Putin’s Plan for a Military Artic Region

Posted on June 10, 2015June 10, 2015 by Denise Simon

Despite sanctions against Russia, the Artic is still at risk. The recent G-7 meeting brought more solidarity agreement of sanctions on Russia but only due to Putin’s hostilities against Ukraine and in violation on the Minsk Agreement. The full text of the agreement is here in English. No conversations have taken place with regard to Putin’s operations in the Artic.

Going back to 2103, Putin not only announced his aggressions for the Artic region, he is intensifying operations while there is no mission to stop his objectives. Two years later, he is succeeding.

Russia has been building new ships and preparing to deploy troops along its northern border as melting Arctic ice will make it possible for more commercial traffic to transit the so called Northern Sea route. There is also the potential for large mineral deposits in the region.

“There are plans to create a group of troops and forces to ensure military security and protection of the Russian Federation’s national interests in the Arctic in 2014,” Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said at the same meeting.

Putin’s declaration highlights several military moves the Russians have made in relation to the Arctic in the last few years.

Nikolai Patrushev, the head of Russia’s Security Council, announced in mid-2012 it would create ten naval bases along its northern coast. In May, Russia announced it would be constructing up to four new ships for duty in the Arctic.

Putin’s remarks follow Canada’s plan to claim Arctic territories — including the North Pole — as sovereign Canadian territory, the country’s foreign minister announced on Monday.

“We are determined to ensure that all Canadians benefit from the tremendous resources that are to be found in Canada’s far north,” John Baird said, according to an Associated Press report.

Last week, Canada made preliminary claims to some Arctic regions and plans to make more.

Russia, of all the eight members of the Arctic Council, has the most naval assets to patrol the surface of the Arctic.

Russia has more than 37 government icebreakers compared to Canada’s six and America’s five, according to a July review from the U.S. Coast Guard.

However Canada is currently constructing a new surface naval force, complete with a collection of ships that would be designed to operate in cold climates.

Under the sea, the U.S. nuclear submarine force remains as the dominant power in the region.

Russia is interested in the Arctic for a number of reasons, though natural resources and pure geopolitical imperatives are the major driving forces behind Moscow’s thinking. The Arctic contains an estimated 30 percent of the world’s undiscovered natural gas and 13 percent of its undiscovered oil reserves, regarded by Moscow as important sources of foreign investment that are critical to the country’s economic development. The Northern Sea Route from East Asia to Europe via the Arctic Ocean provides another economic opportunity for developing infrastructure in northern Russia.

Militarizing the Arctic will be a key imperative for the Russian military throughout 2015 and beyond — alongside modernization in general and bolstering forces in Crimea and the Kaliningrad exclave. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, Soviet-era bases in the Arctic are being reactivated in response to NATO’s renewed interest in the region.

The airstrip on the archipelago of Novaya Zemlya is being renovated to accommodate modern and next generation fighter aircraft in addition to advanced S400 air defense systems. Part of the Northern Fleet will also be based on the island chain, which is ideally positioned for operations in the Arctic region. The Northern Fleet represents two-thirds of the entire Russian Navy, which is the only navy in the world to operate nuclear-powered icebreaker ships. Great detail can be read here.

ISIS Tactics Include Taxes and Treasures

Posted on June 10, 2015June 10, 2015 by Denise Simon

With a multi-country coalition, air strikes, ground intelligence gathering, surveillance drones and up to 1000 more troops being deployed to Iraq, the White House has no strategy and blames the Pentagon.

The Pentagon has a division that is assigned to war-gaming and planning in all conditions across the globe that is based on human intelligence, information gathered from diplomatic staff in all embassies, use of software, estimations, locations of military assets, threats from the enemy, money, transportation, secret deals, ordnance positioning and more. The Pentagon always has several strategies that are current and nimble that require dynamic alterations as even minor conditions change. For Obama to blame the Pentagon is childish and misguided.

Despite nine months and $2.44 billion in U.S. airstrikes against the fighters and their oil facilities and smuggling networks, the self-proclaimed Islamic State has proven to be as resilient financially as it’s been militarily.

The group that President Barack Obama dismissed in January 2014 as a junior varsity team last year seized an estimated $675 million from banks, plus $145 million in oil sales and ransom payments and tens of millions more from other commercial enterprises, looting and extortion, according to U.S. Treasury and United Nations figures.

“This isn’t your average terrorist group operating from your average safe haven,” said Juan Zarate, a former assistant secretary of Treasury for terrorist financing and financial crimes who spent years targeting al-Qaeda funding. “They have access to oil in Iraq and Syria; access to major population centers; access to banks, antiquities and smuggling groups — all of that allows them to be more agile and have access to more capital and resources than your average terrorist group.”

