Heartbreaking!
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Miragedriver
Brigadier
Is NATO fighting a sitzkrieg war with Russia?
Riga (AFP) - NATO allies are scrambling to protect vulnerable Baltic partners from the threat of hybrid warfare, a Russian tactic that officials and experts say is based on deception rather than formal declaration of war.
An armored fighting vehicle IAV Stryker of the US Cavalry Regiment 2nd subdivision is seen during a partner training with Latvian and Canadian soldiers at the Adazi military training area in Latvia on February 26, 2015 (AFP Photo/Ilmars Znotins)
Russian President Vladimir Putin's use of anonymous "little green men" to slice Crimea away from Ukraine last year sent alarm bells ringing throughout the three small Baltic NATO and EU members.
They endured decades of Soviet occupation after the Red Army rolled in during World War II. While a full-scale invasion is improbable now, hybrid meddling and destabilisation tactics designed to test NATO's commitment to collective defence are not.
Putin's brand of hybrid warfare also relies on "misinformation, bribery, economic pressure", which are designed to "undermine the nation", according to Latvian Defence Minister Raimonds Vejonis
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite did not mince her words when she said: "The first stage of confrontation is taking place -- I mean informational war, propaganda and cyber attacks. So we are already under attack."
According to James Sherr of Britain's Chatham House think-tank, hybrid warfare is "designed to cripple a state before that state even realises the conflict has begun.
"It's a model of warfare designed to slip under NATO's threshold of perception and reaction."
NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow has called it a modern example of the ancient Trojan Horse tactic.
NATO is "looking at how we prepare for, deter, and –- if required –- defend against hybrid threats," the former US ambassador to Moscow said recently at a security conference in the Latvian capital Riga.
Not to be caught off guard amid an increased
Russian military presence in the Baltic, alliance members have mounted a series of troop rotations into the region.
The United States also deployed a cargo ship full of heavy armour there this month, including helicopters and tanks for exercises dubbed Atlantic Resolve.
NATO will boost defences on Europe's eastern flank with a spearhead force of 5,000 troops and command centres in six formerly communist members of the alliance: the Baltic states and Bulgaria, Poland and Romania.
An Abrams tank is seen during delivery in the port of Riga on March 9, 2015 (AFP Photo/Ilmars Znotins)
Lithuania revived its pre-WWII Riflemen's Union to help deter the threat of both conventional and hybrid warfare.
The citizens' militia boasts over 8,000 members in the nation of three million people, a number almost on par with its 8,000 military personnel and 4,500 reservists.
With roughly a quarter of the populations of Estonia and Latvia being ethnic Russian, some argue that Moscow's huge TV, radio and Internet presence is part of a hybrid battle for Baltic hearts and minds.
Putin justified his Crimea takeover by insisting that Moscow was coming to the defence of ethnic Russians in the territory, sparking concern here that Russia could deploy a similar policy.
According to Riga journalist Olga Dragileva, a hybrid media war aimed at sowing "dissatisfaction and illusions" among ethnic-Russian Latvians is in full swing in the eurozone member, which is still recovering from a crippling 2008-9 recession sparked by the global financial crisis.
It amounts to "the weaponisation of social media", according to Janis Karklins, director of NATO's Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence.
Based in Riga, the centre works to analyse the official Russian political narrative and suggest responses.
Karklins warns the solution does not lie in creating counter-propaganda: "The old recipes are not effective any longer."
He proposes instead "to develop skills of media information literacy and critical thinking in our education system to make it harder for adversaries to disorient the population."
EU leaders are expected to agree at a summit this week to set up a special media unit to counter what the bloc sees as a skilful Russian propaganda campaign during the Ukraine crisis.
Many here believe neighbouring Estonia had a foretaste of hybrid war in 2007 when the nation of 1.3 million suffered a blistering cyber attack against official state and bank websites.
The assault was widely blamed on Russian hackers, although the Kremlin denied involvement.
As in hybrid warfare, aggressors in cyberwarfare are often hard to identify and hence may not fear immediate and targeted retaliation -- a key plank of conventional warfare.
Tallinn, home to NATO's cyber defence centre, is also demanding Moscow release Eston Kohver, an Estonian police officer it claims was snatched at gunpoint by Russian operatives last September from inside Estonia.
Moscow insists Kohver was engaged in a clandestine operation in Russia and has charged him with espionage.
To counter similar murky scenarios, Vershbow says the alliance must develop hybrid responses able to "deploy the right forces to the right place at the right time.
Riga (AFP) - NATO allies are scrambling to protect vulnerable Baltic partners from the threat of hybrid warfare, a Russian tactic that officials and experts say is based on deception rather than formal declaration of war.
An armored fighting vehicle IAV Stryker of the US Cavalry Regiment 2nd subdivision is seen during a partner training with Latvian and Canadian soldiers at the Adazi military training area in Latvia on February 26, 2015 (AFP Photo/Ilmars Znotins)
Russian President Vladimir Putin's use of anonymous "little green men" to slice Crimea away from Ukraine last year sent alarm bells ringing throughout the three small Baltic NATO and EU members.
