II
Contrary to the openness of the Russian war games, the US Strategic Command released very few details about the upcoming exercise.
Relations between Moscow and Washington have worsened significantly over the situation in Ukraine. The US continues to endorse and support a military operation by Kiev’s coup-installed government against federalization supporters in the southeast of the country.
Last week, NATO said it may permanently station additional troops in Eastern Europe as a defensive measure against Moscow. Russia views this recent buildup of NATO forces as a provocation and counterproductive in the struggle to deescalate tensions in Ukraine.
Quote:
Originally Posted by American Patriot
U.S. to Conduct Strategic Bomber Exercise
Nuclear drills follow ‘massive’ Russian war games last week
The U.S. Strategic Command, which is in charge of waging nuclear war, will hold large-scale bomber exercises this week—days after Russia held what Moscow called “massive” war games simulating a U.S. and NATO nuclear attack.
Ten U.S. B-52 bombers and up to six B-2 strategic bombers will take part in the war games called “Global Lightning 14” from Monday through May 16, the command said in a statement late Sunday.
The purpose is to “demonstrate flexibility and responsiveness in training scenarios throughout the continental U.S.,” the command said in a statement from its Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska headquarters.
“This exercise provides unique training opportunities to incorporate the most current technology and techniques in support of our mission,” said Adm. Cecil Haney, Strategic Command commander. “Continued focus and investment in our strategic capabilities allow US Stratcom to deter, dissuade, and defeat current and future threats to the U.S. and our allies.”
Global Lightning, planned for more than a year, will began days after Russian President Vladimir Putin last week oversaw what Russian defense officials called a “massive” nuclear war drill that simulated U.S. and NATO nuclear attacks.
Stratcom said in its statement, in an apparent reference to the Russian war games, that “the timing of the exercise is unrelated to real-world events.”
Tensions remain high between the United States and Russia over Moscow’s military annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and ongoing pro-Russian unrest in eastern Ukraine.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Sunday declined to categorize Russia as an enemy, despite its aggression in Ukraine.
“We’re not at war with Russia, so do define an enemy as being at war or not at war?” Hagel said on ABC’s This Week.
Russia is “an adversary in Ukraine, sure,” he said.
“But I think that’s a little simplistic to get into either enemy, friend, partner, so on,” Hagel said. “Russia continues to isolate itself for a short-term gain. The Russians may feel that somehow they’re winning, but the war was not about just short term.”
U.S. officials have said some 40,000 to 80,000 Russian troops are deployed within a short distance of Ukraine’s eastern border.
Russia is seeking to create a federated state in Ukraine as part of Putin’s announced plan to restore elements of the Soviet Union. The Russian leader regards many of the former Soviet republics surrounding Russia, including Ukraine, as the “near abroad” that Moscow wants to control.
The Russian war games included the test launch of a SS-25 Topol intercontinental missile and two SS-N-23 submarine-launched ballistic missiles. Additional missile firings included six Russian air-launched nuclear-capable cruise missiles.
It could not be learned if Global Lightning will include U.S. missile launches.
A Stratcom spokeswoman declined to provide further details of the exercise.
“Global Lightning 14 is designed to provide training opportunities and to test and validate command and control procedures for U.S. Strategic Command and its subordinate units,” said Army Lt. Col. Stephanie Bounds, the spokeswoman.
“Just as technology changes, so do the threats. This exercise provides the opportunity to incorporate the most current technology and techniques in support of our mission.”
The command “is constantly honing its capabilities to deter, dissuade, and defeat current and future threats to the U.S. and our allies,” she said.
Bounds declined to provide details of the exercise but said: “All activities are designed to test and validate command and control procedures for U.S. Strategic Command and its subordinate units.”
A U.S. official said the U.S. Cyber Command, part of Strategic Command, will take part in the exercises that are said to include simulated cyber attacks against Strategic Command communications and command systems.
Mark Schneider, a former Pentagon nuclear strategy official, said the Russian exercises appeared intended as a political message to the West.
Schneider said Russia usually holds its nuclear drills in the fall and the timing of last week’s war games “suggests to me that the intent was nuclear intimidation against NATO over the Ukraine.”
