provocation

US accelerates troop deployments as Biden threatens “world war” with Russia

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From World Socialist Web Site
February 12, 2022
Alex Lantier, Johannes Stern

As Washington and its NATO allies work to militarily surround Russia, US officials yesterday declared that a US-Russia war is imminent.

US soldiers line up during the visit of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the Mihail Kogalniceanu airbase, near the Black Sea port city of Constanta, eastern Romania, Friday, Feb. 11, 2022 [Credit: AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru]

Yesterday, Washington announced the deployment of 3,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division to bases in Poland, which borders Ukraine. Britain and Germany will send hundreds of soldiers to strengthen NATO battlegroups in Estonia and Lithuania. This comes after NATO countries have for weeks delivered Javelin anti-tank missiles, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and Turkish TB2 Bayraktar drones to the Ukrainian regime in Kiev.

The narrative NATO is peddling—that it is acting to defend Ukraine from Russia—is a pack of lies. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has publicly declared that Russia’s military posture is not consistent with plans for an all-out invasion of Ukraine. Moreover, when reporters challenged US claims that Russia is preparing an attack, State Department spokesman Ned Price could do nothing but argue that undisclosed “intelligence information” meant his claims were true.

Nearly two decades after Washington invaded Iraq based on lies that it had “weapons of mass destruction,” US imperialism and its NATO allies are concocting a strategy to trigger a war with Russia, a nuclear-armed power, under conditions where they can blame Russia for it. Reports of mounting Ukrainian military activity in the Donbass region suggest that a NATO-backed military provocation can be staged there to trigger the war.

Yesterday, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Russia is “in a position to be able to mount a major military action” and refused to give any further details, stating: “I will not comment on the details of our intelligence information. But I do want to be clear, it could begin during the Olympics, despite a lot of speculation that it would only happen after the Olympics.” On this basis, Sullivan urged US citizens in Ukraine to “leave as soon as possible.”

Significantly, Sullivan added that the NATO alliance had concluded very detailed planning for a confrontation with Russia. He said, “We have achieved a remarkable level of unity and common purpose from the broad strategy down to the technical details. If Russia proceeds, its long-term power and influence will be diminished, not enhanced by an invasion. It will face a more determined transatlantic community.”

This followed a statement by Biden the day before calling on US citizens to leave Ukraine, adding that “things could go crazy quickly” and that a US-Russian conflict would be “world war.”

This strategy is coordinated with the European powers. Yesterday, Biden’s emergency call went to Prime Ministers Boris Johnson (UK), Justin Trudeau (Canada), and Mario Draghi (Italy); Presidents Emmanuel Macron (France), Andrzej Duda (Poland) and Klaus Iohannis (Romania), German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and EU and NATO officials. According to a White House report, they pledged “to impose massive consequences and severe economic costs on Russia, should it choose military escalation, and to continue reinforcing the defensive posture on NATO’s eastern flank.”

US officials insist war could begin next week, Der Spiegel reported, stating that “both the CIA and the US military informed the German government and other NATO states on Friday that they feared, based on new information, that the attack could take place as early as next Wednesday.”

At the same time, NATO is holding several major military exercises. The “Dynamic Manta 22” anti-submarine exercise begins on February 20 in the Mediterranean, followed by the “Dynamic Guard” exercise in Norway two days later. Both transition into “Cold Response,” the largest “war game” in Norway since the 1980s, involving 35,000 troops from 28 countries.

Yesterday, at Romania’s Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base, NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg promised to reinforce Eastern Europe. About an upcoming Madrid summit, he said, “next week, NATO Defence Ministers will meet and discuss how we can further strengthen our presence in the Eastern part of the Alliance, including with new battlegroups. And I welcome France’s offer to lead a NATO battlegroup here in Romania.”

A war would be the product not of Russian aggression but of the imperialist powers’ aggressive response to the Stalinist dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Over the last 30 years, Washington sought to establish its global primacy by dominating the Middle East and Central Asia. NATO waged wars, notably in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria, that cost millions of lives and trillions of dollars.

Russia and, increasingly, China’s rising economic weight have become major obstacles to this strategy. In 2013, Russian warships based at Sevastopol in the Crimea confronted NATO warships that were threatening to bomb Syria, after which NATO backed down. Alongside Iran, Russia then intervened and defeated NATO-backed Islamist militias in Syria, whose government has now joined China’s “Belt and Road” global industrial infrastructure project.

