Women at War- Canada
Canada History
O CANADA- CELINE DION
We Are Canadian Soldiers
40,000 Canadian walked passed Canada allowing draft dodgers and stepped up 4 their brothers and sisters in Vietnam.... many did NOT come home... many were IDLE NO MORE - AMERICAS FIRST PEOPLES
Justice 4 our women and our children- NO MORE VICTIMS IN OUR CANADA.... NO MORE
MARCH 8- INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY.... One Billion Rising
BLOGGED EARLIER:
CANADA AND RUSSIA HAVE PRICKLY STRONG RELATIONSHIP OF RESPECT- Did ya know Canada declared war on Russia -January 11, 1914, Vilhjalmur Stefansson?/IDLE NO MORE CANADA/ Terry Fox AND OUR SOCHI WINTER PARALYMPICS 2014 IN MOTHER RUSSIA WILL GO AHEAD- we all need dreams/Canada's Wars/ARCTIC/NORAD/EU is no better than Russia - let Ukraine decide and Crimea leave if they want- Canada needs 2 protect women and children we are afraid in our nation- get back 2 basics/2wolves hate and love..who will u feed
http://nova0000scotia.blogspot.ca/2014/03/canada-and-russia-have-prickly-strong.html-----------------
WW2 Tweets from 1942 @RealTimeWWII 10m
German troops have occupied the Kerch peninsula, wiping out all Russian armies in the Crimea- only Sevastapol remains pic.twitter.com/eOSSuo760X
-----------------
CANADA- could smell this sheeeet a mile away..... EU =
FASCISM OF THE WORST KIND- OVER $$$ 2
TRILLION DOLLARS DAMAGES HAVE BEEN CAUSED BY EUROPEAN UNION'S
ABSOLUTELY FASCISTS
let Ukraine and Crimea look after themselves.... STOP
TAKING OUR GLOBAL $$$$TAXPAYER MONEY 4 THIS SHEEEEET...... SYRIA??? RUCRAZY
UNITED NATIONS- U HAVE WASTED $$TRILLIONS ON MUSLIM HATING MUSLIM WARS ....
WHEN POVERTY IS RAMPANT.... ON OUR PLANET...
pardon the screaming... but this is ...just
ridiculous ..omg.. and now our China...
beautiful China - the heartbreak of the innocents in China...
AND ..HERE WE GO IN UKRAINE... THE FASCISTS HAVE WON.... RUN CRIMEA ...RUN 2 RUSSIA OR GOD HELP U EACH AND ALL.... LOOK AT WHAT FASCISM HAS DONE AND CAUSED INEUROPE $$$$ TRILLIONS IN STREET AND DAMAGES...
Alarming trend in Ukraine: Historic monuments toppled, Nazi symbols spread Looming Dangers of Neo-Fascism
AND.. UNITED NATIONS WILL DO NADA... NADA... NADA...
Duma: Western-Backed Fascism, Terrorism In Power In Ukraine ...
rickrozoff.wordpress.com/.../duma-western-backed-fascism-terrorism-in-...
2 days ago - But it is fascism and terrorism that have proclaimed their power in ... by the Federation Council today is fully in line with the Constitution and ...
------------------
blogdog: Alarming trend in Ukraine: Historic monuments toppled ...
blogdogcicle.blogspot.com/2014/.../alarming-trend-in-ukraine-historic.ht...
6 days ago - ... toppled, Nazi symbols spread Looming Dangers of Neo-Fascism ... This shift towards fascist forces is not limited to Ukraine. ... Obama, McCain, and Kerry; support terrorists, are guilty of treason, and must be removed from office. ... 2012 Part1 - In 2012 the New World Order will suffer major defeats to their ...
--------------------
TAYLOR: Ukraine stance is evidence of Baird’s
unfortunate consistency
In
1991, as Ukraine sought independence from the crumbling Soviet Union, the naval
dockyard in Sevastopol was a major stumbling block. The compromise solution was
for Russia to sign a long-term lease, similar to Britain’s former arrangement
in Hong Kong.
Thus
it seems even more ludicrous that Baird would fly 8,000 kilometres to announce
his support for the anti-Yanukovych faction, while warning his Kremlin
counterparts not to intervene on territory upon which they legitimately have
military resources. The other major issue, which gets glossed over in all the
media’s anti-Russian rhetoric, is the fact that the majority of the public
discontent stems from Ukraine’s collapsed economy.
Unemployment
and underemployment — especially among the youth — is rampant. Were it not for
the black market, most Ukrainians could not subsist.
Some
analysts have estimated that it will require an infusion of at least $35
billion over the next two years just to stabilize the Ukrainian economy. That
is not something that will be easily overcome by whatever form of government
emerges following the current crisis.
Also
glazed over in the rush to demonize the Yanukovych-Russia team is the fact
there has been little mentioned about who constitutes the new authority. The
factions, which Baird was so eager to embrace, are described by those in the
western Ukraine enclaves as the “fascists.”
This
of course is a simplistic categorization of their political enemies, which has
its roots in the Second Word War. When Hitler’s troops invaded the Soviet
Union, Ukraine produced a large volume of willing volunteers, many driven by
their anti-Semitic beliefs.
The
14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, consisting of Ukrainian recruits, was
considered one of the most ruthless perpetrators of persecution against Jews on
the Eastern front. While it would be a leap of logic to compare the
anti-Yanukovych faction to the Nazis, there are in their ranks, strident
anti-Semites.
