Category: NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

Trump Endorses American Geopolitical Suicide

Quoted in German from a conversation held in English, Trump predicted Britain’s exit from the EU will be a success and portrayed the EU as an instrument of German domination with the purpose of beating the U.S. in international trade. For that reason, Trump said, he’s fairly indifferent whether the EU breaks up or stays together, according to Bild.

US troops enter Poland, 1st deployment to Russia’s doorstep-Image7

American soldiers rolled into Poland on Thursday, fulfilling a dream Poles have had since the fall of communism in 1989 to have U.S. troops on their soil as a deterrent against Russia. Soldiers in camouflage with tanks and other vehicles crossed into southwestern Poland on Thursday morning from Germany and headed for Zagan, where they will be based.

U.S. Senate Committee Backs Montenegro’s Bid To Join NATO

The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a resolution supporting Montenegro’s membership in NATO on January 11,sending it to the full Senate for a vote. The committee backed the small Balkan nation’s bid to join the military alliance last year, but it did not come up for a vote in the full Senate, where a two-thirds majority is required for approval of new NATO members.

U.S. Senate Committee Backs Montenegro’s Bid To Join NATO

The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a resolution supporting Montenegro’s membership in NATO on January 11,sending it to the full Senate for a vote. The committee backed the small Balkan nation’s bid to join the military alliance last year, but it did not come up for a vote in the full Senate, where a two-thirds majority is required for approval of new NATO members.

Obama warns NATO allies of Russian interference in national elections

Outgoing US President Barack Obama warned European NATO allies yesterday of an “accelerating” threat of Russian interference in their elections. Last week, a US intelligence report said Russian President Vladimir Putin directed a campaign, including cyber attacks, to hurt Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s bid and boost Donald Trump.

Pentagon Chief: Trump Needs to Keep Alliances, Hold Russia Accountable in Syria

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter says President-elect Donald Trump’s administration should maintain partnerships with NATO and allies in the Asia-Pacific, while also holding Russia accountable to its stated mission of battling terrorists in Syria and help end the war. The recommendations came in a memo that Carter, like the other Cabinet secretaries, prepared to highlight what their departments achieved during the eight-year presidency of Barack Obama.

Get Used To It

Given the high degree of partisan divide following the US election, a discomfiting fact is that Donald Trump is likely to espouse many responsible positions in his role as president, even if he can’t make the case for them himself. This confusing state of affairs has not become obvious yet.

Trump signals end to multilateralism

For eight years, President Barack Obama’s foreign policy doctrine has been rooted in a belief that while the United States can take action around the world on its own, it rarely should. His successor, President-elect Donald Trump, has derided some of the same international partnerships Obama and his recent predecessors have promoted, raising the prospect that the Republican’s “America First” agenda might well mean an America more willing to act alone.

Trump: US must ‘greatly strengthen’ nuclear capability

President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday abruptly called for the United States to “greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability” until the rest of the world “comes to its senses” regarding nuclear weapons. His comments on Twitter came hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin said strengthening his country’s nuclear capabilities should be a chief military objective in the coming year.

Morning Bits

Steven Mnuchin, left, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for treasury secretary, walks through the lobby of Trump Tower in New York on Dec. 7. President-elect Donald Trump’s Achilles heel : “You’re seeing members like John McCain and Lindsey Graham kind of coming out guns blazing, even threatening the nomination of Rex Tillerson to be secretary of state, saying that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is a butcher and a thug, and we can’t do business with him. The concern is that Trump has this kind of personal admiration for Putin that may blind him to Russia’s real goals and to what America’s strategic stake is in doing business with Russia.

Aleppo: Obama’s legacy of shame

All decent men and women should condemn the assassination of the Russian ambassador to Turkey. They should also condemn the deliberate mass bombing of Syrian civilians in Syria by troops under the command of Syrian strongman Bashar Assad and Russian strongman Vladimir Putin.

Editorial: Snapshots from the nation’s press

This image released last Thursday by Aleppo 24 shows residents gathered near green government buses for evacuation from eastern Aleppo, Syria. Allegations that the Russian government tried to influence America’s election are extraordinarily serious – “the political equivalent to 9/11,” according to Michael Morell, the former acting director of the CIA.

“We need to unite globally around opposition to the entire institution of war”

In your website http://worldbeyondwar.org/ you say: “We strive to replace a culture of war with one of peace, in which nonviolent means of conflict resolution take the place of bloodshed”. So which role and value can nonviolence have in building such a culture? It can demonstrate a superior means of resisting tyranny that causes less suffering, is more likely to succeed, and is likely to have a longer lasting success.