Category Archives: NATO

Israels new ambassador to the European Union and NATO, Haim Regev, presented this week his credentials to the President if the European Council, Charles Michel.

Today (15 October), I had the honor and the privilege to present my credentials to the President of the @EUCouncil, as the Ambassador of #Israel to the #EU and NATO and officially start my mission, he tweeted.

I look forward to strengthening the relations between Israel & the EU, added.

Before his appointment, Regev was for five years director of the Middle East and Peace Process division at the Israeli foreign ministry. In this position, over the last twenty years he has been in contact with a ot of players in the Arab world.

He was one of the key diplomats who laid the groundwork for the Abraham Accords normalizing Israels relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco in 2020.

He has described the signing of the Accords an historic, watershed moment for the Middle East that marked the beginning of an entirely new chapter for the region.It represents a decision to build a future together that will benefit all of our peoples.

These agreements proved that Israel is an integral and permanent part of the Middle East with much to contribute to the stability and prosperity of the region, he added.

Regev arrived in Brussels at a time of improved relations between the EU and Israel, an improvement illustrated by the visit to the EU of Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid last July.

I am looking forward to continuing the work of improving and strengthening multilateral and bilateral ties of Israel in the Middle East, this time with the EUs involvement, Regev said in an op-ed in Euobserver, a publication on EU affairs

The EU can play a key role in the region by supporting trilateral projects, promoting its values, sponsoring people-to-people dialogue and fostering peace in the Middle East. The EU can join Israel and its moderate neighbours to write a new page in the history books, he said.

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Israels new ambassador to the EU and NATO will seek to improve and strengthen Israels multilateral and bilateral ties in the Middle East with the EUs...

"The so-called 'defense' -but in fact very aggressive- agreement between Greece and the USA, constitutes a dangerous link of our country's involvement in the US and NATO war plans in the wider region", the Press Office of its JC points out in a statement. KKE.

The announcement continues by stating that "after all, the report of the US Secretary of State on Greece's contribution to the war in Afghanistan, prescribes many new" Afghanistan "with the active Greek participation.

With this Agreement, which is for 5 years and then extended indefinitely, the entire Greek territory is transformed into a vast American-NATO imperialist stronghold, providing for the upgrading of the existing military bases, the creation of new ones, the provision of facilities for other camps. the US military needs. These plans are part of the "NATO 2030" Strategy and the movement of large military forces in Eastern Europe, with eyes focused on competition with Russia and China. This role is also served by the upgrade of Alexandroupolis as a reference point for the operations and exercises of the American army.

The government of ND, continuing the Strategic Dialogue and the Agreement with the USA, launched by the SYRIZA government, assumes enormous responsibilities towards the Greek people. It turns the country into a perpetrator of other peoples, but also a possible target of retaliation, in the context of the intensified rivalries that take on a military-military character. At the same time, it fuels competition with the Turkish bourgeoisie.

The argument that in this way "the security of the country and its borders is shielded against Turkish aggression" is completely false and misleading. The US and NATO, at the same time, are haggling with "ally" Turkey for its detachment from Russian influence, while their main concern is to maintain cohesion in the SE wing of NATO. In this regard, the letter of the US Secretary of State, T. Blinken, regarding the support of the sovereign rights of Greece and respect for international law is "ashes in the eyes". Similar statements have been made in the past by the former US Secretary of State, M. Pompeo, but this not only did not reduce the dangerous situation in the Aegean and the East. Mediterranean, but instead was associated with the escalation of Turkish aggression. After all, history is full of agreements and statements that "remained on paper", in the context of the constant rearrangement of the imperialist alliances.

The Agreement with the USA, like the corresponding one with France, ultimately serves the goal of the geostrategic upgrade of the Greek capital and for the sake of its own interests the Greek governments take on the role of "leader" in imperialist plans and competitions, exposing the Greek people to great risks. This, after all, is confirmed by the special reference to the business and trade agreements that accompany the military agreement.

