Topic: World War III - page 2. (Read 34342 times)
@zmiley Jewish experience: if someone say, that want to kill you - believe it.
Russian colonel Zhirinovsky threatens “total annihilation” of Baltics & Poland
http://euromaidanpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/9868BF55-B8FF-4975-AECD-88F9CD5FC4B8_mw1024_s_n.jpg
Zhirinovsky, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), issued a series of threats towards the European Union’s easternmost states.
On the show, Zhirinovsky, who is known for his controversial statements, threatened and suggested launching pre-emptive strikes against the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, as well as Poland. He justified the remarks by suggesting that Russia “cannot allow” peripheral nations’ missile defenses and air forces to be within striking distance of Russia, and that Russia should seek to destroy them ‘a half hour before they launch.’
The language used in the broadcast was especially inciteful, not only calling for the carpet bombing of the four countries, but their entire annihilation.
“What will remain of the Baltics? Nothing will remain…in Poland, the Baltics, they are doomed. They’ll be wiped out.”
“Let the leaders of these dwarf states reconsider this. Eastern European states will place themselves under the threat of total annihilation, and only they will be to blame.”
“…we’ll have to teach them the lessons of May 1945.”
Recall that Zhirinovsky has personally aided Russian insurgent groups in Luhansk, and his party has openly set up terrorist training camps in the embattled Luhansk region. The Ukrainian Interior Ministry launched criminal charges against him in July for financing these groups.
The LDPR is Russia’s fourth largest political party.
video (RU) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8w1gwm7EzU&list=UU3icoue9w-9uqxewz_kK6Fg
http://euromaidanpress.com/2014/08/11/russian-colonel-zhirinovsky-threatens-total-annihilation-of-baltics-poland/
Not sure if you should take Zhirinovsky seriously he is mentally unstable. I think Putin keeps him for the clown acts, he is like the King's jester. In this clip he brags about Russia's new doomsday weapon (similar to haarp) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o1gqjtriBY he lost his marbles a long time ago.
Chaaaaaaange! http://rt.com/news/213747-latvia-us-armored-vehicles/ both sides are preparing... The cold war never ended it was just not reported in the news for 2 decades.
I sure hope Russia/China also has laser technology to take down drones otherwise this will be a fairly one sided fight.
I sure hope Russia/China also has laser technology to take down drones otherwise this will be a fairly one sided fight.
Dear Pagan, You Avatar is the greatest I ever seen, may your claw be razor-lazer-sharp to hash the enemies of the more perfect Union Represented by the United States of America, in constant morphing toward a peaceful goal in which the enemies of said union will have all died and beyond which exchange and diversity in peace, harmony, love and sustainability may prosper beyond the horizon... however as you manifest, your claws sadly need to be piercing enough for the last few none the less resistant enemies of the Empires 
.
Concerning the frs shareholders, it's only the "drones" part without offenses of a much more complex apparatus, qualified in time by the letter RE, aka thing. If you chose to oppose the peaceful, prosperous, harmonious loving goal of any Empire may you acknowledge your near ending letting you the time to make your prayer mof, because you stand in the path of love. the question is why? why would people definitely chose to waste their time, and ours (the most precious) in stupid violent action that may lead to nowhere? I don't get it, if your idea are so great why can't you win an argument but have to resort to violence and or deception? truth prevails always in the long run? only shame from successful lies can be earn in the long term... (and that's a best case scenario)
.Concerning the frs shareholders, it's only the "drones" part without offenses of a much more complex apparatus, qualified in time by the letter RE, aka thing. If you chose to oppose the peaceful, prosperous, harmonious loving goal of any Empire may you acknowledge your near ending letting you the time to make your prayer mof, because you stand in the path of love. the question is why? why would people definitely chose to waste their time, and ours (the most precious) in stupid violent action that may lead to nowhere? I don't get it, if your idea are so great why can't you win an argument but have to resort to violence and or deception? truth prevails always in the long run? only shame from successful lies can be earn in the long term... (and that's a best case scenario)
WW3 is already going...
