Category Archives: NATO

BRUSSELS European leadersgrappled with the jolting reality of President-elect Donald Trumps skepticism of the European Union on Monday, saying they might have to stand without the United States at their side during the Trump presidency.

The possibility of an unprecedented breach in transatlantic relations came after Trump who embraced anti-E.U. insurgents during his campaign and following his victory said in weekend remarks that the 28-nation European Union was bound for a breakup and that he was indifferent to its fate. He also said NATOs current configuration is obsolete, even as he professed commitment to Europes defense.

Trumps attitudes have raised alarm bells across Europe, which is facinga wave of elections this year in which anti-immigrant, Euroskeptic leaders could gain power. Most mainstream leadershave committed to working with Trump after his inauguration Friday, even as they have expressed hope that he will moderate his views once he takes office. His continued hard line has created a painful realization in Europe that they may now haveto live without the full backing of their oldest, strongest partner. The European Union underpins much of the continents post-World War II prosperity, but skeptics have attacked it in recent years as a dysfunctional bloc that undermines finances and security.

We will cooperate with him on all levels, of course, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters in Berlin. But she said Europeans will need to take responsibility for themselves.

We Europeans have our destiny in our own hands, she said.

The full ramifications of apotentialbreakdown in transatlantic ties are so extensive, they are difficult to total. U.S. guarantees form the backbone of European security. The United States and the 500-million-people-strong European Union are each others most important trade partners. For decades, European nations and the United States have worked tightly together on issues of war, peace and wealth.

Trumpappears skeptical that the European Union matters to American security or economic growth.

People want their own identity, so if you ask me, others, I believe others will leave, Trump said of the European Unionina weekend interview with the Times of London and Germanys Bild newspaper. He said he did not care about the E.U.s future. I dont think it matters much for the United States, he said.

You look at the European Union, and its Germany. Basically a vehicle for Germany, Trump said, meaning Germany had used the free-trade bloc to sell its goods to the disadvantage of others. He added that Merkel had made a very catastrophic mistake in opening Europes doors to migrants and refugees.

And he offered no special credit to European nations for being long-standing U.S. allies, saying he will trust Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin alike at the outset of his presidency.

I start off trusting both, he said. But lets see how long that lasts. It may not last long at all.

Trump offered mixed messages about the NATO defense alliance, which is dominated by the United States, calling it obsolete and saying it is very unfair to the United States that most nations are not meeting their voluntary defense spending commitments. With that being said, NATO is very important to me, Trump said.

(Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

The Kremlin embraced Trumps comments, with a spokesman agreeing that NATO is obsolete. British leaders also welcomed Trumps willingness to negotiate a trade deal in the wake of their nations departure from the E.U.

But among most U.S. allies, Trumps attitudes caused astonishment and excitement, not just in Brussels, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters Monday in Brussels, where he was meeting with other European foreign ministers at a previously scheduled gathering. Coming directly from a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Steinmeier said NATO had listened to Trumps comments with concern.

The incoming U.S. president is the first American leader since World War II not to support European integration. The European Unionhas long been considered to be in the U.S. interest, since it created a unified market for U.S. businesses, provided a bulwark against communism during the Cold War and helped quell the bloody slaughter that cost U.S. lives, among others, in the first half of the 20th century. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the European Union expanded eastward into formerly communist nations, a development that leaders there say helped bring rule of law and stability as they modernized their economies.

Steinmeier said Germany is trying to assess what U.S. foreign policy will actually be.For example, James Mattis, the retired Marine general nominated to be Trumps defense secretary, offered straightforward support for NATO and skepticism of Russia at his confirmation hearing last week.

Other leaders said Europes future does not rise or fall based on attitudes in the White House.

What we are looking for is a partnership based on common interests with the United States, E.U. foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini told reporters. We always like to be in good company, but we determine our policies by ourselves.

Some analysts noted that after Britains vote last June to leave the European Union, support for the E.U. in other nations increased. They wondered whether Trumps frontal challenge to the bloc might have a similar effect. But one said that if global instability rises as a result of Trumps unpredictable policies, the stress could weigh on the already taxed European Union.

Over the last decades, the United States has played a huge stabilizing role. And when this stabilizing role of the U.S. around the world falls away, because theyre doing transactional deals, that will create lots and lots of messes which will implicate European interests, said Stefan Lehne, a former Austrian diplomat who now works at Carnegie Europe, a Brussels-based think tank.

One prominent U.S. advocate of European unity was concerned about Europes ability to weather the Trump tsunami.

As the European Union battles skeptical forces, U.S. cheerleading and support has been welcomed, outgoing U.S. Ambassador to the E.U. Anthony Gardnersaid last week. If there isnt someone like a [Secretary of State John F.] Kerry or an Obama ... reminding people of the importance of the European Union, then theres a vacuum.

French leaders, who face tough presidential elections in April, also appeared to be scrambling to handle the fallout. Trump allies have expressed support for the anti-E.U., anti-immigrant National Front party, whose leader, Marine Le Pen, is doing well in opinion polls. Le Pen lunched in the basement of Trump Tower last week in the company of a man who has served as an informal conduit for Trumps contacts with Euroskeptic European leaders, although the Trump transition team denied any formal meeting with the French politician.

The best response is European unity, said French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault. As with the case of Brexit, the best way to defend Europe is to remain united. This is a bit of an invitation that we are making to Mr. Trump. To remain a bloc. Not to forget that the force of Europeans is in their unity.

But the most wishful approach to Trumps declarations may have come from Luxembourg, where the nations top diplomat said he hoped Trump was still in campaign mode.