In 2014, shortly after Russia helped prevent direct NATO intervention in Syria, the NATO powers backed a putsch in Kiev, where far-right militias toppled a pro-Russian Ukrainian president and set up a NATO puppet regime. As these militias backed by NATO mercenaries attacked Russian-speaking areas of Ukraine like Donbass and Crimea, these areas broke off from Ukraine, with Crimea voting to rejoin Russia. Since then, far-right Ukrainian militias have faced off against Russian troops in Crimea and Russian-backed militias in the Donbass.

NATO’s conflict with Russia has been escalating again after last year’s humiliating NATO defeat in Afghanistan. The alliance is now redeploying towards Ukraine, bidding to seize a vast swath of territory around the Black Sea, the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea. This would allow them to isolate and threaten Russia, cut off Russian military aid to the Middle East, and intervene in Central Asia up to China’s western borders. This plan is being set into motion in Ukraine.

Russian-speaking areas of Ukraine are reporting highly advanced NATO war preparations. Yesterday, Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) leader Denis Pushilin cited Biden’s call on US citizens to leave Ukraine, warning that war was imminent. “The US President, probably, given US influence in Ukraine, has information that allows him to make such statements and take such a position. … Ukraine may attack at any moment. Ukraine has everything ready for that: the concentration of forces and means makes it possible to do it at any moment, as soon as a political decision is made.”

On February 9, the DPR Militia’s Deputy Chief Eduard Basurin said Ukrainian tanks are taking positions only 15 kilometers from theirs, near Avdeyevka, Gorlovka and Novgorodskoye. Yesterday, Basurin said Ukrainian forces also deployed an S-300 missile system.

Such deployments violate the 2015 Minsk accords, which temporarily froze the Ukraine conflict and sent the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to monitor the front line. Basurin said, however, that Kiev regime forces are using electronic jamming to prevent OSCE observers from using drones to observe these deployments. “It seems that OSCE observers are quite content with a situation where it is impossible to record violations by Ukraine,” he said.

Significantly, DPR forces last month warned, based on their sources in Kiev, that they expect an attack to come as soon as Ukrainian armored assault brigades are assembled and in position.

On January 28, Basurin said: “According to our intelligence, the Ukrainian General Staff under the guidance of US advisers at the Ukrainian Defense Ministry is putting final touches to a plan for offensive operations in Donbas. The date of aggression against the people’s republics will be set when the attack groups have been created and the operation’s plan approved by Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council.”

These are conditions in which NATO could goad Russia, a nuclear power, into war. Were such an attack to begin, DPR forces would likely require Russian military assistance to avoid being overrun by far-right Ukrainian militias, which call for killing Russians and have bombed Russian-speaking Ukrainian cities near Russia’s borders. If Moscow intervened against this, however, it would provide grounds for NATO war propaganda, denouncing Russian aid to the DPR as an “invasion” of Ukraine.

The decisive question more than ever is the building of an international movement in the working class against the mounting danger of a nuclear world war. It cannot be opposed based on Russian nationalist militarism, to which imperialism offers only the alternatives of total capitulation or all-out war. The broad opposition to militarism in the working class must be mobilized on an international basis, in a struggle against imperialism and for socialism.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/02/12/ukra-f12.html

Russia Deploys Two Armies, Three Airborne Units to Counter Threat from 40,000 NATO Troops on Its Border

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By Rick Rozoff
13 April, 2021
Ante-bellum

Posted on Global Research

Major Russian officials today have warned of military threats posed by the U.S.-led thirty-nation North Atlantic Treaty Organization to its western border: its entire western border. And its northern one as well.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced that Russia has redeployed two armies and three Airborne Forces units to its western border as part of what he termed an ongoing readiness inspection.

In one of the sternest warnings issued by a Russian official in the post-Cold War era, Shoigu added,

“We’ve taken proper measures in response to the alliance’s military activities which threaten Russia.” Regarding the ground and airborne forces, the defense minister said: “The troops have manifested complete preparedness and the ability to perform their duties to guarantee the country’s military security. At the present time, these units are involved in exercises.”

