Month: July 2017

U.S. allies in Eastern Europe and Ukraine are worried that Russia’s planned war games in September could be a “Trojan horse” aimed at leaving behind military equipment brought into Belarus, the U.S. Army’s top general in Europe said Thursday.

Russia has sought to reassure NATO that the military exercises will respect international limits on size, but NATO and U.S. official remain wary about their scale and scope.

U.S. Army Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, who heads U.S. Army forces in Europe, told Reuters in an interview that allied officials would keep a close eye on military equipment brought to Belarus for the Zapad 2017 exercise, and whether it was removed later.

“People are worried this is a Trojan horse. They say, ‘We’re just doing an exercise,’ and then all of a sudden they’ve moved all these people and capabilities somewhere,” he said.

Hodges said that he had no indications of any such plans by Russia, but that greater openness by Moscow about the extent of its war games would help reassure countries in Eastern Europe.

NATO allies are nervous because previous large-scale Russian exercises employed special forces training, longer-range missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles.

Such tactics were later used in Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine and in its intervention in Syria, NATO diplomats say.

Hodges said the United States and its allies had been very open about a number of military exercises taking place across Eastern Europe this summer involving up to 40,000 troops, but it remained unclear whether Moscow would adhere to a Cold War-era treaty known as the Vienna document, which requires observers for large-scale exercises involving more than 13,000 troops.

Some NATO allies believe the Russian exercise could number more than 100,000 troops and involve nuclear weapons training, the biggest such exercise since 2013.

Russia has said it would invite observers if the exercise exceeded 13,000 forces.

Scheduled NATO exercises

Hodges said NATO would maintain normal rotations during the Russian war games, while carrying out previously scheduled exercises in Sweden, Poland and Ukraine.

The only additional action planned during that period was a six-week deployment of three companies of 120 paratroopers each to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania for “low-level” exercises, Hodges said.

“We want to avoid anything that looks like a provocation. This is not going to be the Sharks and the Jets out on the streets,” Hodges said in a reference to the gang fights shown in the 1961 film West Side Story, set in New York City.
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NATO should permanently deploy anti-aircraft weapons in the Baltics to deter Russia, Lithuania’s president said Thursday as the United States put Patriot missiles on display after including them in an exercise in the region for the first time.

The permanent deployment of the advanced air defense system would be the next step in NATO’s new deterrent in the Baltics and Poland, which includes ground troops on rotation. Moscow says it is an unjustified military buildup on its borders.

“It would be really meaningful to have such weapons in the Baltic region. It would ensure a greater security for all our countries,” Lithuania’s President Dalia Grybauskaite told reporters, standing in front of Patriot missiles deployed as part of a two-week NATO exercise.

“We would gladly host them,” she said of the missiles. “We are always ready.”

Since Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and began providing weapons and troops to separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine, NATO has stepped up its deployments in the Baltics, eastern Poland and around the Black Sea.

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, which were once ruled from Moscow but are now part of NATO and the European Union, are set to triple their defense spending by 2018, compared with 2014, in order to deal with any threats from Russia.

But with small militaries and limited budgets, the Baltics are reliant on help from allies for advanced capabilities, including long-range anti-aircraft weapons.

Earlier this month, the United States approved the possible sale of seven Patriot missile defense systems worth $3.9 billion to Romania.

Poland said it signed a memorandum with the United States to purchase Patriot missiles, having indicated earlier in the year it expected to buy eight for $7.6 billion.

Describing air defenses as “the weakest link” in NATO’s eastern flank, Grybauskaite called on the alliance to tackle the issue ahead of a NATO leaders summit in Brussels in July 2018.

However, she also left open the possibility of stationing the missile batteries out of the Baltics, as long as they were focused on protecting the region.

“As the Patriots have a very long range, it does not really matter where they are deployed, whether that is in the Baltics or in Poland, or somewhere else. What is important is the speed of response to any air threat,” she said.

The U.S. battery did not fire a shot in Lithuania during the exercises, which also involved troops from Britain, Poland and Latvia, a U.S. commander said.