One must hope that the statements of candidate Trump starting Friday will go in a different direction, said Luxembourgs foreign minister, Jean Asselborn. If the risks are summed up, it would be very destabilizing, which is not in the interest of America.

Stephanie Kirchner in Berlin contributed to this report.

Read more:

Trump officials might be expecting E.U. to fall apart this year

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After Brexit and Trump, Europeans are liking the E.U. again

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European leaders shocked as Trump slams NATO and E.U ...

Speaking in Brussels before a meeting of EU foreign ministers, Frank-Walter Steinmeier suggested the alliance was rattled by the remarks by Trump.

In a joint interview with the Times of London and the German publication Bild, Trump signaled that US foreign policy in a range of areas could be turned on its head. He suggested that sanctions imposed after Russia's annexation of Crimea could be eased in return for a deal to reduce nuclear weapons, that German Chancellor Angela Merkel had pursued "catastrophic" policies on refugees, and that his son-in-law Jared Kushner could lead a Middle East peace effort.

Speaking in Berlin, Merkel shrugged off the interview, saying she would make no substantive comment before Trump was inaugurated.

NATO said it was "absolutely confident" that the US would remain "committed" to the organization

Trump used the interview to restate his doubts about NATO. "I said a long time ago that NATO had problems," he said in the interview.

"Number one it was obsolete, because it was designed many, many years ago.

"Number two the countries weren't paying what they're supposed to be paying," adding that this was unfair to the United States.

Steinmeier said he had spoken with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, "who is concerned that President-elect Trump regards NATO as obsolete."

He also noted Trump's position was "in contradiction" to that of James Mattis, Trump's nominee for defense secretary.

NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu pushed back against the comments. "A strong NATO is good for the United States, just as it is for Europe."

But Dmitry Peskov, the press spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, agreed with Trump's assessment of NATO, saying on Monday that "the systematic goal of this organization is confrontation."

Trump suggested they could be eased in return for a nuclear weapons deal.

"They have sanctions against Russia -- let's see if we can strike a few good deals with Russia. I think there should be less nuclear weapons and they have to be reduced significantly, that's part of it.

"But there are these sanctions and Russia is suffering lots from it. But I think there are things, which lots of people can profit from. "

Responding to Trump's comments Monday, the Kremlin said that "sanctions are not a question on our agenda, neither internally, nor in discussions with our international partners."

"Do you know what? Jared is such a good guy; he will conclude an Israel agreement that no one else can do. You know, he is a natural talent, he is amazing, he is a natural talent," Trump said, according to Bild.

Trump set his sights on German Chancellor Angela Merkel, calling her "by far the most important leader" in Europe while tearing into her immigration policies, labeling them "catastrophic."

"I have great respect for her, I felt she was a great leader, I think she made one very catastrophic mistake and that was taking all these illegals and taking all these people where ever they come from and nobody really knows where they come from."

Merkel, who will run for a fourth term in elections this year, has stood firm on Germany's position of accepting nearly all asylum seekers found to be legitimate refugees.

Germany took in more than one million refugees in 2015, making it the most open country in Europe to asylum seekers.

Speaking at a joint press conference with New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English on Monday, Merkel said she would not comment before Trump's inauguration.

"We have known what his position is for some time, and my position is also known," she said.

An enthusiastic Trump praised Britain's impending exit from the European Union as being "so smart."

"I think Brexit is going to end up being a great thing," Trump said to his interviewer from the Times, Michael Gove, one of the former leaders of the Brexit campaign, and a sitting member of the UK Parliament.

Asked why he thought the UK's Brexit campaign was successful, Trump blamed loose borders and concerns about the effects of immigration. He also tied it to US security concerns.

"Countries want their own identity. The UK wanted its own identity. I do believe this, if they hadn't been forced to take in all of the refugees so many, with all the problems that entails, you wouldn't have a Brexit... it probably could've worked out."

According to the Times, Trump would offer Britain a "fair" trade deal with America within weeks of taking office. (In fact, Britain will not be able to begin negotiating new trade deals until the Brexit process is complete).

Trump said he will immediately take action to tighten US immigration restrictions once he's sworn in.

"This country we're going to go very strong borders. From the day I get in. One of the first orders I'm going to sign. Day one."

Trump reiterated plans to implement what he calls "extreme vetting" of people from the Muslim world, according to a Bild transcript translated into English by CNN.

"There will be extreme security vetting, it won't be like it is now. We don't have any proper security controls for people entering our country, they don't really exist at the moment, like it has been the case in your country at least in the past."

"That could happen. But we will see," he said.

Trump also touched on the Iran nuclear agreement but declined to say whether he would demand changes to it.

"Well I don't want to say what I'm gonna do with the Iran deal. I just don't want to play the cards. I mean, look, I'm not a politician, I don't go out and say, "I'm gonna do this" I'm gonna do, I gotta do what I gotta do . . . But I'm not happy with the Iran deal, I think it's one of the worst deals ever made," he said, according to the Times.

Republican members of Congress have sharply criticized the deal since it was announced in 2014.

Trump said he doesn't intend to lay off Twitter once he's in the Oval Office and will keep his @realDonaldTrump account, according to the Times of London.

"I thought I'd do less of it, but I'm covered so dishonestly by the press so dishonestly that I can put out Twitter and it's not 140, it's now 280 I can go bing bing bing . . . and they put it on and as soon as I tweet it out this morning on television, Fox 'Donald Trump, we have breaking news.'"

CNN's Nadine Schmidt, Gregory Krieg, Sara Mazloumsaki and Laura Goehler contributed to this report.