It is more than ever necessary to form and strengthen a popular front, to abolish these shameful offensive Agreements, to close foreign military bases in the country, to return Greek military missions from abroad, to free Greece from alliances, such as NATO and the EU. "

Despina Bardakou

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KKE: Aggressive agreement, Greece involved in US and NATO war plans | ATHENS 9,84 - 9.84

BAKU, Azerbaijan, Oct. 12

Trend:

First Deputy Minister of Azerbaijan - Chief of General Staff of the Azerbaijani army, Lieutenant General Karim Valiyev met with Chief of the Partnerships Directorate of the NATO Allied Powers Command Operations, Rear Admiral Bulent Turan, on October 12, Trend reports citing the Ministry of National Defense of Azerbaijan.

Greeting the guest, Valiyev noted that after the victory of Azerbaijan in the second Karabakh war, won under the leadership of the President of Azerbaijan, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ilham Aliyev, the combat readiness of the Azerbaijani army and the morale of the personnel increased even more.

Valiyev noted the positive results achieved by the units of the Azerbaijani army within the framework of the concept of operational capabilities, stressing the importance of continuing cooperation.

In turn, Turan highly appreciated the activities of the Azerbaijani army in all areas of partnership with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Moreover, a thorough exchange of views took place on the prospects for the development of cooperation with NATO, the parties discussed military, military-technical, military-educational, military-medical and other issues of mutual interest.

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Azerbaijan, NATO discuss issues of partnership - Trend News Agency

80 former NATO Afghan employees and their family members are now being resettled in Norway. They departed temporary facilities in Kosovo on a charted civilian airline flight from Pristina to Norway on Tuesday (05 October 2021). Troops of NATO's high-readiness Response Force have been helping to provide care and support, including through individual and family living quarters, dining facilities, medical and dental centres, meeting rooms, recreation areas for adults and children, and religious accommodations.

We are here in Pristina to secure the transport of 80 Afghan refugees affiliated with NATO, following a request from NATO, Alan Aguillar, Senior Advisor for the Norwegian Immigration Police said. We did a vetting and ID check and today we are finalizing the process to transfer these refugees to Norway. They will be transferred to a camp, where we will continue a process of integration in Norway. They will be resettled throughout the country, after a couple of weeks in this camp. We will do whatever we can to help them to build a future and a new life in Norway, he added. We have had a good cooperation and coordination with NATO on the ground; it has been a smooth process from start to end, he also pointed out.

As some Afghans complete their resettlement, the process continues for others. Around 2,000 Afghans who worked with NATO, and their families, were evacuated from Kabul in August, as part of the largest evacuation mission in NATO's history. NATO worked around the clock to coordinate evacuations and the NATO Senior Civilian Representative Ambassador Stefano Pontecorvo and his staff played a key role to this effect. Over the course of two weeks, more than 120,000 people were flown out, on hundreds of Allied flights. Troops from the US, UK, Turkey, and Norway played a key role in securing the airport and operating a field hospital, while around 800 NATOstaff maintained key operations such as fuelling and communications.

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Allies continue their joint efforts to resettle Afghans who worked with NATO - NATO HQ

MOSCOW, October 8. /TASS/. Moscow is ready for cooperation with Washington, Brussels and NATO on the situation in Afghanistan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated on Friday at a meeting with the Association of European Businesses members.

"We are open to cooperation with the US, the EU and NATO, because I believe that the NATO countries should certainly bear the main share of responsibility for Afghanistans reconstruction," the top diplomat said.

Lavrov emphasized Moscows firm stance "against the transfer of military facilities from Afghanistan or the deployment of new military infrastructure in the Central Asian republics" in order to attack Afghanistan if necessary. "These countries can become targets for terrorists," the Russian foreign minister explained.

"Completely different methods are required in this fight. And, of course, those who cooperated with these specific people should be responsible for the flows of refugees. Currently, many are trying to persuade Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan to take refugees for a couple of months, explaining that they need to issue documents for them. If they have been cooperating with Western countries, the US and others for many years, is it really necessary to draw up documents for two months? This is not really true," Lavrov stated.