But Baltic officials said the deployment demonstrated the willingness of United States to bring such advanced weaponry to the region, despite Moscow’s protests.

Russia says the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is increasing the risk of conflict in Europe, citing the alliance’s biggest modernization since the Cold War and a greater NATO troop presence in Eastern Europe.
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A spokesman for the Ukrainian military says nine soldiers died over the past day in the east where Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed rebels have been fighting for more than three years.

Although full-scale offensives in the war have ebbed, both sides report artillery fire or small clashes almost daily. The death toll reported Thursday by military spokesman Col. Andriy Lysenko was notably high for a single day.

 

Lysenko said four of the deaths came in tank and mortar fire near Krasnohorivka, in the Donetsk region. Another was killed in rebel firing in Novohorodske, also in the Donetsk region, he said.

 

In the Mariupol region long the Azov Sea, one soldier was killed in rebel fire, Lysenko said. Three others were killed by an explosive device there, Lysenko said but did not give details.
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Furious survivors of the London high-rise fire that killed at least 80 people booed the new leader of the local authority during chaotic scenes on Wednesday at the council’s first meeting since the blaze.

About 70 survivors of last month’s fire at the Grenfell Tower apartment block and other local residents gathered to protest as council members met amid tight security at Kensington Town Hall in north London.

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea council has been criticized by locals and politicians for its slow and ineffective response to the fire while many accuse the authority, which administers one of Britain’s wealthiest areas, of having turned its back on social housing.

“We did not do well enough in our initial response to the tragedy … tonight I want to reiterate my apology to you directly,” said council leader Elizabeth Campbell. “No ifs, no buts, no excuses. I am deeply sorry. We did not do enough to help you when you needed it most.”

Kensington’s previous leader Nicholas Paget-Brown resigned following his decision to abruptly suspend the last council meeting on June 29 when he said holding it in public could interfere with a future inquiry.

Campbell promised there would be a new direction at the council and that it would spend some of the 250 million pounds ($325 million) it held in reserve on new housing for those who had lived in Grenfell.

But her election was greeted with cries of “shame on you” and her subsequent speech was repeatedly interrupted by shouts and boos, while some residents who could not get into the meeting banged loudly on the council chamber doors.

After Campbell’s speech, a succession of survivors were invited to speak, many furiously berating the council for its failures.

Holding up the key to her Grenfell Tower apartment and weeping, Iranian national Mahboobeh Jamalvatan said: “Every time I look at this key, I wonder and I ask ‘what’s the difference between us human beings?’ We are all created human beings.

“The U.K. is accusing other countries about a lack of human rights, but there are lots of people from those counties living in the UK. Why don’t you care about human rights here?”

British police have said the final death toll from the blaze that gutted the 24-story building might not be known until next year.
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The European Union is coming closer to imposing sanctions on Poland for the government’s controversial attempt to take control of the judiciary, a senior EU official warned Wednesday, as new street protests and heated debate erupted in the Polish parliament.

 

The ruling conservative and populist Law and Justice Party had been rushing to get parliament’s approval for a contentious draft law that would reorganize the nation’s highest court. But it has had to slow down after vehement objection from the opposition, alarm from the EU and mass peaceful protests against the measure.

 

After a tense debate in parliament, lawmakers on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to send the draft bill on the Supreme Court for more work by a special parliamentary commission. Opposition legislators have proposed 1,300 amendments to the draft, which they say violates the constitution, kills judicial independence and destroys the democratic principle of the separation of the judiciary from the executive branch.

 

Crowds have held street protests in Warsaw and other cities in defense of democracy and judicial independence, chanting “Free courts!” and “Freedom, equality, democracy!” They urged President Andrzej Duda to veto the draft legislation.

 

It was the latest in a string of conflicts that has exposed the deepening political divide in Poland since Law and Justice won power in 2015.

 

The proposed bill calls for the immediate dismissal of the current Supreme Court judges, except those chosen by the justice minister. It would give the justice minister the power to appoint the key court’s judges.