See the article here:
Trump rattles NATO with 'obsolete' blast - CNNPolitics.com

The Associated Press U.S. Tanks were unloaded in Bremerhaven, northern Germany, Friday Jan. 6, 2017. Ships loaded with U.S. tanks, self-propelled howitzers and hundreds of other fighting vehicles have arrived in the northern German port en route to Eastern Europe to bolster NATOs deterrence to possible Russian aggression. (Ingo Wagner/dpa via AP)

BERLIN Ships began unloading U.S. tanks, self-propelled howitzers and hundreds of other fighting vehicles Friday in the northern German port of Bremerhaven, to be moved into Eastern Europe to bolster NATO's deterrence against possible Russian aggression.

Some 3,500 troops from the 4th Infantry Division in Fort Carson, Colorado, will join up with the equipment, which includes 87 tanks and 144 Bradley fighting vehicles, over the next two weeks.

The deployment marks the start of a new phase of Operation Atlantic Resolve, which foresees the continuous presence of an American armored brigade combat team in Europe on a nine-month rotational basis. The mission is meant to help allay concerns from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and other NATO allies over an increasingly unpredictable and bellicose Russia.

The new forces will gather first in Poland, then fan out across seven countries from Estonia to Bulgaria. A headquarters unit will be stationed in Germany.

When he announced the move last year, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the forces would take part in regular military exercises across the region with NATO allies. At that time, U.S. Army Europe Commander Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges called the deployment the "embodiment of the United States' commitment to deterring aggression and defending our European Allies and partners."

The U.S. also plans to move in a combat aviation brigade with about 10 Chinook and 50 Black Hawk helicopters and 1,800 personnel from Fort Drum, New York, and a battalion with 24 Apache attack helicopters and 400 personnel from Fort Bliss, Texas. They'll be headquartered in Germany with some aircraft positioned in Latvia, Romania and Poland.

Other NATO members are also increasing their presence, with Britain sending fighter jets to the Black Sea area, while a battalion of troops, tanks and light armor will deploy in Estonia in the spring, backed by French and Danish troops. Germany also plans to send troops and tanks to Lithuania.

Albania, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Romania and Slovenia are also playing roles in what NATO has dubbed its Enhanced Forward Presence. The U.S. plans to relocate a Stryker unit from Germany to Poland as part of that group.

NATO has already started positioning equipment and ammunition in Eastern Europe to reduce the time it would take additional units to deploy if needed.

See more here:
US tanks roll into Germany to bolster NATO deterrent

Russian military aircraft near the Baltic Sea were intercepted by NATO jets 110 times in 2016.

The number of intercepts was lower than the 160 recorded in 2015 and the 140 in 2014, Lithuanias Ministry of Defense said in a statement to Baltic news agency BNS. NATO has confirmed these figures to Newsweek.

However, this greatly exceeds the number of aerial encounters above the Baltic Sea before Russias annexation of Crimea in 2014; in 2013, NATO jets intercepted Russian aircraft 43 times.

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Major General Thierry Dupont, commander of NATOs Combined Air Operations Center, says that the number of intercepts has increased since 2014 because Russia is flying more aircraft in Baltic airspace, but also because the alliance has increased its air policing capabilities.

The vast majority of the interceptions were made before any incursion into sovereign allied airspace, although over the last 12 months Estonia has reported at least six airspace violations by Russian jets. Moscow has denied the accusations.

One of NATOs roles is to preserve the integrity of the Allies airspace, Dupont tells Newsweek. Missions like the Baltic Air Policing (BAP) demonstrate NATOs resolve and capability to ensure protection across allies airspace, including those allies that do not have their own Air Policing assets.

According to Dupont, the drop in intercepts over the Baltic in 2016 could be due to a shift in Russias focus towards operations in Syria in 2016.

Overall allied scrambles increased in 2016, compared to 2014 and 2015, largely because they also now account for Turkish Air Force patrolswhich are often under NATO commandalong Turkeys border with Syria.

The BAP mission is a rotational deployment in which all NATO members can participate to provide the Baltic states with an air force, in the form of four-month deployments. On Thursday, the French and German deployments at NATOs bases in Siauliai, Lithuania, and in Amari, Estonia, will be replaced by a Dutch deployment.

Original post:
NATO: Russian Aircraft Intercepted 110 Times Above Baltic in 2016

By Robin Emmott | BRUSSELS

BRUSSELS U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg agreed on Friday on the Western alliance's "enduring importance", NATO said, striving to reassure Europe that Washington will remain committed to its security.

Trump questioned during his election campaign whether the United States should protect allies seen as spending too little on their defense, raising fears that he could withdraw funding for NATO at a time of heightened tensions with Russia.

"The president-elect and the secretary general both underlined NATO's enduring importance and discussed how NATO is adaptingto the new security environment, including to counter the threat of terrorism," NATO said in a statement after a phone conversation between Trump and Stoltenberg.

There was no immediate comment from Trump's side.

The NATO statement said the Republican Trump, who will succeed Democratic President Barack Obama on Jan. 20, is expected in Brussels for a NATO summit next year.

The two leaders also addressed defense spending and agreed that "progress has been made on fairer burden-sharing, but that there is more to do" - underlining the fact that the United States spends far more on defense than Europe does.

After the break-up of the Soviet Union a quarter of a century ago, NATO's European members cut defense spending to historic lows, leaving the United States to make up around three quarters of the alliance's military expenditure.

A more assertive Russia under President Vladimir Putin has begun to change the picture and European governments are again spending more.