-------------
We weep 4 beautiful China.... and the innocents who
suffer by the evil heretic Muslims who are destroying the beautiful Faith of
Islam all around the world.... as 7 billion people tired and 2 the breaking
point on MUSLIM ON MUSLIM HATRED... that is spilling over 2 millions and
millions and millions of global innocents....
Look at the ruination of Heritage Islam Culture that
has been destroyed by these Heretic Muslims.... why is this being tolerated....
exterminate them..... NOW!
Enough...look at the faces of the innocent Chinese on
this day.... it's just heartbreaking...
... and
look how Canada dissidents are picking it
up... a lunatic just murdered 2 innocent Canadians and injured
ca.news.yahoo.com/police-still-figuring-motive-fatal-edmo...
Yahoo!
News
Read
'Murder charges laid against suspect in Edmonton stabbing
rampage' on Yahoo News Canada. EDMONTON - Police in ... By The Canadian
Press | The Canadian Press – 2 hours 25 minutes ago. Email 0 ...
Cost of violent crimes topped $12 billion in one year: Justice Canada
study ... Four others were injured.
and..
globalnews.ca/.../breaking-loretta-saunders-disappearance-now-murder-i...
5
days ago - HALIFAX – The remains of a missing and pregnant Saint Mary's
University student have been found. ... Her car was found in Ontario
last week and her two roommates, ... was doing her thesis on
missing and murdered aboriginal women. ... Maloney,
president of the Nova Scotia Native Women's Association
-----------
COMMENT: See what the Islam are turning the world
into
COMMENT:
Tomorrow, when the Chinese government begins a
crackdown on these terrorists, the West will warn of "dire
consequences". Now, everyone is keeping silent.
China captures train station attack suspects
March
3, 2014 by aljazeera 2 Comments
Chinese
police have captured three suspects for a knife-wielding railway station attack
that killed 29 people and wounded 143, authorities told state media.
“Three
suspects involved in the terrorist attack in the southwestern city of Kunming
had been captured,” the official news agency Xinhua said on Monday, citing the
ministry of public security.
Altogether
eight members of a “terrorist gang” carried out the stabbing spree late on
Saturday, Xinhua said.
Four
more of the group were shot dead by police and a wounded woman was captured at
the scene, it continued, naming their leader as Abdurehim Kurban.
China
has blamed separatists from its restive far-western region of Xinjiang, home to
the mainly Muslim Uighur minority, for what it describes as an “act of terror”,
with state media dubbing the incident “China’s 9/11″.
The
incident that happened at around 9pm local time (1pm GMT) late Saturday night
at Kunming Railway Station in Yunnan province ”was an organised, premeditated
violent terrorist attack”, Xinhua earlier reported, citing authorities.
Defiant
Kunming residents queued to donate blood on Monday while others vented their
anger.
Many
Chinese Internet users accused the United States of double standards on social
media, after Washington condemned the bloody rampage by attackers but refrained
from calling it a terrorist incident.
-----------------
Violent
terrorist attack at Chinese train station, 27 dead, 109 injured
comment;
Muslims
spreading the love yet again. Can you feel it.
AND..these poor Muslims of China must now pay the price 4 Heretic Muslim monsters... NOT FAIR... ANYMORE... NOT FAIR...
After 35 die, China Uighur downplays Xinjiang attack
--------------
33
killed in knife attack at China train station
More
than 10 assailants slashed scores of people with knives at a train station in
southern China, drawing police fire, in what authorities called a terrorist
assault by ethnic separatists based in the far west, state media said on
Sunday. Thirty-three people were killed and 130 wounded.
Police
fatally shot four of the assailants, arrested one and were searching for the
others following the attack late Saturday at the Kunming train station in
Yunnan province, Xinhua said.
The
attackers, most of them dressed in black, stormed the train station and started
attacking people on Saturday evening, according to witnesses.
Student
Qiao Yunao was waiting to catch a train at the station when people starting
crying and running, and then saw a man slash another man’s neck, drawing blood.
“I
was freaking out, and ran to a fast food store, and many people were running in
there to take refuge,” she told The Associated Press via Sina Weibo, the
Chinese equivalent of Twitter. “I saw two attackers, both men, one with a
watermelon knife and the other with a fruit knife. They were running and
chopping whoever they could.”
Another
witness, Yang Haifei, said he saw a person “come straight at me with a long
knife and I ran away with everyone.” People who were slow to escape ended up
severely injured, he told Xinhua.
One
suspect was arrested, Xinhua said. Evidence found at the scene of the
attack showed that it was “a terrorist attack carried out by Xinjiang
separatist forces,” the agency quoted the municipal government as saying.
Authorities considered it to be “an organised, premeditated violent terrorist
attack.”
Politburo
member Meng Jianzhu, arrived in Kunming on Sunday morning and went straight to
the hospital to visit the wounded and their families, Xinhua reported.
President
Xi Jinping called for “all-out efforts” to bring the culprits to justice. In a
statement, the Security Management Bureau under the Ministry of Public Security
said that police will “crack down the crimes in accordance with the law without
any tolerance.”
5
suspects shot dead
Authorities
said five suspects were shot dead but that their identities had not yet been
confirmed, and police were hunting for the remaining attackers, Xinhua
reported. The news agency said 29 people described as civilians were confirmed
dead and 130 injured.