 

In a proposed amendment, the Law and Justice has switched those powers to the president.

 

The ruling party, led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, insists that its reforms will introduce “good change” expected by the people who voted them in. It also argues that the judiciary still works along communist-era principles and needs radical reforms and new people to be efficient.

 

The opposition says the changes to the judiciary are Kaczynski’s revenge on judges who have been critical of his policies.

 

Kaczynski, a lawyer, is currently Poland’s most powerful politician, controlling the government, the parliament and having influence on the president, even though he holds no government office.

 

The vote Wednesday was 434-6 with one abstention for a justice commission to review the draft law.

 

Shortly after the vote, European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans said in Brussels that the EU may soon strip Poland of its voting rights because its recent steps toward the judiciary “greatly amplify the threat to the rule of law” and threaten to put the judiciary “under full political control of the government.”

 

Such a sanction, which was intended to ensure democratic standards in EU members, requires unanimity among all other member states. Timmerman said the dialogue between the EU and Poland should continue while the legislation is being worked on.

 

Poland’s parliament has already approved new laws that give lawmakers the power to appoint judges to the regulatory National Council of the Judiciary, and changed regulations for ordinary courts. All changes require the approval of Duda, who has so far followed the ruling party line.

 

Law and Justice has previously backed down under mass protests — including last year when it withdrew a proposed ban on abortions after a nationwide women’s strike.

 

The debate preceding Wednesday’s vote has led to some unpleasant exchanges in parliament.

 

An opposition lawmaker, Borys Budka, drew Kaczynski’s wrath when he implied that his late twin brother, President Lech Kaczynski, had prevented him previously from taking any drastic steps toward the justice system.

 

Kaczynski’s reaction was immediate and violent.

 

“Don’t wipe your treacherous mugs with the name of my late brother. You destroyed him, you murdered him, you are scoundrels,” Kaczynski shouted from the podium. He was referring to the 2010 plane crash that killed the president, his brother, which he blames on the former government of the Civic Platform party.

 

Poland’s former foreign minister and head of the Civic Platform, Grzegorz Schetyna, condemned the tone of the parliamentary debate.

 

“It shows that we are in some catastrophic place, not only regarding emotions, but also regarding the level of the public debate,” Schetyna said Wednesday.
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Tensions between Germany and Turkey escalated Wednesday after Berlin summoned the Turkish ambassador to receive an official protest after Ankara arrested several human rights activists, including a German citizen. Berlin has warned that EU aid to Turkey could be at risk, putting in jeopardy a key migrant deal.

A Turkish court Tuesday ordered the detention of Peter Steudtner, a German national who was attending a human rights workshop in Istanbul and was among six rights activists held as part of an ongoing crackdown since a failed coup last year.

“The Turkish government needs to immediately and directly hear the German government’s outrage and incomprehension as well as its crystal clear expectations in the case of Peter Steudtner and, this time, without diplomatic niceties,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schafer on the summoning of the ambassador.

“Absolutely unjustified,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel in response to Steudtner’s detention. Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel cut short his vacation to deal with the increased diplomatic tension.

Steudtner is the 10th German national to be held in the ongoing crackdown. “Turkish-German relations at the moment are incredibly stained,” warns political columnist Semih Idiz of the al-Monitor website. “But under normal circumstances ambassadors should be withdrawn and doors slammed and this is not happening…”

EU aid for migrants in question

Along with Turkey being key to counterterrorism cooperation, it is acting as a gatekeeper on stemming the flow of migrants into Europe following an agreement with the European Union. More than one million migrants escaping war and persecution in Africa and the Middle East have crossed into Europe using irregular land and sea routes back in 2015, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Observers say the deepening crisis between Germany and Turkey could jeopardize $3.4 billion in EU aid, which is part of the migrant deal.

“Unfortunately we have constant cause to talk to Turkey about civil and press freedoms,” government spokesman Steffen Seibert told a news conference. “We think it is important to review aid in light of the latest developments.”