He also warned that NATO is now concentrating over 40,000 troops and 15,000 items of armaments and military hardware as well as strategic aircraft near the Russian border, stating: “The troops in Europe are moving towards Russian borders. The basic forces are being amassed in the Black Sea area and in the Baltic region.” He also mentioned the preponderance of U.S. military personnel in those deployments, as the Pentagon is reinforcing troops in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

In addition he highlighted the fact that: “The alliance annually holds up to 40 large operational training measures of a clearly anti-Russian bias in Europe. In the spring of this year, the NATO allied forces launched Defender Europe 2021 drills, the largest exercise over the past 30 years.” (Estimates range as high as 37,000 U.S. and NATO troops involved in the several-weeks-long war games from the Baltic to the Black Seas and the Balkans.) NATO’s “Spring Storm” Exercise: Threatens Russia

The Russian defense minister pointed out that Russia’s western border wasn’t the only location where the U.S. and NATO were threatening his nation. He also expressed alarm over the U.S. and NATO military build-up on Russia’s northern flank, the Arctic. He said:

“The competition between the world’s leading powers for access to the Arctic Ocean’s resource and transport routes is increasing. The US and its NATO allies increase their naval and ground groups in the Arctic, increase the combat training intensity, extend and upgrade the military infrastructure.”

In general Shoigu stated that over the past three years NATO has increased its activity along Russia’s borders.

Also today Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned that American warships deployed in the Black Sea off Russia’s coast were a provocation. He was speaking as two U.S. guided-missile destroyers, USS Donald Cook and USS Roosevelt, both equipped to carry 56 Tomahawk cruise missiles and an undisclosed number of Standard Missile-3 anti-ballistic missiles, are to enter the Black Sea tomorrow and the following day. Earlier this year the guided-missile destroyers USS Donald Cook, USS Thomas Hudner and USS Porter and the guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey were in the Black Sea for exercises, often two at a time. (The most, in terms of tonnage, allowed by the 1936 Montreux Convention, though Turkey’s proposed Istanbul Canal may eliminate that limit.)

Ryabkov said that American warships sailing thousands of miles from U.S. naval bases “always involves a geopolitics element.”

His comments are worth citing extensively:

“I wouldn’t like to go too much into particulars of various interpretations of what freedom of navigation and freedom of the seas is, especially in this context. I know one thing: American ships have absolutely nothing to do near our coasts, and this is a purely provocative undertaking. It’s provocative in the literal sense of this word: they’re testing our patience and getting on our nerves. This won’t work.”

And he issued this stark admonition in the context of the Western threats to Russia over Ukraine:

“Apparently seeing itself as the queen of the seas […] the U.S. should understand after all that the risks of various incidents are very high. We warn the U.S. that it should steer clear of Crimea and our Black Sea coast. This would be to their own benefit.”

His warning is a timely one as Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is at NATO headquarters today, where U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrives tomorrow and Secretary of State Antony Blinken shortly after him.

https://antibellum679354512.wordpress.com/2021/04/13/russia-deploys-two-armies-three-airborne-units-to-counter-threat-from-40000-nato-troops-on-its-border/

://www.globalresearch.ca/russia-deploys-two-armies-three-airborne-units-counter-threat-40000-nato-troops-border/5742683

U.S. — Trump administration budget asks Congress for 37 more missile “defense” systems near Russia and for ships along coasts

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This isn’t being covered by the mainstream news. Most of the public won’t know about this proposal.

“Along the respective coasts” — which coasts?
Missile “defense” systems include not just missiles, but high intensity radar aimed at populated areas and communities — men, women, children.

Lockheed Martin Corp. makes the Aegis system.

Tell Congress “NO”.

From Fort Russ

February 12, 2018 – FRN –
Rusvesna – translated by Inessa Sinchougova
The US administration has asked to allocate funds for the construction of 37 Aegis missile defense systems in Romania and Poland, the operations director of the Missile Defense Agency, Gary Pannett, said on Monday.
“Within the framework of the draft budget for the 2019 financial year, we have requested 1.8 billion dollars for the systems. The missile defense agency will provide 37 Aegis SM-3 systems to facilities in Romania and Poland, as well as on ships along the respective coasts,” Pennett said at a special briefing in the Pentagon.
On Monday, the US administration submitted the draft budget for the 2019 financial year, which begins October 1, 2018, for consideration by Congress.