------------------
Why China compares Kunming station terror attack to
9/11
Beijing
has blamed Saturday's deadly attack at a train station on Uighur separatists
from Xinjiang province. Foreign experts point to local grievances, but a
strike-hard policy is popular.
By Peter Ford,
Staff writer / March 3, 2014
Apples,
burning incense and candles in glass holders are seen on the floor as people
pay tribute to the victims of a knife attack at Kunming railway station in
Kunming, Yunnan province, China March 3, 2014.
Wong
Campion/REUTERS
Within
hours of Saturday's terrorist attack on Kunming railway station that left 33 people dead,
the Chinese authorities had identified the alleged perpetrators: extremist
Muslim separatists, ethnic Uighurs from the western province of Xinjiang.
Now
they will crack down hard, as they have done before. Police have already begun
rounding up Uighurs in Kunming for questioning. Four of the knife-wielding
assailants were shot dead by police, another is in custody, and police say they
have arrested three suspects, though others are still on the run, according to
official media.
The
prospects for ordinary Uighurs in Xinjiang are grim. Already they chafe under
strict controls on religious expression, education and other cultural aspects
of daily life, and under the close eye of the police.
For
years, Western governments have privately advised Chinese officials to ease
popular resentment by relaxing those controls. But Beijing is in no mood to win hearts and minds in
the aftermath of a terror attack that a state newspaper dubbed China's 9/11. And,
judging by the anger and shock expressed on Chinese social media, a steely
approach to terrorism resonates with the public.
RECOMMENDED:
How much do you know about China? Take our quiz.
“Local
issues and social conflicts in Xinjiang have nothing to do with terror
activities,” says Li Wei, a government adviser and head of the Anti-Terrorism
Research Center at the China Institutes of Contemporary International
Relations, a Beijing think tank close to the security forces. “Social conflicts
are irrelevant to terrorism.”
Behind
Saturday’s attack and others blamed on Uighur militants “is an extremist
Islamic mindset,” says Yang Shu, a Central Asia specialist at Lanzhou
University in western China. “The government has to remove that mentality from
peoples’ minds,” he adds.
That,
Prof. Yang acknowledges, is a “very difficult task,” that will not be
accomplished overnight. In the meantime, he says, quoting a Chinese saying,
“cut the poisonous weeds and pull up the roots. The government’s most urgent
task is to cut the weeds and stop the attacks.” Dealing with the root causes of
the violence will have to wait, he says.
So
far, the authorities have offered no evidence to back up the assertion that
Uighurs carried out the Kunming attack. But if they are right, it bodes ill for
moderates seeking to ameliorate Uighurs’ lives within the Chinese system. “This
attack distracts attention from widespread (Uighur) discontent,” says Gardner
Bovingdon, a Xinjiang expert at Indiana University in Bloomington. “It plays
into the hands of Beijing’s argument that the problem is one of a small group
of Islamic terrorists.”
A
Western diplomat here said that China's tactics in confronting spreading Uighur
extremism have largely been counterproductive. “The only way they can think of
removing radical Islam from peoples’ minds is to beat it out of them and that
will not work,” he says.
Heightened
surveillance
Uighurs
point out that they have been subject to police sweeps and heightened
surveillance both in and outside Xinjiang since last October. That month a
Uighur family plowed their car through a crowd outside the Forbidden City in
central Beijing and then blew themselves up, killing two bystanders too.
The
increased security has not stopped attacks by Uighurs; indeed the rhythm of such
incidents appears to have stepped up, according to official reports.
In
the past, the government has blamed the East Turkestan Islamic Movement for
attacks on both civilians and policemen. It has not yet blamed the Kunming
assault on any group; local and foreign experts doubt that any one organization
is behind the spate of attacks.
“I
think it more likely that the criminals in Kunming were members of a gang,”
says Yang. “That’s normally what we find in Xinjiang, not evidence of a larger
organization with a leadership and a structure.”
Such
“sporadic, disorganized events…are difficult for the government to control,”
points out Dru Gladney, who follows Uighur affairs as a professor of
anthropology at Pomona College in Claremont, Ca.
Prof.
Li, the government advisor, agreed that it was hard for China to prevent future
attacks, since "terrorists will take advantage of the weakest region to
attack.” Even if police manage to subdue Xinjiang, other cities in China should
brace for violence, he adds.
Kunming,
a provincial capital in southwest China, is over 900 miles from Xinjiang and
lies closer to Thailand and Vietnam than to China's western frontiers.
Saturday's attack would be the deadliest Uighur-related violence since riots
erupted in Xinjiang's capital, Urumqi in 2009. Nearly 200 people died in
sectarian clashes between Uighurs and Han Chinese.
“Unfortunately,”
predicts Prof. Gladney, “unless there are real and dramatic changes in policy”
towards the Uighur minority, “one can only expect that there will be more of
these attacks.”
-----------------
Final three suspects caught in China stabbing rampage
5:45
AM Tuesday Mar 4, 2014
Police
have captured the three remaining suspects in a slashing rampage at a train
station in southwestern China that killed 29 people, state media said.
Authorities
say the attack in Kunming city that also wounded 143 was carried out by
separatists from the far-western region of Xinjiang.
Clashes
in Xinjiang between authorities and ethnic Uighurs over the past year have left
scores dead, but the assault Saturday evening occurred more than 1,500
kilometres to the southeast in Yunnan province, which has not had a history of
such unrest.
