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Seems that John Kerry likely forced the department of the Navy to instructed the navy commander to apologize and to do so publically.
“I could not be and I know the president could not be prouder of our men and women in uniform,” he added. “I also want to thank the Iranian authorities for their cooperation and quick response.”
The sailors appear to have been “well taken care of,” Kerry insisted, adding that Iran gave them blankets and food as they were forced to wait overnight on a small island in the Persian Gulf. More here from TheHill.
Let the FOIA request firestorm begin.
Sailor who apologized to Iranian captors appeals punishment
FNC: The U.S. Navy lieutenant who apologized on video for “a mistake” while he and his crew were being held by Iranian captors in January is appealing his discipline for violating the service’s code of conduct, The Navy Times reported.
Lt. David Nartker was given a non-judicial punishment last week by the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, two officials familiar with the proceeding told The Times. Narker appeared before Rear Adm. Frank Morneau on Aug. 4 to hear the charges against him, Stars and Stripes reported.
The exact punishment given to Nartker and the charges leveled against him have not yet been revealed. Stars and Stripes reported the punishments could range from confinement to his quarters to a letter of reprimand – which could be a career-ender.
Nartker was the most senior officer of 10 sailors manning a pair of boats captured by Iran after the U.S. vessels accidentally strayed into Iranian waters on Jan. 12. He was filmed apologizing for the incursion on a video that was later released by Iran.
“It was a mistake,” Nartker said on camera. “That was our fault. And we apologize for our mistake.”
The sailors were detained for one night before being released.
“Left to his own devices, [Nartker] emulated the poor leadership traits he witnessed first-hand within his own chain of command,” the Iran incident investigation report said.
The NECC would not comment on the specifics of the case.
“Following [non-judicial punishment] proceedings, members may appeal the findings to a higher authority,” Lt. Cmdr. Jen Cragg said in an email to The Navy Times. “The appeal authority may set aside the punishment, decrease its severity, or deny the appeal, but may not increase the severity of the punishment.”
U.S. Pacific Fleet in Hawaii has a 30-day period to review the appeal, Stars and Stripes reported.
(CNN)Ukraine is ordering its troops to be on the “highest level of combat readiness” Thursday, amid growing tensions with Russia over Crimea.
The order comes after Russia accused Ukraine on Wednesday of launching a militant attack at “critically important infrastructure” near the city of Armyansk, Crimea, according to Russia’s state news service TASS.
But Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko refuted the claims, calling them “insane” and suggesting Russia’s aim was more military threats against its neighbor. More here.
(CNN)It began as a dispute over a trade agreement, but it mushroomed into the bloodiest conflict in Europe since the wars over the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.
After Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 following tensions with its neighbor, world leaders managed to install a shaky peace deal in 2015. But violence continues in the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine — and 2016 has seen an increase in casualties.
So how did this dispute begin and how did it then erupt in to civil war? CNN examines the evolution of the Ukraine crisis.
Protests begin in Kiev …
Ukrainian is spoken by 70% of the country, but Russian is the mother tongue of many in the east.
November 21, 2013: After a year of insisting he would sign a landmark political and trade deal with the European Union, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych suspends talks in the face of opposition from Russia, which has long opposed Ukraine forming closer ties with the EU. Tens of thousands of protesters hit the streets in the following days, highlighting the deep divide between the pro-European west and Yanukovych’s power base in the pro-Russian east of Ukraine.
… then escalate …
February 20, 2014: Violence that has been simmering for weeks bubbles over when a gunfight erupts between protesters and police in Maidan (Independence) Square in central Kiev, leaving dozens of people dead. Protesters say government snipers opened fire on them; Yanukovych’s government blames opposition leaders for provoking the violence.
… and the Ukrainian President flees
February 22, 2014:Yanukovych flees Kiev as his guards abandon the presidential compound. Thousands storm the grounds, marveling at the lavish estate he left behind. Former Prime Minister (and Yanukovych adversary) Yulia Tymoshenko — jailed in 2011 for “abuse of office” after a trial that was widely seen as politically motivated — is released from prison and addresses pro-Western protesters in Maidan Square.
A week later, troops enter Crimea …
March 1, 2014: Russia’s parliament signs off on President Vladimir Putin‘s request to send military forces into Crimea, an autonomous region of southern Ukraine with strong Russian loyalties. Thousands of Russian-speaking troops wearing unmarked uniforms pour into the peninsula. Two weeks later, Russia completes its annexation of Crimea in a referendum that is slammed by Ukraine and most of the world as illegitimate.