Tip-off received on Al-Nusra, White Helmets plotting chemical weapons provocation in Syria – Moscow

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From RT
February 13, 2018

Russia’s Center for Reconciliation in Syria says it’s been warned that Jabhat Al-Nusra terrorists brought in chlorine containers to a local village, where they aimed to work with the White Helmets to stage “a provocation.”

Late on Monday, the center received a phone call from a resident of the village of Serakab in Idlib province about the planned incident.

Read more

FILE PHOTO: A woman affected by what activists say was a gas attack on the town of Telminnes is transferred to Bab al-Hawa hospital, Syria on April 21, 2014 © ReutersUS State Department admits Al-Nusra affiliate using chemical weapons in Syria

According to the source, on the afternoon of February 12, rebels from the Jabhat Al-Nusra (Al-Nusra Front) terrorist organization brought three cars packed with more than 20 cylinders of chlorine along with personal protective equipment to Serakab.

Additionally, according to the caller, representatives of the local branch of the White Helmets, wearing individual means of protection, conducted rehearsals of “giving first aid” to “local residents” who were supposedly suffering from poisoning.

The information received from the Idlib resident raised a red flag for members of the Russian Center for Reconciliation in Syria.

According to the center, this indicates that Jabhat Al-Nusra terrorists along with the White Helmets are plotting another “provocation” with the use of poisonous substances in Idlib province, aimed at accusing the Syrian authorities of using chemical weapons against local residents.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said in October that the notorious Idlib chemical incident in April, which was used by the US as a pretext to strike Syria’s Shayrat Airbase, might have been staged.

Presenting photographic evidence of a crater from the scene of the chemical incident, the head of the Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Mikhail Ulyanov, told a UN briefing that the bomb which dispersed the deadly chemical agent was most likely detonated on the ground and not on impact from a Syrian airstrike. “Most likely, an improvised explosive device was located on the surface,” Ulyanov said.

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An Syrian child receiving treatment in Khan Sheikhun, following a suspected toxic gas attack, April 4, 2017 © Omar haj kadourSyrian Idlib chemical incident ‘likely staged,’ requires real investigation – Moscow

The Khan Shaykhun chemical incident occurred on April 4, 2017, in the town of the same name in the Idlib Governorate, in an area that was under the control of Al-Nusra Front terrorists. The sarin gas attack, which allegedly claimed the lives of between 74 to 100 civilians, reportedly took place when the town was struck by the Syrian Air Force. Washington rushed to blame Damascus, despite the denial of the Syrian government, which destroyed all of its sarin stockpiles under the deal brokered between Russia and the US in 2013. Even though there was a lack of any hard evidence, shortly after the incident US President Donald Trump authorized the launch of 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Shayrat Airbase, from where US intelligence claimed the chemical attack was launched.

In late October, the US Department of State finally admitted that militants linked to Al-Nusra Front are indeed carrying out terrorist attacks using chemical weapons in Syria. Russia’s Defense Ministry noted that a precedent had been set by Washington’s acknowledgement of the situation.

“This is the first official recognition by the State Department not only of the presence, but the very use of chemical weapons by Al-Nusra terrorists to carry out terrorist attacks, which we repeatedly warned about,” General Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for the ministry, said.

The White Helmets have been long hailed by the Western media as “peace-bearing heroes”who save human lives. However, the group has been dogged by allegations of having ties with terrorist groups.

“The White Helmets not only feel at home on territories controlled by Al-Nusra Front and Islamic State [IS, formerly ISIS], but also openly express positive attitudes towards them, providing them with information and even financial assistance,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in April 2017.

U.S. planes repeatedly fly close to Russian border near Black Sea

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From Fort Russ

January 29 , 2017 – Fort Russ News –
A Russian fighter plane has ‘greeted’ a US Navy P-3 Orion reconnaissance aircraft, flying by within five feet (1.5m).
The US Department of Defense said that a Russian fighter pilot forced the crew of the P-3 to abort its mission. The crew failed to finish their tasks over the Black Sea, just off the Russian borders. At times, it approached Sevastopol at a distance of 40 kilometers.
The American reconnaissance aircraft departed from Souda Bay airbase on the Greek island of Crete. It spent hours  along the southern and south-western coast of the Crimea over the international waters of the Black Sea.
The flight path of the Russian Su-27 took place strictly in accordance with the international rules for the use of airspace, said the Ministry of Defense. The Russian fighter jet accompanied the American scout, observing all the necessary security measures.
“American pilots themselves are provoking the Russian military, flying close to the Russian border near the Black Sea,” said the first deputy head of the State Duma Defense Committee, Hero of Russia Andrei Krasov.
“The Lords of the United States need to study geography: do not confuse the seas and oceans,” the MP believes, “where is the Black Sea located and where is the US located? The US is far from the Black Sea, so unlike the Americans, our planes are not flying near their borders. “
Last week, Russian air defense fighters three times  intercepted foreign aircraft and drones that were approaching the airspace of the country. In total,  over the last seven days, reconnaissance aircraft have been spotted near the Russian border a total of ten times.