FEW MEET DEFENSE SPENDING TARGET

But Britain, Poland, Greece and Estonia are the only European nations to meet a NATO goal of spending at least 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense. Germany, Europe's biggest economy, spends far less than 2 percent of its GDP on defense.

Speaking before the phone call, Stoltenberg told a conference in Brussels that European defense spending was one of his top priorities and that he had raised it with every NATO member, winning support from defense ministers.

He said the main obstacle was convincing the respective finance ministers who have the keys to treasuries.

"You have to increase defense spending when tensions go up," Stoltenberg said, citing as evidence failing states in North and West Africa, the threat of Islamist militants and Russia's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's peninsula of Crimea.

"Stop the cuts and gradually increase (defense spending) to reach 2 percent (of economic output) is a very robust message. We have started to move although there is a very long way to go. I am certain Trump will make this his top priority (for NATO)."

Trump's campaign suggestion of making U.S. defense of its European allies conditional appeared to question the central tenet of NATO - namely that an armed attack against one ally is an attack against all.

Stoltenberg has said he expects an overall 3 percent real increase in European defense spending in 2016. He said on Friday that if all European allies and Canada reached the 2 percent spending target, it would yield an extra $100 billion for NATO.

European Council President Donald Tusk also spoke to Trump by phone on Friday. An EU source said Tusk emphasized the importance of transatlantic cooperation, including on Ukraine, where Russia has supported separatist rebels against government forces in the east of the former Soviet republic.

Trump's promise to improve Washington's chilly relations with Russia's Putin have caused jitters within the EU, particularly eastern member states like Poland and the Baltics.

(Additional reporting by Gabriela Baczynska, editing by Mark Heinrich)

MOSCOW Moscow will deploy S-400 surface-to-air missiles and nuclear-capable Iskander systems in the exclave of Kaliningrad in retaliation for NATO deployments, a senior pro-Kremlin lawmaker was quoted as saying on Monday.

TAL AFAR AIR BASE, Iraq Iraqi Shi'ite militias were massing troops on Monday to cut remaining supply routes to Mosul, Islamic State's last major stronghold in Iraq, closing in on the road that links the Syrian and Iraqi parts of its self-declared caliphate.

VATICAN CITY Pope Francis on Monday extended indefinitely to all Roman Catholic priests the power to forgive abortion, a right previously reserved for bishops or special confessors in most parts of the world.

Originally posted here:
Trump, NATO chief pledge alliance's 'enduring importance' in ...

The International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet, commonly known as the ICAO phonetic alphabet, sometimes called the NATO alphabet or spelling alphabet and the ITU radiotelephonic or phonetic alphabet, is the most widely used radiotelephonic spelling alphabet. Although often called "phonetic alphabets", spelling alphabets are not associated with phonetic transcription systems such as the International Phonetic Alphabet. Instead, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) alphabet assigned codewords acrophonically to the letters of the English alphabet, so that critical combinations of letters and numbers can be pronounced and understood by those who exchange voice messages by radio or telephone regardless of language barriers or the quality of the communication channel.[1]

The 26 code words in the NATO phonetic alphabet are assigned to the 26 letters of the English alphabet in alphabetical order as follows: Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliett, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu.

After the phonetic alphabet was developed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)[2] (see history below) it was adopted by many other international and national organizations, including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the American Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS), and the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU).

It is a subset of the much older International Code of Signals (INTERCO), which originally included visual signals by flags or flashing light, sound signals by whistle, siren, foghorn, or bell, as well as one, two, or three letter codes for many phrases.[3] The same alphabetic code words are used by all agencies, but each agency chooses one of two different sets of numeric code words. NATO uses the regular English numeric words (Zero, One, with some alternative pronunciations), whereas the IMO provides for compound numeric words (Nadazero, Unaone, Bissotwo...). In practice these are used very rarely, as they frequently result in confusion between speakers of different languages.

An alternative name for the ICAO spelling alphabet, "NATO phonetic alphabet," exists because it appears in Allied Tactical Publication ATP-1, Volume II: Allied Maritime Signal and Maneuvering Book used by all allied navies of NATO, which adopted a modified form of the International Code of Signals. Because the latter allows messages to be spelled via flags or Morse code, it naturally named the code words used to spell out messages by voice its "phonetic alphabet". The name NATO phonetic alphabet became widespread because the signals used to facilitate the naval communications and tactics of NATO have become global.[4] However, ATP-1 is marked NATO Confidential (or the lower NATO Restricted) so it is not available publicly. Nevertheless, a NATO unclassified version of the document is provided to foreign, even hostile, militaries, even though they are not allowed to make it available publicly. The spelling alphabet is now also defined in other unclassified international military documents.[5] The NATO alphabet appeared in some United States Air Force Europe publications during the Cold War. A particular example was the Ramstein Air Base, Telephone Directory published between 1969 and 1973 (currently out of print). The American and NATO versions had differences and the translation was provided as a convenience. Differences included Alfa, Bravo and Able, Baker for the first two letters.

