Slovyansk woman killed by sniper-fire on her balcony.
- NATO’s record 6,000-strong drills: 'Spring Storm' kicks off in Estonia
“This year's Spring Storm brings together a record number of allied troops – infantry from the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, soldiers from Latvia, soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team of the US army, as well as soldiers from Lithuania,” the Estonian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Britain, France, and the US have been deploying troops to the Baltic region since April 29, a week ahead of the drills in Estonia. A day earlier, around 150 personnel of the US airborne division arrived in a military transport aircraft to Amari airbase. Upon completion of the maneuvers, the US Marines will remain in Estonia at least until the end of 2014.
In addition, Poland has sent three of its Sukhoi Su-22 attack aircraft and a division of missile defense system unit SA-8, which will be tasked with protecting an air base near Tallinn and the surrounding airspace.
Amid rising tensions in Ukraine, the UK and France deployed eight fighter jets to Lithuania and Poland to strengthen NATO air defense over the Baltic regions.
On May 2, a group of NATO ships arrived in the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda to “ensure regional security.”
Russia considers the increase of NATO forces so close to its border a provocation, and believes it is counter-productive in the struggle to de-escalate tensions in Ukraine.
[Source: Russia's state TV (RT) on May 5, 2014]
Armed Confrontations in Eastern Ukraine
as reported by Russia's RT-TV on May 3:
Lavrov pide a OSCE y EEUU influir
en Kiev para que cese uso de fuerza.
Lavrov demanding, both, OSCE and U.S.A. to use
their influence on Kiev for an ending of the violence.
Heavy fighting has been reported from the center of Mariúpol seaport. Concentration of Ukrainian troops and clashes with pro-Russian militias are taking place in Kramatorsk, Konstantínovka and the Donetsk region. Local militias in Kramatorsk reported six dead and five wounded activists while Konstantínovka experienced an increase of Ukrainian troops and armoured vehicles.
Subtitle: "Ukrainian army offensive leaves 6 dead and several wounded."
After the fire disaster in Odessa on May 2 and which had been allegedly caused by right-wing extremists, a death toll of 40 was counted. 30 casualties are directly related to the fire. Local authorities ordered a three days period of mourning.
Subtitle: "Politicians are using the tragedy for their electoral campaign."
[Source: Russian state TV (RT), Spanish program, late night news on May 3,2014]
I almost forgot to remind the 70th birthday of "my favorite dislike" among Germany's politicians: Ex-Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (* 7.4.1944 - ?). When he left the political stage, he had replaced the traditional system of social support for the unemployed by another system that was described as "poverty by law" by one of his more prominent critics and which did not help much to restore decently paid jobs, but, on the contrary, "froze" much individual activity and creativity on the side of the unemployed. For that, he was much applauded by a certain kind of German employers and by Germany's foreign competitors on the global market.
However, it was not that kind of social-democratic policy he was expected to practice when being elected by his followers, even though some kind of social reform seemed to be necessary. No wonder that more and more voices from among the ordinary people could be heard calling him a "liar". This was enhanced by a default of additional measures to be taken in order to stabilize the economy.
I remember the advertisement of some economic circle showing him on a photo while smoking a big cigar. The photo's subtitle read: "Nothing but smoke rises from the chancellor". In the original text, they were using the German expression of "blauer Dunst" instead of "smoke" which is a synonym for "nothing worth to spend a dime for".
"Count Baltar" receives congratulations from the "Imperious Leader"
(as perceived from Battlestar Galactica)
What makes the ex-chancellor even more questionable is his personal friendship with Russia's president Putin which seems to be even deeper rooted than his relations to old "comrades" within his own political party.
Furthermore, he and his young wife decided to adopt two Russian children and live temporarily in Russia where Schröder became the director of a company subordinate to Putin's state-run enterprise GAZPROM. Some years later, Schröder was caught again in public spotlight when his oil and gas company was mentioned in the frame of huge environmental damages it should have caused in Northern Siberia. However, this is a remote area where nobody is too seriously looking. Therefore, the incident fell into oblivion.