They endured decades of Soviet occupation after the Red Army rolled in during World War II. While a full-scale invasion is improbable now, hybrid meddling and destabilisation tactics designed to test NATO's commitment to collective defence are not.
Putin's brand of hybrid warfare also relies on "misinformation, bribery, economic pressure", which are designed to "undermine the nation", according to Latvian Defence Minister Raimonds Vejonis
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite did not mince her words when she said: "The first stage of confrontation is taking place -- I mean informational war, propaganda and cyber attacks. So we are already under attack."
According to James Sherr of Britain's Chatham House think-tank, hybrid warfare is "designed to cripple a state before that state even realises the conflict has begun.
"It's a model of warfare designed to slip under NATO's threshold of perception and reaction."
NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow has called it a modern example of the ancient Trojan Horse tactic.
NATO is "looking at how we prepare for, deter, and –- if required –- defend against hybrid threats," the former US ambassador to Moscow said recently at a security conference in the Latvian capital Riga.
Not to be caught off guard amid an increased
Russian military presence in the Baltic, alliance members have mounted a series of troop rotations into the region.
The United States also deployed a cargo ship full of heavy armour there this month, including helicopters and tanks for exercises dubbed Atlantic Resolve.
NATO will boost defences on Europe's eastern flank with a spearhead force of 5,000 troops and command centres in six formerly communist members of the alliance: the Baltic states and Bulgaria, Poland and Romania.
An Abrams tank is seen during delivery in the port of Riga on March 9, 2015 (AFP Photo/Ilmars Znotins)
Lithuania revived its pre-WWII Riflemen's Union to help deter the threat of both conventional and hybrid warfare.
The citizens' militia boasts over 8,000 members in the nation of three million people, a number almost on par with its 8,000 military personnel and 4,500 reservists.
With roughly a quarter of the populations of Estonia and Latvia being ethnic Russian, some argue that Moscow's huge TV, radio and Internet presence is part of a hybrid battle for Baltic hearts and minds.
Putin justified his Crimea takeover by insisting that Moscow was coming to the defence of ethnic Russians in the territory, sparking concern here that Russia could deploy a similar policy.
According to Riga journalist Olga Dragileva, a hybrid media war aimed at sowing "dissatisfaction and illusions" among ethnic-Russian Latvians is in full swing in the eurozone member, which is still recovering from a crippling 2008-9 recession sparked by the global financial crisis.
It amounts to "the weaponisation of social media", according to Janis Karklins, director of NATO's Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence.
Based in Riga, the centre works to analyse the official Russian political narrative and suggest responses.
Karklins warns the solution does not lie in creating counter-propaganda: "The old recipes are not effective any longer."
He proposes instead "to develop skills of media information literacy and critical thinking in our education system to make it harder for adversaries to disorient the population."
EU leaders are expected to agree at a summit this week to set up a special media unit to counter what the bloc sees as a skilful Russian propaganda campaign during the Ukraine crisis.
Many here believe neighbouring Estonia had a foretaste of hybrid war in 2007 when the nation of 1.3 million suffered a blistering cyber attack against official state and bank websites.
The assault was widely blamed on Russian hackers, although the Kremlin denied involvement.
As in hybrid warfare, aggressors in cyberwarfare are often hard to identify and hence may not fear immediate and targeted retaliation -- a key plank of conventional warfare.
Tallinn, home to NATO's cyber defence centre, is also demanding Moscow release Eston Kohver, an Estonian police officer it claims was snatched at gunpoint by Russian operatives last September from inside Estonia.
Moscow insists Kohver was engaged in a clandestine operation in Russia and has charged him with espionage.
To counter similar murky scenarios, Vershbow says the alliance must develop hybrid responses able to "deploy the right forces to the right place at the right time.
ABC78
Junior Member
Singapore's founding PM Lee Kuan Yew dies at 91
[Published on Mar 22, 2015
Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew passed away at 03:18 am local time Mon., at the age of 91. Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has declared a period of national mourning from March 23 to 29.]
[Published on Mar 22, 2015
Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew passed away at 03:18 am local time Mon., at the age of 91. Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has declared a period of national mourning from March 23 to 29.]
End of an era for sure. The life stories and political visions of Lee Kuan Yew and Mahathir Mohamad, and the history of their respective peoples and countries, are two very interesting case studies to compare and contrast. Their outspoken personalities and rivalry also makes for good entertainment.
This article mentions a few colorful tidbits of Lee's thoughts:
broadsword
Brigadier
He was my demi-god in my younger days, but devolved into an abomination. He was the architect of nepotism and cronyism and eye-watering salaries. He claimed he did not want a cult personality. Pffft! Must be the paparazzi. He bankrupted the opposition with lawsuits, so what that he gave away the damages.