Citing
a statement from the Ministry of Public Security, the official Xinhua News
Agency said that a "terrorist gang" of six men and two women led by a
person identified as Abdurehim Kurban was responsible for the attack.
Xinhua
said police shot and killed four of the attackers, who used knives to slash at
crowds of people, and captured an injured female suspect at the scene.
The
brief Xinhua report did not identify the ethnicity of the eight or say how the
final three suspects were identified and captured.
Xinjiang
is home to a simmering rebellion against Chinese rule by some members of the
Muslim Uighur population, and the government has responded there with
heavy-handed security.
Another
unprecedented attack attributed by authorities to Uighurs occurred last October
in Beijing. Three assailants and two tourists were killed in the attack at
Tiananmen Gate.
----------------
BLOGGED:
CANADA
MILITARY NEWS: This Muslim on Muslim hate wars destroying our planet/Arabs and
Persians and their hate factions are killing millions of innocent Muslims- and
the world is tired of this shit -NO MORE $$$$$- Muslims murdering over 2
million innocent Muslims and don’t care!
Al-Qaeda, NATO’s Timeless Tool
The
discovery of links connecting Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Al- Qaeda
is upsetting Turkish politics. Ankara not only actively supported terrorism in
Syria, but did so as part of a NATO strategy. The case also shows the
artificiality of armed groups fighting against the government and the Syrian
people.
So
far, the authorities of the Member States of NATO affirm that the international
jihadist movement, whose training they supported during the Afghan war against
the Soviets (1979), would have turned against them upon the liberation of
Kuwait (1991). They accuse Al-Qaeda of having attacked embassies in Kenya and
Tanzania (1998) and of plotting the attacks of September 11, 2001 but admitted
that, after the official death of Osama Bin Laden (2011), some jihadist
elements again collaborated with them in Libya and Syria. However, Washington
would have ended this tactical rapprochement in December 2012.
Now,
this version is contradicted by the facts : Al-Qaeda has always fought the same
enemies as the Atlantic Alliance, as reveals once again the scandal currently
shaking Turkey.
We
are learning that the Al-Qaeda banker, Yasin al-Qadi, who was designated as
such and pursued by the United States since the attacks against embassies in
Kenya and Tanzania (1998), was a personal friend of both former U.S. Vice
President Dick Cheney and current Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
We discover that this ” terrorist” led a lavish lifestyle, traveling by private
plane and mocking UN sanctions against him. Thus, at least four times, he
visited Erdoğan in 2012, arriving by the second Istanbul airport where, after
disconnecting the cameras, he was welcomed by the head of the Prime Minister’s
guard without going through customs.
According
to the Turkish police and judges who revealed this information and incarcerated
the children of several ministers involved in the case, December 17, 2013 –
before being divested of the investigation (relieved of their duties) by the
Prime Minister -, Yasin al-Qadi and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had developed an
extensive system of diversion of funds to finance al-Qaeda in Syria.
At
the same time that this incredible double play was exposed, the Turkish police
stopped a truck carrying weapons for Al-Qaeda near the Syrian border. Of the
three people arrested, one said he was conveying the load on behalf of IHH, the
’humanitarian’ Association of the Turkish Muslim Brotherhood, while another
claimed to be a Turkish secret agent on a mission. Ultimately, the governor
prevented the police and justice from doing their work, confirming that the
transport was a covert MIT (Turkish Secret Service) operation, and ordered that
the truck and its load continue their journey.
The
investigation also shows that the Turkish financing of Al- Qaeda used an
Iranian company both to act undercover in Syria and to conduct terrorist
operations in Iran. NATO already had accomplices in Tehran during the
“Iran-Contra” operation in former President Rafsandaji’s inner circles, such as
Sheikh Rohani, who has become the current president.
These
facts come into play as the Syrian political opposition in exile launches a new
theory on the eve of the Geneva 2 Conference: The al-Nosra Front and the
Islamic Emirate in Iraq and the Levant (ÉIIL) would be façades of the Syrian
secret services trying to frighten the population to keep it under control. The
only armed opposition would be that of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), which
recognizes the authority of the Syrian political opposition. There would be no
problem of representativeness at the Peace Conference.
We
are therefore asked to forget all the good that the same opposition in exile
was saying of Al-Qaeda for three years and the silence of NATO members on the
spread of terrorism in Syria.
Therefore,
if we can allow that most of the leaders of the Atlantic Alliance were unaware
of the support of their organization for international terrorism, we must also
allow that NATO is mainly responsible for world terrorism.
