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Tag: NATO

  • NATO looking for external enemy to justify its existence: Putin

    NATO looking for external enemy to justify its existence: Putin

    President Vladimir Putin of Russia has said that the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) has been constantly looking for an external enemy to justify its existence, the RIA Novosti news agency reported Wednesday.

    Putin told American director Oliver Stone in an interview that the Eastern Bloc does not exist anymore, neither does the Soviet Union, so why NATO is still there.

    “I have an impression that in order to justify its existence, NATO needs an external enemy. Thus, there is a constant search for an enemy or some provocations,” he said.

    The Russian president said he has not lost hope for changes in Russian-U.S. relations.

    Earlier, at the plenary session of the “Business Dialogue between Russia and the U.S.” at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin said Russia is going to continue to engage in dialogue with the new U.S. administration.

    “Political will and mutual effort are needed for any talks to succeed.” he said.

     

  • ‘Tallinn Manual 2.0’ – the rulebook for cyberwar

    ‘Tallinn Manual 2.0’ – the rulebook for cyberwar

    With ransomware like “WannaCry” sowing chaos worldwide and global powers accusing rivals of using cyberattacks to interfere in domestic politics, the latest edition of the world’s only book laying down the law in cyberspace could not be more timely.

    The Tallinn Manual 2.0 is a unique collection of law on cyber-conflict, says Professor Michael Schmitt from the UK’s University of Exeter, who led work on the tome.

    Published by Cambridge University Press and first compiled by a team of 19 experts in 2013, the latest updated edition aims to pin down the rules that governments should follow when doing battle in virtual reality.

    The manual was among the hot topics this week as over 500 IT security experts from across the globe gathered at NATO’s Cycon cyber security conference in Tallinn.

    Launched in 2009, the annual event is organised by NATO’s Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence based in the Estonian capital.

    In 2007, Estonia was among the first countries to suffer a massive cyber attack, with authorities in Tallinn blaming the Baltic state’s Soviet-era master Russia.

    “The very next year, in the war between Russia and Georgia, again we saw a lot of cyber activity,” said Schmitt, speaking to AFP at Cycon.

    Estonia was targeted just three years after it joined NATO and the EU in 2004.

    The attack raised a slew serious questions about how to apply and enforce NATO’s Article 5 collective defence guarantee in cyberspace, said Schmitt, who also chairs the Stockton Center for the Study of International Law at the United States Naval War College.

    He said that NATO allies faced an unprecedented dilemma: did the attack “mean that NATO states had to somehow come to the rescue of Estonia or not?”

    Was it “an attack on the civilian population, a violation of international humanitarian law or not? No one had the answers,” he added.

    “Because of that (attack) the international community started looking at cyber, going: ‘Oh my God, I can’t answer any question!’ That’s why this manual was started.”

    – ‘Digital wild west’ –

    Schmitt says his team’s work is intended to tame the “digital wild west” that emerged with the advent of cyberspace.

    But the virtually limitless range of possibilities in cyber-conflict raises a long laundry list of legal questions and dilemmas and the Tallinn Manual certainly cannot answer them all.

    The legal experts, mostly professors of international law, filled its 642 pages with existing jurisprudence applying to cyberspace from across the globe, and did not shy away from laying out conflicting views on certain issues.

    For example: should cyber-espionage be subject to the same laws as conventional spying? Can a state obtain the online IDs and passwords of prisoners of war and use them?

    Does a cyberattack trigger a legitimate right to self-defence? Can you retaliate? What kind of status do victims have? What can you do when there is no evidence to prove guilt when attackers can easily cover their tracks?

    “This book is intended to be a secondary source of law: it explains the law, but it doesn’t create it. States make law,” Schmitt told AFP.

    “My goal is that this books sits on the desk of every legal advisor for defence and foreign ministers, the intelligence services, so that legal advisors can sit with policy makers and say: in this situation, we can do this, or the law is not clear, you need to make a political decision here.

    “But at least the discussion is mature. It’s not ‘oh my God, what’s happening to us?’.”

     

  • Trump attacks Germany in furious tweets

    US President Donald Trump responded on Tuesday to criticism from German Chancellor Angela Merkel with a new attack on German trade tactics and defense spending.

    Trump’s spokesman Sean Spicer insisted that the leaders “get on very well” but — as is often the case — his warm words from the White House podium were overshadowed by the president’s intemperate tweets.