Moscow on April 14 also conducted a test launch of a new ICBM called the SS-27 by NATO that carried multiple simulated warheads that analysts say potentially violated the 2010 New START arms treaty.
Moscow and Washington also have been battling over Russia’s plan to upgrade aircraft used in conducting permitted spy flights over the United States that intelligence officials say could undermine U.S. security. The flights are carried out under the Open Skies Treaty.
Russia temporarily blocked a U.S. overflight of Russia and a spokesman mentioned the dispute over the new Russian aircraft in criticizing U.S. officials.
The Obama administration also recently turned down a proposal from Russia aimed at resolving differences over U.S. and NATO missile defenses in Europe. Moscow is opposing the deployment of interceptors and radar in the region and has charged the United States with seeking to counter Russian strategic offensive missiles.
The administration insists the missile defenses are aimed at countering Iranian long-range missile threats.
May 12th, 2014, 19:28
American Patriot
Re: World War Three Thread....
400 US mercenaries 'deployed on ground' in Ukraine military op
http://cdn.rt.com/files/news/26/a0/4...3.hr.en.si.jpg Ukrainian troops outside the town of Andreyevskoe near Slaviyansk, Donetsk Region, where local residents blocked a column of Ukrainian Army armored personnel carriers. (RIA Novosti / Mikhail Voskresenskiy)
About 400 elite mercenaries from the notorious US private security firm Academi (formerly Blackwater) are taking part in the Ukrainian military operation against anti-government protesters in southeastern regions of the country, German media reports.
The Bild am Sonntag newspaper, citing a source in intelligence circles, wrote Sunday that Academi employees are involved in the Kiev military crackdown on pro-autonomy activists in near the town of Slavyansk, in the Donetsk region.
On April 29, German Intelligence Service (BND) informed Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government about the mercenaries’ participation in the operation, the paper said, RIA Novosti reported. It is not clear who commands the private military contractors and pays for their services, however.
In March, media reports appeared suggesting that the coup-imposed government in Kiev could have employed up to 300 mercenaries.That was before the new government launched a military operation against anti-Maidan activists, or “terrorists” as Kiev put it, in southeast Ukraine.
At the time, the Russian Foreign Ministry said then that reports claiming Kiev was planning to involve “involve staff from foreign military companies to ‘ensure the rule of law,’” could suggest that it wanted “to suppress civil protests and dissatisfaction.”
In particular, Greystone Limited, which is currently registered in Barbados and is a part of Academi Corporation, is a candidate for such a gendarme role. It is a similar and probably an affiliated structure of the Blackwater private army, whose staff have been accused of cruel and systematic violations of human rights in various trouble spots on many occasions.
“Among the candidates for the role of gendarme is the Barbados-registered company Greystone Limited, which is integrated with the Academi corporation,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “It is an analogue, and, probably and affiliated body of the Blackwater private army, whose employees have repeatedly been accused of committing grievous and systematic human rights abuses in different troubled regions.”
Allegations increased further after unverified videos appeared on YouTube of unidentified armed men in the streets of Donetsk, the capital of the country’s industrial and coalmining region. In those videos, onlookers can be heard shouting “Mercenaries!”“Blackwater!,” and “Who are you going to shoot at?”
http://rt.com/files/news/26/a0/40/00/000_nic334155.jpg(FILES) A picture taken on July 5, 2005 shows contractors of the US private security firm Blackwater securing the site of a roadside bomb attack near the Iranian embassy in central Baghdad. (AFP Photo / Ahmad Al-Rubaye)
Academi denied its involvement in Ukraine, claiming on its website that “rumors” were posted by “some irresponsible bloggers and online reporters.”
“Such unfounded statements combined with the lack of factual reporting to support them and the lack of context about the company, are nothing more than sensationalistic efforts to create hysteria and headlines in times of genuine crisis,” the US firm stated.
The American security company Blackwater gained worldwide notoriety for the substantial role it played in the Iraq war as a contractor for the US government. In recent years it has changed its name twice – in 2009 it was renamed Xe Services and in 2011 it got its current name, Academi.
