Photo By Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
Pro-Russian fighters handover the bodies of Ukrainian troops who died in a plane shot down near Luhansk, at a check point in the village of Karlivka near Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, Wednesday, June 18, 2014. The two sides managed to arrange a brief truce Wednesday evening in the eastern town of Karlivka to allow pro-Russian forces to hand over the bodies of 49 Ukrainian troops who died when the separatists shot down a transport plane bound for the airport in Luhansk last weekend.
BRUSSELS (AP) — Russia has resumed a military buildup near Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Thursday, calling it "a very regrettable step backward."
"I can confirm that we now see a new Russian military buildup — at least a few thousand more Russian troops deployed to the Ukrainian border, and we see troop maneuvers in the neighborhood of Ukraine," Rassmussen said in London.
"If they're deployed to seal the border and stop the flow of weapons and fighters that would be a positive step. But that's not what we're seeing."
Instead, the NATO chief said, Russia appears bent on using its military to intimidate Ukraine further.
"I consider this a very regrettable step backwards and it seems that Russia keeps the option to intervene further," Rasmussen said. "So the international community would have to respond firmly if Russia were to intervene further. That would imply deeper sanctions which would have a negative impact on Russia."
NATO estimated at one point there were up to 40,000 Russian forces deployed near the border with Ukraine, but reported last month that many of the soldiers and their equipment had been pulled back.
In his speech, Rasmussen said the U.S.-led NATO alliance is at a turning point.
"The world that we helped to build after the end of the Cold War is being challenged in different ways and from different directions," he told his audience at Chatham House.
"To our east, Russia's aggression against Ukraine is an attempt to rewrite international rules and recreate a sphere of influence. At the same time, to our south, we see states or extreme groups using violence to assert their power. And overall, we see threats old and new, from piracy to terrorism to cyber-attacks."
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Russia is continuing to mass forces on the border with Ukraine, the secretary-general of NATO says.
Speaking at the Chatham House foreign affairs think tank in London, Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that 'at least a few thousand more' Russian troops had been deployed to the border area.
'I consider this a very regrettable step backwards. It seems that Russia keeps the option open to intervene further into Ukraine,' he said.
He said he expected that any further Russian incursions into Ukraine would be met in a 'firm manner' with the imposition of more damaging economic sanctions.
Rasmussen said that if the Russian deployment was intended to seal the border and stop the flow of equipment and weapons into Ukraine it would be a 'positive step'.
He added however: 'I also have to say that is not exactly what we are seeing.'
His comments came after David Cameron delivered a warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin following the G7 summit in Brussels earlier this month that Moscow had a month to end its interference in Ukraine or facing far-reaching economic sanctions.
Rasmussen said Russia's incursions against its neighbour should be seen as a 'wake-up call' for the international community.
He said that while there had been a 50 per cent increase in defence spending by Moscow since 2008, NATO nations' spending on the military had declined by around 20 per cent.
'Russia's aggression against the Ukraine is an attempt to rewrite international rules and recreate a sphere of influence,' he said.
'The illegal Russian military actions in Ukraine are a wake-up call - a reminder we cannot take security, we cannot take freedom, for granted. We have to invest sufficiently in security and defence.'
Ok, the "rebels" rejected a truce with Ukraine. The Russians started massing....
can anyone guess what will happen next?
Russian troops seen to mass at Ukraine border as rebels reject peace plan
Pro-Russian Ukrainians refused to lay down weapons in line with request by Ukraine's president
June 19, 2014 8:05AM ET
NATO’s Secretary-General said Thursday that several thousand more Russian troops had been deployed on Ukraine's eastern border, just hours after pro-Moscow separatists refused a call to lay down their weapons as part of a proposed peace plan by Ukraine's president.
"We now see a new Russian military build-up around the Ukrainian border. At least a few thousand more Russian troops are now deployed," Anders Fogh Rasmussen said during remarks at a London think tank.
Petro Poroshenko, installed as a Ukrainian president on June 7, has been pushing a plan to end the separatist rebellion in the country’s restive east, including an offer of a unilateral ceasefire by government forces and amnesty for the separatists as long as they put down their weapons.
Poroshenko was due later on Thursday to meet regional officials from the Donetsk and Luhansk areas of eastern Ukraine to explain his plan – though he rules out meeting separatists.
But Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian separatists were locked in fierce fighting in the east of Ukraine after rebels rejected the call to lay down their arms in line with Poroshenko's plan, government forces said.
Heavy fighting broke out at around 4 a.m. (ocal time near the town of Krasny Liman, which itself has been under government control since early this month.
"We issued an ultimatum to the terrorists overnight to surrender their weapons. We guarantee their safety and investigation in line with Ukrainian law ... They refused," said government forces spokesman Vladyslav Seleznyov.
"Now we are trying to narrow the encirclement. They are trying to break out," Seleznyov said.
No details of the fighting were immediately available from the rebels side.
Poroshenko also said Thursday that he would sign an Association Agreement with the European Union on June 27, including the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement.