    When Trump returned over the weekend from the first foreign trip of his presidency, his aides hailed the tour as a success and a sign of renewed and bolder US leadership on the world stage.

    But, while Trump received a warm welcome in Saudi Arabia and Israel, he left behind a bitter taste in Europe after the NATO summit in Brussels and the G7 get-together of the world’s richest powers in Sicily.

    European leaders were especially dismayed by Trump’s refusal to reaffirm US support for last year’s Paris climate change accord and his failure to publicly endorse NATO’s mutual defense pledge.

    Germany, until recently Washington’s closest partner in Europe, was particularly discomfited, and Merkel wasted no time in warning German voters that the United States can no longer be relied upon as before.

    Trump’s response came in the early hours of Tuesday when he took to Twitter to once again demand that Germany renegotiate the terms of transatlantic trade and boost its defense spending.

    “We have a MASSIVE trade deficit with Germany, plus they pay FAR LESS than they should on NATO & military,” Trump wrote, in his flamboyantly undiplomatic style. “Very bad for US. This will change.”

    – ‘Trump was not aggressive’ –

    German officials have repeatedly insisted that, as a member of the European Union, they cannot conduct bilateral trade talks with the US and that they are not ready to dramatically increase military spending.

    In January, the White House accused Germany of exploiting an undervalued euro to boost its trade advantage, despite Berlin’s long opposition to the European Central Bank’s loose monetary policy.

    And, even after he held a frosty meeting with Merkel in Washington in March and heard her explain Germany has no independent, non-EU trade policy, Trump continues to complain about Germany’s surplus.

    According to the German weekly Der Spiegel, Trump told European officials in Brussels last week that “the Germans are bad, very bad.”

    Spicer gamely tried to deny the report, insisting that European Commission chairman Jean-Claude Juncker had confirmed that “Trump was not aggressive on German trade surplus.”

    But after Merkel and other senior German officials, who are campaigning ahead of September national elections in their own country, spent the weekend attacking Trump, the US leader returned to the theme.

  • Germany-US bilateral relations fading away

    Germany’s foreign minister launched a scathing criticism of Donald Trump on Monday, claiming the U.S. President’s actions have “weakened” the West and accusing the U.S. government of standing “against the interests of the European Union.”

    Just 24 hours after German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared that Europe could no longer completely rely on traditional allies such as the U.S. and Britain, the country’s top diplomat, Sigmar Gabriel, went a step further.

    ImageFile: Germany-US bilateral relations fading away
    Donald Trump and Angela Merkel: Managing U.S.-Germany relationship

    “Anyone who accelerates climate change by weakening environmental protection, who sells more weapons in conflict zones and who does not want to politically resolve religious conflicts is putting peace in Europe at risk,” Gabriel said.

    “The short-sighted policies of the American government stand against the interests of the European Union. The West has become smaller, at least it has become weaker.”

    Germany and other European nations were unimpressed with Trump’s performance at both the NATO and G7 summits last week, where he refused to endorse NATO’s collective defense principle or the Paris climate agreement.

    Speaking on the sidelines of the third Berlin roundtable discussion on refugees and migration, Gabriel called on Europe to stand up to the current U.S. administration and not shy away from offering criticism.

    “The Trump administration wants to terminate climate agreements wants to enforce military action in crisis regions and won’t allow people from certain religious circles to enter the U.S.,” Gabriel added.

    “If the Europeans are not resolutely opposing to this right now, the migration flow to Europe will continue to grow. Those who do not oppose this U.S. policy are guilty.”

     

     

    CNN

     

  • Macron meets Putin, no fiery handshake, hold talks on Syria, Ukraine

    France’s President Emmanuel Macron and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday vowed to improve the strained relations between their countries, while admitting to disagreements during talks at Versailles palace described by Macron as “extremely frank”.

    Their first meeting since Macron took office provided another test of the Frenchman’s diplomatic skills after his memorable first encounter last week with US President Donald Trump that Macron sealed with a vice-like handshake.

    This time the handshake was warmer but the tone guarded after an hour of talks on the 300th anniversary of a visit to Versailles by tsar Peter the Great.

    Putin admitted to some differences of opinion in the talks which covered issues including the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine, but insisted that Franco-Russian ties withstood “all points of friction”.

    “We disagree on a number of things but at least we discussed them,” Macron said.

    “Our absolute priority is the fight against terrorism and the eradication of terrorist groups and Daesh in particular,” he said, using an alternate name for the Islamic State group that has claimed several deadly attacks in France.