The ICAO developed this system in the 1950s in order to account for discrepancies that might arise in communications as a result of multiple alphabet naming systems coexisting in different places and organizations.[6]

In the official[7] version of the alphabet, the non-English spellings Alfa and Juliett are used. Alfa is spelled with an f as it is in most European languages because the English and French spelling alpha would not be pronounced properly by native speakers of some other languages who may not know that ph should be pronounced as f. Juliett is spelled with a tt for French speakers, because they may otherwise treat a single final t as silent. In some English versions of the alphabet, one or both of these may have their standard English spelling.[8]

The final choice of code words for the letters of the alphabet and for the digits was made after hundreds of thousands of comprehension tests involving 31 nationalities. The qualifying feature was the likelihood of a code word being understood in the context of others. For example, football has a higher chance of being understood than foxtrot in isolation, but foxtrot is superior in extended communication.[9]

The pronunciation of the code words varies according to the language habits of the speaker. To eliminate wide variations in pronunciation, recordings and posters illustrating the pronunciation desired by the ICAO are available.[9][10] However, there are still differences in pronunciation between the ICAO and other agencies, and the ICAO has conflicting Roman-alphabet and IPA transcriptions. Also, although all codes for the letters of the alphabet are English words, they are not in general given English pronunciations. Assuming that the transcriptions are not intended to be precise, only 11 of the 26Bravo, Echo, Hotel, Juliet(t), Kilo, Mike, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Whiskey, and Zuluare given English pronunciations by all these agencies, though not always the same English pronunciations.

Pronunciations are somewhat uncertain because the agencies, while ostensibly using the same pronunciations, give different transcriptions, which are often inconsistent from letter to letter. The ICAO gives different pronunciations in IPA transcription than in respelling, and the FAA also gives different pronunciations depending on the publication consulted, the FAA Aeronautical Information Manual (4-2-7), the FAA Flight Services manual (14.1.5), or the ATC manual (2-4-16). ATIS gives English spellings, but does not give pronunciations or numbers. The ICAO, NATO, and FAA use modifications of English numerals, with stress on one syllable, while the ITU and IMO compound pseudo-Latinate numerals with a slightly different set of modified English numerals, and with stress on each syllable. Numbers 1099 are spelled out (that is, 17 is "17" and 60 is "60"), while for hundreds and thousands the English words hundred and thousand are used.[8][10][12][13][14][22]

The pronunciation of the digits 3, 4, 5, and 9 differs from standard English being pronounced tree, fower, fife, and niner. The digit 3 is specified as tree so that it is not pronounced sri; the long pronunciation of 4 (still found in some English dialects) keeps it somewhat distinct from for; 5 is pronounced with a second "f" because the normal pronunciation with a "v" is easily confused with "fire" (a command to shoot); and 9 has an extra syllable to keep it distinct from German nein 'no'.

Only the ICAO prescribes pronunciation with the IPA, and then only for letters.[10] Several of the pronunciations indicated are slightly modified from their normal English pronunciations: /lf, brvo, li, delt, fkstrt, lf, lim, sk, sier, tno, unifrm, vikt, jnki/, partially due to the substitution of final schwas with the ah vowel; in addition, the intended distinction between the short vowels /o / and the long vowels /o / is obscure, and has been ignored in the consolidated transcription above. Both the IPA and respelled pronunciations were developed by the ICAO before 1956 with advice from the governments of both the United States and United Kingdom,[23] so the pronunciations of both General American English and British Received Pronunciation are evident, especially in the rhotic and non-rhotic accents. The respelled version is usually at least consistent with a rhotic accent ('r' pronounced), as in CHAR LEE, SHAR LEE, NO VEM BER, YOU NEE FORM, and OO NEE FORM, whereas the IPA version usually specifies a non-rhotic accent ('r' pronounced only before a vowel), as in tli, li, novemb, and junifm. Exceptions are OSS CAH, VIK TAH and unifrm. The IPA form of Golf implies it is pronounced gulf, which is not either General American English or British Received Pronunciation. Different agencies assign different stress patterns to Bravo, Hotel, Juliett, November, Papa, X-ray; the ICAO has different stresses for Bravo, Juliett, X-ray in its respelled and IPA transcriptions. The mid back [] vowel transcribed in Oscar and Foxtrot is actually a low vowel in both Received British and General American, and has been interpreted as such above. Furthermore, the pronunciation prescribed for "whiskey" has no initial [h], although some speakers in both General American and RP pronounce an h here, and an initial [h] is categorical in Scotland and Ireland.

The first internationally recognized spelling alphabet was adopted by the ITU during 1927. The experience gained with that alphabet resulted in several changes being made during 1932 by the ITU. The resulting alphabet was adopted by the International Commission for Air Navigation, the predecessor of the ICAO, and was used for civil aviation until World War II.[23] It continued to be used by the IMO until 1965:

Amsterdam, Baltimore, Casablanca, Denmark, Edison, Florida, Gallipoli, Havana, Italia, Jerusalem, Kilogramme, Liverpool, Madagascar, New York, Oslo, Paris, Quebec, Roma, Santiago, Tripoli, Upsala, Valencia, Washington, Xanthippe, Yokohama, Zurich

British and American armed forces had each developed their spelling alphabets before both forces adopted the ICAO alphabet during 1956. British forces adopted the RAF phonetic alphabet, which is similar to the phonetic alphabet used by the Royal Navy during World War I. At least two of the terms are sometimes still used by UK civilians to spell words over the phone, namely 'F for Freddie' and 'S for Sugar'.

The U.S. adopted the Joint Army/Navy Phonetic Alphabet during 1941 to standardize systems among all branches of its armed forces. The U.S. alphabet became known as Able Baker after the words for A and B. The United Kingdom adapted its RAF alphabet during 1943 to be almost identical to the American Joint-Army-Navy (JAN) one.