The firm became infamous for the alleged September 16, 2007 killing of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad. The attack, which saw 20 others wounded, was allegedly without justification and in violation of deadly-force rules that pertained to American security contractors in Iraq at the time. Between 2005 and September 2007, Blackwater security guards were involved in at least 195 shooting incidents in Iraq and fired first in 163 of those cases, a Congressional report said at the time.
May 12th, 2014, 20:15
Malsua
Re: World War Three Thread....
The American in that second picture looks like pure toolbag with those stupid sunglasses that he picked up at Ivan's teen girl sunglasses shack.
Oh and for what it's worth, if you want to set your 90+ year old WWII aviator into flashback play the following:
Police officers, fire fighters and other law enforcement employees in Murmansk or Arkhangelsk can forget about visiting friends or take a tourist trip to other Barents countries.
Russia’s Ministry of Civil Defense, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters has issued travel restrictions to all employees like the country’s firefighters, ambulance drivers and rescue troopers, reports LifeNews.
A similar travel ban is imposed for parts of employees under the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) including tens of thousands of police officers, prison guards, and other law enforcement agencies like the Federal Drug Control and the Federal Migration Service. Others listed are people with access to state secrets, like certain employees of the Foreign Ministry. According to estimates, they are around 250,000 people.
The two reasons given to explain the travel ban are to take measure to prevent leaks of secrets and secondly, to prevent the possibility of being arrested by U.S. law enforcement agencies.
MVD has prepared a blacklist of 150 countries their employees no longer can visit. Norway, Sweden and Finland are on the list, as well as all other EU member countries and nations around the world that have an agreement with the U.S. on mutual extradition, reports Izvestia. Countries like North Korea, Cuba and Vietnam are not on the list.
Blogger51 in Murmansk reports that there is a lively discussion among police officers in an online blog-forum. Many express their frustration after already made bookings to foreign travel destinations.
Moscow is banning Washington from using Russian-made rocket engines, which the US has used to deliver its military satellites into orbit, said Russia’s Deputy PM, Dmitry Rogozin, who is in charge of space and defense industries.
“We proceed from the fact that without guarantees that our engines are used for non-military spacecraft launches only, we won’t be able to supply them to the US,” Rogozin is cited as saying by Interfax news agency.
If such guarantees aren’t provided the Russian side will also be unable to perform routine maintenance for the engines, which have been previously delivered to the US, he added.
The US relies on Russian-made RD-180 and NK-33 engines to launch military and civilian satellites into space, with NASA saying it’s unlikely to produce a fully operational rocket engine of its own before 2020.
The Deputy PM also announced that Russia is considering halting the operations of all American GPS stations on its territory, starting from June 1.
Such a measure would be employed if the US fails to decide on hosting stations for Russia’s space-based satellite navigation system, GLONASS, before May 31, he explained.
“We’re starting negotiations, which will last for three months. We hope that by the end of summer these talks will bring a solution that will allow our cooperation to be restored on the basis of parity and proportionality,” Rogozin said.
But if the negotiations turn out to be fruitless, operation of the 11 American GPS station in Russia will “be permanently terminated” from September 1, he warned.
According to Rogozin, Moscow also isn’t planning to agree to the US offer of prolonging operation of the International Space Station (ISS).
“We currently project that we’ll require the ISS until 2020,” he said. “We need to understand how much profit we’re making by using the station, calculate all the expenses and depending on the results decide what to do next.”
“A completely new concept for further space exploration” is currently being developed by the relevant Russian agencies, the official explained.
Previously, the US space agency, NASA, had asked Russia’s Roscosmos to keep the ISS in orbit till 2024.
May 13th, 2014, 17:27
American Patriot
Re: World War Three Thread....
Ukraine: 6 soldiers killed in ambush
By Laura Smith-Spark, Atika Shubert and Kellie Morgan, CNN
updated 11:38 AM EDT, Tue May 13, 2014
Luhansk "people's governor" is injured in an attack on his vehicle, his press office says
The names of 13 people newly sanctioned by the European Union are released
Canada announces sanctions on six Russian and six Ukrainian citizens
Donetsk, Ukraine (CNN) -- Six members of the Ukrainian armed forces were killed on Tuesday in a "terrorist attack," the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said in a statement on its website.
