Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Military And Intelligence News Briefs -- June 28, 2016


Reuters: Brexit casts doubt over new EU and NATO defense strategy

Britain's departure from the European Union risks undermining Europe's new defense strategy, days before NATO and EU governments sign a landmark pact to confront a range of threats from Russia to the Mediterranean, officials say.

The European Union and the United States plan to use two separate EU and NATO summits in the coming days to push reforms of the West's two main security pillars, aimed at reducing Europe's reliance on Washington in its own neighborhood.

"Things are going to be a lot harder," said a senior Western defense official involved in EU-NATO cooperation. "NATO planned on linking itself up to a stronger European Union, not being the default option for a weakened, divided bloc."

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Military And Intelligence News Briefs -- June 28, 2016

US Must Reinforce NATO with 'Stronger Germany' Following Brexit: Burns -- Military.com

Atlantic Council Report: Sanctions, Increased NATO Military Presence Key to Deterring Russia -- USNI News

NATO Head Warns Against EU Duplicating Capabilities -- WSJ

Putin promises response to foreign pressure by strengthening Russian military forces -- RT

US destroyer gets dangerously close to Russian patrol boat in Mediterranean – Moscow -- RT

Russian Military Tests Readiness With Snap Inspections -- VOA

Moscow to follow implementation of EU plans to create navy — ministry -- TASS

Russia Developing New Military Ship to Track Ballistic Missiles Launches -- Sputnik

OSCE shows photos of its UAV under attack in Ukraine -- Alert 5

All Eyes on Farnborough, and F-35 -- Defense News

Israel's Military Chief Orders to Revoke Controversial 'Hannibal' Directive -- Haaretz

Yemen counter-terrorism mission shows UAE military ambition -- Reuters

Pentagon’s ‘revised’ $416mn program trained fewer than 100 Syrian fighters – reports -- RT

India Seeks Predator Drones from US -- Defense News

S. Korea, U.S., Japan set for 1st joint missile defense exercise in Hawaii -- Korea Herald

USFK increases aerial reconnaissance near inter-Korean border -- Yonhap News Agency

Chinese Warships Now Training with U.S. Carrier Strike Group -- USNI News

F-15E Strike Eagles unable to shoot down the F-35s in 8 dogfights during simulated deployment -- The Aviationist

Boeing Sets Goal to Dominate Military Aviation Logistics -- National Defense

Is the U.S. Navy Right to Outsource Naval Aviator Training? -- National Interest

Senate Dem blocks intelligence authorization over FBI surveillance -- The Hill

Millions Off the Books: The FBI’s Hidden Surveillance Budget -- Sputnik

Google Accounts Of US Military, Journalists Targeted By Russian Attack Group -- Dark Reading

Watchdog: Some texts to VA suicide hotline went unanswered -- The Hill

3 rays of sunshine on Pentagon foreign aid -- The Hill

Congress Has a New Plan to Rein In Military Spending. Soldiers Are Going to Hate It. -- Max Rosenthal, Mother Jones

Meat must stay on the military menu -- BEEF

The Marines will remove the word 'man' from these 19 job titles -- Marine Times

1 comment:

RRH said...

It's really sad to watch Russia pour huge resources into building up her military in the face of threats from "the west". Meanwhile, the real threat is from the economic pressure she is under (an example of which is the Euro-bond fiasco) and corruption. Russia has yet to develop an effective strategy against the first, while many are looking to the past for a strategy against the latter.

The cheering from some quarters out of Russia regarding the Brexit and EU turmoil strikes as coming out of desperation as opposed to realistic appraisal. Despite all the howling, Article 50 has not been invoked, and the Euro-sceptics are posers with nothing on offer except more neoliberalism with a healthy dose of bigotry. The NATO exercises continue apace, the sanctions are not being lifted, and, squabbling or not, the Euros are still under their master's rule. Russian's looking to Europe for salvation are deceived.

Now we're hearing the dreaded Stalin portrait carrying Communists have a shot at power as no other alternative to the current leadrship presents itself. This will certainly be a shock for those who "just want to look cool like New Yorkers" and don't care about silly things like who owns or controls the resources, military, foreign policy of the country as long as the clubs stay open. Putin, to his credit, has tried to play the middle ground between authoritarianism and liberal vapidity but it seems that middle ground is shrinking beneath his feet due to forces out of his control.

Everyone seems to be focusing on the world wide impact of the (faux) Brexit and Killary versus The Donald. For my money, no matter where our politics are, the real action, with real consequences for world wide fundamental change is in Russia.