After World War II, with many aircraft and ground personnel from the allied armed forces, "Able Baker" continued to be used for civil aviation. But many sounds were unique to English, so an alternative "Ana Brazil" alphabet was used in Latin America. But the International Air Transport Association (IATA), recognizing the need for a single universal alphabet, presented a draft alphabet to the ICAO during 1947 that had sounds common to English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. After further study and modification by each approving body, the revised alphabet was implemented on 1 November 1951 for civil aviation (but it may not have been adopted by any military):[23]

Alfa, Bravo, Coca, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliett, Kilo, Lima, Metro, Nectar, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Union, Victor, Whisky, Extra, Yankee, Zulu

Problems were soon found with this list. Some users believed that they were so severe that they reverted to the old "Able Baker" alphabet. To identify the deficiencies of the new alphabet, testing was conducted among speakers from 31 nations, principally by the governments of the United Kingdom and the United States. Confusion among words like Delta, Nectar, Victor, and Extra, or the unintelligibility of other words during poor receiving conditions were the main problems. After much study, only the five words representing the letters C, M, N, U, and X were replaced. The ICAO sent a recording of the new Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet to all member states in November 1955.[16][9] The final version given in the table above was implemented by the ICAO on 1 March 1956,[23] and the ITU adopted it no later than 1959 when they mandated its usage via their official publication, Radio Regulations.[24] Because the ITU governs all international radio communications, it was also adopted by all radio operators, whether military, civilian, or amateur. It was finally adopted by the IMO in 1965. During 1947 the ITU adopted the compound number words (Nadazero Unaone, etc.), later adopted by the IMO during 1965.

A spelling alphabet is used to spell parts of a message containing letters and numbers to avoid confusion, because many letters sound similar, for instance "n" and "m" or "f" and "s"; the potential for confusion increases if static or other interference is present. For instance the message "proceed to map grid DH98" could be transmitted as "proceed to map grid Delta-Hotel-Niner-Ait". Using "Delta" instead of "D" avoids confusion between "DH98" and "BH98" or "TH98". The unusual pronunciation of certain numbers was designed to reduce confusion.

In addition to the traditional military usage, civilian industry uses the alphabet to avoid similar problems in the transmission of messages by telephone systems. For example, it is often used in the retail industry where customer or site details are spoken by telephone (to authorize a credit agreement or confirm stock codes), although ad hoc coding is often used in that instance. It has been used often by information technology workers to communicate serial/reference codes (which are often very long) or other specialised information by voice. Most major airlines use the alphabet to communicate Passenger Name Records (PNRs) internally, and in some cases, with customers. It is often used in a medical context as well, to avoid confusion when transmitting information.

Several letter codes and abbreviations using the spelling alphabet have become well-known, such as Bravo Zulu (letter code BZ) for "well done",[25]Checkpoint Charlie (Checkpoint C) in Berlin, and Zulu Time for Greenwich Mean Time or Coordinated Universal Time. During the Vietnam War, the The U.S. government referred to the Viet Cong guerrillas and the group itself as VC, or Victor Charlie; the name "Charlie" became synonymous with this force.

Adam, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Edward, Frank, George, Henry, Ida, John, King, Lincoln, Mary, New York, Ocean, Peter, Queen, Roger, Sugar, Thomas, Union, [Victor?], William, X-Ray, Young, Zero

Many unofficial spelling alphabets are in use that are not based on a standard, but are based on words the transmitter can remember easily, including first names, states, or cities. The LAPD phonetic alphabet has many first names. The German spelling alphabet ("Deutsches Funkalphabet" (literally "German Radio Alphabet")) also uses first names. Also, during the Vietnam war, soldiers used 'Cain' instead of 'Charlie' because 'Charlie' meant Viet Cong (Charlie being short for Victor Charlie, the NATO alphabet spelling of the initials VC).

Certain languages' standard alphabets have letters, or letters with diacritics (e.g., umlauts), that do not exist in the English alphabet. If these letters have two-letter ASCII substitutes, the ICAO/NATO code words for the two letters are used.

In Spanish the word "oo" is used for .

In German and Swedish, Alfa-Alfa (aa) is used for "", Alfa-Echo (ae) for "", Oscar-Echo (oe) for "", Sierra-Sierra (ss) for "", and Uniform-Echo (ue) for "".[28] Alternatively, Swedish may use ke, rlig and sten for the accented letters.

In Danish and Norwegian the letters "", "" and "" have their own code words. In Danish gir, dis and se represent the three letters,[29] while in Norwegian the three code words are gir, rnulf and got for civilians and rlig, sten and se for military personnel.[30]

Czech "", historically uo, is Uniform-Oscar (uo).

In Finnish there are special code words for the letters , and . ke is used to represent , iti is used for and ljy for . These code words are used only in national operations, the last remnants of the Finnish radio alphabet.[31]

Estonian has 4 special letters, , , and . nne represents , rni for , bik for and lle for .

Malay replaces letter L with London", since the word Lima in Malay means number 5 (five).

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NATO phonetic alphabet - Wikipedia

Former NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen believes more global interventionism by the US is needed to achieve peace and prevent conflict. He says US needs to be the worlds policeman and criticizes outgoing President Obama for not having done enough.

The comments were delivered in an exclusive interview to Sky News, five days ahead of the US presidential election. Rasmussen, who headed the military alliance from 2009 to 2014, outlined his frustrations of serving during the Obama presidency.

"I think President Obama has been too reluctant to use military force or threaten to use military force to prevent conflicts in the world, he said.

No matter who wins the White House, Rasmussen says the US has no choice either way but to continue down the path of interventionism. According to him, the above problems require a world policeman to restore international law and order.

"Superpowers don't get to retire. Look around, you will see a world on fire. Syria torn by war and conflict. Iraq on the brink of collapse. Libya a failed state in North Africa. Russia attacking Ukraine and destabilizing Eastern Europe. China flexing its muscles, the rogue state North Korea threatening nuclear attacks.