The foreign minister pointed out that the stability of its Central Asian neighbors was very significant for Moscow, noting that the Russian capital would host talks on Afghanistan soon. "This is a step towards the preparation of a global conference, which is already being announced. The reconstruction of Afghanistan is likely to be addressed, and we have a lot of reasons for cooperation," Lavrov said.

On Wednesday, Russia's special presidential envoy to Afghanistan, Director of the Foreign Ministry's Second Asian Department Zamir Kabulov announced that Russia will invite the Talibans (outlawed in Russia) representatives to take part in talks on Afghanistan, which will be held on October 20 in Moscow.

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Russia open to cooperation with EU, US and NATO on Afghan issue top diplomat - TASS

The US and the Taliban have held face-to-face talks for the first time since NATO withdrew from Afghanistan in August.

The talks took place in Doha and covered issues ranging from the evacuation of foreign citizens to the economy.

The US reportedly offered coronavirus vaccines to Afghans, while Taliban representatives asked the US to lift a ban on Afghan central reserves, according to a Taliban minister quoted in Al-Jazeera.

The minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, said that the two parties discussed opening a new page between the two countries after a decades-long war.

The Taliban has indicated it may be flexible on the evacuation of foreign citizens, many of whom remain in Afghanistan despite evacuation efforts removing thousands.

Campaigners in the UK warned thatan estimated 400 to 500 British citizens are still stranded in Afghanistanand desperately seeking help to return home.

However, the Taliban said it would not cooperate with the US to fight terrorist group Isis, a sworn enemy of the Taliban.

Spokesperson Suhail Shaheen told The Associated Press insisted the Taliban could tackle [Isis] independently.

On Friday, the terrorist group took responsibility for a suicide bombing which killed 46 minority Shiite Muslims and wounded dozens as they prayed in a mosque in the northern city of Kunduz.

The talks will continue on Saturday and into Sunday, but the US has insisted they are not a precursor to recognition of the Talibans leadership in Afghanistan.

They come after two days of discussions between Pakistani officials and US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in Islamabad focusing on Afghanistan. There, Pakistani officials urged the US to engage with the Taliban and approve billions of dollars in aid to prevent an economic collapse.

The UK Government held its first talks with the Taliban earlier this week.

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Afghanistan: US and Taliban meet for their first talks since NATO withdrawal - iNews

THE MINISTRY of Defence has been urged to carry out an immediate review after fishermen lodged "significant" safety complaints over one of the largest military exercises of its kind in Europe taking place off Scotland's west coast.

They are concerned that vessels are receiving little warning for Global Positioning System (GPS) signals to be jammed as part of the major multinational NATO war games exercise causing navigation issues and what they describe as a "significant" risk to vessels.

Twelve NATO Allies have been participating in the NATO exercise Dynamic Mariner-21/Joint Warrior 21-2 in the past 12 days.

But now the Ministry of Defence has been urged to investigate how the exercise is being carried out after the Western Isles Fishermens Association (WIFA) raised concerns that in recent days vessels in the Minch which rely on GPS for navigation reported received little less than 30 minutes warning that signals would be jammed leading to "extreme disruption and potential danger".

GPS denial operations are routinely done during the staging of Joint Warrior, but were suspended during a staging of the exercise in October 2011 following complaints from fishermen.

The exercise brings together 20 surface ships, two submarines, seven maritime patrol aircraft as well as personnel from Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, UK and the US.

The exercise runs through a range of scenarios, including crisis and conflict situations, that could be realistically encountered in operations, such as territory disputes, terrorist activity and piracy.

Participating ships arrived at at the Clyde naval base, Hunterston and Greenock.

Part of Joint Warrior, which takes place twice a year in the spring and autumn involves GPS denial operations off the west coast of Scotland which the Ministry of Defence say are conducted at "limited" periods each day.

They say the relevant authorities, especially maritime and aviation, have been involved in the planning process and "relevant safeguards have been put in place".