But he was ahead of his time. Before global warming became the buzzword, he drilled people to stop at two children. The campaign was so effective that the govt later had to encourage foreign immigration. I am done.
But he was ahead of his time. Before global warming became the buzzword, he drilled people to stop at two children. The campaign was so effective that the govt later had to encourage foreign immigration. I am done.
A German Wings Airbus 320 flying from Barcelona to Düsseldorf with 148 people has crashed in France. The website of my favorite radio station publishes in its news article a graphic showing height and speed of the aircraft during its last flight, apparently received by the maintenance department of the company.
Miragedriver
Brigadier
'Nazi Hideout' in Argentina Discovered by Archaeologists
Archaeologists say they've discovered what they believe to be a Nazi hideout in the middle of an Argentinian jungle.
Six researchers from the University of Buenos Aires and La Plata Museum found the ruins of what is believed to be a hideout in Teyu Cuare Park in northern near the border with , team leader Daniel Schavelzon told ABC News today.
He said they discovered the site years ago, but only began extensive research this month.
During , it's believed the Nazis had a secret project building hideouts in hard-to-find places like desserts, mountains and jungles such as Teyu Cuare, Schavelzon said.
The hideouts where meant to serve as shelters for high-ranking Nazi officers in the event of defeat, he added.
During the past 15 days the team spent at the ruins, they discovered three buildings, a stone quarry and various artifacts from World War II , Schavelzon said.
"We found German coins minted between 1938 and 1944, fragments of a porcelain plate that said it was made in Germany and Nazi symbols and German inscriptions carved into the walls," he said. "It's hard to prove the site was definitely made by the Nazis, but we're working to unearth more evidence to support this hypothesis."
The believed hideout was covered in thick vines and moss, Schavelzon added.
"It's been very difficult to conduct work there," he said. "Everything is covered in jungle and we have to use knives and machetes to cut through."
Schavelzon said he doesn't believe Nazis ever inhabited the hideout since it was never needed. Thousands of Nazis were welcomed in Argentina after the war by former president Juan Perón, who led the nation from 1946 to 1955 and for a short while again in the 1970s
Back to bottling my Grenache
Archaeologists say they've discovered what they believe to be a Nazi hideout in the middle of an Argentinian jungle.
Six researchers from the University of Buenos Aires and La Plata Museum found the ruins of what is believed to be a hideout in Teyu Cuare Park in northern near the border with , team leader Daniel Schavelzon told ABC News today.
He said they discovered the site years ago, but only began extensive research this month.
During , it's believed the Nazis had a secret project building hideouts in hard-to-find places like desserts, mountains and jungles such as Teyu Cuare, Schavelzon said.
The hideouts where meant to serve as shelters for high-ranking Nazi officers in the event of defeat, he added.
During the past 15 days the team spent at the ruins, they discovered three buildings, a stone quarry and various artifacts from World War II , Schavelzon said.
"We found German coins minted between 1938 and 1944, fragments of a porcelain plate that said it was made in Germany and Nazi symbols and German inscriptions carved into the walls," he said. "It's hard to prove the site was definitely made by the Nazis, but we're working to unearth more evidence to support this hypothesis."
The believed hideout was covered in thick vines and moss, Schavelzon added.
"It's been very difficult to conduct work there," he said. "Everything is covered in jungle and we have to use knives and machetes to cut through."
Schavelzon said he doesn't believe Nazis ever inhabited the hideout since it was never needed. Thousands of Nazis were welcomed in Argentina after the war by former president Juan Perón, who led the nation from 1946 to 1955 and for a short while again in the 1970s
Back to bottling my Grenache
Miragedriver
Brigadier
Back from the Brink: Spain Emerges as Model for Europe
After years of being one of Europe's shakiest economies, Spain has managed to institute strict reforms and bring back economic growth. But job numbers and research funding lag behind -- and the country's greatest challenge may be a political one.
Article:
People wait to enter a government-run employment office in Madrid. Despite the recovery, it is still impossibly for many young Spaniards to get a permanent job, and many are more likely to find a well-paying position outside of the country.
A "for sale" sign in the Madrid satellite town of Sesena. Parliamentary elections will be taking place in Spain at the end of the year, but investors are afraid of populist, anti-capitalist parties like Podemos.
Back to bottling my Grenache
After years of being one of Europe's shakiest economies, Spain has managed to institute strict reforms and bring back economic growth. But job numbers and research funding lag behind -- and the country's greatest challenge may be a political one.
Article:
People wait to enter a government-run employment office in Madrid. Despite the recovery, it is still impossibly for many young Spaniards to get a permanent job, and many are more likely to find a well-paying position outside of the country.
A "for sale" sign in the Madrid satellite town of Sesena. Parliamentary elections will be taking place in Spain at the end of the year, but investors are afraid of populist, anti-capitalist parties like Podemos.
Back to bottling my Grenache