Negotiations about the agreement began back in 2008 after Ukraine joined the World Trade Organization. The deal was delayed because Ukrainian leaders who feared signing it would anger Russia, Ukraine's largest trade partner.
In the end, ousted Moscow-backed Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovich backed out – igniting street protests in Kiev that led to the dissolution of his regime in February. Separatist rebellions in eastern Ukraine in early April followed and Russia in turn annexed the Crimean peninsula. Many pro-Russian rebels have called for union with Russia.
For its part, Kiev has accused Russia of fomenting the unrest in the east and allowing volunteer fighters from Russia to cross into Ukraine to support the rebels.
All told, the violence has cost the lives of 147 Ukrainian soldiers and wounded 267, the defense ministry said on Wednesday. But many scores of separatist militia, civilians and members of other military bodies such as the national guard have also been killed and the overall death toll is much higher.
Figures released by the United Nations on Wednesday said 356 people had been killed in the conflict so far, of which 257 were civilians.
Ukrainian forces, which lost 49 servicemen on June 14 when separatists brought down a military helicopter in Luhansk region, have been gradually tightening their encirclement of rebel positions to the south and east of Krasny Liman including the rebel stronghold of Slaviansk.
Up to 4,000 separatist fighters could be involved in Thursday's fighting near Krasny Liman, and armored vehicles and possibly tanks were being used by both sides, the military source said.
The reported use of tanks could not be independently confirmed.
Military sources said the Ukrainian forces had fired leaflets into rebel areas giving them an ultimatum to lay down their weapons in line with the Poroshenko blueprint.
"There is an ongoing active phase of the ATO (anti-terrorist operation) in the region of Krasny Liman," said Seleznyov
Asked about the report that 4,000 separatists could be involved, Seleznyov, the government forces spokesman, replied: "Then, there'll be 4,000 coffins".
Wire services
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Hagel just cancelled meeting with Germany's ministry of Defense. He's on the way to the White House. The President is about to make some kind of decision on this.
This is NOT going to bode well for anyone.
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President Obama is apparently prepared to order US air strikes against Islamist insurgents in Iraq – without the approval of Congress.
The commander-in-chief of the world's largest and most sophisticated armed forces should stick to what he knows best – domestic American politics – and leave any direct military intervention in Iraq to the professionals.
Any student of military history could tell Mr Obama that air power alone cannot counter a relatively low-tech insurgent enemy such as Isis, who are in equal measure fanatical and determined to fight on ground of their choosing.
If the American – and for that matter the British – governments are willing to support the Iraqi administration of Nouri Al-Maliki, then it will take boots on the ground to get the job done. But after the experience of removing Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003 and the unfinished war against the Taliban Afghanistan, neither Mr Obama nor America's major allies have the stomach or political support to commit ground troops to a full-blown, counter-insurgency war north of Baghdad.
It is not Predator drones that Mr Obama needs to commit to the fight. A ground war in support of the Iraqi government would require an American commander empowered to fight a ruthless war on the same terms as the enemy. Such a general does not currently exist in the US army, and even if they did it is doubtful that Mr Obama would follow the example of his hero President Lincoln and allow a "scorched earth" campaign to be fought.
On a tactical level, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, known as Isis, has shown himself to be a shrewd and utterly ruthless commander who is willing to use fear as a weapon to intimidate his adversaries.
Although little is known of the man being portrayed as the new Osama bin Laden within the al Qaeda network, it is clear that he knows how to command men over a wide area of operations. In seizing the Baiji refinery, he has also shown an ability to concentrate his available forces on a crucial strategic target.
Confused reports suggest that the military situation around remains fluid, however US air strikes won't hold the facility if the Iraqi army can seize it back.
If Isis shuts off petrol and liquid petroleum gas supplies from Baiji, it will add to the general level of civil unease within Baghdad and pile pressure onto Al-Maliki to force his generals into making rash attacks.
US air power may help win the battle of Baiji, it will not win the war.
For that, Mr Obama will have to commit troops.
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The situation in Iraq is escalating out of control.
It is actually a prelude to World War-III. Several knowledgeable military observers who have served or are serving the Middle East say that the lightning strike by the ISIL, which translates into chaos and sectarian warfare from Yemen to Libya to Syria, and now Iraq is a prelude to a much wider conflict involving the West and Iran.
The situation in Iraq will end in a bloodbath of immense proportions and might lead to disintegration of the Iraqi state and the Balkanization of the entire Middle East.
Sectarian violence will spread like wildfire causing a political inferno that no amount of military force will be able to subdue. The Iraqi Civil War if left unchecked will serve as a trigger to ignite a global conflict of epic proportions.
The broader implications of a wider war are far-reaching. The brutal and savage fighting clearly indicates that outside elements are fuelling this dangerous conflict. It is obvious that the intelligence community were caught unaware. The sophistication of the assault clearly indicates that the assault was well-planned and coordinated. Foreign involvement is a foregone conclusion.
Military intervention by the West will trigger a backlash that its forces will be unable to contain. It is imperative that the Arab League and Muslim nations deploy a task force to stabilise the situation, as failure will lead to anarchy from which Iraq will never recover.