“The truth is nobody really knows how much they’re making now,” said Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “The U.S. government is getting closer to pegging the group’s finances because of things like last month’s raid in eastern Syria. But no one knows how much they’re getting versus their spending.”

Islamic State “is in some ways a proto-state, in some ways a terrorist organization, in some ways an insurgency and in some ways a transnational criminal group,” he said. Like drug cartels in Colombia and Mexico and al-Qaeda offshoots in Somalia, northern Mali and Yemen, the group is extorting taxes, plundering local resources and taking a cut of commercial enterprises, he said. Read much more detail here.

ISIS has published their objectives on the internet for the world to see and yet operates with unhindered. ISIS is fully functional in an estimated 12 countries while the Obama administration is in neutral to lead the coalition in both offensive and defensive measures. The impact of the coalition is inert.

Egypt, a country working to recover from a power revolution is at particular risk.

From Oren Kessler in part: Egypt’s once-foundering economy is slowly rising from the abyss. President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi has cut costly fuel and food subsidies, cut red tape on investments, instructed the Central Bank to tackle the black market in foreign currencies and vowed to bring unemployment under 10 percent.

His efforts are beginning to bear fruit. In May, the ratings agency Standard & Poor’s revised Egypt’s country outlook from stable to positive, predicting real GDP growth over the next three years of 4.3 percent – double the average of the four years since the revolution. Meanwhile, the government’s suspension of the capital gains tax sent stocks soaring 6.5 percent in a single day.

Still, no economic turnaround will be complete without a recovery in tourism. The U.S. State Department currently urges citizens to exercise caution in traveling to the country, and advises against any non-essential travel in Sinai, where an insurgency by Islamic State-linked militants has raged since the military ouster of Muslim Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. At the same time, shadowy pro-Brotherhood groups calling themselves Ajnad Misr (“Soldiers of Egypt”) and the “Popular Resistance Movement” are increasingly targeting the populous mainland, including Cairo, Alexandria and the cities of the Nile Delta. The government accuses the now-banned Brotherhood of responsibility for virtually every attack, but the extent to which the group is actually orchestrating the violence remains unclear.

What is clear is that continued terrorism, particularly against tourists, has the capacity to set back the fragile gains Cairo has made in restoring stability and reviving its economy. For Egypt, persuading visitors to come soak up the country’s sights and sun will require convincing them beyond a reasonable doubt that traveling to the land of the Pharaohs will not be a one-way ticket. More detail here.

Relying on the U.S. for an Iraq Strategy is Suicidal

Posted on June 8, 2015June 8, 2015 by Denise Simon

The US does not yet have a “complete strategy” for helping Iraq regain territory from Islamic State (IS), President Barack Obama has said.

He said the Pentagon was reviewing ways to help Iraq train and equip its forces.

Mr Obama also said a full commitment to the process was needed by the Iraqis themselves. Much more here.

Meanwhile, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are blaming the White House for the fall of Ramadi. ‘In May 2015, despite airstrikes by the U.S.-led international coalition, the Islamic State (ISIS) won another strategic victory when it captured the city of Al-Ramadi, the capital of Al-Anbar governorate, which is home to a Sunni majority. Articles in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which are both members of the anti-ISIS coalition, expressed fear and concern regarding the fall of Al-Ramadi and ISIS’s advance towards the Saudi and Jordanian borders.‘

‘Al-Quds Al-Arabi’: The Fall Of Al-Ramadi Has Proven That Continuing To Rely On The U.S. Is Suicidal and Former ‘Al-Sharq Al-Awsat’ Editor: U.S. Has Given Iran Free Reign In Iraq

Iran is taking over Assad’s fight in crucial parts of Syria

Iranian commanders overseeing the Assad regime’s fighting efforts on the frontlines south of Idlib have reportedly executed three Syrian army officers.

London-based Al-Quds al-Arabi said that the three officers were Sunnis who were among the regime troops that withdrew from the Mahmbel and Bsanqoul checkpoints following rebel advances in the southern Idlib province area on Saturday.

The three officers, who were also accompanied by several soldiers, were accused deserting their duty and “betraying the homeland,” the daily reported Sunday.

According to the report, none of the other Syrian officers or soldiers present at the time were able to prevent the execution as “officers responsible for military operations in the Jourin area are under the command of Iranian officers.”

A Free Syrian Army (FSA) commander told the paper that “the regime has handed over the operations room to Iranian officers and leadership.”

“The recent execution has caused a state of fear and terror among remaining regime troops,” the FSA commander added, saying he expected “more defections and more field executions.”

syria map

There are still Sunni soldiers and officers bearing arms in the ranks of the regime’s army who will receive humiliating treatment during the coming period.”

Activists in the Latakia region also spoke to the paper about the impact the Iranian takeover of the operations room has had on morale among regime troops.