… and soon Kiev starts cracking down in eastern Ukraine
April 15, 2014: Kiev’s government launches its first formal military action against the pro-Russian rebels who have seized government buildings in towns and cities across eastern Ukraine. Putin warns that Ukraine is on the “brink of civil war.” Less than a month later, separatists in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk declare independence after unrecognized referendums.
In the spring, a new President takes power in Kiev …
May 25, 2014: The “Chocolate King” Petro Poroshenko, a candy company magnate and one of the country’s richest men, declares victory in Ukraine’s presidential elections. Pro-Russian separatists are accused of preventing people from voting in the violence-wracked east of the country.
… and that contentious EU trade deal finally gets signed.
Poroshenko: Putin can be ’emotional’
June 27, 2014:Poroshenko signs the EU Association Agreement — the same deal that former President Yanukovych backed out of in 2013 — and warns Russia that Ukraine’s determination to pursue its European dreams will not be denied.
A commercial airliner is blown out of the sky …
July 17, 2014: 298 people are killed when Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 is shot down by a surface-to-air missile above rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine. Initially, gunmen prevent international monitors from reaching the crash site, exacerbating the grief of the families of the victims, and it takes days before rebels allow investigators to examine the bodies.
… and months later, a ceasefire follows
September 20, 2014: Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists agree to a complete ceasefire and buffer zone that require all sides to pull heavy weaponry back from the front lines of the conflict, two weeks after an initial truce was agreed to. Meanwhile, a convoy of Russian trucks streams into the border area without the Ukrainian government’s approval. Russia insists the trucks are filled with humanitarian aid, but Kiev is skeptical.
Come winter, the fight in the east becomes bitter …
November 12, 2014: A NATO commander says that Russian tanks, other weapons and troops are pouring across the border into Ukraine, in apparent violation of the September ceasefire — a claim that Moscow denies. And by the end of the year, the U.N. says more than 1.7 million children in the conflict-torn areas of eastern Ukraine are facing “extremely serious” situations exacerbated by unusually harsh winter conditions.
… and harsher …
January 22, 2015: Donetsk International Airport, which was rebuilt ahead of the European soccer championships in 2012, falls to rebels after months of fighting with Ukrainian government forces. Days later, amid spiraling violence, President Poroshenko announces he will ask the International Criminal Court at The Hague to investigate alleged “crimes against humanity” in the conflict.
… and the West becomes divided
February 12, 2015: Germany’s Angela Merkel and France’s Francois Hollandehammer out a ceasefire agreement with Ukraine and Russia after the United States says it is considering supplying lethal aid to Ukraine. European leaders are opposed to arming Kiev’s government forces, and they fear it could further ignite a conflict that has now killed more than 5,000 people, including many civilians. Three days later, the ceasefire goes into effect, but violations quickly follow. Over the next few days, Ukraine says several of its service members were killed. Ukraine’s National Defense and Security Council reports 300 violations of the ceasefire by February 20.
… then the EU extends sanctions on Russia
June 22, 2015: European Union foreign ministers extend sanctions against Russia, imposed because of the country’s actions in Crimea and eastern Ukraine. The Kremlin calls the sanctions “unfounded and illegal.” The sanctions, and the events that preceded their imposition, reflect the tug of war between East and West over the future of Ukraine.
… in eastern Ukraine there’s growing despair
March 3, 2016: Ukraine’s prolonged stalemate is causing grief and isolation among millions living in the conflict zone, the United Nations warns. The fragile ceasefire is pierced daily by violations, while the number of conflict-related civilian casualties keeps climbing. Since the beginning of the conflict in April 2014, nearly 9,500 people have been killed in the violence and more than 22,100 injured, including Ukrainian armed forces, civilians and members of armed groups, the UN says.
… and civilian casualties highest for a year
August 5, 2016: The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights releases new figures showing that the conflict on the frontline has resulted in a spike in civilian casualties. The agency documented 69 civilian casualties in eastern Ukraine in June, including 12 dead and 57 injured — nearly double the figure for May and the highest toll since August 2015. July saw 73 civilian casualties, including eight dead and 65 injured.
Not all intelligence professionals complied with the reports declaring in Congressional testimony conditions that were dramatically worse than what Barack Obama was telling the American people. The consequence of the top CENTCOM staff altering and filtering factual summaries can never be fully measured however, immediately after General Mattis left CENTCOM, the process was changed and reporting began to go south. When General Austin replaced Mattis, collaboration and use of all intelligence tools were amended. Timing is important such that the fall of Ramadi and Fallujah happened but notably within days of Obama making the declaration that Islamic State was the JV team, Mosul fell.