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on Breitbart TV 13 Jun 2014 269post a comment On Friday’s broadcast of his radio show, conservative talk show host Sean Hannity warned that the current crisis underway in Iraq as the radicalized militia ISIS closes in on Iraq’s capital city Baghdad, is shaping up to be something far larger than just an isolated conflict.
Hannity explained that the situation could spread around the region and eventually grow to be the beginnings of World War III.
“I mean, do you realize if this spreads to Jordan and Turkey and throughout the region and then you have got a radicalized Iran, a radicalized Syria, a radicalized Iraq – and then you can move into Afghanistan, which will follow and Pakistan right behind that,” he said. “I mean, it’s almost as if – you know, I’ve said this before that I can see the pieces lining up when you have a radical ideology where people will die for the sick twisted evil belief system. You can see the potential lining up for World War III here at the end of the day by the time all is said and done when all the fallout comes together.”
“And you’re going to see a lot of this group,” he added. “You’re going to hear a lot of this group, ISIS – you watch. You heard it here first. But the president – he went on the South Lawn to say, ‘We’re still thinking about what we’re going to do. We’re thinking about it.’” Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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Take a look at every corner of the globe today. Like never before seen on this planet, the global chessboard is fast being carved up with provocative red lines drawn in the sand resulting from rapid military armament and troop deployment throughout this ever increasing bipolar world.
Cold War Part Two was jump started with February’s US backed Ukraine coup and overnight the old familiar East versus West scenario is once again threatening the start of World War III. Wherever untapped precious natural resources can still be extracted from the sea and ground is where opposing military forces from each side are lining up and ready for the end-of-world war. If it wasn’t so alarming, it would be absurdly laughable. Can you hear the global ring announcer? “In the West’s corner, the current and still only heavyweight champion of the superpower world, the greatest empire on earth, the world bully of all bullies, the US-NATO forces! And in this East corner, the up and coming wannabe challenger, once again making its re-appearance on the global stage, the original axis-of-evil we all have all come to love to hate – the armies of Russia, China, Iran and North Korea!”
Beyond the border of the Western nations that are the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Israel and Western Europe including Asian allies Japan and South Korea and the Eastern nations of Russia and China, virtually everywhere else on earth the West is now locked in a global power grab battling to plunder the earth’s remaining turf and resources before and against the East gets to it first in a fight to the finish. Perhaps this colliding path to increasing conflict, death and destruction can best be graphically understood in terms of geographic regional breakdowns of the various East versus West confrontations.
The champion bully so used to throwing its weight around the world is clearly the American Empire’s high powered killing machine and its right hand killer puppet NATO. But the bully has met its match with the emerging powerful Eastern bloc of a reaffirmed Russia-China alliance threatening to tilt the power away from previously unchecked US global hegemony. Several weeks ago Russia and China signed a $400 billion gas deal ensuring that Russia’s largest export will only grow regardless of what might happen with supplying Europe. Since the US-induced Ukraine crisis, in self-defense to America’s global aggression and imperialism, Russia and China have reestablished old ties.
Recently discovered evidence exposes the US Empire’s extended Gladio operations into the twenty-first century Europe using strong arm bullying and subversive aggressive tactics against various socialist and left leaning politicians within the European Union who might oppose NATO, tactics that include possible assassination as well as “softer” character assassination techniques. This proves just how much Europe, its EU and NATO are all completely dominated and controlled by any and all means necessary as puppets of the US Empire.
The US is pushing its “full spectrum dominance” to purposely escalate tensions with encircling Russia and China by militarizing every nation on their border. In the meantime, through mainstream media’s state sponsored propaganda, the US government is attempting to demonize Russian President Putin and his nation as the vilified aggressor when in fact US Empire has always been the warmongering state inciting war after war. Despite the lies and saber rattling propaganda, more Americans are finally seeing the true villain is in fact the hegemonic Empire. And with the overthrow of another democratically elected sovereign government in Ukraine earlier this year, by perpetual US aggression the next war could well be in Eastern Europe against nuclear armed Russia.
In Poland last week Obama promised a billion dollar military aid package to strengthen Ukraine and NATO nations in preparation for war with Russia. US Air Force and Army units along with F-16’s are arriving en masse throughout Eastern Europe and Central Asia along the Russian border and will be serving on a rotational basis for years to come. Additionally, long time scheduled nuclear powered warhead missile sites are being lined up in Poland and already this year in Romania pointed across the border to Russia. In Romania Obama’s also rolling out the newest version of the star wars program of nukes from space, capable of taking out Russian target cities with a first strike while neutralizing Russia’s response with its anti-missile defense system. Thus, overwhelming evidence indicates Obama is currently planning and preparing for the likelihood of World War III with Russia and its allies. The geopolitics game of course has everything to do with global hegemony, which in turn has everything to do with money, oil pipelines and access to earth’s most precious resources.
US Empire agenda has always been to target any nation that defies preservation of the US dollar and petrodollar as the fiat international currency standard to ensure the central banking cabal’s global control of the world population through a feudalistic debtor system. Both Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi went down quickly after planning to no longer trade in US dollars.