As to his friendship with Vladimir Putin, an ex-KGB agent and liaison officer to the East-German state security (Stasi), I still have my second thoughts. For the time Putin was performing in East Berlin, there are hints that he sometimes appeared in the Western part of the city. Being known for his unusual ability to recruit East German citizens for the KGB, he might have made contacts in Westberlin as well.
Let me just mention a strange encounter I had in the old diplomatic quarters of the town that could have fit some of
those Hollywood productions at the time. In a small street where some foreign consulates from neutral states were
located and where there was usually no traffic at all, I noticed a car, registered in Westberlin, and which passed
that street more than once. When it passed for the second or third time, some diplomatic car with an East Berlin registration number appeared and both cars stopped in the middle of the street. Some papers were handed over from the German to the diplomatic driver, and for a moment I could look at the "diplomat". He was a young man with thin blond hair and with a round head, very much looking like many Russians. However, I would not dare to draw any conclusions on his identity. Only to mention that this meeting had been observed by somebody else: A young lady was waiting at a temporary bus-stop. When I passed by, she grinned and greeted me, probably holding me for some colleague from another company. I should have added, there was no bus running at all in that street. The temporary bus-stop had appeared some days before and disappeared again some days later.
That private story only to lead back to ex-chancellor Schröder who once received president Putin in the same town, however long after the German reunification. At the time of Putin's official visit, I asked myself who would show the sights to whom. I am still convinced that Schröder, who originally came from Hannover, did not know much about Berlin, while Putin might have been the right candidate to show the chancellor his own capital.
GAZPROM Schröder on a visit to Iran's former president Ahmadi Nejad
after being utterly prepared with latest German intelligence on Iran and
to which he was entitled as a former chancellor of the Federal Republic.
A Short History of Socialism
(German Version)
Lenin, Stalin, Honegger, Putin and his social-democratic friend Schröder are travelling together on a Russian train. Suddenly, the train stops as there are no trails ahead any longer. They have been stolen. Now, the following happens:
- Lenin orders to take the trails from behind and add them in front, such that the journey might continue.
- Stalin orders to shoot the engineer.
- Honegger retires to his compartment, draws the curtains in front of the window and declares: "We are travelling at full speed."
- Putin promotes Schröder as a director of the line.
- Schröder, finally, starts his program "Rent an Unemployed for 1 € an Hour" and orders the long-term unemployed from Germany to Siberia for railway reconstruction work.
Short remark for my visitors from abroad: Honegger was the guy who lead the rotten German Democratic Republic (GDR) into its total decay in 1989.
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Dead Man Walking !
Visitors to "blueprint news": Reminding the 3rd anniversary of
Bin Laden being killed by U.S. special forces on May 2, 2011
According to Western media and RIA Novosti in Moscow, Russia has ended its demonstration of power at the border to Ukraine. All Russian units should have retreated to their home positions. Russia's defence minister Sergej Schoigu allegedly told his U.S. counterpart Chuck Hagel in a telephone call that Russian manoeuvres are not longer needed as Ukraine's government has officially declared to refrain from using military power against unarmed civilians in Eastern Ukraine.
[Source: Spiegel Online, Germany, midnight update April 29, 2014]
乌克兰：俄军已开进到乌边防兵目视距离内
Ukraine: Russian troops have already begun to advance
within visual distance of Ukrainian border guards.
Message from People's Network on April 27, summing-up of foreign news: Ukraine's prime minister Yatsenyuk said on April 26: The tense situation in the border region between Ukraine and Russia is escalating. Russian troops have already begun to advance within visual distance of Ukrainian border guards. The actual manoeuvre area of Russian troops being only one kilometer away from the border, Russia could start an invasion at any time.
The provisional spokesman for the Ukrainian ministry of foreign affairs [.....] notified that military exercise activity of Russian troops in the border region between both countries is continuing with frequent troop movements. ..... He mentioned some hundred military vehicles, armoured cars, "Hailstone" rocket launching systems, and two tank units that had arrived at the border on Thursday. .....
