Category Archives: Geopolitics

Geopolitics: North Korea, Syria, Turkey, Israel, USA,

Posted on by

1 Turkey begins its operations in Idlib amidst the possibility of dissolving the liberation of Syria itself (Google translate of the title of the video below)

2. Armored personnel carrier and military vehicles deployed at Reyhanl? border

(These Turkish videos need to be viewed with the current US-Turkish conflict in mind. Turkey and the US have started shutting down components of diplomatic relations such as visa issuance and more.)

Related:

SYRIA – 40 Turkish officers entered Syria escorted by Hayyet Tahrir al-Sham commanders to take strategic points

3. Turkey issues detention warrant for 2nd US consulate worker (RT, Oct 9, 2017)

Ankara has issued a detention warrant for a second US consulate worker, according to media reports. It comes after Turkey’s justice minister urged the US to reverse its decision to suspend visas for Turkish citizens.

Turkish authorities announced, without giving a reason, that a second employee of the US consulate in Istanbul had been “invited” to the city’s chief prosecutor’s office to testify, AP reported.

Reports say the employee is a Turkish citizen, and the prosecutor’s office said his wife and child have also been detained for questioning.

4. U.S. ambassador breaks with State Dept. policy: ‘I think the settlements are part of Israel’

In his first on-camera interview since taking up his position this year, U.S. Ambassador David Friedman declared that only 2 percent of the West Bank is occupied and that settlements are part of Israel, sparking angry reaction from Palestinians.

 

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat described the interview with the Israeli news site Walla on Thursday as the “latest attempt by Freidman to “advocate and validate the Israeli government’s policies of occupation and annexation.” The U.S. ambassador had previously referred to Israel’s “alleged occupation” of the West Bank.

Related:

5. Homeland Security Uncovers Massive Immigration Failures. The devastating consequences for national security

6. Israel-Iran conflict in Syria reaching point of no return.

7. National consultation on Soros Plan starts next week:

Related:

8. Trump meets with military brass as “calm before the storm”

Dear readers. PLEASE search the comments under the Reader’s Links post today for more. This is a small sample of some of the news which shows real issues, both in terms of our ficus of interest, and more standard geopolitical matters which begin to electrify the atmosphere.

All discussion and links and insight appreciated.

Many have contributed today, and I am still deep in unfinished subtitled videos, but please know we here at VladTepesBlog appreciate everyone’s consistent and discriminating efforts to post the links we need to know.

 

 

It looks fantastic for Germany!

Posted on by

It appears that the only classical liberal party, the AfD, is third everywhere in the country, This might mean that they have the 25% they need to start criminal investigations against Merkel for her opening the borders without going through the legislative procedures required by law.

Please go to Gates of Vienna regularly today for updates, graphs and latest info, as we here are working on a number of other projects, Street prayers in Paris and still cleaning up the OSCE files, and other issues.

 

Geopolitics: An overture to a more recognizable World War: News links 1, Sept. 20, 2017

Posted on by

1. Russian attack helicopter lives up to its name.

(Perhaps they should rename it, the Meter Maid, as it appears to have destroyed several parked civilian vehicles)

2. Chinese and American positions on Venezuela. In this short article, China defends its energy interests in a partnership with Venezuela,

3. Japan Deploys Missile Interceptor Near Recent N. Korea Missile Flyovers.

(That is a great idea if North Korea shoots another missile at that exact same trajectory.)

Japan deploys an anti-missile defense system near recent North Korean missile flyover routes.

The missile interceptor now at a base on southern Hokkaido was brought from another military site on the island about 50 miles north.

 

Japan’s defense minister said the move is a precaution as part of preparations for a possible emergency.

The relocation comes a week after Pyongyang launched a missile that flew over southern Hokkaido and landed in the Pacific off the island’s east coast.

 

That test fire also marked the second flyover in less than a month.

(Let’s hope the North Koreans don’t read this and fire the next missile at a location 50 miles North)

Thank you Richard, M., Wrath of Khan, Xanthippa, all who have sent in materials overnight. 

More to come.

 

 

 

N. Korea fires missile over Japan, lands far out in the Pacific

Posted on by

MSN.COM:

Video courtesy of Fox News)

UPDATE: WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. military said on Thursday that it had detected the launch of a single North Korean intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) that flew over northern Japan before landing in the Pacific Ocean.