Tensions have been simmering for years between the two NATO allies; but, Berlin’s granting of asylum to dozens of Turkish diplomats and military personnel following the failed coup in July 2016 brought tensions to a boiling point.

International conspirators

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly accused Berlin of aiding conspirators against him. Erdogan made reference to what he called international conspirators Saturday in a speech to mark the defeat of the attempted coup.

“There are so many enemies lying in ambush, unwilling to grant us the right of existence. If I name them one by one, we will be confronted by a very serious international crisis,” Erdogan said.

Germany has become a gathering point for Erdogan’s opponents, with opposition media, including a television station, broadcasting to Turkey. Erdogan has also criticized Berlin for failing to crack down on the activities of the Kurdish rebel group the PKK, which is fighting the Turkish state. Berlin refutes the allegations.

Suspicions are growing that detained German citizens are becoming pawns in the deepening crisis. “When you focus on individuals, especially foreigners detained, there is a sense imprisoning people is almost a form of blackmail, a form of bargaining,” said Emma Sinclair Webb, senior Turkey researcher for Human Rights Watch. Ankara dismisses any political motivation behind the detentions, maintaining that the judiciary is independent.

Germany moves planes

The war against Islamic State has also fallen victim to the increasingly acrimonious dispute. Germany is in the process of relocating its reconnaissance planes used against the jihadists from Turkey’s Incirlik air base, after Ankara stopped German lawmakers from visiting its personnel at the base. The dispute has now spread to German forces operating at the Turkish Konya airbase.

Analysts say Berlin, along with the rest of the EU, could be paying the price for more than a decade of all but freezing Ankara’s effort to join the regional bloc. Merkel has been one of most outspoken critics of the bid.

“There is very little stick that Europe has to wield against Turkey,” notes columnist Idiz. “Merkel appears to be in a weaker position. Erdogan is very bullish. He is very uncompromising and European leaders, including Merkel, don’t know how to handle him. So, Merkel looks embarrassed and that’s how Erdogan is playing it.”

 
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Turkey’s prime minister announced a Cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday, replacing or swapping 11 ministers in the 26-member council of ministers, including the ministers for justice and defense.

 

The announcement came months after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan regained the leadership of Turkey’s ruling party following a narrow win in a referendum ushering in a series of constitutional changes. Erdogan had complained of a “fatigue” within the ruling party, speaking of a need for rejuvenation.

 

Binali Yildirim named legislator Abdulhamit Gul as the new justice minister and former deputy prime minister Nurettin Canikli as the defense minister. They replace former minister for justice Bekir Bozdag and for defense Fikri Isik, who were both appointed deputy prime ministers.

 

Bozdag had largely overseen a major government crackdown following last year’s failed military coup that Turkey has blamed on U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen. More than 50,000 people suspected of links to the coup or to Gulen have been arrested.

 

The key ministries for the economy, finance, foreign affairs, the interior and European Union affairs remained unchanged. Yildirim appointed Julide Sarieroglu as the minister for labor and social security, raising the number of women in the Council of Ministers to two.

 

Yildirim made the announcement following a previously unannounced meeting with Erdogan.

 

The referendum approved a series of constitutional changes abolishing the office of the prime minister and concentrating much of the executive powers in the hands of the president.

 

While most of the changes will come into effect after the next general elections in 2019, one amendment came into effect immediately — scrapping laws that require the head of the state to sever ties with political parties. Erdogan was re-elected chairman of the ruling party in an extraordinary congress on May 21.

 

The Cabinet reshuffle is seen as a major step toward his cementing his authority and putting his mark on the government ahead of the 2019 elections.

 

Erdogan co-founded the Justice and Development Party in 2001 and led it for more than a decade until he was elected president in 2014.

 

 
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Gen. Francois Lecointre, a career military officer, has been nominated France’s military chief, after his predecessor quit Wednesday in a dispute with President Emmanuel Macron over budget cuts in a new challenge to Macron’s administration and his economic reforms.