The underlying escalation in conflict with Iran centers greatly on Russia and other BRIC nations trade with Iran with rubles and gold. Even NATO ally Turkey’s president yesterday was making a deal with Iran’s visiting leader to buy Iran’s oil through payment in gold rather than the US petrodollar. With Russia, China, India, Brazil and South Africa all BRIC members that are choosing to not trade in US dollars, they are leading the charge that will soon bring down the US oligarch’s paper fiat. As more and more of the world moves against the US dollar, at some point in the near future the US economy will plunge into a freefall nosedive of a severe depression. But then this also has been the oligarchs’ eventual plan in the making for some time.
In fact the biggest East vs. West geographical bone of contention covers the elongated stretch of land 10,000 miles long spanning every country bordering Russia and China, all those onetime outer Soviet state nations that end in “stan” that Americans can neither pronounce nor remember. From Europe through the trans-Caucasus of Central Asia to Tibet all the way to East Asia, the big East vs. the big West face-off in recent months has been heating up with noticeable mounting tensions throughout.
And the current hottest of all hotspots in this vast arena of course has been the civil war well underway now in Ukraine. With increasing violence the Ukraine military has been destroying hospitals, schools, residential areas and municipal buildings in eastern Ukrainian cities like Lugansk. Meanwhile Russian troops have overall shown restraint although just recently the southeastern Ukraine border crossing checkpoints have been abandoned by Kiev government forces and are now under Russian control. The impending war between Ukraine and Russia appears increasingly eminent.
But in short order, all along the Russia-China bloc’s own backyard, the West is fomenting and creating dirty secret wars spilling death squad bloodshed in any number of these highly unstable, corrupt, resource-rich borderlands. The strategy is to head Russia off at the pass from forming its own Eurasian Union (EAU) by next year with Kazakhstan and Belarus. A number of other nations in the region like Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan that may even include prior Western leaning nations like Georgia have all expressed an interest in also joining this EAU as well. If Putin succeeds in acquiring these pivotal nations on its side, the EAU would rival the EU and NATO in economic and military power. This development would weaken and potentially threaten the oligarchs’ central banking cabal. To ensure that it does not happen, World War III is more likely to happen first.
One relatively new global region where the US-NATO military is currently facing off against the Russian armed forces is fighting over the disputed waters accounting for 30% of the world’s vast oil reserves sitting underneath the Arctic Ocean floor. As the global warming rapidly melts the polar icecaps, the result makes the value of its mineral and oil reserves both more assessable and coveted by all the nations that share Arctic territory. The melted ice also opens up new trade routes never available before. Thus competition and potential conflict is ratcheting up as Russia the nation with the most Arctic territory has been building a military presence in the region since 2007 and currently possesses ten military bases along the northern sea route. Only in the last year has NATO recognized the need to match Russia’s head start both militarily and economically.
Recently 16,000 soldiers from the US and NATO participated in the largest Western joint military exercise north of the Arctic circle in a hurry up effort to try and catch up to the 70,000 troop buildup of the Russian Army already stationed on the northern tundra. Russia has the distinction of being the only nation in the world with a nuclear icebreaker fleet.
Last month Norway’s defense minister echoed the NATO party line seeing Russia’s annexation of Crimea as a direct threat to all NATO countries and called for an increased focus on matching Russia’s Arctic circle growth. In April Russia successfully shipped its first oil from its Arctic drilling operations. Canada, the US, Norway and Denmark through Greenland all have a vested NATO interest in the Arctic for its plentiful deposits of oil, gas and minerals. And the Russian Federation has beaten NATO to the punch both in its resource extraction as well as its military stronghold in the region.
The US never ratified a UN treaty among the Arctic nations that irons out how access and extraction of resources will be conducted. Even though the oil corporations, the military and environmental groups all agree the US should ratify the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, once again the dysfunctional US Congress has continually voted it down. It seems the US purposely desires to undermine any judicious international solution to the intensifying competition as if a subsequent conflict and potential war is purposely part of the Empire agenda.
In Africa Obama’s exceptionalism manifests in the form of Special Operations on the ground busily training and militarizing the entire continent so the Empire can outmaneuver and undercut surging China’s economic power interest as the continent’s leading trading partner. Training death squads in so called counterinsurgency operations has become the Special Ops modus operandi. The US is spending 1.2 billion dollars to build and expand an outpost into a major military base housing 4000 soldiers at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti. America took advantage of the recent Boko Haram kidnapping of girls to ensure its military presence including drone operations secured an even stronger foothold in Nigeria. Yemen, Somalia, Mali, Sudan, Libya and Congo have all been targeted for a growing drone surveillance and missile strike program in answer to intelligence claims that Islamic extremists have posed a rising terrorist threat on the continent. AFRICOM has now extended its operations to all African nations but two. Of course the stronger US military presence and activity are precursors for securing the region for expanding transnational corporations into Africa to compete with China’s economic dominance.