The incident took place in the village of Oktyabrski in the Slovyansk region, about 20 kilometers from Kramatorsk, during "a unit movement from the military base." The location is in volatile eastern Ukraine.
"Our soldiers were attacked in an ambush. Terrorists attacked our land troops with grenades. The attackers were more than 30 people and set an ambush near the river," the ministry said.
"After a long shootout, six soldiers of The Ukrainian Armed Services were killed," the statement said.
In another incident in eastern Ukraine, a separatist leader has been injured in a suspected assassination attempt, a spokesman said Tuesday, amid continuing turmoil in the wake of a controversial weekend referendum on independence.
A car carrying the "Luhansk people's governor" Valeriy Bolotov was fired on Tuesday in the Luhansk region, said Vasiliy Nikitin, a spokesman for the self-declared "Luhansk People's Republic."
Bolotov suffered a gunshot injury, but Nikitin said it was "light" and not life threatening. It is not known who was behind the shooting.
The reported attacks comesamid simmering tensions in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where pro-Russian separatists staged a referendum Sunday asking residents whether they should declare independence from Ukraine. http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...story-body.jpgCNN poll: 56% of Ukrainians are pro-EU http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...story-body.jpgSwedish FM: Crisis hurts Russian economy http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...story-body.jpgRussian FM: We respect Ukrainian vote http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpg Photos: Crisis in Ukraine
Speaking in Brussels, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk had strong words for Russia, saying it continues to support the separatists behind the unrest.
"Russia will fail to make a failed state," he said, as he urged Moscow to condemn the pro-Russian militants.
Yatsenyuk said the priority for Ukraine was to hold free and fair national elections on May 25, after which, he said, "we expect to have a new, legitimate president."
The Prime Minister warned that Ukraine would pursue Russia through the courts over its annexation in March of Ukraine's Crimea territory, including an oil and natural gas company based there.
Ukraine will also challenge Russian energy giant Gazprom in court unless it agrees to renegotiate the price it charges Ukraine for natural gas supplies, Yatsenyuk said. Gazprom said the recent sharp increase, from $268.50 to $485 per 1,000 cubic meters, was necessary because Ukraine is billions of dollars in arrears.
Yatsenyuk said Ukraine would pay what it owes, but only if Gazprom revises the natural gas deal in line with market rates.
"Russia is to stop using natural gas as another type of Russian weapon," he said. 'Decisive role'
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, speaking alongside Yatsenyuk earlier in Kiev, warned that the situation in eastern Ukraine is "still dangerous and threatening," and backed efforts by the interim government to start a national dialogue.
Steinmeier said the May 25 presidential elections would play a "decisive role" in restoring calm to Ukraine and urged steps to disarm the illegal separatist groups who have seized key buildings in the east.
He also praised the interim government for its handling of the crisis. http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...-story-top.jpgWhere unrest has occurred in E. Ukraine
Steinmeier's visit is the latest in a series by foreign diplomats seeking a peaceful resolution to what has become the worst East-West crisis since the end of the Cold War.
Their efforts have done little so far to prevent pro-Russian militants from tightening their grip on Ukraine's east and south
Nearly 90% of voters in the Donetsk area favored secession, the head of the central election commission for the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic said Tuesday. He said just over 10% voted against the move.
Separatist leader Denis Pushilin said Monday that the Donetsk region was not only independent, but also would ask to join Russia. There was no immediate response from Ukraine's government or the European Union. http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...story-body.jpgNATO chief talks Ukraine, Afghanistan http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...story-body.jpgMany vote in favor of independence http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...story-body.jpgSome Ukraine voters seen voting twice
Pushilin's announcement was reminiscent of separatists' moves in the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which Russia annexed after Crimeans voted to secede from Ukraine and join Russia in a March 16 referendum.
Acting Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov said Monday of the referendum: "That farce the terrorists call a referendum is nothing else but a propagandist cover for killings, kidnapping, violence and other grave crimes." EU, Canada impose sanctions
Sunday's referendum was also widely condemned by the international community.
In its wake, Western leaders have imposed fresh sanctions in the hopes of pressuring Russia into reining in the pro-Russian militants.