America vs Rest of the World.
You are either with us or against us.
I'd say "FRS' shareholders" vs "all people of the earth".
Passenger plane near collision with Russian military plane
There was a close call in the Swedish skies south of Malmö on Friday, as a foreign military plane almost collided with a passenger plane, according to the website of the newspaper Dagens Nyheter.
Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist confirmed for Swedish Radio News that the foreign military plane was Russian and that it was flying with its transponder off.
"It's serious. It's inappropriate. It's downright dangerous," said Hultqvist. He also clarified for news agency TT that the incident took place in international air space, not in the Swedish skies.
The passenger plane had just lifted off from the Danish airport, Kastrup, when the military air traffic control noticed an "invisible" plane in the area.
Swedish and Danish fighter planes were sent up to identify it.
"The military plane had no transponder, but we discovered it via our radar system and warned the civil air traffic control in Malmö," Daniel Josefsson who works with combat management in Luleå, told the newspaper.
"All of a sudden, the military plane turned and I understood that in about a minute, it would be on a collision course with the passenger plane. We can see about how far it is between the planes, but can't determine the exact height. I contacted the civil air traffic control again, which then decided that the passenger plane would turn, and in that way, we avoided a catastrophe," Josefsson said.
According to Olle Sundin, director general of the Swedish Civil Aviation Administration, there are rules for how close planes can come to each other in the air, and in this case, the planes were clearly too close. He told DN that they still need to analyze their radar data to measure the distance, but that it is probably only the pilot of the passenger plane who can say how close they were.
"It could have ended really badly," Micael Bydén, chief of the Swedish Air Force told the newspaper.
In March this year, an SAS plane on the way from Kastrup to Rome was just 90 meters away from crashing into a Russian signals intelligence plane, which was also flying "invisibly", south of Malmö. Since then, military activity in the air space over the Baltic has increased, and according to the Swedish Civil Aviation Administration and to the Swedish Transport Agency, military planes are flying over the area daily without their transponders turned on, in order to avoid being discovered.
http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=2054&artikel=6045400
There was a close call in the Swedish skies south of Malmö on Friday, as a foreign military plane almost collided with a passenger plane, according to the website of the newspaper Dagens Nyheter.
Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist confirmed for Swedish Radio News that the foreign military plane was Russian and that it was flying with its transponder off.
"It's serious. It's inappropriate. It's downright dangerous," said Hultqvist. He also clarified for news agency TT that the incident took place in international air space, not in the Swedish skies.
The passenger plane had just lifted off from the Danish airport, Kastrup, when the military air traffic control noticed an "invisible" plane in the area.
Swedish and Danish fighter planes were sent up to identify it.
"The military plane had no transponder, but we discovered it via our radar system and warned the civil air traffic control in Malmö," Daniel Josefsson who works with combat management in Luleå, told the newspaper.
"All of a sudden, the military plane turned and I understood that in about a minute, it would be on a collision course with the passenger plane. We can see about how far it is between the planes, but can't determine the exact height. I contacted the civil air traffic control again, which then decided that the passenger plane would turn, and in that way, we avoided a catastrophe," Josefsson said.
According to Olle Sundin, director general of the Swedish Civil Aviation Administration, there are rules for how close planes can come to each other in the air, and in this case, the planes were clearly too close. He told DN that they still need to analyze their radar data to measure the distance, but that it is probably only the pilot of the passenger plane who can say how close they were.
"It could have ended really badly," Micael Bydén, chief of the Swedish Air Force told the newspaper.
In March this year, an SAS plane on the way from Kastrup to Rome was just 90 meters away from crashing into a Russian signals intelligence plane, which was also flying "invisibly", south of Malmö. Since then, military activity in the air space over the Baltic has increased, and according to the Swedish Civil Aviation Administration and to the Swedish Transport Agency, military planes are flying over the area daily without their transponders turned on, in order to avoid being discovered.
http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=2054&artikel=6045400
WW3 is already going...