Historically in modern times the Middle East has never stopped being the world hotspot for multi-layered international conflict. Aside from the longstanding Israeli apartheid genocide against Palestinians and the broader Jewish vs. Muslim antagonism, the focal point for over three years now has been the devastating war in Syria where Iran, Russia and China are aligned with the Assad government while the US-NATO-Israel-Saudi Arabia alliance has been financially backing, arming and deploying thousands of al Qaeda mercenaries to fight their proxy war against Syria and the Eastern alliance.
Iran and Syria have long been in the US imperialistic crosshairs as the final two of seven nations on that neocon regime change list dating back prior to 9/11 and still remain unfinished business. Controlling Ukraine and conquering Syria and Iran would cut off Russia’s oil supply to Europe and America could effectively control the outgoing oil supply from the Middle East to the rest of the world. Thus, Obama is still sending more sophisticated high powered weaponry to the so called moderate anti-Assad rebels in Syria that could potentially end up in the hands of al Qaeda militants who have already pledged to use the US made arms against America. And this comes when the Syrian government forces have begun to gain the upper hand in the bloody war against the US proxy lowlifes.
In a Reuter’s article (June 9, 2014) a Free Syrian Army general warned against Obama’s plan to arm rebel groups in Syria as he believes it will create warlords like in Somalia and Afghanistan that will operate as loose cannons not answering to anyone and only creating more problems for anti-government forces. This view only reinforces the common perception that Obama’s poor, misguided and erratic leadership in the Middle East has diminished America’s international power, reputation and credibility, grossly undermined by Obama’s empty, paper tiger rhetoric and inconsistency.
Though the US-NATO military forces can occupy nations along the entire border of Russia’s and China‘s backyard, the double standard that is US exceptionalism ensures that Chinese and Russian armies are forever banned far from North and South America. Other than Cuba, gaining a foothold of influence and power within the US dominated Western hemisphere has been tenuous for Russia and China. The exploitative and over controlling (with roots back to the Monroe Doctrine) American Empire has driven Latin American nations toward seeking an intra-continental alliance promoting a degree of independence, solidarity and defense from the reigning clutches of the sole world superpower to the north. Nations like Venezuela through the efforts of the late Hugo Chavez have taken a bold and defiant stance against US hegemony, calling Bush “the devil” at the UN a few years ago. Similar to long sanctioned Cuba, resistance to American aggression has taken the form of embracing both Russia and China for bolstered support through economic development and trade. While the US was busy focusing on waging wars on multiple warfronts, China from 2000 to 2009 quietly increased its trade with Latin America by 600%. As a result, China is gaining influence in America’s hemispheric “backyard.”
Lastly, in the final continent East Asia tensions have only increased between America and China there as well. During his recent so called pivot tour to the Far East, Obama reaffirmed and strengthened military ties with South Korea, Japan and the Philippines. In response to the increasing territorial squabbling between China and other US allies in Asia like Japan, Philippines and more recently Vietnam, always the opportunist the US in Secretary of State Kerry recently invited Vietnam’s deputy prime minister to Washington to discuss establishment of a US naval base in Vietnam. Another recent issue causing friction is the US allegation that Chinese military officers spied on American corporations breaching security to gain valuable information. Of course the fact that the US was caught with the Snowden revelations spying on the entire world has no impact on the US willingness to chastise and accuse others nations. The rest of the planet readily recognizes America’s double standard hypocrisy in constantly objecting to other nations that are merely doing the same behavior that America does.
The polarizing effect on the world brought on by America’s arrogance, exceptionalism and widespread bullying and aggression has created dangerous conflicts that are leading to military tensions and hostilities that in turn appear to be leading to major wars with nuclear powers Russia and China as well as unpredictable North Korea. And unlike the false propaganda of the US government and its presstitute media outlets, this increasingly militarized, armed and dangerous world is the direct intended result of US foreign policy. As the puppet to the oligarch puppet masters, it is by design that war is on the horizon and the end game of World War III looms ever closer with each passing month. It again must be up to us rational citizens of the world who know better than to plunge into a war that no one can win but all of us earth inhabitants can lose if we allow our leaders to push us off the doomsday cliff.
Joachim Hagopian is a West Point graduate and former US Army officer. He has written a manuscript based on his unique military experience entitled “Don’t Let The Bastards Getcha Down.” It examines and focuses on US international relations, leadership and national security issues. After the military, Joachim earned a masters degree in Clinical Psychology and worked as a licensed therapist in the mental health field for more than a quarter century. He now concentrates on his writing.
www.globalresearch.ca/global-militarization-the-east-west-divide-and-the-march-towards-world-war-iii/5386333" data-title="Global Militarization, the East-West Divide and the March towards World War III">
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“Anti-Semitism started World War II, Russophobia could start the third. Finland is one of the most russiphobian countries in Europe, together with Sweden and the Baltic states,” says Russian President Vladimir Putin’s personal envoy Sergei Markov, interviewed by Hufudstadsbladet this weekend.
The interview with Markov is made after Finland´s President Sauli Niinistö last week said a referendum would be required to change the country´s constitutionally neutral status before a possible NATO membership could be applied.
Finland is today, together with Sweden, members of NATO’s affiliate program known as the Partnership for Peace.