“Morale is very low among regime soldiers; in fact, it has become non-existent since the Iranian officers took over the operations room,” according to an activist identifying himself as Abu Said.

“Syrian officers, among them Alawites, have become secondary members, whose tasks can sometimes be reduced to handing out tea and coffee.”

Iran Navy commander REUTERS/Fars News/Hamed JafarnejadIranian officers have imposed strict rule in the Syrian army, and morale is suffering.

Iranian command

The reported handover of power to Iranian officers follows the visit Revolutionary Guards Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani paid to the Jourin area in late

May, after which he announced that a “surprise” was in the works in Syria.

The Iraqi Kurdish Bas News outlet on Monday reported that major command changes have been conducted on the Latakia-Hama-Idlib front following Soleimani’s trip.

A Hama-based media activist said that the Syrian regime’s chief of operations in the area, General Jamal Younis, had been removed from his post and replaced by an Iranian general known only by his moniker Iffari, who set up his headquarters in Jourin.

Sarmad Khalil, an activist and member of the Hama Media Center, said in press statements that the IRGC’s military operations command is located in Hama Airbase.

Rebel-IRGC lines stretch from military checkpoints in the town of Maharda, north of Hama, through the towns of Helfaya, Tel al-Nasiriyah and Rohbet Khattab to Taybet al-Imam and the international highway connecting the Hama and Aleppo provinces, according to the activist.

The IRGC has also established a military base on Zein al-Abideen Mountain north of Hama city, Khalil said.

A top pro-Assad daily in Lebanon said last week that Iran has deployed troops into northwest Syria in preparation for a counterattack in Idlib.

“During the last [few] days, and through a joint Syrian-Iranian-Iraqi decision, more than 20,000 Iranian, Iraqi, and Lebanese fighters have poured into the area,” As-Safir reported in a dramatic article published Tuesday.

ISIS Islamic State Iraq Syria control Reuters

The report said that the new troops had been sent to the regime’s front lines in the northern Hama province village of Jourin and areas in the southern part of the Idlib province, which rebels seized last week following months of sweeping advances.

AFP later reported that thousands of Iraqi and Iranian fighters have been deployed to Syria in a bid to secure the capital and recapture the Idlib province’s Jisr al-Shughur, which lies on a highway leading into the regime’s coastal stronghold of Latakia.

Egypt Turns to Russia Due to WH Snub

Posted on June 8, 2015June 8, 2015 by Denise Simon

The Obama administration has been digging up reasons to snub Egypt. Egypt has turned to Russia for military assistance and cooperation.

What is revealing is the document John Kerry signed on May 15, 2015 against supporting Egypt’s military power and the justification. The 6 page document is found here.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia and Egypt are holding their first ever joint naval exercise, Russia’s defence ministry said on Saturday, strengthening the ties between two states which were once Cold War allies.

The eight-day drills off the Mediterranean Egyptian port of Alexandria, beginning today, will include supply and communication at sea, search operations, all forms of defence at sea and firing exercises.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry delivered words of encouragement Friday for Egypt’s efforts to attract greater foreign investment but no new military assistance as demanded by the country’s president.

Kerry’s hands are tied because the Obama administration is undecided about whether to affirm Egypt’s progress on democracy and human rights or issue a national security waiver. It must do one or other under the 2015 federal budget to unblock hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid for Egypt.

In the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, America’s top diplomat said investment was needed to restore confidence in Egypt and provide stability for the region.

“This part of the world is blessed with a stunning amount of commercial potential,” Kerry said at an American Chamber of Commerce event. He said the U.S., whose companies invested $2 billion in Egypt last year, stood ready to help.

Kerry attended an Egyptian economic conference later Friday and met with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who has been clamoring for U.S. tanks, planes and other materiel held up since the military’s 2013 takeover of the government.

El-Sissi said earlier this week the logjam was creating the impression that the U.S. isn’t standing by the Egyptians as they battle the Islamic State and other extremists. The country’s need for weapons and equipment is “dire,” he told Fox News.

Kerry had hoped to announce on his three-day trip to Egypt the delivery of F16 fighter jets, according to U.S. officials, who weren’t authorized to speak publicly on internal deliberations and demanded anonymity.

But no path forward has emerged from multiple White House discussions in recent weeks over funds which were suspended 21 months ago when el-Sissi, then military chief, overthrew Egypt’s first democratically elected leader, Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

The U.S. has been providing hundreds of millions in counterterrorism assistance to its ally, which isn’t stalled as a result of the coup. Egypt says it needs the money to face growing threats from extremists creeping over the border from lawless Libya or operating in the Sinai Peninsula, and the U.S. sees the funds as critical for stability in the volatile Middle East.