    – “Organs of propaganda” –

    The newly elected French leader called for a stronger partnership with Russia on Syria, one of the sticking points in relations between the West and Moscow which backs the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

    Macron advocated “a democratic transition that preserves the Syrian state”, warning that “failed states” in the Middle East were a threat to the West.

    But in an apparent warning to Assad and Russia, he said the use of chemical weapons in Syria would be a “red line” for his presidency and would draw an “immediate response” from France.

    The pair discussed the Western sanctions imposed on Russia over its military involvement in Ukraine as well as allegations of Russian meddling in France’s election campaign.

    Putin declared that the sanctions were “in no way” helping to end the fighting between government forces and Kremlin-backed rebels in Ukraine’s east.

    The Russian strongman, who hosted Macron’s far-right rival Marine Le Pen for talks during the election race, also shrugged off allegations that Russian hackers infiltrated Macron’s campaign.

    “Maybe they were Russian hackers, maybe they were not,” he said, dismissing the claims as unsubstantiated.

    Macron, for his part, expressed anger at reports by pro-Kremlin media during the election questioning his sexuality and links to high finance.

    He took aim at the Russia Today broadcaster and Sputnik agency, calling them “organs of influence and propaganda”.

    – ‘No concessions’ –

    Putin’s visit comes after the 39-year-old French centrist made a successful debut on the world stage last week, holding his own against Trump at a NATO summit in Brussels and at a G7 summit in Italy.

    Ahead of the visit, Macron told a French weekly that he was not “bothered” by leaders who “think in terms of power dynamics”.

    He said he would make “not a single concession” to Russia on the long-running conflict in Ukraine, with he and his G7 counterparts saying they were prepared to strengthen sanctions against Moscow.

    Since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2014, Russia has flexed its muscles with a series of war games involving tens of thousands of troops in areas bordering NATO Baltic states.

    Macron said he, Putin and the leaders of Germany and Ukraine would meet soon for talks, “which will allow us to make a complete evaluation of the situation”.

    – Modernising tsar –

    Western powers charge Russia with failing to honour its commitments under the Minsk accords framework for ending the violence in Ukraine.

    France helped spearhead the sanctions, which have seriously dented EU-Russia trade.

    Putin moved quickly after the French election to try to smooth things over, congratulating Macron and urging him to work to overcome their countries’ “mutual distrust”.

    Monday’s visit comes seven months after Putin cancelled a trip to Paris amid a row over Syria with Macron’s predecessor Francois Hollande, who had said Russia’s bombing of Aleppo could amount to war crimes.

    In Versailles, he and Macron inaugurated an exhibition marking the visit of Russia’s modernising tsar Peter the Great to France in 1717.

    The fervently pro-Europe Macron said his invitation to Putin aimed to showcase “a Russia which is open to Europe”.

    Putin was also later to visit a new Orthodox cathedral complex in central Paris.

     

     

    Mail Online

  • Staff shakeup looms in U.S. White House

    President Donald Trump is reportedly considering a major shakeup to his White House staff and bringing back top campaign strategists over his frustrations by what he sees as his team’s inability to contain the crisis involving alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

    Lawyers and public relations experts are being recruited, the Associated Press reported Sunday, as new revelations surface about Moscow’s interference and possible improper dealings with the Trump campaign and associates.

    The disclosures dogged Trump during his first trip abroad since taking office and threaten to overwhelm and stall the agenda for his young presidency.

    The latest reports have taken aim at Trump’s son-in-law and top adviser Jared Kushner. Kushner is alleged to have spoken with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. about setting up a back-channel communications network with Moscow during the presidential transition.

    Trump did not come out directly and defend Kushner, but decried what he called the “fake news media” in a series of tweets earlier Sunday.

    He focused heavily on leaks — both those coming out of the White House and an intelligence leak blamed on Americans about this week’s deadly bombing at a concert in England.

    The back channel was meant to connect Michael Flynn, who later became Trump’s first national security adviser, with Russian military leaders, the AP reported.

    Flynn was fired in February, officials saying he misled Vice President Mike Pence about whether he and the ambassador had discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia in a phone call.

    While overseas, Trump’s longtime lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, joined a still-forming legal team to help the president shoulder the intensifying investigations into alleged Russian interference in the election and his associates’ potential involvement.

    More attorneys with deep experience in Washington investigations are expected to be added, along with crisis communication experts, to help the White House in the weeks ahead.