 

French government spokesman Christophe Castaner told reporters that Macron has nominated Lecointre as the new chief of staff of the armed forces, replacing Gen. Pierre de Villiers.

 

Lecointre served in Sarajevo during the Yugoslavia wars in the 1990s and recently led the EU military training mission in Mali to help fight Islamic extremists.

 

Macron’s office sought to play down tensions over de Villiers departure, even as French defense commentators described their public dispute as a serious crisis.

De Villiers’ office said the general submitted his resignation to Macron at a security council meeting Wednesday and the president accepted. Macron’s office did not immediately comment.

 

De Villiers lashed out at new spending curbs during a closed-door parliamentary commission meeting last week, according to leaked reports.

 

The dispute escalated over the past week, with de Villiers issuing an appeal on Facebook saying “Watch out for blind trust… Because no one is without shortcomings, no one deserves to be blindly followed.”

 

Without naming him directly, Macron then publicly upbraided de Villiers to military officials, saying, “it is not dignified to air certain debates in the public sphere. I made commitments [to budget cuts]. I am your boss.”

 

Macron’s own behavior has elicited criticism, notably by those who accuse him of authoritarian tendencies after he overwhelmingly won election in May and saw his new centrist party dominate last month’s parliamentary elections.

 

The resignation foreshadows the battles Macron will likely face as he tries to reduce the deficit and government spending and boost the stagnant economy.

 

While Macron has promised to boost defense spending to 2 percent of GDP by 2025 as part of France’s commitments to NATO, his budget minister last week announced limits on this year’s military expenses as part of an overall spending squeeze.

 

De Villiers, head of the military since 2014, insisted that it was his “duty” to express his concerns about military resources amid the sustained threat of extremist attacks.

 

 “I have always taken care … to maintain a military model that guarantees the coherence between the threats that weigh on France and Europe, the missions of our armies that don’t stop growing, and the necessary budget means to fulfill them,” he said his resignation statement.

 

“I no longer consider myself in a position to ensure the durability of the military model that I believe in, to guarantee the protection of France and the French,” he said.

 

 
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Poland’s lower house of parliament voted Wednesday to send a controversial bill that would reform the nation’s top court to a parliamentary committee.

The vote followed contentious debate in the chamber controlled by the ruling Law and Justice party and efforts by the opposition to delay the bill.

The measure would reorganize the Supreme Court and give lawmakers the dominant role in appointing its members.

The ruling party says the changes are necessary in order to make the court system efficient, while opponents say the move would violate judicial independence.

Street protests have accompanied debate surrounding the bill, including Tuesday night when several thousand people gathered outside the presidential palace in Warsaw.

The European Union has also expressed concern about the developments, and the European Commission was due to discuss the issue during a meeting Wednesday.

Poland is a relatively new democracy, having overthrown communist rule in 1989 and joined the EU in 2004.
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The frozen remains of a Swiss couple who went missing 75 years ago in the Alps have been found on a shrinking glacier, Swiss media said on Tuesday.

Marcelin and Francine Dumoulin, the parents of seven children, had gone to feed their cattle in a meadow above Chandolin in the Valais canton on August 15, 1942.

“We spent our whole lives looking for them, without stopping. We thought that we could give them the funeral they deserved one day,” their youngest daughter Marceline Udry-Dumoulin told the Lausanne daily Le Matin. “I can say that after 75 years of waiting this news gives me a deep sense of calm,” added the 79-year-old.

In an overnight statement, Valais cantonal police said that two bodies bearing identity papers had been discovered last week by a worker on Tsanfleuron glacier near a ski lift above Les Diablerets resort at an altitude of 2,615 metres (8,600 feet).

The remains were partly submerged in a hole in the ice. An autopsy and DNA testing would be carried out to confirm the identities of the couple.

“The bodies were lying near each other. It was a man and a woman wearing clothing dating from the period of World War Two,” Bernhard Tschannen, director of Glacier 3000, told the paper. “They were perfectly preserved in the glacier and their belongings were intact.”