Translation
Roger Lagassé
Roger Lagassé
Source
Al-Watan (Syria)
Al-Watan (Syria)
Al
Qaeda: NATO’s Gladio B
Introduction to NATO’s Gladio B
Thugs of the Near and Middle East
Beirut Bombings and the Saudi-Takfiri-Israeli Nexus
Volgograd and the Conquest of Eurasia
Libya: Torture, Murder, Terror, the Deep State and Gladio
Georgia: CIA-NATO Trains Arab Partners At Mountain Training Center
Bandar bin Sultan: Prince of Terrorists
“Bandar ibn Israel”
Gladio B: The Origins of NATO’s Secret Islamic Terrorist Proxies
USA: The Creator & Sustainer of Chechen Terrorism
NATO, Gladio and America’s Unchecked Security State (Parts I & II)
Boston Terror, CIA’s Graham Fuller & NATO-CIA Operation Gladio B-Caucasus & Central Asia
Western Intelligence Behind Nairobi Attack
Syria 360°
Introduction to NATO’s Gladio B
Thugs of the Near and Middle East
Beirut Bombings and the Saudi-Takfiri-Israeli Nexus
Volgograd and the Conquest of Eurasia
Libya: Torture, Murder, Terror, the Deep State and Gladio
Georgia: CIA-NATO Trains Arab Partners At Mountain Training Center
Bandar bin Sultan: Prince of Terrorists
“Bandar ibn Israel”
Gladio B: The Origins of NATO’s Secret Islamic Terrorist Proxies
USA: The Creator & Sustainer of Chechen Terrorism
NATO, Gladio and America’s Unchecked Security State (Parts I & II)
Boston Terror, CIA’s Graham Fuller & NATO-CIA Operation Gladio B-Caucasus & Central Asia
Western Intelligence Behind Nairobi Attack
Syria 360°
-------------
nova0000scotia.wordpress.com/.../canada-military-news-this-muslim-on-...
Jan
6, 2014 - Our Global Youth are competing at Sochi Winter ... the world's
best at catching the coward Heretic Muslim Monsters- – The .....
But each time this happens, we destroy another foundational brick
propping up our global system.
-----------------------
REMEMBER THE HERETIC
MUSLIM TALIBAN BOASTS FROM 2007 ABOUT
TAKING ON PAKISTAN, INDIA, CHINA AND RUSSIA.... NO FEAR?? ... WELL HERE WE ARE...
North
Atlantic Treaty Orga...
The
NATO-Russia Council meets regularly - most recently in June 2007
in St. .... be faced with a resurgent Taliban threatening Russia's
soft Central Asian underbelly. ... It is senseless for NATO members, Russia
and China to continue to play a ...
---------------------------------
FROM THE SUMMER OF 2007- and 4 those
of u who didn't realize how savvy us everyday folks in the millions surrounding
and protecting the backs of our sons and daughters wearing our flags were at
finding real news and sharing through every means possible- guess
what.....even the global $$$roadkill
murdering media 4 love of causing mayhem and destruction learnt 2 back off.....
and 2 respect us ..... we can find and dig and find the real deal news....and
ensure our troops are safe... and we know who the real monsters are- they wear
the faces of way 2 many United Nations and Politicians globally..... enough...
... from 2007....
NATO
and Russia: Sobering thoughts and practical suggestions
../graphics/contents/a1b.jpg
Ionian Sea, 15 February 2006: The British destroyer HMS Nottingham and the Russian cruiser Moskva during training activities conducted to help prepare Russian Navy crews for participation in Operation Active Endeavour (© NATO )
Ionian Sea, 15 February 2006: The British destroyer HMS Nottingham and the Russian cruiser Moskva during training activities conducted to help prepare Russian Navy crews for participation in Operation Active Endeavour (© NATO )
Dmitri
Trenin takes a hard look at the NATO-Russia relationship on the fifth
anniversary of the NATO-Russia Council and the tenth of the Paris Founding Act
on Mutual Relations.
For
nearly a decade after the emergence of the Russian Federation, NATO-related
issues were a key focus of Moscow's foreign policy. The Alliance was both a
symbol of the Cold War and the premier Western club. Russia vacillated between
half-hearted attempts to join the Alliance on special terms, and futile efforts
to prevent the country's neighbours from seeking membership as a security
guarantee against Russia itself.
Three main developments shaped the relationship during the 1990s:
Three main developments shaped the relationship during the 1990s:
·
Bosnia
and Herzegovina, where the NATO/US use of force in 1995 led to the signing of
the Dayton Peace Agreement, and the subsequent peacekeeping operations, in
which Russian troops took part under NATO command;
·
NATO's
enlargement invitation in 1997 to the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, and
their accession in 1999, a bitter pill barely sweetened for Moscow by the
creation of the Permanent Joint Council (PJC), a consultative mechanism between
Russia and the Alliance; and
·
the
1999 Kosovo crisis, which culminated in NATO's 78-day air campaign against the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, despite Russia's most vehement protests.
Despite
these serious issues, Russia continued to participate in Stabilisation Force
(SFOR) operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina and indeed requested to join the
Kosovo Force (KFOR) in June 1999, again under NATO command. Nevertheless, by
the end of President Yeltsin's time at the Kremlin, Russia-NATO relations were
in a deep freeze.
A
New Start?
At
the beginning of President Vladimir Putin's first term, there was hope for a
new start. Some believed that, if Russia were to accede to NATO, this would serve
as a silver bullet, doing away forever with past enmity and ushering in genuine
friendship. But it was not to be. Relations were restored and membership was
probed anew, but again without success.
There were, however, unexpected bonuses. A few weeks after 9/11, a US-led military campaign removed the most serious post-Cold War external threat to Russia's security, the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Soon thereafter, NATO forces took on the mission of helping to stabilise Afghanistan - the Alliance's first major out-of-area military campaign. From Moscow's perspective, an alliance, which for decades had been facing the Soviet Union in Central Europe, had turned into a coalition that was helping to secure the approaches to Central Asia, Russia's most vulnerable flank.
There were, however, unexpected bonuses. A few weeks after 9/11, a US-led military campaign removed the most serious post-Cold War external threat to Russia's security, the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Soon thereafter, NATO forces took on the mission of helping to stabilise Afghanistan - the Alliance's first major out-of-area military campaign. From Moscow's perspective, an alliance, which for decades had been facing the Soviet Union in Central Europe, had turned into a coalition that was helping to secure the approaches to Central Asia, Russia's most vulnerable flank.