“Russia recommends Finland not to join NATO. That military alliance has lost its aim and goal and is therefore looking for new tasks. If Finland joins NATO it would weaken the security in Europe, not strengthen it,” says Sergei Markov in the interview.
Markov is closely working with Vladimir Putin on foreign policy affairs issues and serves as co-Chairman of the National Strategic Council of Russia.
His statement that a Finnish NATO membership could start World War III has made headlines across Finnish media this weekend.
Interviewd by YLE, Finland´s President Sauli Niinistö said after a security conference at the presidential summer residence near Turku on Sunday that Finland and Sweden have made a joint proposal on NATO partnership, which the alliance is certainly studying.
“When the NATO partners meet next autumn, the content of how partnership could be extended will probably become clear,” Niinistö said.
On Monday, the Finnish President will receive Russia´s Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, at the same summer residence.
Lavrov´s spokesman, Aleksandr Lukashevich says ahead of the meeting that Russia´s relations with Finland is an example of good neighbourliness, but admit that Finland´s stand on the Ukraine crisis has caused a decline in the intensiveness Russian-Finnish contacts.
“At the same time, in the past three months, a decline in the intensiveness Russian-Finnish contacts has been observed in view of the stand taken by Finland within the framework of the policy being pursued by the European Union with regard to Russia in the context of the events in Ukraine,” Lukashevich said in an interview with Itar-Tass, quoted by Voice of Russia.
Although Ukraine will headline the talks in Turku, Baltic- and Arctic cooperation are two other topics on the agenda when Lavrov meets Erkki Tuomioja later on Monday, reports RIA Novosti. No further details were mentioned.
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Pro-Russia Militia in Ukraine Seeks Urgent Help from Moscow
The Kremlin Hasn't Responded to the Request That Comes as Ukrainian Forces Retake Borders Areas
By James Marson
Updated June 18, 2014 7:50 a.m. ET
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko detailed a "peace plan" aimed at ending an uprising in the country's east that he discussed in a phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. James Marson reports. Photo: EPA
A Kiev offensive to retake control of restive areas along the country's eastern border has accelerated in recent days, prompting leaders of an armed pro-Russia uprising to appeal to Moscow for urgent military help on Tuesday.
Ukrainian government troops have advanced from the north and south in a bid to cut off the fighters and weapons that Kiev says are flowing over its border from Russia. So far, though, Moscow has given little sign it intends to respond to repeated requests from separatists and send in troops to assert control in parts of Ukraine's east, as it did with Crimea in March.
The Kremlin appears to be keeping its support at a level that won't provoke harsher economic sanctions from the West but will keep the conflict bubbling to use as leverage over Kiev by sending more fighters and weapons, some Western diplomats and analysts say.
While the West has warned Russia it risks more penalties if it doesn't help stabilize Ukraine's east, some European countries have voiced reluctance to step up sanctions, given deep trade ties with Moscow.
Enlarge Image
Separatists stand guard on Tuesday over a Ukrainian government tank seized by a pro-Russia militia from the rebel stronghold of Luhansk. Itar-Tass/Zuma Press
"Russia's intention is instability, not occupation or even separation," said Adrian Karatnycky, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank. "So a low-intensity guerrilla war and disruptive occupation of cities is what they aimed for and what they are employing."
Ukrainian and U.S. officials say Russia in recent weeks has allowed fighters, tanks and other heavy weaponry across the border, which Russia has denied. In one of the deadliest clashes to date, separatists last week downed a Ukrainian military transport plane with heavy machine-gun fire and shoulder-launched missiles, killing all 49 people on board.
But separatist leaders said Tuesday that their manpower and weapons weren't enough to hold off a Ukrainian military operation in recent days aimed at sealing the border.
After regaining control of the large port town of Mariupol on Friday, Ukrainian forces on Tuesday advanced toward the outskirts of Luhansk, the capital of Ukraine's easternmost region and a separatist stronghold.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Monday that a cease-fire could be declared as early as this week if government forces retake control of the border. Ukraine would then disarm the rebel fighters and grant amnesty to anyone not guilty of serious crimes, he said.
"They are methodically cutting off the rebel regions from the border with Russia," said a rebel commander known as Igor Strelkov in a video posted by Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda.
Mr. Strelkov said Ukrainian forces were advancing from the north and south along the border with Russia at a speed of up to nine miles a day.
A Ukrainian army spokesman said its forces had killed or wounded around 30 rebel gunmen in the Luhansk region Monday.
Mr. Strelkov complained that Russia had missed its chance to send in "peacekeepers" after separatists declared victory in a May 11 secession referendum in parts of Ukraine's east. Kiev declared the vote illegal and riddled with irregularities.
"We can only defend," he said, as explosions boomed in the background. "Unfortunately, our opponent is superior to us on all parts of the front."
In Moscow for meetings with Russian officials, another separatist leader thanked Russia for sending humanitarian aid but said that rebels needed military aid and advice to form a functioning government.
"We are not professional politicians or revolutionaries," Denis Pushilin, a leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, told a news conference in the Russian capital Tuesday. "We are looking to the Russian Federation for help."