The European Union sanctioned 13 people Monday over the Ukraine crisis, bringing the total number subject to EU visa bans and asset freezes to 61, an EU diplomat said. Two Crimean entities are also sanctioned.
Those targeted in the latest round, whose names were only released Tuesday, include Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, the self-declared Mayor of Slovyansk, a rebel stronghold in the Donetsk region, and Vladimir Shamanov, commander of the Russian airborne troops.
Meanwhile, Canada has imposed sanctions on 12 additional people, six Russians and six Ukrainians, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement.
Canada's expanded sanctions list includes Russian military chief Valery Gerasimov; Russian State Duma vice-speakers Sergei Neverov and Lyudmila Shevtsova; and Igor Girkin, known as "Strelok," who is accused of being a Russian saboteur and militant leader in eastern Ukraine.
Also named by Canada are Crimean politicians and five representatives of the self-proclaimed republics and militias in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Canada's government had previously approved sanctions against nine Russian politicians and businessmen, two Russian credit organizations and 16 Russian companies.
Russia, which said it respected the will of the people of Luhansk and Donetsk in Sunday's vote, has not so far responded to Pushilin's announcement that he will seek annexation by the Russian Federation.
Moscow denies having direct influence over the separatist groups. They went ahead with the referendum despite a call from Russian President Vladimir Putin to delay it.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters Monday that Russia finds the EU sanctions highly regrettable, according to Russian state media.
"It's an absolutely thoughtless and irresponsible policy that doesn't match reality in any way," news agency ITAR Tass quoted him as saying. Hague: More sanctions in the pipeline
Addressing Parliament in London on Tuesday, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague urged Russia to use its influence to de-escalate the situation and disarm the militants -- or face more tough measures.
Additional sanctions are being prepared, he said, and the European Union is ready to impose them if needed.
"Because we have now widened the criteria substantially there are now many more individuals and entities who could be added," he said of the sanctions list.
Hague added that planning for a range of wider economic and trade measures is "at an advanced stage."
EU members accepted that such measures would hurt their own economies as well as Russia's, Hague said, but were united over the "triggers" that would mean they were brought into force.
On Twitter, Hague said that Britain would back Ukraine's May 25 presidential elections by providing 100 observers for the Organization for Security and Cooperation mission and £429,000 ($723,000) in financial aid.
May 13th, 2014, 17:31
American Patriot
Re: World War Three Thread....
Russia to suspend US GPS stations in tit-for-tat spat
Russia is about to shut down American GPS stations on Russian soil – not as a reaction to the Crimean crisis, but instead in response to Washington's failure to agree to host ground stations for the Russian GLONASS system.
Russian deputy foreign minister Dmitry Rogozin said the suspension would take place beginning June 1, and will involve the stations of the American GPS satellite navigation system on the territory of Russia.
Rogozin took to twitter to assure Russians that this action will not affect the quality of the received signal by Russian users of the navigation system. "We hope that these negotiations will find solutions that will restore proportional cooperation; if not, from September 1, the operation of these stations will be stopped completely," he explained.
The Russian Federal Space Agency – aka Roscosmos – appealed to the US authorities for permission to build several measuring stations for the GLONASS system in May 2012, but the parties have failed to reach an agreement.
The New York Timesblames the CIA and Pentagon for not allowing GLONASS stations in America, saying that they fear the installations could be used to spy on American interests. There may also be commercial reasons for the US to promote its domestic system over the Russian one.
The American Global Positioning System – more simply known as GPS – initially had military and civilian modes that reduced the accuracy for non-authorized users. However, during 1991's Operation Desert Storm, when some military equipment only had civil GPS systems, the higher level of accuracy was opened up for everyone and this has remained the case.
According to Rogozin, Russia and the US agreed to build the 11 GPS stations in Russia, with agreements signed in 1992 and 2011. In 2013, GLONASS monitoring stations opened in Brazil, and there are plans to extend the infrastructure to Indonesia, Australia, and Spain.