America vs Rest of the World.
You are either with us or against us.
WW3 is already going...
NATO Baltic Air Policing QRA F-16 jets on 7 DEC scrambled to intercept RU Armed Forces 4x Tu-95; 2x Tu-22 over the Baltic Sea.
Russian strategic nuclear weapon bombers Tu-95
Russian strategic nuclear weapon bombers Tu-95
LOL ..that shitheap looks like it crawled out of the junkyard.Who the fuck would take a shitty looking plane like this seriously.It wouldnt get a mile outside russian airspace without being intercepted.Show us the good stuff like the hypersonic star trek shit so we can have a proper tremble
Dramatic footage shows NATO jets confronting Russian warplanes over the Baltic Sea
-snip-
http://uatoday.tv/geopolitics/dramatic-footage-shows-nato-jets-confronting-russian-warplanes-in-baltic-sea-396615.html
This is actually quite common, throughout the world. Russian planes often "test" the response times of NATO (and US) military by sending their fighters into areas they know NATO does not want non-friendly planes flying into. It was recently reported by CNN that Russian planes are intercepted either via Alaska or on the west coast roughly 4-5 times per year -snip-
http://uatoday.tv/geopolitics/dramatic-footage-shows-nato-jets-confronting-russian-warplanes-in-baltic-sea-396615.html
World War 3 is inevitable in my opinion when the U.S. ceases to be the great superpower it is today. This will happen sometime in the future and a country like China has the capability to take on the U.S. at some point. The war will most likely be fought over a small country and a domino effect will occur when its allies will go to arms to defend it. Nuclear weaponry the likes of anything ever seen before will be used. It will be an apocalypse scenario of the worst kind. It's actually pretty fucking terrifying to think about.
Russian Spies Return to Europe in 'New Cold War'
Caught Red Handed: Two men were arrested by polish authorities on suspicion of spying for the Russian government in October. Kacper Pempel/Reuters
Earlier this month, experts convened in Brussels for a conference titled 'The Second Cold War: Heating Up?' Even among the plethora of current 'New Cold War' themed events, this one stood out: the organiser, Latvian MEP Tatjana Zdanoka, has been accused of being a Russian agent of influence – a spy.
Zdanoka, who is also chair of the EU Russian-Speakers Alliance insist there is no truth to the allegations, adding that the accusation was part of a ‘dirty tricks’ operation against her at home by domestic opponents – a tactic familiar from the Cold War days to those who remember them. In any event, the criminal investigation against her has been closed, Latvia’s DP intelligence service says. Yet the allegations point to the new – or revived – espionage game that is now playing out in Europe. Intelligence agencies everywhere are upping their games, with Western agencies putting particular efforts into data collection – “snooping”.
The West’s efforts, though, pale into insignificance compared to those of Russia. Germany’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution reports growing instances of Russian espionage, and a spokesman for Sweden’s Säpo intelligence agency says that Russia has increased its intelligence agencies’ activities in Sweden since the beginning of the Ukraine crisis. A senior European intelligence official estimates that intelligence agency employees now account for one third of Russia’s diplomats.
Of course, after the Cold War, espionage never completely ceased. Last month, Heidrun Anschlag, a Russian spy who had arrived in Germany with her husband in 1988, was released from prison after serving a year’s sentence. The two had spied on Germany for more than 20 years, until they were caught two years ago.
Even more ambitiously, Russia has successfully reintroduced the Soviet practice of so-called ‘influence operations’, which feature Westerners and Russians expats doing Moscow’s bidding. “Currently, the Russians’ aim is to whisper criticism of Western activities in Ukraine and argue for economic sanctions to be abolished,” explains Piotr Zochowski, a security expert at the Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW), a Warsaw think tank. But it’s only one part of a broader strategic target – persuading the West to recognise Russia’s right to shape the political situation in former USSR countries. During crises, of course, all intelligence services naturally intensify their efforts. But the Russians are beginning to do this on an industrial scale. Germany even has a neologism for talking heads explaining Russia in an overly friendly fashion: Russlandversteher, “those who understand Russia”.