Duncan Macinnes, chairman of WIFA said: Its totally unacceptable for the fishing industry being issued with a navigation warning that their GPS is being jammed within the next 30 minutes.

This short notice presents a significant risk to vessels relying on GPS for avoiding underwater obstructions whilst they are towing and could result in vessels becoming entangled in obstructions that could result in injuries to crew or damage to vessels if their gear becomes entangled in obstructions."

Angus MacNeil, the SNP MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar is now raising the issue with the Ministry of Defence so that "proper procedures" for notification over jamming GPS are issued well in advance in future.

He is seeking an immediate review of the current system of notification to the fishing industry of naval exercises which require the GPS to be disrupted.

READ MORE:US military chief feared Trump could order China strike, book claims

In a letter to the UKs Secretary of State for Defence, Ben Wallace, Mr MacNeil said: I would urge you to review the current practice of advance notification to the fishing industry prior to the commencement of exercises when GPS or any other systems need to be disrupted.

A less than 30 minute warning that GPS will be jammed is extremely disruptive and dangerous to the fishing industry and other marine users.

It is vital that they are fully aware of times of jamming, at least 48 hours before, to enable the fishing industry to plan future commercial fishing operations safely to avoid seabed obstructions which could result in injury to crew or damage to the vessel if the vessel gets caught in any obstruction.

I am asking for urgent clarification of future intentions for blocking GPS or any other systems for the duration of this joint exercise.

The Royal Navy says that jamming is routinely practiced and is an "essential part of preparation for real-life operations, enabling our armed forces to prepare for the modern battlefield."

Some 30 aircraft were due to take part in the exercise with some of them operating from RAF Lossiemouth and Prestwick Airport..

Mine hunting exercises have been taking place around Campbeltown, Loch Ewe, Gruinard Bay, Loch Broom, Little Loch Broom, Enard Bay and Shiant Bank.

Amphibious operations were takong place at Loch Ewe (on private land), Loch Goil and Kyle of Lochalsh.

The exercise also took Cape Wrath Weapons Range, Garvie Island and the North Minch to the west of Ullapool involving fast small boats.

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MoD urged to review concerns over Scots fishing boat safety posed by major NATO exercise - HeraldScotland

KIEV, September 29. /TASS/. Ukrainian army units together with US and NATO military contingents have practiced offensive operations at a proving ground in the Lvov Region within the framework of the Rapid Trident exercise, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

"At a proving ground of the international peacemaking and security center (in the Yavorov district of the Lvov Region - TASS) the active phase of the Ukrainian-US exercise Rapid Trident-2021 is continuing. A multinational brigade has launched a quick offensive, crossed a water obstacle and taken the designated positions," the news release runs. Defensive maneuvers followed. "All attempts by a hypothetical enemy to regain the lost positions were quashed and ended in failure. The multinational brigade enjoyed effective artillery and air support," the Defense Ministry said.

Ukraine's ground forces, according to the Defense Ministry, demonstrated well-coordinated tactical operations, interaction and compatibility with contingents from the US, other NATO member countries and partner states.

Taking part in the Rapid Trident-2021 exercise, which began on September 20, are 6,000 troops from NATO and the alliance's member countries, including military servicemen from the United Sates, Bulgaria, Germany, Canada, Lithuania and Moldova. The exercise is ending on October 1. The purpose of the drills is to enhance the compatibility of participants in NATO's Partnership for Peace project.

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US, NATO, Ukraine hold Rapid Trident exercise to practice offensive operations - TASS

Ok, before we kick the hornets nest of the great guns and ammo debate allow me to just put the debate to rest with the next sentence. 7.62 NATO (or .308 in Merica) is a cheap and widely available rifle round.

This should be enough to end the debate for most but for those die-hard gun guys who come up to me at trade shows asking about ballistic coefficients and rifle twists.

FYI, asking a sniper about this stuff is like asking Tom Brady if he prefers cowhide or pigskin footballs. Im sure he, like most footballers asked this kind of question, really doesnt give two shits. He just loves the game and is good at throwing a football (or at shooting in a snipers case).