Ukrainian media reported from some regions that Ukrainian border guards don't need telescopes to observe Russian troops in the neighbourhood and are already on the highest level of alert.
On social networks, as well, videos emerged showing Russia's armoured cars and artillery troops moving to the frontier.
[Source: SOUHU 搜狐, quoting People's Network, Beijing, on April 27, 2014]
................................
"The Devil Within"
Visitor to "blueprint news" coming from Togo's capital Lomé.
During the Cold War, Elmendorf air base became highly important due to its geographical position. At that time, its primary mission comprised early warning and interception in case of a possible airborne attack from Soviet territory. Nowadays, Elmendorf's main units are still providing air defense and air superiority in Alaska. However support of Pacific Air Forces during contingencies in the Pacific Command area of responsibility have become of increasing importance.
The arrest by pro-Russian militias of a group comprising German OSCE observers has raised much turmoil in Germany. While the Merkel government is trying to use diplomatic channels in the incident, some German mass media are fostering an anti-Russian climate this time and which is far from being helpful.
However, things are more complicated as the German group was acting separately from other observers [Die Zeit / April 26] and in a region where some kind of guerilla warfare, initiated by a third party, is possibly looming. Therefore, the region is under special surveillance of the pro-Russian rebels who are claiming to act on behalf of the local population. Any foreigner showing up without special invitation should then be aware to be treated as an enemy.
Furthermore, the German representatives should have worn civil cloth when being held up by militiamen and claimed to be tourists. At least that is what pro-Russian rebels told the press. [Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung FAZ / April 25]
In the frame of the actual proceedings in Eastern Ukraine, it might be useful to deal with an evaluation of the situation made by militia leader Ponomaryov only some days ago. The same local strongman is now being accused by Western media for his intention to exchange three German officers and their interpreter, captured as 'unarmed soldiers', against political prisoners held by the authorities in Kiev.
乌民兵领袖称极右武装分子欲潜入斯拉维扬斯克
The leader of the Ukrainian People's Militia says
armed ultra-Rightists want to sneak into Slovyansk.
On April 25, ChinaNews quoted a report from Russia's news network telling what the leader of the Ukrainian People's Militia in Slovyansk, 'People's Mayor' Ponomaryov, pointed out in a program broadcast by RUSSIA 24 TV.
According to him, armed men from the ultra-Right group of the 'Right Sector' are trying to bypass a lookout post of the People's Militia and sneak into Slovyansk.
He said: "According to reliable information, there are armed men of the 'Right Sector' group, equipped with night vision devices and sniper guns, and who are staying behind [the front line] in that region which is temporarily occupied by Ukrainian troops. These men bypassed a lookout post and are trying to sneak into the town."
[Source: China News 中新网 on April 25, 2014]
................................
Related article from Russian state TV (RT) on their website (April 27).
................................
Communities in Eastern Ukraine held by pro-Russian militias.
Putin says the Internet is a Product of the CIA.
Russia needs to Resist its Network being Monopolized.
The following excerpt has been taken from a Chinese article that is quoting a foreign media report published some hours earlier. The Chinese article appeared in the early morning edition of April 25. It is dealing with a direct opinion post by Russia's president Putin to some discussion forum in Saint Petersburg. That post came after a broadcast on April 17 where Putin answered to the questions from Russian citizens and which could be directly forwarded by phone, email and SMS to their president.
According to that report, Putin said the internet was originally developed by the CIA. At the moment it is still subject to U.S. control. In order to protect its own interest on the web, he said, Russia needs to resist what he called America's network monopoly.
普京指出，最近斯诺登所披露的美国对网络的监控程度显示，美国正参与在他所称的一场信息对峙之中。
Putin pointed out that America's degree of network control, as has been recently disclosed by Snowden, is showing that it is just having a hand in what he calls "some piece of information" in the confrontation.
普京的讲话再度引发人们关注万维网是否会从现在的模式分裂成不同部分的担忧。
Putin's address once again causes the people to follow the internet with interest [whether or not] joining the worries [about] the actual breaking up of standards [into] different parts.