Recently, I wrote an article in which I stated that world could be within a five week window of an all out war in Ukraine which would also involve surrounding Eastern European countries. The premise of the article was based upon the fact that NATO has scheduled massive war games late this spring and early this summer in Ukraine, Poland, Bulgaria and Moldova. The coincidence of these war games represents a clear intention on the part of NATO to consolidate military forces inside Russia’s neighbors in anticipation of an all-out attack by Putin against Ukraine. As I wrote about earlier this week, we are already witnessing the face-off between American paramilitary forces (i.e. Academi, formerly Blackwater) and Russian paramilitary forces (i.e. Vnevedomstvenaya Okhrana) in Ukraine.
If Putin truly intends to fully occupy Ukraine and consolidate Russian control over much of Russia’s gas shipments to the EU, which runs through Ukraine, Putin cannot allow NATO to consolidate its military forces. He must militarily act prior to NATO commencing these war games. The stakes are high as the prize represents the virtual control of much of Europe’s energy. NATO could become fragmented in such a scenario and Putin would be free to gobble up Eastern Europe and Western Europe would become a virtual economic colony of Russia.
Since I wrote the above referenced article on April 21, 2014, events have unfolded which indicate that both the United States are preparing for war against each other and that war will be nuclear. The world has not been this close to nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. The Russians Prepare For Nuclear War With the West
According to a Russian navy blog, Russia simulated a nuclear attack involving submarines, bombers and land-based missiles and this massive drill was coordinated under the direct supervision of Putin at the Defense Ministry’s headquarters in Moscow. The nuclear drill simulated a massive retaliatory nuclear strike in response to an enemy attack. This was a live fire drill and involved a Sineva ballistic missile that hit a target on the Kula testing range on the Kamchatka Peninsula. Subsequent warnings were issued to civilian aircraft to stay clear of the massive war games area.
The Russians Have Moved to Lock Down Key Personnel In Anticipation of War
LifeNews is reporting that Russia’s Ministry of Civil Defense, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters has issued travel restrictions to all employees like the country’s firefighters, ambulance drivers and rescue troopers. Additionally, a similar travel ban is imposed for parts of employees under the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) including tens of thousands of police officers, prison guards, and other law enforcement agencies like the Federal Drug Control and the Federal Migration Service. Others listed in the travel ban are personnel with access to state secrets, like certain employees of the Foreign Ministry. According to estimates, the total number of travel-restricted personnel number around 250,000 people.
There are two official explanations given to explain the travel ban. First, the Russian government claims that they are enacting measures to prevent the leaking of state secrets to NATO and the United States in particular. Secondly, the travel ban was issued to prevent the possibility of key personnel, holding sensitive information, from being arrested by U.S. law enforcement agencies and subsequently forced to give up the information.
Interestingly, the duration of the travel ban is interminable. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, exceptions would be made in “exceptional circumstances” and for “good reason.”
Russia’s blacklist and banned countries includes a lengthy list of 150 countries that sensitive Russian personnel can no longer can visit. Izvestia News is reporting that countries like North Korea and Cuba are not on the banned travel list. Wouldn’t North Korea and Cuba be allied with Russia in any upcoming war with the West?
These reports strongly indicate that nuclear war between Russia and NATO could be imminent.
Americans Are Also Preparing For Nuclear War
According to my friend and present broadcasting colleague, John Moore, a former Green Beret intelligence officer, has recently interviewed Command Sergeant Major Dan Page in which he announced that 1,000 Russian Spetsnaz, each month are pouring into America via Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. Sergeant Page warns that after arriving at Fort Leonard Wood, these Russian special forces are being sent out to other military bases across the country after receiving their initial training at their arrival location.
Clearly, these Spetsnaz commandos would be carrying out fifth column attacks against key American military installations.
In addition to the Page report, the United States government is now preparing for a nuclear attack and its response should a nuclear attack be launched against the U.S. and its interests. The drill is being called Global Lightning.
Conclusion
The fact that Russia and the United States are both conducting nuclear war drills at a time of heightened tensions is a little more than coincidental. The world was in a similar place in 1962 and President Kennedy backed the Russians down with an air and naval blockade. Unfortunately, President Obama is no John Kennedy.