Along with assorted MEPs and eurocrats, the list of speakers at Tatjana Zdanoka’s Cold War conference included Russia’s deputy minister of Foreign Affairs, the European representative of the Russkiy Mir Foundation, and the deputy director of the Fund for the Legal Protection and Support of Russian Federation Compatriots Living Abroad. The Russkyi Mir Foundation, established by the Russian government in 2007 to promote Russian language and culture abroad, gives grants and organises conferences and events. But the Fund for the Legal Protection and Support of Russian Federation Compatriots Living Abroad, central European intelligence agencies allege, has a more specific mission: supporting and funding Russia-friendly foreign NGOs.
Not that influence operations are a new trick. “In the 50s, the Soviets put huge resources into newspapers, news agencies and contacts with academics in the West, and the Brits and Americans responded with similar efforts,” notes Paul Lashmar, head of journalism at Brunel University, who specialises in the relationship between intelligence agencies and the media. “It didn’t peter out until the 70s. From the 2000s onwards the Russian intelligence agencies have been back in the game, using the same techniques as their Soviet predecessors.”
Moscow says that some Western NGOs and media outlets are “agents of influence” against the Kremlin. But that’s seriously doubted. As Lashmar notes, if taxpayers in the West got wind of nefarious influence operations by their own secret services, there would be an outcry.
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union recruited Western communists as agents of influence: a small category that had the additional disadvantage of not being particularly popular. Signing up as an unofficial KGB megaphone voice for the media involved a certain ideological commitment as well. Some observers say it is easier for Moscow now, as Russia is less interested in ideology than raw power. “The same people keep coming back to the same position as Moscow, though not all the time as it would damage their credibility. For that reason, the Russians use different influence agents at different times,” says Joakim von Braun, a Swedish expert on Russian intelligence, pointing out that in the past five years Russia’s influence operations in Sweden have increased noticeably and have become more obvious.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting of the Security Council. One European expert estimates that at least a third of Russia's diplomats work for Putin's intelligence agencies. Alexei Nikolskyi/RIA Novosti/Kremlin/Reuters
That, Lithuanian decision-makers say, is happening in their country as it attempts to lessen its dependence on Russian energy. “When we were deciding whether to build a power plant [in 2012], they tried to turn the public opinion against it”, says Rasa Jukneviciene, a member of the Lithuanian parliament’s security and defence committee and a former defence minister. “The same thing is happening now with our natural gas terminal; they’re trying to convince people it will be too expensive.” As in other European countries, radical groups in Lithuania often side with Russia, and Russia has often sided with environmental groups in Latvia and beyond in opposing fracking. “Not every radical group in Lithuania is connected to Russian intelligence services, but the Russians are taking advantage of them”, notes Jukneviciene.
That’s exactly the challenge facing intelligence agencies: when is a person an agent of influence – somebody who knowingly coordinates his opinions with a foreign intelligence agency – and when is he simply a passionate believer in Russia?
One case in point is Tallinn mayor Edgar Savisaar, who this autumn lost a court case against an Estonian newspaper that had referred to him as a Russian agent of influence. Or Johan Bäckman, a controversial Finnish sociologist, who energetically takes Russia’s side and whose Facebook profile now lists his job as Representative at Donetsk People’s Republic. Or the leaders of Impressum, a discussion club founded in Estonia in 2008 that now has branches in Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova and Ukraine. They often feature the same pro-Russian speakers, including a former Russian cabinet minister, who was barred from entering Estonia earlier this year. Identifying too many people wrongly as spooks because their views coincide with Mocow’s is itself dangerous. “Paradoxically, overuse of this term becomes a weapon in the hands of the Russian disinformation,” notes Zochowski. “By using it too often and without proper consideration we create an illusion that the impact of Russia’s secret influence is pervasive and inevitable.”