After
a bumpy ride through the 1990s, solid improvements in the first few years of
this decade, followed by the recent souring of relations, it is clear that for
the relationship to improve, both sides must make significant efforts In 2002,
the Alliance's relations with Russia were reconfigured and the new NATO-Russia
Council (NRC) was established. In contrast to the Permanent Joint Council which
was essentially a bilateral structure, the new NRC meets at 27, so that each
nation participates in its national capacity, and on an equal footing with the
others. Thus the Russia-NATO relationship has been able to survive and develop,
even though Moscow's foreign policy from 2003 onward became more independent
and assertive, and Russian relations with NATO began to sour.
The NATO-Russia Council meets regularly - most recently in June 2007 in St. Petersburg and Moscow to commemorate its fifth anniversary. Russia has a mission at NATO Headquarters and a military office at the Allied Command Operations (SHAPE), while NATO keeps a military liaison as well as an information office in Moscow. There is a range of common interests, from fighting terrorism to ensuring WMD non-proliferation.
Under the auspices of the NRC, 17 subordinate bodies work on key areas of cooperation. Occasionally joint exercises are held in areas such as emergency response. Russian warships have started to participate in NATO's Active Endeavour maritime counter-terrorist operation in the Mediterranean. Moscow signed a Partnership for Peace Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with NATO, and allows Germany and France to use a corridor across its territory en route to Afghanistan. There has been wide-ranging collaboration in defence reform, military-to-military cooperation (importantly, the NATO-Russia military interoperability programme), maritime search and rescue and a joint pilot project on counter-narcotics training for Central Asian and Afghan personnel.
The Russians certainly understand NATO much better today than they did in the 1990s. All this lends a degree of stability and predictability to the relationship, even though mutual expectations have been revised downward.
The NATO-Russia Council meets regularly - most recently in June 2007 in St. Petersburg and Moscow to commemorate its fifth anniversary. Russia has a mission at NATO Headquarters and a military office at the Allied Command Operations (SHAPE), while NATO keeps a military liaison as well as an information office in Moscow. There is a range of common interests, from fighting terrorism to ensuring WMD non-proliferation.
Under the auspices of the NRC, 17 subordinate bodies work on key areas of cooperation. Occasionally joint exercises are held in areas such as emergency response. Russian warships have started to participate in NATO's Active Endeavour maritime counter-terrorist operation in the Mediterranean. Moscow signed a Partnership for Peace Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with NATO, and allows Germany and France to use a corridor across its territory en route to Afghanistan. There has been wide-ranging collaboration in defence reform, military-to-military cooperation (importantly, the NATO-Russia military interoperability programme), maritime search and rescue and a joint pilot project on counter-narcotics training for Central Asian and Afghan personnel.
The Russians certainly understand NATO much better today than they did in the 1990s. All this lends a degree of stability and predictability to the relationship, even though mutual expectations have been revised downward.
Ambivalence
There
is fundamental ambivalence in Moscow about the existing situation. Russia
treats NATO as a geopolitical "factor", rather than as a partner. The
country now has a window on the Alliance - but still has no handle on it.
Russia is voicing strong objections to what it views as negative developments:
·
the
possibility of the Alliance admitting Georgia and Ukraine as members;
·
the
temporary use by the United States, on a rotational basis, of existing military
facilities in Bulgaria and Romania; and especially
·
the
planned deployments of elements of a US ballistic missile defence system in
Poland and the Czech Republic.
Russia
has several additional concerns: NATO countries delaying ratification of the
Adapted Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) and the Alliance's
reluctance to establish formal relations with the Russian-led Collective
Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO).
Some of NATO's newer members bring memories of Soviet domination to the table. So Moscow is now emphasising bilateral relations with individual European countries, concentrating on remaining sympathetic ears in Central Europe and hoping for more farther to the west.
It is clear, though, that five years after the Rome Declaration on NATO-Russia Relations and ten years after the Paris Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security, Russia-NATO relations are not currently headed toward any kind of major convergence. Yet, the relationship continues to be important. What it needs most is careful management to ensure that inherent rivalries are minimised, and that cooperation is maximised wherever possible.
Some of NATO's newer members bring memories of Soviet domination to the table. So Moscow is now emphasising bilateral relations with individual European countries, concentrating on remaining sympathetic ears in Central Europe and hoping for more farther to the west.
It is clear, though, that five years after the Rome Declaration on NATO-Russia Relations and ten years after the Paris Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security, Russia-NATO relations are not currently headed toward any kind of major convergence. Yet, the relationship continues to be important. What it needs most is careful management to ensure that inherent rivalries are minimised, and that cooperation is maximised wherever possible.
Enlargement
On
the issue of NATO enlargement, Moscow would be wise to leave the decisions to
the countries in question. Whether candidate countries join the Alliance - and
if so, when - should be up to those nations themselves. In view of Moscow's
stated goals, Russian intervention can only be counterproductive. The Kremlin's
official position of treating Alliance accession as a sovereign right of each
individual country, and of focusing on the management of Russia's own security,
makes good sense.
It may be that Georgia will get the Membership Action Plan in the spring of 2008, which would put the country on track to join the Alliance a few years later. In Ukraine, however, NATO must admit that the accession issue is likely to remain politically divisive and potentially destabilising. Calm handling of these situations by both sides would help to uphold stability and security in Europe's east.