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Rasmussen went on to express fears over the possibility of a Donald Trump presidency, saying: We dont know what will be the concrete polices of his administration, but if his statements were to be taken at face value, I consider it could be very dangerous for the world.

Trump has said that he would withdraw from military agreements he finds unfavorable to the US. Hillary Clinton has, for her part, argued for an expanded US role in global affairs.

There is intense debate as to whether the US has done too much, or simply not enough, in the past decade.

The Middle East campaigns the US found itself in during the Bush administration did not end under Obama, who received the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize amid hopes his presidency would herald a more stable world.

Yet, ironically, Obama has been at war more than his predecessor or any other US president. Obama administrations policies in the Middle East and North Africa led to even greater instability, with Libya plunging into chaos after ouster of Muammar Gaddafi and one of the greatest global security threats in the face of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) emerging in Iraq and Syria.

The number of drone strikes under George W. Bush pales in comparison to those under Obama: 50 and 506, respectively, according to the NY Times. More than 390 civilians have died in the airstrikes in Yemen, Pakistan and Somalia on Obamas watch.

The failure of the Libyan campaign was admitted by Obama himself, who said in an interview with Fox News that the mission didnt work, adding that his worst mistake was probably failing to plan for the day after in intervening in Libya.

READ MORE:2 US soldiers killed, 2 wounded in Kunduz, Afghanistan

Afghanistans government forces still cant rely on their own capacity to fight the Taliban insurgency, which by the latest estimates controls one-third of the country. This is after the US finally pulled out of Afghanistan after 15 years its longest war to date.

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World needs strong US as policeman, Obama was too weak for ...

A map showing the approximate location of drills by Russia (in red) and NATO (in blue). Google Maps

This week's stage Serbia and Montenegro were once part of Yugoslavia, a communist state briefly allied with the Soviet Union after World War II. Yugoslavia split after the fall of the Berlin Wall, but Serbia and Montenegro remained the same country until they divided following a referendum in 2006.

Serbia is not a member of NATO but has also held drills with the alliance. However, it has maintained some ties with Moscow, and some Serbs also share the Kremlin's bitterness toward the West after a NATO bombing campaign to end the Kosovo War in 1999.

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Meanwhile, Montenegro has moved toward the West and is well on its way to joining the military alliance.

The drills this week were not the first held by Russia and Serbia, nor were they the largest by the former Soviet powerhouse. In September, Moscow said that

But seen through the prism of Montenegro's so-called Westernization, the location of the exercises was likely key.

"I would be very surprised if it was coincidence," according to Tate Nurkin, a defense analyst at global consulting firm IHS. "This is the frontline of the ongoing confrontation."

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For its part, a NATO official claimed that the decision to stage its disaster-relief exercise so close to the Russians was "in no way a provocative exercise." Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official told NBC News that it was only about "allies helping allies in a natural disaster."

Sutyagin, the Russian expert at RUSI, disagreed.

Russian and Belarusian servicemen arrive in Serbia on Wednesday. Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation

"To say it's a disaster-relief exercise is half true," he said. "There are military and non-military elements involved." NATO said the proportion was around 90 percent non-military.

"This sends a message and I think that's the reason for having these drills so close," he added.

Nurkin said that NATO leaders would be all-too conscious of the ramifications of their choice of venue.

"Any time NATO does something in Montenegro, they will know that Russia will be very aware of it," he said. "Moscow is very resentful toward the U.S. for not just allowing the expansion of NATO but encouraging it right up to the Russian border."

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Russia and NATO Hold Dual Drills 150 Miles Apart in Balkans

Organizacija severnoatlantskega sporazuma, Organizacija severnoatlantske pogodbe[1] ali tudi Severnoatlantska pogodbena zveza (angleko North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, kratica Nato ali NATO; francosko Organisation du Trait de l'Atlantique Nord, kratica Otan ali OTAN) je mednarodna vojako-politina organizacija drav za sodelovanje na podroju obrambe, ki je bila ustanovljena leta 1949.

Leta po drugi svetovni vojni so prinesla hitro stopnjevanje trenja med deelami vzhodnega politinega bloka (komunistinimi sistemi) in deelami Zahoda (demokratinimi sistemi zahodne Evrope in severne Amerike). Tako vzhodna kot zahodna stran sta bili mnenja, da nasprotna sila resno ogroa njun obstoj in blaginjo. Kot posledica sta bili v obeh blokih ustanovljeni obrambni zvezi potencialno ogroenih drav: leta 1949 zveza Nato na Zahodu in est let kasneje Varavski pakt na Vzhodu. Ustanovitev zveze Nato, sicer varnostno zagotovilo pred grozeo ofenzivo komunistinih sil, je dobila neposreden povod z blokado Berlina s strani Sovjetov. Na ustanovnem zasedanju zveze Nato so bile udeleene drave ustanoviteljice: Belgija, Danska, Francija, Islandija, Italija, Kanada, Luksemburg, Nizozemska, Norveka, Portugalska, Velika Britanija in ZDA.

V prvem letu delovanja je Nato na prvem mestu - v oeh evropskih drav - pomenil zagotovilo amerike pomoi ob morebitnem spopadu. Junija 1950, dobro leto po ustanovitvi pakta, se je v Koreji razplamtel prvi izmedobrobnihspopadov obeh velesil. Moan udarec severnokorejske vojske z izdatno podporo Kitajske in ZSSR je tril ob junokorejske, z Ameriani ojaane sile. Krvava vojna se je konala tako reko brez zmagovalca, prinesla pa je nove politine in geografske razsenosti zveze Nato. Ta je zaela pospeene priprave na iritev, do katere je prilo leta 1952: v organizacijo sta bili zaradi strateke lege vkljueni Grija in Turija, dravi, ki sta se zajedali globoko v june obronke vzhodnega bloka. Tri leta kasneje je bila kot odgovor na blokado Berlina v pakt pod posebnimi pogoji vkljuena tudi Zahodna Nemija.