Several of the participants at Tatjana Zdanoka’s Cold War conference belong to another group that Baltic intelligence agencies allege is a Russian front organisation: World Without Nazism, founded four years ago by Russian oligarch Boris Spiegel, then a Duma member. But, WWN vice-president Valery Engel – a Russian-Israeli citizen living in Latvia – says the allegation is simply an attempt to discredit a human rights organisation campaigning against neofascism, which reminds people of the woeful record the Baltic states had in backing Nazis during the War. “They’re trying to see the Russian threat everywhere, publishing stories that all anti-fascist organizations are in the hands of the Kremlin,” he says.
World Without Nazism has had some success in spreading its message. According to the organisation, it counts the US State Department and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe among its partners. Spiegel alone funds WWN, says Engel, though last year the group also received a grant from a Russian NGO.
“Does Russia support WWN’s agenda?” asks Efraim Zuroff, a top Nazi hunter at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, who was previously involved with WWN. “Undoubtedly. I’m sure that Putin is happy having a group founded by a Jewish oligarch do the work for him.” Does that make it an agent of influence?
Any intelligence agency will make particular efforts in strategically important countries, and, for Russia, ex-Soviet republics – especially Western-leaning ones with large Russian minorities – are of particular interest.
“It’s natural that Russia is trying to influence public opinion in the former Soviet republics,” says Lashmar. In defending Russian diaspora communities, the Kremlin is neatly blending human rights with geopolitics.
It’s no mystery why a country, if given the chance, would use influence operations. In the Cold War, Radio Free Europe, which provided news behind the Iron Curtain, played a part in the collapse of Communism. Initially it was funded by the CIA. “It was an influence operation, a good one for sure, but an influence operation nonetheless”, says the German intelligence official.
The question now is whether Russia’s efforts will gain similar clout, and whether they have the potential to turn world opinion to its side.
http://www.newsweek.com/2014/12/19/spies-are-back-espionage-booming-new-cold-war-290686.html
Caught Red Handed: Two men were arrested by polish authorities on suspicion of spying for the Russian government in October. Kacper Pempel/Reuters
Earlier this month, experts convened in Brussels for a conference titled 'The Second Cold War: Heating Up?' Even among the plethora of current 'New Cold War' themed events, this one stood out: the organiser, Latvian MEP Tatjana Zdanoka, has been accused of being a Russian agent of influence – a spy.
Zdanoka, who is also chair of the EU Russian-Speakers Alliance insist there is no truth to the allegations, adding that the accusation was part of a ‘dirty tricks’ operation against her at home by domestic opponents – a tactic familiar from the Cold War days to those who remember them. In any event, the criminal investigation against her has been closed, Latvia’s DP intelligence service says. Yet the allegations point to the new – or revived – espionage game that is now playing out in Europe. Intelligence agencies everywhere are upping their games, with Western agencies putting particular efforts into data collection – “snooping”.
The West’s efforts, though, pale into insignificance compared to those of Russia. Germany’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution reports growing instances of Russian espionage, and a spokesman for Sweden’s Säpo intelligence agency says that Russia has increased its intelligence agencies’ activities in Sweden since the beginning of the Ukraine crisis. A senior European intelligence official estimates that intelligence agency employees now account for one third of Russia’s diplomats.
Of course, after the Cold War, espionage never completely ceased. Last month, Heidrun Anschlag, a Russian spy who had arrived in Germany with her husband in 1988, was released from prison after serving a year’s sentence. The two had spied on Germany for more than 20 years, until they were caught two years ago.
Even more ambitiously, Russia has successfully reintroduced the Soviet practice of so-called ‘influence operations’, which feature Westerners and Russians expats doing Moscow’s bidding. “Currently, the Russians’ aim is to whisper criticism of Western activities in Ukraine and argue for economic sanctions to be abolished,” explains Piotr Zochowski, a security expert at the Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW), a Warsaw think tank. But it’s only one part of a broader strategic target – persuading the West to recognise Russia’s right to shape the political situation in former USSR countries. During crises, of course, all intelligence services naturally intensify their efforts. But the Russians are beginning to do this on an industrial scale. Germany even has a neologism for talking heads explaining Russia in an overly friendly fashion: Russlandversteher, “those who understand Russia”.