It may be that Georgia will get the Membership Action Plan in the spring of 2008, which would put the country on track to join the Alliance a few years later. In Ukraine, however, NATO must admit that the accession issue is likely to remain politically divisive and potentially destabilising. Calm handling of these situations by both sides would help to uphold stability and security in Europe's east.
Missile
Defence
While
these do not fall under NATO, the issue of the US ballistic missile defence
plans represents both a risk and an opportunity for the NATO-Russia
relationship. The risk is that, if the United States shuts Russia out,
anti-Western trends in Russia's security and defence policy could be
exacerbated, which is clearly not Washington's objective.
The opportunity is that, if the issue were to be used to reinvigorate WMD cooperation, mutual confidence would be strengthened. It would lead to closer interaction on the source of the perceived danger; that is, Iran's missile and nuclear programmes. Cooperation on ballistic missile defence will not be easy, but is certainly worth trying. Indeed, a shared system - which would use Russian radar and detection facilities, as well as information-sharing sites - has been recently proposed by President Putin as an alternative to current US plans.
The opportunity is that, if the issue were to be used to reinvigorate WMD cooperation, mutual confidence would be strengthened. It would lead to closer interaction on the source of the perceived danger; that is, Iran's missile and nuclear programmes. Cooperation on ballistic missile defence will not be easy, but is certainly worth trying. Indeed, a shared system - which would use Russian radar and detection facilities, as well as information-sharing sites - has been recently proposed by President Putin as an alternative to current US plans.
The
Russia-NATO relationship has been able to survive and develop, even though
Moscow's foreign policy from 2003 onward became more independent and assertive
The current NATO and Russian joint efforts in the field of theatre missile
defence could be a model for possible US-Russia MD cooperation and could
provide a basis for a more integrated and comprehensive approach for a missile
defence architecture for Europe.
Similarly, the issue of intermediate-range nuclear forces (INF), prohibited under the 1987 INF treaty and now being raised again by Russian officials, calls for close consultations between Russia and NATO with a view to strengthening mutual confidence and preventing a destabilising arms race.
Similarly, the issue of intermediate-range nuclear forces (INF), prohibited under the 1987 INF treaty and now being raised again by Russian officials, calls for close consultations between Russia and NATO with a view to strengthening mutual confidence and preventing a destabilising arms race.
CFE
Treaty
Since
it was signed in 1990, the CFE Treaty has been the principal material
foundation of the European security order. It must continue to play that role.
Moscow's concerns about the Baltic nations' accession to the 1999 Adapted CFE
Treaty, and its ratification by the United States and other Western countries,
are genuine and should be taken seriously - Russia's withdrawal from the CFE
Treaty would be in nobody's interest.
By the same token, NATO members' concerns about Moscow's implementation of its Istanbul commitments concerning its remaining troops in Georgia and Moldova call for joint action - even if, in Russia's view, there is no formal link between these commitments and the ratification of the Adapted Treaty.
President Putin's declaration earlier this year of a "moratorium" on the Treaty was followed by Russia's call for an Extraordinary Conference, which occurred in mid-June. Russia had already begun to delay CFE inspections, but after President Putin's meeting with the NATO Secretary General during the NRC anniversary celebrations, the inspection regime resumed. The President took another positive step in recommending that CFE issues should be discussed in the NRC, and this recommendation was taken up.
By the same token, NATO members' concerns about Moscow's implementation of its Istanbul commitments concerning its remaining troops in Georgia and Moldova call for joint action - even if, in Russia's view, there is no formal link between these commitments and the ratification of the Adapted Treaty.
President Putin's declaration earlier this year of a "moratorium" on the Treaty was followed by Russia's call for an Extraordinary Conference, which occurred in mid-June. Russia had already begun to delay CFE inspections, but after President Putin's meeting with the NATO Secretary General during the NRC anniversary celebrations, the inspection regime resumed. The President took another positive step in recommending that CFE issues should be discussed in the NRC, and this recommendation was taken up.
Peacekeeping
Moldova's
frozen conflict on the Dniester offers a real opportunity to launch the
first-ever peacekeeping operation in which Russia and NATO act as equal
partners. Arguably, this is the least difficult of the former-Soviet
flashpoints to be resolved.
Moldova has reaffirmed its intention to abstain from seeking NATO membership. The operation would involve only a limited military and police force, probably just a few hundred men. Russia is genuinely indispensable to any solution in Moldova, and can be expected to act on an equal footing with NATO.
If successful, such a joint operation could pave the way for Western countries to ratify the Adapted CFE Treaty. It could also serve as a model for other joint peacekeeping missions - most likely in the southern Caucasus - in situations that meet what might be called 'the Moldova criterion', that is, where Russia has an interest in finding a solution, is indispensable to that solution and yet is unable to solve the conflict single-handedly.
Moldova has reaffirmed its intention to abstain from seeking NATO membership. The operation would involve only a limited military and police force, probably just a few hundred men. Russia is genuinely indispensable to any solution in Moldova, and can be expected to act on an equal footing with NATO.
If successful, such a joint operation could pave the way for Western countries to ratify the Adapted CFE Treaty. It could also serve as a model for other joint peacekeeping missions - most likely in the southern Caucasus - in situations that meet what might be called 'the Moldova criterion', that is, where Russia has an interest in finding a solution, is indispensable to that solution and yet is unable to solve the conflict single-handedly.