Mr. Pushilin said that there was a "flow of volunteer [fighters] from Russia and European countries" but that they remained outnumbered and outgunned by the Ukrainian army.
Mr. Pushilin said he had met with top Russian officials during his visit to Moscow, including presidential advisers Vladislav Surkov and Sergei Glazyev. The officials' offices didn't respond to a request for comment, and the meetings weren't widely reported in state-controlled media.
Russian state television did show Mr. Pushilin's meeting last week with radical nationalist lawmaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky over plates of biscuits.
The Kremlin's perceived inaction has drawn criticism among some radical nationalists in Moscow. "Putin is dragging his feet," Alexander Dugin, a pro-Kremlin ideologue who has been one of the closest allies of the separatists in Moscow, wrote in a Facebook post Monday.
Ukrainian officials said Russia has started moving some military units toward the border after they had been ordered back to their bases last month.
A spokesman for Ukraine's foreign ministry said Russia was also forming groups of volunteer fighters in a border region to be sent into Ukraine. The spokesman, Yevhen Perebyinis, said Russia's continued interference means the West should implement tougher economic sanctions.
"We're not expecting anything [positive] from the Russian side. They have made absolutely clear that they don't intend to stop their activities, and the only thing that can stop the Russian side is tougher sanctions," he said.
Amid the continuing violence, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier renewed threats of more Western sanctions. He said at meeting with his Baltic counterparts in Estonia on Tuesday that European Union leaders may consider additional sanctions against Russia when they meet in Brussels late next week.
"If Russia is responsible for an extended destabilization of Ukraine, further decisions will be unavoidable," Mr. Steinmeier said in comments reported by Reuters and confirmed by the Foreign Ministry in Berlin. "We haven't conclusively discussed whether or not we are in that situation currently."
European leaders have said for months that they are prepared to enact sanctions against sectors of the Russian economy. Those threats quieted in recent weeks as diplomats tried to convince the Kremlin to work more closely with the West in resolving the crisis.
But on Tuesday, Mr. Steinmeier sounded a more pessimistic note than days ago, when he voiced hope that a change in tone from Moscow augured progress. He said the recent failure of natural-gas negotiations between Moscow and Kiev and the deadly downing of the Ukrainian military plane represented significant setbacks.
"For all the visible effort and small steps forward, the last weekend showed that we are far from a political solution to Ukraine crisis," Mr. Steinmeier said, according to Reuters.
U.S. lawmakers and allies are pressing the Obama administration to publicly withdraw its support for embattled Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whom Washington increasingly sees as either unable or unwilling to reconcile with Iraq's Sunni minority and stabilize the country politically, according to a published report.
The Wall Street Journal reports that U.S. officials have indicated their desire for Iraq's political parties to form a new government without Maliki that would comprise representatives of the country's Sunni and Kurdish communities. The hope of U.S. officials is that such a government could stem Sunni support for the Al Qaeda-aligned insurgency of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) that has seized large sections of territory in Iraq's north and west and attacked Iraq's largest oil refinery at Beiji.
"The Maliki government, candidly, has got to go if you want any reconciliation." Senate Intelligence Committee chair Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., told a congressional hearing Wednesday.
According to the Journal, that outlook is also shared by U.S. allies in the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Some Arab allies reportedly are pushing for the White House to withdraw its public support for Maliki in exchange for providing help in stabilizing Iraq.
The Shiite Maliki's party received the most votes in Iraq's parliamentary election this past April, but it did not receive enough to form a majority government. Maliki's efforts to find partners in a coalition government have so far been in vain.
Arab officials believe that Maliki's actions over the past five years have laid the groundwork for the ISIS insurgency by firing resentment among Iraq's minority Sunnis. Maliki has been accused of jailing popular Sunni protest leaders, blocking power-sharing proposals and taking most key cabinet positions in government for himself.
"We believe that Maliki's sectarianism and exclusion of Sunnis has led to the insurgency we are seeing," a senior Arab official told the Journal. "He unfortunately managed to unite ISIS with the former Baathists and Saddam [Hussein] supporters."
Meanwhile, Britain's The Independent newspaper reported Thursday that U.S. officials have told their Iraqi counterparts that Maliki must leave office if the U.S. is to undertake any military action to halt the advance of ISIS.
President Barack Obama is currently weighing options for military action in an attempt to stabilize Iraq. On Wednesday, Obama met with all four top Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate to update them on the administration's plans.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said that Obama "basically just briefed us on the situation in Iraq and indicated he didn't feel he had any need for authority from [Congress] for the steps that he might take."
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said that she did not believe that Obama needed congressional authorization "to pursue the particular options for increased security assistance discussed today," but also noted that she "[looked] forward to additional consultation."
Pelosi's statements were echoed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who noted that the president "he is not currently considering actions that would require Congressional approval but was very clear that he would consult with Congress if that changed."