Skozi obdobje hladne vojne se je pomen zveze Nato predvsem v smislu varnosti vseskozi veal. Prihajalo je do vse vejih in pogostejih zaostrovanj med zahodnim in vzhodnim blokom, slednji pa je sasoma razvil lastno jedrsko oroje, s imer se je izenaila vojaka mo obeh zvez. Posledino se je med evropskimi deelami pojavil strah, ki je izviral iz dejstva, da v primeru sovjetske invazije ZDA zaradi lastne varnosti utegnejo odkloniti pomo - prilo je do prvih manjih sporov in razhajanj med Evropo in ZDA. Tako je leta 1966 svoje lanstvo zamrznila de Gaulle-ova Francija.

Oboroevalna tekma je bila v polnem zagonu, krize pa so se vrstile: vietnamska vojna, kubanska kriza in druga nekoliko manja trenja so le e poveevala nesoglasja med Zahodom in Vzhodom. S stalnim razvojem novega in mogonejega oroja se je vseskozi dral strah med obema velesilama, s tem pa tudi nekakno ravnoteje, ki je tako Sovjete kot Ameriane sililo k neuporabi svojih medcelinskih raket z jedrskimi konicami. V letu 1982 je po ukinitvi panskega faizma prilo do krepitve Nato pakta z novo lanico.

Zaostreno stanje med velesilama je poasi zaelo topliti v poznih osemdesetih letih 20. stoletja. Prilo je do podpisa Sporazuma o balistinih raketah dolgega dosega, ki je narekoval unienje vseh raket z dosegom nad 500 km, ter konno do razpada Varavskega pakta leta 1989.

Sledilo je post-hladnovojno obdobje zveze Nato.

Abecedno urejene drave lanice od ustanovitve leta 1949 ali z letom pristopa v oklepaju:

Grija in Turija sta v organizacijo vstopili februarja 1952. Nemija se je prikljuila leta 1955 kot Zahodna Nemija, zdruitev obeh Nemij leta 1990 pa je razirilo zvezo tudi na obmoje nekdanje Vzhodne Nemije, ki je bila lanica Varavskega pakta. panija je vstopila 30. maja 1982, e tri nekdanje lanice Varavskega pakta - Poljska, Madarska in eka - pa so se zvezi prikljuile 12. marca 1999.

Francija je e vedno lanica zveze NATO, vendar se je leta 1966 umaknila iz skupne vojake poveljnike strukture. Islandija je edina lanica zveze NATO, ki nima lastne vojske, pristopila pa je pod pogojem, da ji je tudi ne bo treba ustanoviti.

V letih 1999-2000 so drave NATA imele:

... kar znaa 1.212 glavnih vojakih ladij.

Zlasti v asu vstopanja Slovenije v Severnoatlantsko zvezo leta 2003 in prej so se veinoma v civilni drubi pojavljale mnoge kritike zveze in vstopanja Slovenije v to zvezo. Te kritike so bile ob vzniku civilnih pobud proti zvezi Nato (Reci ne Nato, Dost je) zdruene v temeljnih deset tok[navedi vir]:

Na te kritike je vladna stran (Slovenija in Nato) odgovorila z naslednjimi protiargumenti:

Te utemeljitve so v javni razpravi na koncu tudi prevagale, kar se je pokazalo na referendumu 23. marca 2003, ko je kar dve tretjini glasujoih (66,02%) podprlo vstop Slovenije v Severnoatlantsko zvezo.

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NATO - Wikipedija, prosta enciklopedija

Russian President Vladimir Putin (c) and his Serbian counterpart Tomislav Nikolic (3rd R) watch a military parade in Belgrade, Serbia, on October 16, 2014..

VASILY MAXIMOV/AFP/Getty Images

BELGRADE, Serbia - NATO is holding an emergency exercise drill in Montenegro while Russian troops will participate in a war game in Serbia as the two Balkan neighbors seem to be heading in different directions strategically. The moves come amid mounting tensions between Russia and the West over a variety of geopolitical issues.

The five-day drill in Montenegro that started Monday includes fighting floods and chemical attacks. It will involve 680 unarmed personnel from seven NATO countries and 10 partner states.

The 13-day armed exercise in Serbia, dubbed The Slavic Brotherhood 2016, begins Wednesday. It will include 150 Russian paratroopers, 50 air force staffers, 3 transport planes and an unspecified number of troops from Serbia and Belarus, Russias Defense Ministry said.

Both Serbia and Montenegro - a single state before their split in 2006 - are traditional Russian Christian Orthodox allies. But since the split, Montenegro has pursued pro-Western policies, while Serbia has been struggling to wrestle away from the Moscow grip.

Montenegro has been invited to join NATO, despite strong opposition from Russia. Serbia is under strong pressure from the Kremlin not to join the Western military alliance or the European Union.

Serbia, a NATO partner, has held exercises with the Western alliance, but not such a large one or with foreign troops and equipment participating on its soil.

Montenegrin officials have accused Russia of standing behind an alleged coup on election day earlier in October to topple the pro-Western government because of its NATO bid. Some 20 Serbian citizens were arrested in Montenegro during the vote, suspected of trying to stage the coup, while Serbian authorities reportedly deported an unspecified number of Russian operatives from their territory.

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