Russian military denies shooting at Ukrainian transport plane in Black Sea

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U.S. and NATO ships for joint naval drills in the Black Sea. NATO war “games” with thousands of U.S./NATO soldiers and equipment in bordering countries. Provocations by Kiev. Dangerous situation.

From Sputnik News

February 1, 2017

The Russian Black Sea Fleet categorically denied claims by Kiev that a Ukrainian military transport plane came under fire from Russian drilling platforms in the Black Sea on Wednesday.

A Ukrainian military transport plane came under fire on Wednesday while conducting a training flight over the Black Sea, Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak said
© SPUTNIK/ VITALIY ANKOV
Kiev Claims Ukrainian Transport Plane Came Under Fire Over Black Sea

SEVASTOPOL (Sputnik) — The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said earlier on Wednesday that a Ukrainian An-26 transport plane came under small arms fire from two Russian drilling platforms while flying near the Odessa gas field in the Black Sea.”All Ukrainian claims of the alleged shooting at the An-26 plane are absolute lies,” an official from the lack Sea Fleet’s headquarters said in a statement.

According to the statement, the Ukrainian An-26 military plane carried out on Wednesday afternoon two provocative approaches at extremely low altitude to Russia’s Tavrida and Crimea-2 drilling platforms.

“During the plane’s second approach, a security guard at one of the platforms fired four signal flares to prevent a possible collision of the plane with the platform’s mast,” the official stressed.

The news comes amid the joint naval drills of the seven North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member states with the Ukrainian Naval Forces in the Black Sea, which started on Wednesday.

Moreover, the situation near the industrial town of Avdiivka and neighboring Yasynuvata has been tense for several days, with civilians being deprived of running water, central heating and electricity. The Ukrainian forces and Donbass militia are accusing each other of being responsible for escalation of fighting.

https://sputniknews.com/russia/201702011050248710-russia-ukraine-plane-sea/

Russia prepares for war, plans to move thermonuclear ICBMs to border

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“The crazed American government drowning in its own hubris has set us on a course to nuclear war. Can America produce a leader who can reverse course?”
The real question is: Are ordinary Americans willing to be leaders in their own communities to reverse this national course? Are they willing to stand up and speak out? Are they willing to openly oppose this aggression against Syria and against Russia? 
Only that will change the present course. 
by Kurt Nimmo
Global Research, September 27, 2016
Another Day in the Empire 25 September 2016

Last week TASS reported Russia’s western-most ICBM division will be rearmed with the RS-24 Yars missile system. Yars is a MIRV-equipped, thermonuclear, intercontinental ballistic missile that can reportedly carry up to 10 independently targetable warheads. The ICBM RS-24 Yars constitutes the backbone of Russia’s strategic missile force.

“The westernmost strategic missile force division in the Tver region will soon begin to be rearmed with the missile system Yars. It will be a sixth strategic missile division where the newest mobile ground-based missile complexes will replace the intercontinental ballistic missile Topol,” Sergey Karakayev, the commander of Russia’s Strategic Missile Force told the news agency.

The Russians claim the deployment is in response to NATO installing a US anti-missile system in Eastern Europe in violation of previous Russian-US arms treaties. The United States has made the outrageous claim its missile system is designed to respond to threats from Iran.

“Now, after the deployment of those anti-missile system elements, we’ll be forced to think about neutralizing developing threats to Russia’s security,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in May.

Putin added that the US anti-missile systems currently in place in Romania and soon in Poland can be easily repurposed to fire short and mid-range missiles.