The missile did not pose a threat to North America or the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, Commander Dave Benham, a spokesman for U.S. Pacific Command said in a statement, citing an initial assessment.

Benham said the launch was detected at 11:57 a.m. Hawaii time (5:17 p.m. EDT/2117 GMT) and the missile had been launched from Sunan in Pyongyang, North Korea.

 

Mediterranean Illegal Immigration: Is Europe finally beginning to protect itself?

Posted on by

An original translation from German magazine Der Spiegel. Please note that due to their political bias, Der Spiegel here depict measures as drastic and excessive that one might see as quite reasonable.

EU Documents
Migrants to be deported to Niger
Europea increasingly seals itself off from migrants. According to internal documents, people in need of protection are to be flown back to Niger. The Federal Government [of Germany] supports this.
By Markus Becker, Brussels
September 6, 2017
Little time? There is a summary at the end of the text.

The European Union is increasing their efforts to keep refugees and migrants from Africa away – and it appears they are ready for increasingly drastic measures. This is what internal papers and answers to parliamentary inquiries prove that Spiegel have obtained.

The core of the plans is to stop migrants long before they venture from Libya and other Northern African countries out on the Mediterranean. It is already known that the EU intends to achieve this with development aid, the military buildup of African military and police units, and a stronger surveillance of the Mediterranean. The new documents show just how far the Europeans are ready to go.

One of the central points is the retransition of people to their homelands. Even “migrants in particular need of protection” are not to be brought into the EU from Libya, but flown to Niger. Allegedly, the UNO refugee relief organization UNHCR agreed upon such deal with the government of Niger. This is what the answer of the Federal Government [of Germany] to a ‘small inquiry’ of The Left [Die Linke] in the Bundestag says.

In Niger, the need for protection of the migrants then is supposed to be thoroughly examined, and perhaps the possibility of bringing them into the EU might be considered. But the paper leaves open why such an examination would be necessary in Niger, when the need for protection has already been established in Libya – as well as the question who is going to carry out the examination in Niger. Upon repeated inquiry, the Foreign Ministry referred to the UNHCR.

EU Commission to enforce retraction agreemend “with all means”

The Left strongly criticise the plans. “The long-cherished dream of European hardliners will become true under Angela Merkel, architect of the fortress Europe – the establishment of European camps on the African continent”, says the speaker for European policies of The Left, Andrej Hunko. The UNHCR were making themselves “the helpman of the European migrant Abwehr”. Constantin Hruschka, jurist in Bielefeld, voices concerns, too. The right to an asylum procedure were an “essential part of the right to protection from persecution or torture or inhumane or humiliating treatment”. If the access to such procedure were denied, this were a breach of those rights.

A speaker of the UNHCR refuted the accusations. One were only reacting to the humanitarian emergency in Libya. To bring some of them to Niger were a “humanitarian answer”. The question of a resettlement of migrants to Europe were a discussion which needed to be held subsequently. “We want a legal way to Europe for these people.”

The commission just shortly ago showed how serious they are about the retraction of rejected asylum seekers. At the end of July, the authorities in Brussels detailed to the embassies of the member countries how they planned to implement their new migration action plan. The internal letter says that retraction agreements and “practical agreements” with third party countries were to be introduced – “using all means”.

According to the commission’s plan, Libya is to be provided with information: the starting points of migration in third-party countries were to be monitored more closely, suspicious vehicles detected and traced by satellite and aerial images. To stay up to date about new trafficking routes, the EU asylum authority Easo could surveil traffickers and migrants, and the “discourse on asylum”, in social media – in Arabic, Farsi, Dari and Pashto, the implementation plan which was obtained by Spiegel says.

The strenghening of military and security forces in African states, too, is to go further than previously known. At the end of July, the EU commission and Italy agreed to provide Libya with training, vessels and land vehicles, communication equipment, and the setup of command centres. It appears that a new project comes in addition, a “pilot activity” on the Libyan southern border, the “exact organization” of which is to be set after an exploratory mission, the Federal Government’s answer to the inquiry by The Left says.