In June 2013, the former employee of America's CIA and ["whistle blower"] of the "Prism" project, Edward Snowden, leaked secrets to the U.S. [daily] "Washington Post" and the British "Guardian", secrets related to the large-scale eavesdropping project of U.S. and British intelligence organizations.
After that, Snowden took a Russian ship from HongKong and passed to Moscow Sheremetyevo airport. After being detained for more than one month at Moscow airport, he was granted temporary political asylum for one year in August [2013].
NATO enhances its military deployment in Eastern Europe.
Five navy ships are hurrying to the Baltic Sea.
On April 22, five navy ships left the German port of Kiel heading for the Baltic Sea in order to enhance military deployment in that area and for emergency response in case of a sudden incident to happen.
These five NATO ships are coming from Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium and Estonia. Four ships are minesweepers, one is a supply ship.
According to Philip Breedlove, Supreme Allied Commander Europe, the NATO ships are intended to ensure maritime safety in the area.
German media:
The U.S. [way of] facing Russia's tough attitude
gets Europe caught in a difficult position.
Obama's [way of] meeting with the tough position of
Russia's policy makes Europe suffer from severe loss.
[Source: People's Network (China) 人民网 on April 23, 2014: 徳媒：美国对俄强硬姿态使欧洲陷入困境]
美国向乌克兰提供更多军援 欲与波兰深化防务合作
The U.S. provide more military aid for Ukraine and
want Poland to deepen its defence cooperation.
On April 17 and while meeting with his counterpart from Poland, U.S. defence secretary Hagel announced that President Obama had already granted "unlethal" military aid to Ukraine, comprising medicine, helmets, sleeping mats, water cleaning devices, tents and small-size generators, as well as manually operated oil pumps.
This is the second time after Russia entering Crimea in the middle of March that Ukraine receives military help from the U.S.. The first delivery at the end of March comprised food rations for military use.
Furthermore, Hagel made clear the U.S. want Poland to make changes in its defence cooperation. The targeted domains are including special forces, air force, anti-missile units, training and manoeuvre practice and are reaching up to an increased formation of joint air force units together with its allies.
From 2012 on U.S. air force had stationed F-16 war planes in Poland for joint training. At the beginning of March [2014] when the Ukrainian situation worsened, the Pentagon decided to deploy another 12 F-16 war planes and 200 troops in Poland. In that frame, Hagel mentioned as well the participation of Romania where 12 F-16 regularly bought war planes had been deployed last year.
Chuck Hagel - First prominent politician from the West to visit
China's aircraft carrier Liaoning in early April 2014.
" The Ukrainian crisis is likely to push Russia to develop a crucial relationship with China, and it’s also probable that the US will cozy up more with China to balance against Russia, both of which benefit China, Chinese expert Andrew Leung told RT. "
The above quotation has been taken from an expert interview on a further deepening of economic cooperation between Russia and China after Russia, pressured by the West, needs to find new markets for its natural energy resources and another payment system, such avoiding the U.S.$ system. => The complete interview was published by RT, Russia's state TV, on its website on April 21, 2014.
A related "independent" comment on this website is reading as follows:
" The bottom line is that the hilarious irony of the situation is that in all its efforts to stop or slow down the formation of another Eastern Bloc, the west has set the stage for something even bigger: the creation of a pan-Eurasian economic union (and potentially, military alliance via expansion of the CSTO).
Eurasia is rising, and in time, the west will realize that it is too late to stop it. "
CSTO is the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the most prominent members of which are China and Russia. In 2013, CSTO already reached an agreement in the Syrian crisis and which was opposing the official NATO position: Russia – China and CSTO draw Red Line about NATO Despotism.
Russia's Putin and China's Xi JinPing on a CSTO meeting in Sochi, February 2014.
..............................
One of today's visitors to "blueprint news" and who came from Odessa, Ukraine.
In Geneva, joint efforts of the foreign ministers from Russia, the United States, the European Union and Ukraine could bring about an agreement to mitigate the Ukrainian crisis. That agreement is including the following points, summed up by a Spanish language broadcast from Russia's state television RT:
- The disarming of illegal groups.