On May 8, 2014 President of Russia took part in a command and control exercise conducted by the Russian armed forces. Among its main goals, the exercise was devoted to "coordinating actions of various units in countering a large-scale missile- and air-attack." Also, the exercise checked the procedures for launching a "massive launch-on-warning (ответно-встречный) missile strike and countering a nuclear attack by the means of the Moscow missile defense system."
As part of the exercise, the Strategic Rocket Forces launched a Topol/SS-25 ICBM from the Plesetsk test site to the Kura test site in Kamchatka. The warhead was reported to have successfully reached its target.
The Tula submarine of the Project 667BDRM class performed a successful launch of its R-29RM missile from the Barents Sea to the Kura site. Another submarine, Podolsk of the Project 667BDR class, launched a R-29R missile from the Sea of Okhotsk to the Chizha test site at the Kanin Peninsula. Note that this is the first launch of an SLBM from the Podolsk submarine in more than a decade - until recently all launches at the Pacific Fleet were performed from the Sv. Georgiy Pobedonosets submarine.
The exercise also tested communication between the national command authorities and strategic bombers. A Tu-95MS bomber launched six cruise missiles (if the video footage showed the actual launch, it was Kh-55) "against ground targets at the Western military district test site."
At the Priozersk (Sary-Shagan) test site a short-range interceptor (apparently 53T6, known as Gazelle; it's possible that it was the 53T6M, previously tested in December 2011) of the Moscow ABM system was reported to successfully intercept a target that imitated a ballistic missile. Last time the interceptor was tested during the October 2013 exercise.
MOSCOW, May 12 (RIA Novosti) – Ammunition for servicemen is being transferred by plane to the area of an ongoing special operation in eastern Ukraine’s Slaviansk, the country’s acting Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said Monday.
“We are flying by a cargo plane with soldiers ... We are carrying new ammunition and protective means for Omega [special forces] troops,” Avakov wrote on Facebook.
The Communist Party of Ukraine earlier called on the Kiev authorities to stop the special operation in eastern Ukraine and endorse federalization in an effort to avoid casualties in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
The Party of Regions has also demanded that Kiev stop the special operation in the southeast of the country.
A prominent parliamentarian, Oleksandr Yefremov, said he is considering turning to international courts to bring to justice those responsible for the crimes, adding that “military actions that result in deaths among civilians cannot be called anything other than a military crime.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier that Western politicians, including from the US and NATO countries, were responsible for inciting radicals to overthrow the government and escalate the crisis in Ukraine.
May 14th, 2014, 15:24
American Patriot
Re: World War Three Thread....
WW4 File: UKRAINE, RUSSIA AT WAR: Amid Russia’s occupation of Crimea, secession of 2 more Ukrainian regions with intent to join Russian Federation, US Strategic Command conducts nuclear war game, “Global Lightning 14″ military drill involves 10 B-52, 6 B-2 strategic bombers “to deter, dissuade, and defeat current and future threats to the U.S. and our allies”; US Defense Secretary Hagel: “Russia is an adversary in Ukraine, sure”; follows Russian Armed Forces exercise “simulating a U.S. and NATO nuclear attack”; NATO chief Rasmussen to visit Romania May 15-16, reassure ex-communist state of alliance’s support in face of Russian aggression in Ukraine; Bucharest, Moscow exchange sharp words after Romania closed airspace to Russian Dep. PM’s plane, Moldova forces Rogozin’s aircraft to land at Chisinau, confiscates petitions for Transnistrian accession to Russia; Rogozin visited breakaway region for Victory Day events, threatened to return to Romania in “Blackjack” bomber
The U.S. Strategic Command, which is in charge of waging nuclear war, will hold large-scale bomber exercises this week—days after Russia held what Moscow called “massive” war games simulating a U.S. and NATO nuclear attack.
Ten U.S. B-52 bombers and up to six B-2 strategic bombers will take part in the war games called “Global Lightning 14” from Monday through May 16, the command said in a statement late Sunday.
The purpose is to “demonstrate flexibility and responsiveness in training scenarios throughout the continental U.S.,” the command said in a statement from its Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska headquarters.
“This exercise provides unique training opportunities to incorporate the most current technology and techniques in support of our mission,” said Adm. Cecil Haney, Strategic Command commander. “Continued focus and investment in our strategic capabilities allow US Stratcom to deter, dissuade, and defeat current and future threats to the U.S. and our allies.”