The United States officially left Iraq in 2011, there were an estimated 700 terror fighters that remained, within several months the number grew to several thousand while the top count going into 2014 it was 31,000. Today, Islamic State has functional operating cells in 24 countries. Attention to al Qaeda, Boko Haram, the Taliban and other terror factions has been eliminated from the political lexicon.
The Congressional 17 page report is.
House probe: Central Command reports skewed intel on ISIS fight
FNC: Intelligence reports produced by U.S. Central Command that tracked the Islamic State’s 2014-15 rise in Iraq and Syria were skewed to present a rosier picture of the situation on the ground, according to a bombshell report released Thursday by a House Republican task force.
The task force investigated a Defense Department whistleblower’s allegations that higher-ups manipulated analysts’ findings to make the campaign against ISIS appear more successful to the American public.
The report concluded that intelligence reports from Central Command were, in fact, “inconsistent with the judgments of many senior, career analysts.”
Further, the report found, “these products also consistently described U.S. actions in a more positive light than other assessments from the [intelligence community] and were typically more optimistic than actual events warranted.”
Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., who was involved in the House report, said Thursday the data was clearly “manipulated.”
“They wanted to tell a story that ISIS was the JV, that we had Al Qaeda on the run,” he told Fox News. “This is incredibly dangerous. We haven’t seen this kind of manipulation of intelligence … in an awfully long time.”
It is unclear how high up the reports in question went, though the task force found “many” Central Command press releases, statements and testimonies were “significantly more positive than actual events” as well.
The joint task force report blamed “structural and management changes” at the CENTCOM Intelligence Directorate starting in mid-2014 for the intelligence products. Surveys provided to the task force, according to the report, showed 40 percent of analysts later claimed they “had experienced an attempt to distort or suppress intelligence.”
The report also said senior leaders relied on details from coalition forces rather than “more objective and documented intelligence reporting,” using this as a rationale to change reports – sometimes “in a more optimistic direction.”
The Defense Department inspector general is now taking a close look at the findings – and looking for more possible whistle-blowers. The joint task force described its assessment released Thursday as an “initial report” and continues to investigate.
“The facts on the ground didn’t match what the intelligence was saying out of the United States Central Command,” Pompeo said.
The Pentagon did not comment in depth on the report, citing the ongoing IG investigation.
However, spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Patrick L. Evans said the intelligence community assessments are “based on multifaceted data related to the current security environment.”
“Experts sometimes disagree on the interpretation of complex data, and the Intelligence Community and Department of Defense welcome healthy dialogue on these vital national security topics,” he said in a statement.
When the allegations initially surfaced last year, the White House insisted no one in the administration pressured anyone, and suggested blame may rest with the military.
Executives at a Bermudan firm funneling money to U.S. environmentalists run investment funds with Russian tycoons, a shadowy Bermudan company that has funneled tens of millions of dollars to anti-fracking environmentalist groups in the United States is run by executives with deep ties to Russian oil interests and offshore money laundering schemes involving members of President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. One of those executives, Nicholas Hoskins, is a director at a hedge fund management firm that has invested heavily in Russian oil and gas. He is also senior counsel at the Bermudan law firm Wakefield Quin and the vice president of a London-based investment firm whose president until recently chaired the board of the state-owned Russian oil company Rosneft.In addition to those roles, Hoskins is a director at a company called Klein Ltd. No one knows where that firm’s money comes from. Its only publicly documented activities have been transfers of $23 million to U.S. environmentalist groups that push policies that would hamstring surging American oil and gas production, which has hurt Russia’s energy-reliant economy.
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Why is this important? Arms trafficking….there is always a darker side including people. Anyone remember the name Viktor Bout?
Photo: CNN
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Notorious Russian arms dealer ‘refused US offer for lighter sentence’
FITSANAKIS: The wife of Viktor Bout, the imprisoned Russian arms dealer dubbed ‘the merchant of death’, said he rejected an offer by his American captors who asked him to testify against a senior Russian government official. Born in Soviet Tajikistan, Bout was a former translator for the Soviet military. After the end of the Cold War, he set up several low-profile international air transport companies and used them to transfer large shipments of weapons that fueled wars in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe. He made millions in the process and acquired international notoriety, which inspired the Hollywood blockbuster Lord of War. But his business ventures ceased in 2008, when he was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand, by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, with the cooperation of the Royal Thai Police. He was eventually extradited to the US and given a 25-year prison term for supplying weapons to the Afghan Taliban, and for trying to sell arms to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Bout is currently serving his sentence at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center in New York.