The EU might take more action in Niger, too, which 90 percent of all migrants from Western Africa pass through, as an internal document from the EU exterior agency EAD reveals. The EU mission Eucap, which is training security forces in Niger for their fight against terror and organized crime, “made noteworthy progress on a strategic level” in the first half of the year. At the same time, EAD suggests to their member states to more strongly support the operations in Niger against human, drug, and weapons trafficking.

Armament in the Fight against Migration

The militarization of the fight against migration is advancing. A “G5 Sahel Joint Force” was agreed upon – a joint military unit of the states of Mali, Niger, Chad, Mauretania, and Burkina Faso, to intercept migrants before Libya. Germany and France want to send money, materials and ammunition for the troop of 5000, which, according to information of the Federal Government [of Germany] is expected to cost 423 million Euro. The EU commission in its implementation plan suggests “joint patrols” and coordination between the G5 force and the Libyan authorities – of course with the help of the EU.

It remains to be seen if this will suffice to seal off the Libyan southern border. The problem is that the border basically just exists on the map. In reality, it stretches for hundreds of kilometres of Sahara, surveillance without a gap is hardly possible. “Instead, the measures will lead ot more deaths, as the refugees will be forced to take longer routes through the desert”, criticizes The Left politician Hunko.

Still, the Federal Government [of Germany] endorses the commission’s plan. The Foreign Office set a clear goal in a directive to the embassy in Brussels: the “swift implementation” of the undertaking and a “concentrated action” of the EU and the member states. Berlin thus wants to prevent a “solo action of Italy” which feels let down by the rest of the EU in the migration crisis.

Summary: The EU wants to increase their efforts to stop migrants and refugees from Africa – long before they reach the Mediterranean. Even people in need of protection are to be flown from Libya to Niger. Additionally, the EU wants to strengthen military and police forces in African states with many millions of Euros, to avert migrants.

Koreas – Sept. 5, 2017

Posted on by

“Madness in great ones, must not unwatched go.”

LOCK AND LOADED

North Korea ‘secretly moving ballistic missile towards west coast’ and threatens America with the ‘final miserable end’ after US warns Kim Jong-un is ‘begging for war’

North Korea, which has launch facilities for its missile program on its west coast, reportedly launched the rocket during the night to avoid surveillance.

 

South Korea’s defence ministry said they could not confirm the contents of the report but said the North was considered ready to launch more missiles at any time.

The report came as the US ambassador to the UN warned that North Korea was “begging for war” and the United States’ patience has almost run out.

 

Calling on the UN to impose the “strongest possible measures” against Pyongyang, US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said: “The time has come to exhaust all diplomatic means before it is too late.

“Enough is enough. War is never something the United States wants.

“We don’t want it now, but our country’s patience is not unlimited.”

In a dramatic session of the Security Council, Nikki Haley said: 'We must now adopt the strongest possible measures'

North Korea says nuclear tests are ‘gift packages for the US’ and warns more will follow

North Korea said nuclear tests are “gift packages” to the United States and that more will follow.

Han Tae Song, the ambassador of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to the UN in Geneva, made the comment during a UN-sponsored Conference on Disarmament today.

 

The warning comes two days after his country detonated its sixth and largest nuclear test.

“The recent self-defence measures by my country, DPRK, are a gift package addressed to none other than the US,” Han told the Geneva forum.

Sept. 4. UN Security Council:

North Korea Nuclear Progress Puts Iran on Renewed Pathway to Bomb

U.S. officials are closely monitoring an ongoing meeting between senior North Korean and Iranian officials that comes on the heels of a nuclear test by Pyongyang, according to senior Trump administration officials and other sources who expressed concern that North Korea is helping to put the Islamic Republic back on the pathway to a functional nuclear weapon.

 

Sources told the Washington Free Beacon that Pyongyang continues to stockpile illicit nuclear material on Iran’s behalf in order to help the Islamic Republic skirt restrictions implemented under the landmark nuclear deal.

North Korea’s latest nuclear test of a hydrogen bomb has roiled Trump administration officials and led President Donald Trump to consider multiple options for war.

 

However, it also has renewed fears among U.S. officials and foreign policy insiders about Pyongyang’s long-standing relationship with Iran, which centers on providing the Islamic Republic with nuclear technology and know-how.

Thank you Richard, M., Tundra T., Wrath of Khan and all who sent in materials. More to come.