Along with assorted MEPs and eurocrats, the list of speakers at Tatjana Zdanoka’s Cold War conference included Russia’s deputy minister of Foreign Affairs, the European representative of the Russkiy Mir Foundation, and the deputy director of the Fund for the Legal Protection and Support of Russian Federation Compatriots Living Abroad. The Russkyi Mir Foundation, established by the Russian government in 2007 to promote Russian language and culture abroad, gives grants and organises conferences and events. But the Fund for the Legal Protection and Support of Russian Federation Compatriots Living Abroad, central European intelligence agencies allege, has a more specific mission: supporting and funding Russia-friendly foreign NGOs.
Not that influence operations are a new trick. “In the 50s, the Soviets put huge resources into newspapers, news agencies and contacts with academics in the West, and the Brits and Americans responded with similar efforts,” notes Paul Lashmar, head of journalism at Brunel University, who specialises in the relationship between intelligence agencies and the media. “It didn’t peter out until the 70s. From the 2000s onwards the Russian intelligence agencies have been back in the game, using the same techniques as their Soviet predecessors.”
Moscow says that some Western NGOs and media outlets are “agents of influence” against the Kremlin. But that’s seriously doubted. As Lashmar notes, if taxpayers in the West got wind of nefarious influence operations by their own secret services, there would be an outcry.
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union recruited Western communists as agents of influence: a small category that had the additional disadvantage of not being particularly popular. Signing up as an unofficial KGB megaphone voice for the media involved a certain ideological commitment as well. Some observers say it is easier for Moscow now, as Russia is less interested in ideology than raw power. “The same people keep coming back to the same position as Moscow, though not all the time as it would damage their credibility. For that reason, the Russians use different influence agents at different times,” says Joakim von Braun, a Swedish expert on Russian intelligence, pointing out that in the past five years Russia’s influence operations in Sweden have increased noticeably and have become more obvious.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting of the Security Council. One European expert estimates that at least a third of Russia's diplomats work for Putin's intelligence agencies. Alexei Nikolskyi/RIA Novosti/Kremlin/Reuters
That, Lithuanian decision-makers say, is happening in their country as it attempts to lessen its dependence on Russian energy. “When we were deciding whether to build a power plant [in 2012], they tried to turn the public opinion against it”, says Rasa Jukneviciene, a member of the Lithuanian parliament’s security and defence committee and a former defence minister. “The same thing is happening now with our natural gas terminal; they’re trying to convince people it will be too expensive.” As in other European countries, radical groups in Lithuania often side with Russia, and Russia has often sided with environmental groups in Latvia and beyond in opposing fracking. “Not every radical group in Lithuania is connected to Russian intelligence services, but the Russians are taking advantage of them”, notes Jukneviciene.
That’s exactly the challenge facing intelligence agencies: when is a person an agent of influence – somebody who knowingly coordinates his opinions with a foreign intelligence agency – and when is he simply a passionate believer in Russia?
One case in point is Tallinn mayor Edgar Savisaar, who this autumn lost a court case against an Estonian newspaper that had referred to him as a Russian agent of influence. Or Johan Bäckman, a controversial Finnish sociologist, who energetically takes Russia’s side and whose Facebook profile now lists his job as Representative at Donetsk People’s Republic. Or the leaders of Impressum, a discussion club founded in Estonia in 2008 that now has branches in Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova and Ukraine. They often feature the same pro-Russian speakers, including a former Russian cabinet minister, who was barred from entering Estonia earlier this year. Identifying too many people wrongly as spooks because their views coincide with Mocow’s is itself dangerous. “Paradoxically, overuse of this term becomes a weapon in the hands of the Russian disinformation,” notes Zochowski. “By using it too often and without proper consideration we create an illusion that the impact of Russia’s secret influence is pervasive and inevitable.”