Russia announced it would modernize a launch detection system in response to the threat along its border. It has also discussed stationing its state-of-the art Iskander missiles at its westernmost Baltic outpost of Kaliningrad which borders NATO members Poland and Lithuania. The Iskander travels at hypersonic speed and is capable of evading anti-ballistic missiles.

In addition to missiles and nuclear warheads, NATO and Russia have engaged in massive war games this year. NATO’s Anakonda 2016 exercise involved more than 30,000 troops, about half of them Americans, and thousands of combat vehicles from 24 nations. The huge exercise simulated battle maneuvers across Poland. A simultaneous naval exercise, BALTOPS 16, simulated “high-end maritime warfighting” in the Baltic Sea. Exercises were conducted in the waters near Kaliningrad, the Russian enclave between Poland and Lithuania. The maritime exercise represented a clear provocation.

“All of this—the aggressive exercises, the NATO buildup, the added US troop deployments—reflects a new and dangerous strategic outlook in Washington. Whereas previously the strategic focus had been on terrorism and counterinsurgency, it has now shifted to conventional warfare among the major powers,” Michael T. Klare wrote for The Nation in July.

“Washington might intend the military buildup as pressure on President Putin to reduce Russian opposition to Washington’s unilateralism. However, it reminds some outspoken Russians such as Vladimir Zhirinovsky of Hitler’s troops on Russia’s border in 1941,” notes Paul Craig Roberts.

“To make the crisis clear for my readers and for all peoples, Washington is surrounding Russia with nuclear missile sites that can be silently converted from ABMs to first strike nuclear missiles that can reach Russian targets in a mere few minutes. Washington attempted to disguise this first strike capability with the explanation that the missiles were there to protect against an Iranian ICBM attack on Europe. This explanation was given by the US government despite the fact that everyone knows that Iran has neither ICBMs nor nuclear weapons,” he writes on his website.

Roberts, a former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal, is not optimistic about what such frenzied military activity portends.

He believes it is futile for Americans to plan for retirement.

“The crazed American government drowning in its own hubris has set us on a course to nuclear war. Can America produce a leader who can reverse course?”

Hillary Clinton will undoubtedly continue along this suicidal path. Donald Trump has said repeatedly he will not confront Russia. However, he has announced if elected the United States will expand its already massively inflated military budget.

The original source of this article is Another Day in the Empire
Copyright © Kurt Nimmo, Another Day in the Empire, 2016
http://www.globalresearch.ca/russia-prepares-for-war-plans-to-move-thermonuclear-icbms-to-border/5548056

Wagenknecht calls for new peace policy instead of NATO’s ‘aggressive game’; press release on sending Bundeswehr troops to the Russian border

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From Fort Russ

Die LINKE [The Left Party]
April 29, 2016
Translated from German by Tom Winter April 30, 2016

New peace policy instead of NATO aggression

“Chancellor Angela Merkel is committing an irresponsible provocation, when, 75 years after the attack on the Soviet Union, she is sending the Bundeswehr to the Russian border,” said Sahra Wagenknecht, Chairman of DIE LINKE.

Wagenknecht further: “The federal government is playing with fire if they blindly support NATO’s aggressive game. A permanent presence of NATO combat troops on the Russian border is contrary to the existing agreements with Russia.

EU eastward expansion and the NATO troop parades are poison for peace and stability in Europe. The deployment of combat units of the Bundeswehr to the Russian border threatens the vital interests of the German population. The German Bundestag must debate it.”
_____________________________
On the same subject, click “Forgetting History”

http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/04/wagenknecht-press-release-on-sending.html

Ukrainian tanks attack Donetsk airport; Tochka-U missile explodes over Donetsk

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From Voice of Sevastopol, April 11, 2015

“Tochka-U” missile exploded in the sky over Donetsk

“Tochka-U” missile exploded in the sky over Donetsk

As reports claim, yesterday, on April 11th, on the eve of the biggest Orthodox Christian holiday – Easter – “Tochka-U” ballistic rocket was launched on Donetsk by Ukrainian military. As a result in several districts of the city a shock wave as felt. Several sources say the missile blew up at the height of approximately 1200 meters. Whether it was hit by the anti-aircraft forces of the Republic or exploded because it was out-of-date is still not known.
Source
http://en.voicesevas.ru/news/yugo-vostok/4259-tochka-u-missile-exploded-in-the-sky-over-donetsk.html