The three reasons I really like the 7.62 NATO round are its availability, affordability, and practicality.

First, some history and then on to the why.

The round was made in the 1950s for two of the best guns Ive had the pleasure of shooting. The M60 Machine gun (I feel like I should say grace every time I mention this holy machine gun of destruction!) and the M14. Both orgasmic to shoot.

I was an M60 gunner as a new guy SEAL and carried 800 rounds on me during contact live-fire drills. I loved that gun and playing off my other platoon machine gunners. Chug a chug. let my other gunners pick up then me again, chuga chuga chuga. other gunners pick up the fire. We rotated to save ammo, and then when wed be at the end of the belt wed fire it all full-auto to signal to the other gunners that we needed to do an ammo change and they need to pick up the rate of fire. Oh man, Im getting wood just typing this.

This Jesus cartridge was and is used by many military personnel worldwide on rifles, and crew-mounted (0r served) weapons.

Thank y0u 8lb baby Jesus.

On to my three reasons.

You can find .308 or 7.62 NATO at any large retailer that sells ammunition, Wallmart, Bass Pro or Cabelas come to mind. Most rounds will run you between 50 cents and one buck. More expensive fancy rounds, like .338 Lapua, will run you between three and five dollars a bullet.

For all you reloaders out there, good for you, I applaud you for it. But, and its a big butt (pun intended), I dont want to spend my time reloading.

I want a stockpile of solid match grade 7.62 NATO in my safe, and I want to know if I have to bug out that I can easily find ammunition on the road, the internet, and most middle America garage sales!

Read Next: 338 Lapua: A Navy SEAL Sniper Explains the Space X of Sniper Rounds

The solution is the 7.62 NATO/.308.

Ease of finding ammo is key for me and should be for you and the round is EVERYWHERE and its CHEAP! And we all know the majority of gun-loving Americans dont like parting with their hard-earned Benjamins.

One of the best military rifles ever made in America was the M14. We can debate this later or in the comments if you really are itching for it.

I trained on 7.62 Nato M14 in Navy SEAL sniper school and wrote about the joys of shooting the M14 powered by Nato 7.62 in my memoir, The Red Circle.

The round is one of the best we have at the moment. And when the Israeli Artificial Intelligence-powered remote-operated hunting rifles come to town Im sure your AI will agree with this author.

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Why 7.62 NATO Is This Navy SEAL Sniper's Favorite Round and Should Be Yours Too - SOFREP

The establishment of a new trilateral military and political alliance consisting of the United States, Australia, and the UK (AUKUS) and the corollary rupture of Frances contract of the century to build a new generation of diesel-powered submarines for Australia elicited mixed reactions in Russia. Some were pleased to see a conflict arise between the United States and France, while some expressed concern that the alliance targets Moscow just as much as it does Beijing.

Others were worried about the implications of the U.S. decision to share nuclear submarine technology with a non-nuclear state (instead of the French diesel submarines, Canberra will now get eight nuclear submarines).

These are valid points, but they all focus on the short-term consequences of the creation of AUKUS. Yet the decision to form a trilateral union and the new format of modernizing Australias underwater fleet will also have long-term implications, including for Russia.

Above all, the launch of AUKUS has confirmed that the standoff with China is indisputably the number one foreign policy priority for U.S. President Joe Biden and his administration.

Standing up to China is apparently worth risking a serious fallout with Paris over, worth putting Canberra in an awkward position, and worth expanding the interpretation of nonproliferation. The fact is that its getting increasingly difficult for Washington to single-handedly compete with Beijing in the naval arena, especially in the eastern Pacific Ocean, so it has no choice but to lean on its most reliable partners while ignoring the inevitable costs.

Nuclear-powered submarines have only one indisputable advantage over modern diesel submarines: a greater operating range, thanks to their superior autonomy.