Several of the participants at Tatjana Zdanoka’s Cold War conference belong to another group that Baltic intelligence agencies allege is a Russian front organisation: World Without Nazism, founded four years ago by Russian oligarch Boris Spiegel, then a Duma member. But, WWN vice-president Valery Engel – a Russian-Israeli citizen living in Latvia – says the allegation is simply an attempt to discredit a human rights organisation campaigning against neofascism, which reminds people of the woeful record the Baltic states had in backing Nazis during the War. “They’re trying to see the Russian threat everywhere, publishing stories that all anti-fascist organizations are in the hands of the Kremlin,” he says.
World Without Nazism has had some success in spreading its message. According to the organisation, it counts the US State Department and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe among its partners. Spiegel alone funds WWN, says Engel, though last year the group also received a grant from a Russian NGO.
“Does Russia support WWN’s agenda?” asks Efraim Zuroff, a top Nazi hunter at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, who was previously involved with WWN. “Undoubtedly. I’m sure that Putin is happy having a group founded by a Jewish oligarch do the work for him.” Does that make it an agent of influence?
Any intelligence agency will make particular efforts in strategically important countries, and, for Russia, ex-Soviet republics – especially Western-leaning ones with large Russian minorities – are of particular interest.
“It’s natural that Russia is trying to influence public opinion in the former Soviet republics,” says Lashmar. In defending Russian diaspora communities, the Kremlin is neatly blending human rights with geopolitics.
It’s no mystery why a country, if given the chance, would use influence operations. In the Cold War, Radio Free Europe, which provided news behind the Iron Curtain, played a part in the collapse of Communism. Initially it was funded by the CIA. “It was an influence operation, a good one for sure, but an influence operation nonetheless”, says the German intelligence official.
The question now is whether Russia’s efforts will gain similar clout, and whether they have the potential to turn world opinion to its side.
http://www.newsweek.com/2014/12/19/spies-are-back-espionage-booming-new-cold-war-290686.html
Dramatic footage shows NATO jets confronting Russian warplanes over the Baltic Sea
The US-led military alliance has intercepted Russian military aircraft over 400 times this year
The Dutch airforce has released new video showing NATO fighter jets intercepting Russian military planes over the Baltic sea.
In a statement, NATO said over 30 types of Russian warplanes including bombers, fighters and transport aircraft were involved in the intercept carried out by the Royal Netherlands Air Force this week.
The latest interceptions are some of hundreds made by NATO aircraft this year, which the US-led military alliance claims are being used by Moscow to test and intimidate the West. Military officials say the illegal flight activity is a danger to civilian aircraft as planes often fly without a plan, air traffic control direction or using their response transmitter.
NATO has bolstered its military presence in the Baltics and Poland in recent months in response to Russia's seizure of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula and backing of insurgents in east Ukraine. In October, the US deployed troops and tanks to the region on a mission designed to deliver an unmistakable message to Moscow of the group's mission.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in October that the military alliance's jets had been scrambled over 400 times this year to intercept Russian military aircraft, double the amount of times than last year's total.
In October, non-NATO member Sweden began one of its biggest military operations since the Cold War after a submarine was sighted outside Stockholm. Moscow denied involvement in the incident following widespread speculation in the media that the sub was Russia.
http://uatoday.tv/geopolitics/dramatic-footage-shows-nato-jets-confronting-russian-warplanes-in-baltic-sea-396615.html
The US-led military alliance has intercepted Russian military aircraft over 400 times this year
The Dutch airforce has released new video showing NATO fighter jets intercepting Russian military planes over the Baltic sea.
In a statement, NATO said over 30 types of Russian warplanes including bombers, fighters and transport aircraft were involved in the intercept carried out by the Royal Netherlands Air Force this week.
The latest interceptions are some of hundreds made by NATO aircraft this year, which the US-led military alliance claims are being used by Moscow to test and intimidate the West. Military officials say the illegal flight activity is a danger to civilian aircraft as planes often fly without a plan, air traffic control direction or using their response transmitter.