Global Lightning, planned for more than a year, will began days after Russian President Vladimir Putin last week oversaw what Russian defense officials called a “massive” nuclear war drill that simulated U.S. and NATO nuclear attacks.
Stratcom said in its statement, in an apparent reference to the Russian war games, that “the timing of the exercise is unrelated to real-world events.”
Tensions remain high between the United States and Russia over Moscow’s military annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and ongoing pro-Russian unrest in eastern Ukraine.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Sunday declined to categorize Russia as an enemy, despite its aggression in Ukraine.
“We’re not at war with Russia, so do define an enemy as being at war or not at war?” Hagel said on ABC’s This Week.
Russia is “an adversary in Ukraine, sure,” he said.
“But I think that’s a little simplistic to get into either enemy, friend, partner, so on,” Hagel said. “Russia continues to isolate itself for a short-term gain. The Russians may feel that somehow they’re winning, but the war was not about just short term.”
U.S. officials have said some 40,000 to 80,000 Russian troops are deployed within a short distance of Ukraine’s eastern border.
Russia is seeking to create a federated state in Ukraine as part of Putin’s announced plan to restore elements of the Soviet Union. The Russian leader regards many of the former Soviet republics surrounding Russia, including Ukraine, as the “near abroad” that Moscow wants to control.
The Russian war games included the test launch of a SS-25 Topol intercontinental missile and two SS-N-23 submarine-launched ballistic missiles. Additional missile firings included six Russian air-launched nuclear-capable cruise missiles.
It could not be learned if Global Lightning will include U.S. missile launches.
A Stratcom spokeswoman declined to provide further details of the exercise.
“Global Lightning 14 is designed to provide training opportunities and to test and validate command and control procedures for U.S. Strategic Command and its subordinate units,” said Army Lt. Col. Stephanie Bounds, the spokeswoman.
“Just as technology changes, so do the threats. This exercise provides the opportunity to incorporate the most current technology and techniques in support of our mission.”
The command “is constantly honing its capabilities to deter, dissuade, and defeat current and future threats to the U.S. and our allies,” she said.
Bounds declined to provide details of the exercise but said: “All activities are designed to test and validate command and control procedures for U.S. Strategic Command and its subordinate units.”
A U.S. official said the U.S. Cyber Command, part of Strategic Command, will take part in the exercises that are said to include simulated cyber attacks against Strategic Command communications and command systems.
Mark Schneider, a former Pentagon nuclear strategy official, said the Russian exercises appeared intended as a political message to the West.
Schneider said Russia usually holds its nuclear drills in the fall and the timing of last week’s war games “suggests to me that the intent was nuclear intimidation against NATO over the Ukraine.”
Moscow on April 14 also conducted a test launch of a new ICBM called the SS-27 by NATO that carried multiple simulated warheads that analysts say potentially violated the 2010 New START arms treaty.
Moscow and Washington also have been battling over Russia’s plan to upgrade aircraft used in conducting permitted spy flights over the United States that intelligence officials say could undermine U.S. security. The flights are carried out under the Open Skies Treaty.
Russia temporarily blocked a U.S. overflight of Russia and a spokesman mentioned the dispute over the new Russian aircraft in criticizing U.S. officials.
The Obama administration also recently turned down a proposal from Russia aimed at resolving differences over U.S. and NATO missile defenses in Europe. Moscow is opposing the deployment of interceptors and radar in the region and has charged the United States with seeking to counter Russian strategic offensive missiles.
The administration insists the missile defenses are aimed at countering Iranian long-range missile threats.
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Added on May 13, 2014 07:31 am NATO Secretary General visiting Romania this week
by Romania Insider
The NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen will visit Romania this week, on May 15 and 16, where he will meet the Romanian President Traian Basescu, Prime Minister Victor Ponta, as well as the Foreign Affairs Minister Titus Corlăţean, according to Mediafax newswire.
Fogh Rasmussen, who approaches the end of his mandate, is currently visiting several European states. His previous visit to Romania was in May 2013. NATO Secretary General Rasmussen starts official trip to Romania with jogging session in Bucharest park