    “They need to quarantine this stuff and put the investigations in a separate communications operation,” said Jack Quinn, who served as White House counsel for President Bill Clinton.

    Trump believed he was facing more of a communications problem than a legal one, despite the intensifying inquiries, one person familiar with his thinking told the AP.

    As he mulls changes, Trump has entertained bringing his former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, and former deputy campaign manager, David Bossie, formally back into the fold.

    Both Lewandowski and Bossie discussed the prospect with the president before his trip, according to one person told of the conversations.

    As a possible shakeup looms, Trump has other issues to deal with on the home front.

    Aside from the Russia investigation, the president still has to make an official decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement all the while defend his budget plan and hope his health care bill garners support in the Senate.

    Trump also has to decide soon on a Pentagon recommendation to add more U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, as well as boosting reinforcement for the beleaguered Afghan military.

    While taxes have taken a back seat in recent weeks, Trump tweeted Sunday: “The massive TAX CUTS/REFORM that I have submitted is moving along in the process very well, actually ahead of schedule. Big benefits to all!”

     

     

    Fox News

  • Snub of the year: France President, Macron swerves past Trump to embrace Merkel – [Video included]

    France President, Emmanuel Macron swerved to avoid the President of the United States, Donald Trump and embraced German Chancellor, Angela Merkel instead, in what seems to be Snub of the Year, in Brussels.

    The newly elected French President tweeted the video of himself walking up the red carpet towards the group of NATO leaders, seemingly headed straight towards the US President. But at the last second President Macron ducks to the right and shares a warm embrace with Angela Merkel, leaving Trump to lower his hands awkwardly back down to his sides.

    Macron then proceeds to greet other leaders including Trump, who grabs his French counterpart’s hand with a characteristic fiery action.

    The not-so-subtle power play may be read as a show of support for Merkel, after Trump previously refused to shake hands with her when they first met, according to The Telegraph.

    The incident also comes after Macron and Trump shared another power handshake on Thursday morning at the pair’s first face-to-face meeting in Brussels.

    “Each president gripped the other’s hand with considerable intensity, their knuckles turning white and their jaws clenching and faces tightening,” according to a report by the White House correspondents’ pool.

    Philip Rucker of the Washington Post said: “Trump tried twice to release and Macron held on tight… It was quite a handshake, two alphas.”

    Trump is known for his habit of pumping people’s hands and then yanking them forcefully towards him in a gesture that psychologists believe is intended to demonstrate dominance. Quite literally, Trump likes to have the upper hand.

    Macron, who at 39 is France’s youngest leader, may have been well-prepared for his American counterpart’s strong-arm handshake and simply held on tighter than Trump, 70.

     

    President Donald Trump is never far from controversy; watch him shove fellow NATO leader, Dusko Markovic aside to take front spot in a photo shoot.

     

  • Watch President Trump shove fellow NATO leader, Dusko Markovic aside

    While walking with the NATO leaders during his visit to the alliance’s headquarters Thursday, President Donald Trump pushed aside Dusko Markovic, the prime minister of Montenegro, as he moved to the front of a group of the leaders.

    Trump is at the brand-new NATO headquarters in Brussels for a summit with world leaders. It’s his first NATO summit alongside the 27 other members of the military alliance.

    He’s already had a couple of awkward encounters since arriving — including a fiery handshake with newly-elected French president Emmanuel Macron.

    Here’s the whole encounter with Markovic:

     

    Trump’s visit was highly anticipated after he repeatedly criticized the NATO military alliance as a candidate.

  • France, Germany resist U.S. plan for bigger NATO role against ISIS

    France, Germany resist U.S. plan for bigger NATO role against ISIS

    France and Germany are resisting a plan by U.S. officials for NATO to take a bigger role in the fight against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, in line with calls from President Donald Trump for the alliance to do more to combat terrorism.

    Many alliance members hope the plan will be announced in Brussels next Thursday, when Trump attends his first NATO summit.

    France and Germany have misgivings, allies involved in the discussions said.
    “They are not buying it,” said a senior European NATO diplomat, who said some other nations including Greece and Italy were also wary of the plan.

    “They want to know what difference would it make. All 28 NATO allies are already part of this effort,” the diplomat said, referring to a 68-nation U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State that includes all NATO members.

    Among the concerns: NATO might be caught up in another costly, Afghan-style deployment, irk some Arab countries or risk confrontation with Russia in Syria.