In a newspaper interview on Tuesday, Bout’s wife, Alla Bout, said her husband could have gotten away with a considerably lighter sentence had he agreed to testify against a senior Russian government official. Speaking to Moscow-based daily Izvestia, Alla Bout said her husband had been approached by American authorities after being extradited to the United States from Thailand. He was told that US authorities wanted him to testify against Igor Sechin, a powerful Russian government official, whom American prosecutors believed was Bout’s boss. In return for his testimony, US prosecutors allegedly promised a jail sentence that would not exceed two years, as well as political asylum for him and his family following his release from prison. Alla Bout added that her husband’s American lawyers were told by the prosecution that the ‘merchant of death’ “would be able to live in the US comfortably, along with his wife and daughter”, and that his family could stay in America during his trial “under conditions”. Alla Bout claimed she was told this by Bout himself and by members of his American legal team.
From 2008 to 2012, Sechin, who has military background, served as Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister. Today he heads the Board of Directors of Rosneft, a government-owned oil extraction and refinement company, which is considered one of the world’s most powerful business ventures. Many observers see Sechin as the most formidable man in Russia after Russian President Vladimir Putin. He is also believed to be a senior member of the Siloviki, a secretive group of government officials in the Putin government who have prior careers in national security or intelligence. Although Bout and Sechin have never acknowledged having met each other, some investigators of Bout’s weapons-trading activities believe that the two were close allies. It is believed that the two men first met in Angola and Mozambique in the 1980s, where they were stationed while serving in the Soviet military. But the two men deny they knowing each other. According to Alla Bout, Viktor told his American captors that he “never worked for Sechin and did not know him in person”. He therefore turned down the prosecution’s offer and was handed a 25-year sentence. When asked by the Izvestia reporters whether Bout was simply protecting the powerful Russian government official, Alla Bout insisted that the two “have never even met, not once”.
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Forbes: Igor Sechin may be the left hand man to the World’s Most Powerful Man, but that didn’t stop him or his giant oil company, Rosneft, from landing on a U.S. visa and financial sanctions list announced after the Russian military intervention in the Ukraine. “Putin trusts him more than anyone else,” says Russian expert Mark Galeotti of NYU. “And if Putin trusts you, power and wealth always follow.” Suffice it to say that the Kremlin is one of Rosneft’s major stockholders.
BI: Vietnam has discreetly fortified several of its islands in the disputed South China Sea with new mobile rocket launchers capable of striking China’s runways and military installations across the vital trade route, according to Western officials.
Diplomats and military officers told Reuters that intelligence shows Hanoi has shipped the launchers from the Vietnamese mainland into position on five bases in the Spratly islands in recent months, a move likely to raise tensions with Beijing.
The launchers have been hidden from aerial surveillance and they have yet to be armed, but could be made operational with rocket artillery rounds within two or three days, according to the three sources. More here from BusinessInsider.
Photos suggest China built reinforced hangars on disputed islands: CSIS
Reuters: Satellite photographs taken in late July show China appears to have built reinforced aircraft hangars on its holdings in disputed South China Sea islands, a Washington-based research group said.
The hangars on Fiery Cross, Subi and Mischief Reefs in the Spratly islands have room for any fighter jet in the Chinese air force, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said in a report on the photographs.
The images have emerged about a month after an international court in The Hague ruled against China’s claims in the resource-rich area, a decision rejected by Beijing. China claims most of the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims.
The United States has urged China and other claimants not to militarize their holdings in the South China Sea.
CSIS said that apart from a brief visit to Fiery Cross Reef by a military transport plane earlier in the year, “there is no evidence that Beijing has deployed military aircraft to these outposts.”
The rapid construction of the hangars, however, “indicates that this is likely to change.”
A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was unlikely the hangers would be used for civilian purposes.
“It’s not like the hangers are for mail planes, they are likely for jets,” the official said.
The official added, however, that the Chinese move was seen as skirting around the line rather than crossing it, and there would be increased concern if China actually moved in military aircraft and started using a reef as a forward operating base.
China has repeatedly denied doing so and has in turn criticized U.S. patrols and exercises for ramping up tensions.
“China has indisputable sovereignty over the Spratly islands and nearby waters,” China’s Defence Ministry said in a faxed response to a request for comment on Tuesday.
“China has said many times, construction on the Spratly islands and reefs is multipurpose, mixed, and with the exception of necessary military defensive requirements, are more for serving all forms of civil needs.”
The hangars all show signs of structural strengthening, CSIS said. The new images were first reported by the New York Times.
Other facilities including unidentified towers and hexagonal structures have also been built on the islets in recent months, CSIS said.
Ties around the region have been strained in the lead-up to and since The Hague ruling.
China has sent bombers and fighter jets on combat patrols near the contested South China Sea islands, state media reported on Saturday. Japan has complained about what it has said were multiple intrusions into its territorial waters around another group of islands in the East China Sea.