- The clearing of streets and places.
- An amnesty for protesters who did not commit serious crimes.
- The beginning of a dialogue where different regions participate.
- The realization of a constitutional reform.
According to Al-Jazeera, OSCE monitors should be sent to supervise the agreement.
However, there is some scepticism on the U.S. side when it comes to Russia's duty to translate the agreement into full action as U.S. President Obama made clear the same day.
Furthermore, latest news from Eastern Ukraine are showing rather increasing chaos than any smoothing of differences between the acting parties:
People's militias in Slaviansk are in control of the [local] Television tower.
Soldiers are changing sides after receiving orders to fight against the people.
"Yevgeni", a soldier of the Ukrainian army, is being quoted as follows: "I wonder why the
government in Kiev has sent us here. We spent three days in a tank, and now, we don't
know what we are exactly to do."
Confrontations in Mariúpol are leaving at least two persons dead and 16 wounded.
Ukraine forbids Russians who are between 16 and 60 years old to enter the country.
A witness says: In Donezk the [decision] to forbid Russian [citizens] to enter [the country] is being [widely] rejected.
Russia's president Putin in a live show on state TV, answering directly to the questions of Russian citizens. On the above photo he is just listening to the question of U.S. whistle blower Edward Snowden. Snowden wants to know if Russia is tapping telephone calls on a large scale like his own country does. Putin denies while referring to their common experience in the intelligence of their countries.
News from the Spanish service of RT-TV
(Russia Today) on April 17, 00:30 GMT:
La OTAN incrementa su presencia militar en el Mar Báltico y Mediterráneo en el marco de unas medidas ante la crisis ucraniana.
NATO increases its military presence in the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean in the frame of measures taken in the Ukrainian crisis.
Un manifestante murió y 12 resultan heridos al enfrentarse con soldados en una base militar ukraniana en Mariúpol, según los medios locales.
A demonstrator died and 12 were injured in a confrontation with soldiers in a Ukrainian military base in Mariúpol, according to local media.
Tropas ucranianas abren fuego contra los autodefensas en la ciudad de Kramatorsk y hieren a tres personas, según el portavoz de la milicia popular.
Ukrainian troops open fire against self-defence forces in the town of Kramatorsk and wounded three persons, according to the spokesman of the people's militia.
RT evening news for April 15 already informed about Ukrainian armoured vehicles being held up in Eastern Ukraine by local people. Hours later on April 16, both, Russian RT and the U.S. broadcaster CNN reported about Ukrainian tanks showing their change of sides by flying the Russian flag.
On April 15, the first victims in a Ukranian military crackdown on Russian separatists were counted when Ukrainian troops took over a local airfield from Russian rebels.
مجلس الأمن الدولي يعقد الليلة جلسة طارئة لبحث الأزمة الأوكرانية بطلب روسي
On behalf of Russia, the UN Security Council holds an extraordinary session tonight to investigate the Ukrainian crisis.
[Source: Al-Jazeera الجزيرة evening news on April 13, 2014]
The Security Council's session actually did not take long and showed, as expected, nothing but an exchange of different standpoints and standardized stances between Russia's ambassador Vitaly Churkin and his Ukrainian counterpart Yuriy Sergeyev.
Churkin's proposal to Western leaders to "get to the telephone and convince the Ukrainians to refrain from what they are doing" and his wish for a "broad political dialogue on Ukraine", was not much convincing. Compared to this, Sergeyev's arguments seemed rather more specific and elaborate when it came to an interview in the aftermath of the session ("Russian special forces infiltrated into Ukraine", "Terrorist groups are using Russian weapons").
Therefore, one might ask why Russia had requested that emergency session of the United Nations' most decisive committee when it had nothing essential to bring about but standardized stances and such left the stage to the Ukrainian adversary. A possible answer could be: Russia has already made up its mind in the Ukrainian crisis and is only acting out of "political correctness". Churkin's key argument that "things are getting out of control in Ukraine", might therefore imply the need for Russia to intervene by force as soon as possible to "restore law and order".