NATO has bolstered its military presence in the Baltics and Poland in recent months in response to Russia's seizure of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula and backing of insurgents in east Ukraine. In October, the US deployed troops and tanks to the region on a mission designed to deliver an unmistakable message to Moscow of the group's mission.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in October that the military alliance's jets had been scrambled over 400 times this year to intercept Russian military aircraft, double the amount of times than last year's total.
In October, non-NATO member Sweden began one of its biggest military operations since the Cold War after a submarine was sighted outside Stockholm. Moscow denied involvement in the incident following widespread speculation in the media that the sub was Russia.
http://uatoday.tv/geopolitics/dramatic-footage-shows-nato-jets-confronting-russian-warplanes-in-baltic-sea-396615.html
Angela Merkel: Germany will give military assistance to Baltic states if necessary
http://en.delfi.lt/nordic-baltic/angela-merkel-germany-will-give-military-assistance-to-baltic-states-if-necessary.d?id=66610268#ixzz3LKkAu1QL
http://en.delfi.lt/nordic-baltic/angela-merkel-germany-will-give-military-assistance-to-baltic-states-if-necessary.d?id=66610268#ixzz3LKkAu1QL
Lithuania's standby army units put on higher state of preparedness
http://en.delfi.lt/lithuania/defence/lithuanias-standby-army-units-put-on-higher-state-of-preparedness-media.d?id=66615972#ixzz3LKgmYv1I
http://en.delfi.lt/lithuania/defence/lithuanias-standby-army-units-put-on-higher-state-of-preparedness-media.d?id=66615972#ixzz3LKgmYv1I
Baltic Air Policing QRA jets on 8 DEC scrambled to intercept RU Armed Forces 1x An-72, 2x Il-76, 2x An-12, 2x An-26 over the Baltic Sea.
Russian garrison closest to Finnish & Swedish Lapland to more than double in size to 7000 troops acc to Norwegian TV
http://www.tv2.no/a/6317399
http://www.tv2.no/a/6317399
Even if the above is true, do you think Russia would need to do it, if it didn't feel threatened? If NATO was not banging at its borders, installing missile bases around its perimeter, breaking all promises? If the US didn't start increasing its nuclear potential and spendings, breaking all agreements? I think not. Obama has been too militant.
Besides, such trains is a really neat idea, making the forces less vulnerable, less of a sitting duck, and actually making it cheaper than creating a lot of stationary installations.
Besides, such trains is a really neat idea, making the forces less vulnerable, less of a sitting duck, and actually making it cheaper than creating a lot of stationary installations.
Putin orders return of Cold War-era nuclear missile trains
Russian scientists are reviving Soviet-era nuclear missile trains as part of the Kremlin’s £290 billion overhaul of its armed forces.
Disguised military trains loaded with nuclear missiles first rumbled across Russia’s railways in the 1980s. They were capable of travelling more than 1,000 km (620 miles) in a day without being detected and could launch missiles from any part of their route, making them a key part of the Soviet Union’s Cold War arsenal.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/europe/article4283341.ece?CMP=Spklr-117086503-Editorial-TWITTER-thetimes-20141201-World&linkId=10910916
I think this is evidence that the cold war has returned, thanks to the lack of military leadership of president Obama. There is no doubt that Putin would have not have done this during the Bush era, nor would he have done this if Romney was in charge of the US military Russian scientists are reviving Soviet-era nuclear missile trains as part of the Kremlin’s £290 billion overhaul of its armed forces.
Disguised military trains loaded with nuclear missiles first rumbled across Russia’s railways in the 1980s. They were capable of travelling more than 1,000 km (620 miles) in a day without being detected and could launch missiles from any part of their route, making them a key part of the Soviet Union’s Cold War arsenal.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/europe/article4283341.ece?CMP=Spklr-117086503-Editorial-TWITTER-thetimes-20141201-World&linkId=10910916
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