If the new submarines were intended only to defend Australia, there would be no need for them to be nuclear. If, however, they are expected to perform covert operations over many months in more remote watersin the Taiwan Strait, near the Korean Peninsula, or somewhere in the Arabian Sea then a nuclear reactor would be a significant advantage.

For Russia, this means that any of its actions from now on will be viewed by Washington within the context of the U.S.-Chinese confrontation. The White House will, for example, turn a blind eye to Moscows cooperation with New Delhi and Hanoi on military technology, seeing it as a way to shore up the regional counterbalance to Beijing. Russias ongoing assistance with Chinas naval modernization program, on the other hand, will be closely scrutinized and could become grounds for new U.S. sanctions against both countries.

There has been some speculation that AUKUS will, with time, become an Asian equivalent of NATO, with more countries joining, from Canada and New Zealand to Japan and South Korea, and eventually even India and Vietnam. These predictions have unsurprisingly elicited concern in Russia.

Yet they are unlikely to come true. Countries like South Korea and India have no desire to join a multilateral military alliance that could jeopardize their relations with other countries. In any case, the establishment of a new structure is in itself an indirect acknowledgement by Washington that the twentieth-century rigid model of alliances is not right for this century. If anything, AUKUS is an attempt to find a modern alternative to NATO.

Its inevitable that the role of NATO in U.S. strategy will decrease, but thats not necessarily in Russias long-term interests if it means the organization will be replaced with structures such as AUKUS. NATO has detailed and clearly articulated decisionmaking procedures and mechanisms for reaching compromises among its many members.

Decisions made by NATO may be unpalatable for Moscow, but they are generally consistent and predictable. The same cannot be said of less heavyweight structures such as AUKUS, from which any number of improvised reactions could ensue, inevitably adding to the political risks.

The concept of AUKUS envisages that control of ocean lanes will continue to be a U.S. priority. The United States is not capable of establishing sufficient control over land transport corridors in Eurasia, nor does it need to do so: the main global cargo traffic routes will be maritime for the foreseeable future. For this reason, it is the worlds oceans rather than continental Eurasia that will be the main battleground between the United States and China.

For Russia, as a predominantly land power, that is overall a good thing as long as Moscow doesnt strive to position itself at the epicenter of the Chinese-American standoff.

In theory, in a couple of decades time, Australian submarines could turn up off the coast of Russias Sakhalin Island and Kamchatka Peninsula, or even cross the Bering Strait into the Arctic Ocean, creating a new potential threat for Russias Northern Fleet. There is every reason to suppose, however, that their main routes will lie much further south, and will not directly impinge upon Russian interests.

It is noteworthy that at around the same time as the establishment of AUKUS, China submitted an application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

The TPP was actually conceived as part of the strategy for Chinas economic containment under former U.S. president Barack Obama, though his successor Donald Trump refused to take part in the initiative. Chinas chances of joining the TPP are slim, but in making the request, Beijing is once again demonstrating that for its part, it would like to limit its rivalry with Washington to the realm of trade, investment, and technology. By creating AUKUS, on the other hand, the United States and its partners are increasingly signaling their intention of extending the confrontation to the field of military technology and the geopolitical arena.

Back in May 1882, when Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy agreed to establish the military and political bloc known as the Triple Alliance, its unlikely that anyone in Europe gave a second thought to the possible long-term consequences. After all, the aim of the alliance was purely the containment of France, where revanchism was rife following the countrys defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1872. There were no bigger plans in Berlin, Vienna, or Rome at that time.

Yet little more than 30 years later, the European continent was awash with the bloodshed of an unprecedented war.

Today, AUKUS looks like a rickety and unstable structure cobbled together in a hurry. But in 20 or 30 years, the logic that prompted its members to establish a new military and political alliance could lead them into a situation that neither they nor their opponents can get out of without the most severe consequences for themselves and the rest of the world. That is the main long-term danger from AUKUS.

This article was first published by the Carnegie Moscow Center.

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Should Russia Be Worried by the New AUKUS Alliance? - The Moscow Times