Kiev Tanks Attack Donetsk Airport, Repulsed
April 12th, 2015

By Arthur Zavgorodniy, for Vesti Latvia – translated by Joaquin Flores
Ukrainian security force tanks attempted to break through the DPR defenses at Donetsk airport,  Deputy Commander of the Defense Ministry of the DPR, Edward Basurin, told reporters.
“Last night near the village Zhobunki, located in the vicinity of the airport, tanks tried to break the line ” – confirmed the commander.
Earlier it had been reported that the village of Zhobunki was attacked at night by Ukrainian infantry, which was successfully repulsed the militia.
Basurin noted that there are numerous documented cases of attacks on the territory of the DPR from guns of Ukrainian tanks. “In the whole day, Ukrainian tanks let off more than 98 shots.”
“The towns of Shirokino and Spartak were shelled the most “, said the representative of the Ministry of Defense.
“I recorded that the provocation was made by regular forces”, said Basurin.  ” We made this conclusion from the statement of the Ukrainian side, which states that they have replaced the “volunteer” battalions with regular forces of the Ukrainian army. “
Earlier today, the DPR Ministry of Defense noted an increase in the intensity of provocation from the Ukrainian security forces at the line of contact (ceasefire line), including attacks and attempts to break through.
From Voice of Sevastopol, April 1, 2015
On the eve of Easter the Army of the DPR rebuffed the attack of Ukrainian Armed Forces in the area of the Donetsk airport
A clash between Ukrainian military and the DPR Army took place in the night from April 12 in the area of the Donetsk airport, reported the Ministry of Defense of the DPR today.
“Today on the Holy Night two infantry units of Ukrainian military attacked settlementZhabunki in the outskirts of the Donetsk airport. A direct clash took place, and then the attack was rebuffed. There are no casualties among our troopers”, said thepress-sectetary of theDPR Ministry of Defense.It is also reported that no one was injured as a result of a mortar-gun mine hit on a residential building in Kuybyshevskiy district of Donetsk
“The mine hit a private house, There are no casualties. The shell as launched from the positions of Ukrainian forces. Experts are conducting investigation on the scene”, the Ministry of Defense reports.

Earlier it was reported that a mine hit a residential building today at about 7:30 AM in Azotnyi residential area of Kuybyshevskiy district.

Source
http://en.voicesevas.ru/news/yugo-vostok/4252-on-the-eve-of-easter-the-army-of-the-dpr-rebuffed-the-attack-of-ukrainian-armed-forces-in-the-area-of-the-donetsk-airport.html

Are the six NATO warships in the Black Sea studying Crimea’s defenses in preparation for an invasion?

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Posted on Fort Russ

March 5, 2015
Regnum
Translated by Kristina Rus

Officer of the Black Sea Navy: NATO Exercises in the Black sea – is study of Crimea’s defenses 

Six NATO warships are conducting war games in the Black Sea.

“The Black Sea navy staff is closely monitoring all the activities of the North Atlantic Alliance in the region,” – said the officer of the Russian Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol.

All six ships – the American missile cruiser “Vicksburg” the type of “Ticonderog”, canadian frigate “Fredericton”, the Turkish frigate “Turgutreis, an Italian frigate “Alesia”, the Romanian frigate “Regina Maria” and the German supply ship  “Spessart” – are part of “the second marine group of NATO”.

According to the source, the exercises involve practicing protection against air attacks and torpedo attacks from submarines. The commander of the group, Admiral Williamson, has already stated that the exercises in the Black sea are conducted “at the invitation of Turkish, Bulgarian and Romanian governments” and support “preparedness for any NATO mission, which may be needed to perform its obligations under the collective defense”. At the same time, NATO planned exercises “according to the scenario of the crisis between the two non-Alliance countries.”

“We closely monitor the movements and actions of NATO ships, because regardless of the legend about the exercises, the activities of the ships of the Alliance are aimed at studying the defenses of Crimea“, – said the officer.

According to the source, the recently relocated to Crimea, latest Su-30 and front-line bombers Su-24, which are in constant contact with the ships of the Black Sea Fleet, in particular with 519-m separate division reconnaissance ships, are involved in monitoring the NATO group.

Earlier, an official spokesman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Alexander Lukashevich called the entrance of NATO ships into the Black sea “a provocative idea, which will not contribute to the settlement of the conflict in Eastern of Ukraine.”