But Washington cannot provide almost half of its $1.5 billion annual aid package — along with assistance held up from previous years — until it does one of two things. It must certify advances by el-Sissi’s government on democracy, human rights and rule of law, or tell Congress the assistance should go through because it is in America’s national security interest.

The administration has reservations about both options.

It doesn’t want to endorse a post-coup Egyptian crackdown on political opponents that started with hundreds killed in street clashes and thousands jailed. There have since been mass trials and death sentences.

The administration is likewise uncomfortable with a national security declaration that would recall the decades of American support for Egypt’s former autocrat Hosni Mubarak despite his government’s obvious shortcomings.

Officials said the focus of Kerry’s trip wasn’t on military matters but rather the investment conference. Top executives from General Electric, Microsoft and other U.S. companies attended.

Egypt’s economy was rocked after Arab Spring protesters chased Mubarak from power in 2011. El-Sissi has sought to make the county more conducive for investment and is reforming Egypt’s tax code, among other efforts to spur renewed economic vitality.

Kerry also met Friday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan’s King Abdullah II.

From Egypt, he will travel to Switzerland Sunday for another round of nuclear talks with Iran. Negotiators hope to reach a framework deal by month’s end.

CFR and Robina Foundation Behind Globalization

Posted on June 7, 2015June 7, 2015 by Denise Simon

All foreign policy is coordinated between the U.S. State Department and the United Nations. We cannot know all the details and methods, yet below a summary of a major donor and power of influence is but one of many when it comes to the globalization of America and loss of sovereignty. All government agencies are subservient to the White House and the State Department.

“International Institutions and Global Governance Program

World Order in the 21st Century

A New Initiative of the Council on Foreign Relations

“The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) has launched a comprehensive five-year program on international institutions and global governance. The purpose of this cross-cutting initiative is to explore the institutional requirements for world order in the twenty-first century. The undertaking recognizes that the architecture of global governance—largely reflecting the world as it existed in 1945—has not kept pace with fundamental changes in the international system, including but not limited to globalization. Existing multilateral arrangements thus provide an inadequate foundation for addressing today’s most pressing threats and opportunities and for advancing U.S. national and broader global interests. The program seeks to identify critical weaknesses in current frameworks for multilateral cooperation; propose specific reforms tailored to new global circumstances; and promote constructive U.S. leadership in building the capacities of existing organizations and in sponsoring new, more effective regional and global institutions and partnerships. This program is made possible by a generous grant from the Robina Foundation.”

The Board members of Robina are chilling. One such board member is SUSAN V. BERRESFORD, formerly of the Ford Foundation. Remember Stanley Ann Dunham, Obama’s mother worked at the Ford Foundation.

The mission of the Council of Foreign Relations in paid cooperation with the Robina Foundation, reads as such:

The International Institutions and Global Governance (IIGG) Program at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is supported by a generous grant from the Robina Foundation. It aims to identify the institutional requirements for effective multilateral cooperation in the twenty-first century. The program is motivated by recognition that the architecture of global governance-largely reflecting the world as it existed in 1945-has not kept pace with fundamental changes in the international system. These shifts include the spread of transnational challenges, the rise of new powers, and the mounting influence of nonstate actors. Existing multilateral arrangements thus provide an inadequate foundation for addressing many of today’s most pressing threats and opportunities and for advancing U.S. national and broader global interests.

Given these trends, U.S. policymakers and other interested actors require rigorous, independent analysis of current structures of multilateral cooperation, and of the promises and pitfalls of alternative institutional arrangements. The IIGG program meets these needs by analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of existing multilateral institutions and proposing reforms tailored to new international circumstances.

Robina Foundation Awards CFR $10.3 Million Grant

to Expand Global Governance Program

January 20, 2012

The Robina Foundation has awarded the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) a five-year, $10.3 million grant to expand its activities on international cooperation. This award is one of the largest operating grants in CFR’s history and will support its International Institutions and Global Governance (IIGG) Program.

The IIGG Program was founded in 2008 with a generous grant from Robina with the recognition that existing multilateral arrangements are inadequate to address the transnational challenges facing the United States. The program and its scholars’ work focuses on the institutional requirements needed for effective cooperation in the twenty-first century. “The Robina Foundation’s generous commitment to IIGG will allow CFR to deepen and strengthen its work examining multilateral institutions, and what they can do to enhance the world’s ability to contend with the most pressing global issues,” says CFR President Richard N. Haass.

In its first three years, the IIGG Program has tracked and mapped the landscape of international organizations through its multimedia interactive, the Global Governance Monitor. IIGG has also produced over twenty reports on priorities for institutional reform, and provided policymakers with concrete recommendations for more effective management of the world’s most pressing problems.

From Hillary Clinton herself, she reveals that the Council of Foreign Relations not only provides the government policy but CFR also controls most often media relating to foreign policy.