“We think they may have fallen into a crevasse where they stayed for decades. As the glacier receded, it gave up their bodies,” he told the daily Tribune de Geneve.

The pair were among 280 people listed as missing in the Alps or rivers of the Valais since 1925, officials said.

Bettina Schrag, cantonal head of forensic medicine, told Swiss public radio RTS: “Given the current shrinking of glaciers, we have to expect more and more such findings.”

Marcelin Dumoulin, 40, was a shoemaker, while Francine, 37, was a teacher. They left five sons and two daughters.

“It was the first time my mother went with him on such an excursion. She was always pregnant and couldn’t climb in the difficult conditions of a glacier,” Udry-Dumoulin said. “After a while, we children were separated and placed in families. I was lucky to stay with my aunt,” she said. “We all lived in the region but became strangers.”

“For the funeral, I won’t wear black. I think that white would be more appropriate. It represents hope, which I never lost.”
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German automaker Daimler says it is voluntarily recalling 3 million diesel cars in Europe to improve their emissions performance.

The Stuttgart-based company, which makes Mercedes-Benz luxury cars, says it is taking the step to reassure drivers and strengthen confidence in diesel technology.

Diesels have been under a cloud since Daimler’s competitor Volkswagen admitted equipping vehicles with illegal software that meant they passed emissions tests, but then exceeded limits in everyday driving. There has been a push for diesel bans in some German cities because of concerns about levels of nitrogen oxide emitted by diesels.

The Daimler announcement comes hours after the regional government in the company’s home region of Baden-Wuerttemburg agreed to abandon proposals to restrict diesels if older diesels could be mechanically fixed to pollute less, the dpa news agency reported.

Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche said Tuesday that “the public debate about diesel engines is creating uncertainty – especially for our customers.”

The recall will cover nearly all vehicles made under the EU5 and EU6 emissions standards and start in the next few weeks. The company said it would cost 220 million euros ($254.21 million), but that customers wouldn’t pay anything.

Daimler said in May that German investigators had searched its offices in connection with investigations of Daimler employees because of suspicion of fraud and criminal advertising relating to the possible manipulation of exhaust controls in cars with diesel engines. The company has said it is cooperating with the investigation.
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Britain’s Prince William and his wife Kate, who are touring Poland, paid respect to the victims of a Nazi German concentration camp Tuesday as they were guided around the site by two Jewish survivors.

 

The royal couple is on a goodwill trip to Poland and Germany aimed at underscoring Britain’s intention to maintain friendly relations with the European Union after it leaves the bloc.

 

They flew to northern Poland on Tuesday from Warsaw, where they and their children were staying at the Belvedere Palace.

At the Stutthof museum they were guided by two survivors of the camp, Manfred Goldberg and Zigi Shipper, both 87, from north London. The royals were shown discarded shoes, clothing and other personal items that were seized from the inmates on arrival at Stutthof. They were also shown the gas chamber where those too sick to work were killed.

 

The couple paid their respects to the victims by placing remembrance stones at the Jewish memorial.

 

The German Nazis set up the Stutthof camp right after invading Poland in September 1939. Out of some 110,000 inmates of various nationalities, as many as 65,000 died in the gas chambers or from disease, hunger, hard labor or during evacuations. Some 28,000 of the victims were Jewish.

 

Later, the royal couple traveled to nearby Gdansk, on the Baltic coast, where they shook hands with a welcoming crowd among the city’s Gothic and Renaissance architecture. They tasted traditional Polish pierogi — pastry stuffed with meat — and Goldwasser herbal liqueur that contains tiny flakes of gold.

 

They are later expected to visit a replica of a Shakespearean theater, whose patron is William’s father, Prince Charles. They will then meet former president and democracy champion Lech Walesa, whose office is housed in the new European Center of Solidarity that documents Poland’s peaceful struggle in the 1980s to shed communism. They return to Warsaw in the evening.

 

On Wednesday they fly to Berlin.

 

 

 
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