..............................
News UPDATE on April 14 / 15:
Russia Test-fires ICBM RS-24 Yars amid Ukraine Unrest
Moscow's Strategic Missile Forces test-fired the ICMB (intercontinental ballistic missile) RS-24 Yars equipped with re-entry warhead from Plesetsk, 800km northeast of Moscow. The launch took place on April 14 at about 10:40am local time.
"The main task of the launch was to confirm the reliability of a batch of missiles manufactured at the Votkinsk plant, in Udmurtia," said Colonel Igor Yegorov, spokesperson for the defence ministry's Strategic Missile Force unit, reports ITAR TASS news agency.
[Source: International Business Time UK, the British edition of a global news source with main office in New York, on April 14, 2014]
America Sends Missile-Destroying Warship Toward Russian Waters. President Putin Presumably Not Pleased.
The Obama administration recently decided to send its guided missile destroyer USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) to the Black Sea. Armed with new Standard Missile-3 IB weaponry from Raytheon, the Cook boasts a robust version of Lockheed Martin's Aegis ballistic missile defense system capable of shooting down supersonic, high-trajectory missiles such as Russia uses to carry its nuclear warheads. The warship was modified for ballistic missile defense (BMD) duty as part of a $22 billion project to build shipborne and land-based missile defense stations to protect Europe from Iranian long-range missiles. But just as President Putin predicted, it appears to have use in countering Russian threats as well.
[Source: Daily Finance, a financial news service by AOL, on April 14, 2014]
[Source: International Business Time UK on April 15, 2014]
The above timeline of recent articles published on the web on the proceedings in Eastern Ukraine has been recorded only one hour ago. It shows, even better than any military facts and individual evaluations could do, what the West is now expecting from Russia. Maybe this is what Russia's strongman Putin was planning from the very beginning ...
While recent press reports are concentrating on the development in Eastern Ukraine, Russia's military capacities, either for deterrence or invasion, have already been thoroughly analyzed days ago:
NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen in a
speech held in the Czech Republic on April 10, 2014.
[Source: TIME on April 11, 2014]
Some recent visitor from Beijing found my blogspot on military activity in North Korea by
simply typing into the search line of Google-HongKong: " The imaginary enemy troops ".
朝鲜无人机已能搭载高爆炸弹 杀敌于无形(图)
North Korean drones can already lift highly explosive bombs. - Fighting the enemy out of nowhere. -
This is a snapshot taken on April 6 of an unmanned aircraft that crashed in South Korea. .......... It should be the third incident of that kind during a short period of time.
[Source: New China Agency 新华社 and other sources on April 11, 2014]
German minister of finance compares Putin to Hitler,
Russia's warning: This is a provocation.
朔伊布勒对“普京—希特勒”的不恰当类比，火上焦油
Schäuble by using the inappropriate "Putin - Hitler" analogy
is pouring tar on the fire of the Ukrainian crisis.
Relevant quotations from the Schäuble evaluation:
“希特勒当年就是这么对待捷克斯洛伐克的苏台德地区。”
“这是历史告诉我们的事情。”
"Hitler's way of dealing with the Sudeten region of Czechoslovakia that year."
"It's a matter history told us."
Schäuble's reminder of the Sudeten region refers to a territory in former Czechoslovakia that had been traditionally inhabited by a German minority. In 1938 that territory was annexed by Germany in order to "protect German citizens". One year later, the complete territory of Czechoslovakia was "swallowed" by the Nazi leadership.
Because of the Ukrainian crisis, the European - U.S. alliance of countries has adopted a set of sanctions against Russia. As an answer, Russia tries to provoke the status of the "Petrodollar". It has already explored Iran and China for a trade cooperation [with respect to] oil and gas in order to bypass the settling of accounts in U.S. Dollars. However, Russia's unyielding attitude might cause a quick flight of capital at home. Bad commercial credit reports, as well, [might reduce] the trade opponent's initiative.
[Source: Wallstreet Information China 花尔街见闻 on April 05, 2014]