Obama is thought to be leaning away from pursuing airstrikes, but one senior official told Fox News that the president appears to be leaning toward sending roughly 100 special forces into the region. Officials also confirmed to Fox News Wednesday that the U.S. is flying F-18 surveillance missions over Iraq from the aircraft carrier USS George HW Bush, which is currently in the Persian Gulf.
Fox News' Justin Fishel contributed to this report.
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Obama Weighs Sending Special Forces to Iraq as Advisers
By Margaret Talev, Caroline Alexander and Helene Fouquet Jun 19, 2014 8:40 AM MT
June 19 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. is distancing itself from Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, pressing for a political change that could help blunt a Sunni insurgency as President Barack Obama weighs possible air strikes against the extremists. Phil Mattingly reports on Bloomberg Television’s “Bloomberg Surveillance.” (Source: Bloomberg) Related
The Obama administration weighed options said to include sending about 100 troops to Iraq as advisers, as the U.S. urged a wider sharing of power there.
The Pentagon has presented President Barack Obama a plan to send about 100 special operations advisers to Baghdad to help the country’s military gather and analyze intelligence on Sunni militants, CNN reported, citing U.S. officials it didn’t identify. Obama hasn’t yet signed off on the proposal, CNN said.
The crisis in Iraq can’t be resolved without political change, U.S. officials said, a sentiment endorsed by a French official who warned at a briefing in Paris today that the Middle East could find itself engulfed in a religious war. While France supports immediate military action, the use of force must go hand in hand with steps to ease political divides in the nation, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the French position.
The U.S. yesterday urged the Shiite-dominated government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to be more inclusive of minority groups to help roll back gains by the rebel Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, an al-Qaeda breakaway. Today, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the U.S. isn’t coming to Maliki’s rescue. In this Tuesday, June 17, 2014, image taken from video uploaded to a militant social... Read More
“This isn’t about Maliki. What the United States is doing is about Iraq,” Kerry said in an interview with NBC news. “It’s going to be focused on the people of Iraq -- Shia, Sunni, Kurd.” Airstrikes Sought
Iraq has asked the U.S. to use airstrikes to help defeat the Sunni fighters, whose rapid military success has raised the specter of sectarian civil war in OPEC’s second-largest oil producer. The conflict threatens to draw in the U.S. as well as regional powers including Shiite-ruled Iran and Sunni Gulf Arab states.
The United Arab Emirates yesterday summoned its envoy in Iraq for consultations and expressed “its deep concern at the continuation of the policy of exclusion, sectarianism and marginalization,” according to the state-run WAM news agency. Saudi Arabia, the region’s biggest Sunni power, also blamed “sectarian policies” for the crisis.
Maliki yesterday said all Iraqis, minority Sunnis and majority Shiites, stand united against terrorism. He warned that fighting could spill into neighboring states and blamed regional countries he didn’t name for providing ISIL with moral and logistical support. Oil Prices
Brent crude for August settlement traded at a nine-month high, rising as much as 54 cents to $114.80 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange, the highest intraday level since Sept. 9. It traded for $114.56 a barrel at 11:56 London time.
Control of a major refinery at Baiji north of Baghdad has swung several times. The Salahuddin provincial police command said in a statement today that Iraqi security forces regained full control after overnight fighting. Military spokesman Qassim Ata said more than 70 terrorists who tried to storm Baiji were killed.
“Baiji refinery is totally under the control of the Iraqi armed forces,” Ata said. Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and BP Plc have begun removing employees in Iraq, and Obama notified Congress this week he would deploy as many as 275 troops to protect the U.S. embassy in Baghdad and other diplomatic installations. Balancing Questions
Obama is balancing questions about the long-term viability of the Maliki government against calls from some Republicans to intervene more aggressively -- and from some Democrats to refrain from deepening engagement three years after the U.S. ended its combat mission in Iraq.
The president briefed Democratic and Republican congressional leaders at the White House yesterday on what the administration termed “options for increased security assistance” for Iraq.
“The president said he is not currently considering actions that would require congressional approval but was very clear that he would consult with Congress if that changed,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said in a statement after meeting with Obama.
Underscoring the U.S. stance, Vice President Joe Biden yesterday spoke by telephone with Maliki, top Iraqi legislator Osama al-Nujaifi and Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani to express U.S. solidarity with Iraq against the militants. Kurdish armed forces have also clashed with ISIL insurgents.
Biden “emphasized the need for the prime minister -- and all Iraqi leaders -- to govern in an inclusive manner, promote stability and unity among Iraq’s population, and address the legitimate needs of Iraq’s diverse communities,” according to a White House statement.
The Sunni Muslims are a majority in Anbar Province to the west and in areas north of Baghdad. These regions lack the oil wealth concentrated in the Shiite-dominated south and the semi-autonomous Kurdish regions in the north.
To contact the reporters on this story: Margaret Talev in Washington at mtalev@bloomberg.net; Kathleen Hunter in Washington at khunter9@bloomberg.net; Caroline Alexander in London at calexander1@bloomberg.net; Helene Fouquet in Paris at hfouquet1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Steven Komarow at skomarow1@bloomberg.net; Alaa Shahine at asalha@bloomberg.net Amy Teibel, Mark Williams
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