    French and German officials declined to comment, but Chancellor Angela Merkel left open the possibility of NATO as an institution joining the coalition when she met NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on May 11.

    They both ruled out any combat role for NATO in Syria and Iraq.

    France’s new President Emmanuel Macron will have lunch with Trump, who in April withdrew his earlier charge that NATO was ‘obsolete’ because it was not ‘taking care of terror’, before the Brussels meeting on May 25.

    While Islamic State is on the verge of defeat in its Iraqi stronghold of Mosul, and bracing for an assault against its de facto capital in Raqqa, Syria, U.S. officials are concerned fleeing militants could leave a vacuum that could prompt Arab tribal fighters to turn on each other to gain control.

    U.S. officials say the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as an institution could contribute equipment, training and the expertise it gained leading a coalition against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

    NATO military chiefs favour the move, said Gen. Petr Pavel, chairman of the alliance’s military committee.

    Diplomats said this could mean NATO using its surveillance planes over Syria, running command-and-control operations and providing air-to-air refueling.

    One compromise would be for NATO as an institution to formally join the coalition at the dinner with Trump next week, but leave the details of any involvement to a later stage.

    A NATO diplomat told Reuters: “”If allies can be convinced that it is only a symbolic step, a deal should be possible.

    “Trump goes home with a message that NATO is joining the coalition and NATO doesn’t have to do anything extra, at least for now.”

    A broader hesitancy among European allies stems from the long mission that NATO has undertaken in Afghanistan, taking over the U. S.’ bid to defeat militants in 2003 after the attacks on New York and Washington two years earlier.

    Given Russia’s concerns over NATO expansion in eastern Europe, and its role in Syria as the key military ally of President Bashar al-Assad, some allies also worry that deeper NATO involvement there could be taken by Moscow as a provocation.

    A stronger role in Iraq and Syria could also address concerns expressed by Mediterranean allies, such as Spain, Italy and Portugal, that NATO lacks a strategy for tackling the root causes of the migrant and refugee crisis.

    Stoltenberg has talked about NATO’s “untapped potential” in building up armed forces.

    Options include more NATO training of Iraqi troops and police, as well as strengthening government departments in areas taken back from Islamic State.

    “NATO is the only security organization with the skills and breadth to take on this task,” wrote Hans Binnendijk and David Gompert in a paper for the U.S. think-tank RAND Corporation.

  • Trump 100 days in office: 10 tweets that have defined his Presidency

    Trump 100 days in office: 10 tweets that have defined his Presidency

    Since entering office, President Donald Trump has used Twitter to issue declarations on everything from America’s geopolitical rivals to his personal feuds with the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

    As Trump prepares to mark 100 days in office this weekend, AFP looks back at 10 Tweets that have characterized the opening phase of his presidency:

    “We will follow two simple rules: BUY AMERICAN & HIRE AMERICAN” — setting out his governing mantra on January 20 after his inauguration.

    “We must keep ‘evil’ out of our country!” — justifying his ban on travellers from a group of mainly Muslim countries, on February 3.

    “What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?” — reacting after the ban was subsequently blocked.

    Friend or foe?

    “North Korea is behaving very badly. They have been ‘playing’ the United States for years. China has done little to help!” — voicing frustration with both Pyongyang and Beijing over North Korea’s nuclear program on March 17.

    “Why would I call China a currency manipulator when they are working with us on the North Korean problem? We will see what happens!” — Trump has an apparent change of heart towards Beijing on April 16.

    “Germany owes vast sums of money to NATO & the United States must be paid more for the powerful, and very expensive, defense it provides to Germany!” — Trump takes aim at German leader Angela Merkel, a traditional US ally, after a frosty summit in Washington on March 18.

    The other guy

    “Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!” – Trump accuses his predecessor Barack Obama on March 4 of wiretapping his Manhattan skyscraper during the elections.

    “Don’t believe the main stream (fake news) media. The White House is running VERY WELL. I inherited a MESS and am in the process of fixing it” — defending his performance on February 18 after his first four weeks in office

    Enemies of the people

    “The FAKE NEWS media (@nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!” — letting rip at some of the biggest names in the US media landscape on February 17.

    Hasta la Vista

    “Arnold Schwarzenegger isn’t voluntarily leaving the Apprentice, he was fired by his bad (pathetic) ratings, not by me. Sad end to great show” –– Trump reacts on March 4 to the departure of the “Terminator” star, an outspoken critic of the president and his successor as host of the former reality TV show.

     

     

    AFP