With
some of NATO's newer members bringing memories of Soviet domination to the
table, Moscow is now emphasising bilateral relations with individual European
countries For several years, Russia and NATO have been working on increasing
interoperability, with a view to engaging in joint peacekeeping operations.
Neither the Middle East nor Africa appears to be likely areas for putting that
expertise into practice. Certain areas of the former Soviet Union, on the other
hand, could - and, in my view, should - represent an ideal area to test
interoperability.
Afghanistan
The
Russians have no reason to feel any schadenfreude as a result of the
difficulties faced by NATO and the United States in Afghanistan. If
international efforts fail to stabilise that country, Moscow will be faced with
a resurgent Taliban threatening Russia's soft Central Asian underbelly. There
is therefore a clear need for closer consultations between Russia and the West
on how to turn the tide against Islamist radicals.
Helping the moderates to hold on to Kabul and the Afghan provinces is a far better alternative than having to start reconstituting the Northern Alliance in Taloqan.
Helping the moderates to hold on to Kabul and the Afghan provinces is a far better alternative than having to start reconstituting the Northern Alliance in Taloqan.
NATO-CSTO
That,
in turn, raises the issue of NATO-CSTO ties. So far, NATO has been very
reluctant to formalise any relationship with the organisation, fearing that
such a step would seal Russian dominance of Central Asia.
In reality, there is not much evidence of any such domination. Kazakhstan has been openly pursuing a multi-vector policy, successfully manoeuvring between Moscow, Beijing and Washington. Uzbekistan's fealty to Russia is uncertain and at best temporary, as Tashkent refuses to be Moscow's pawn. Two years after the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's (SCO) call for a US withdrawal, Kyrgyzstan is still permitting a US base to exist next to a small Russian one. Tajikistan has adopted a tous azimuts foreign policy, its president having symbolically de-Russified his last name.
By engaging with the CSTO, NATO could contribute to that organisation's evolution toward a more modern regional security arrangement. It would also reassure Moscow that the Alliance does not seek to displace Russia as a major player in Central Asia, which would not be in Western interests anyway.
Agreement on a NATO-CSTO link could come as part of a package with the SCO opening up to the United States as an observer. It is senseless for NATO members, Russia and China to continue to play a petty game of regional rivalry at the price of allowing their common adversaries to take them on one by one.
The NATO-Russia partnership may well be at a turning point. After a bumpy ride through the 1990s, solid improvements in the first few years of this decade, followed by the recent souring of relations, it is clear that for the relationship to improve, both sides must make significant efforts.
Russia should let its neighbours to join NATO if they wish. At the same time, NATO should think strategically about which countries it offers membership. Cooperation on missile defence - excluding, for the time-being, the United States' controversial plans for a European ballistic missile shield - is at least being attempted, thus boosting cooperation in the area of WMD non-proliferation and building confidence for consultations on the INF Treaty. Beyond this, both sides need to take steps to ensure ratification of the Adapted CFE Treaty. NATO-Russia interoperability can and should be tested in joint peacekeeping operations in areas of the former Soviet Union such as Moldova. Russia and the international community would also be well-advised to collaborate on stabilising Afghanistan - and in stemming the flow of drugs out of that country. Lastly, NATO should engage with CSTO.
In my view, these actions would almost certainly improve the NATO-Russia partnership.
In reality, there is not much evidence of any such domination. Kazakhstan has been openly pursuing a multi-vector policy, successfully manoeuvring between Moscow, Beijing and Washington. Uzbekistan's fealty to Russia is uncertain and at best temporary, as Tashkent refuses to be Moscow's pawn. Two years after the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's (SCO) call for a US withdrawal, Kyrgyzstan is still permitting a US base to exist next to a small Russian one. Tajikistan has adopted a tous azimuts foreign policy, its president having symbolically de-Russified his last name.
By engaging with the CSTO, NATO could contribute to that organisation's evolution toward a more modern regional security arrangement. It would also reassure Moscow that the Alliance does not seek to displace Russia as a major player in Central Asia, which would not be in Western interests anyway.
Agreement on a NATO-CSTO link could come as part of a package with the SCO opening up to the United States as an observer. It is senseless for NATO members, Russia and China to continue to play a petty game of regional rivalry at the price of allowing their common adversaries to take them on one by one.
The NATO-Russia partnership may well be at a turning point. After a bumpy ride through the 1990s, solid improvements in the first few years of this decade, followed by the recent souring of relations, it is clear that for the relationship to improve, both sides must make significant efforts.
Russia should let its neighbours to join NATO if they wish. At the same time, NATO should think strategically about which countries it offers membership. Cooperation on missile defence - excluding, for the time-being, the United States' controversial plans for a European ballistic missile shield - is at least being attempted, thus boosting cooperation in the area of WMD non-proliferation and building confidence for consultations on the INF Treaty. Beyond this, both sides need to take steps to ensure ratification of the Adapted CFE Treaty. NATO-Russia interoperability can and should be tested in joint peacekeeping operations in areas of the former Soviet Union such as Moldova. Russia and the international community would also be well-advised to collaborate on stabilising Afghanistan - and in stemming the flow of drugs out of that country. Lastly, NATO should engage with CSTO.
In my view, these actions would almost certainly improve the NATO-Russia partnership.
Dmitri
Trenin is a Senior Associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
and
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