This is an interesting video on the subject:

 

 

Korea updates Sept. 3 2017

Posted on by

1. M6.3 magnitude quake confirmed to be North Korean explosion, likely nuclear, possibly hydrogen bomb.

2. From Fox News:

Quake in North Korea may have been nuclear test

A magnitude 5.6 earthquake was detected in northern North Korea on Sunday, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported. The U.S. Geological Survey measured the quake at magnitude 6.3.

 

The quake was detected at 12:36 p.m. in North Korea’s North Hamgyeong province, Yonhap reported, citing information from the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA).

 

Reuters gave the location as 55 kilometers north northwest of Kimchaek, citing U.S. Geological Survey information. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties, the news agency said.

Japan stated that if it was confirmed to be a nuclear test, it would be “absolutely unacceptable”, whatever that means.

3. Sunday Express:

North Korea readies HYDROGEN BOMB as Kim Jong-un ‘watches loading into ICBM’

Kim Jong-un inspects a hydrogen bomb and ICBMGETTY/REUTERS

North Korea has said it has created a hydrogen bomb with great ‘destructive power’

North Korea has said it has developed a more advanced nuclear weapon that has “great destructive power” amid World War 3 fears.

 

Kim Jong-un’s state media mouthpiece NCNA declared the hydrogen bomb’s power is adjustable to hundreds of kilotons and can be detonated at high altitudes.

 

It also boasted that these latest components would allow the country to build as many nuclear weapons as it wants.

KCNA reported: “Kim Jong-un said he felt the pride at the indomitably bolstering up of [North Korea’s] nuclear forces despite a great price as he watched the Juche-oriented thermonuclear weapon with super explosive power mad

4. NKorea missile fear sets pre-emptive strike debate in Japan

(Richard points out that this debate is an important one to follow, as its post WW2 policies exist for a reason and to change those has meaning.)

TOKYO (AP) — Japan is debating whether to develop a limited pre-emptive strike capability and buy cruise missiles – ideas that were anathema in the pacifist country before the North Korea missile threat.

 

With revisions to Japan’s defense plans underway, ruling party hawks are accelerating the moves, and some defense experts say Japan should at least consider them.

 

Japan has a two-step missile defense system, including interceptors on destroyers in the Sea of Japan that would shoot down projectiles mid-flight and if that fails, surface-to-air PAC-3s on land.

5. UK says North Korea nuclear test is reckless, could bring a “new order of threat”

LONDON, Sept 3 (Reuters) – North Korea’s latest nuclear test could represent a new order of threat, Britain’s foreign minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday.

 

“There’s no question that this is another provocation, it’s reckless,” he told Sky news. “They seem to be moving closer towards a hydrogen bomb which, if fitted to a successful missile, would unquestionably present a new order of threat.”

 

Pyongyang conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test earlier on Sunday.

He said Britain’s preference was for a diplomatic solution and that none of the military options relating to North Korea were palatable. (Reporting by William James; editing by John Stonestreet)

(And the beggar’s preference is for a horse. But if he sits around wishing for one he likely will never achieve his destination. Palatable or no, a solution that does not result in a nuclear strike against a city outside North Korea must be done. It is possible to eliminate the nuclear potential of NORK and take out the administration without destroying all the slave labour camps and so on which a lot of the more or less innocent North Korean populations live in. But something permanent has to be done. Something with strategic certainty.)

6. ‘We’ll see’: Trump refuses to be drawn on whether US will attack North Korea for detonating hydrogen bomb but warns America may stop ‘ALL trade with any country doing business with Kim’

Both economic and military action could be in store for North Korea after its detonation of a 100-kiloton nuclear bomb, Donald Trump has hinted.

 

The president remained tight-lipped amid claims that America is gearing up for military intervention as he left church on Sunday morning.

 

When asked whether the US would make a preemptive strike on North Korea after its nuclear test caused a 6.5-magnitude earthquake, Trump – who was leaving church – only said: ‘We’ll see.’

 

But in a pair of tweets afterwards, he said: ‘I will be meeting General Kelly, General Mattis and other military leaders at the White House to discuss North Korea. Thank you.

7. North Korea says 6th nuke test was H-bomb, ‘perfect success’

8. NYT: North Korea Says It Tested a Hydrogen Bomb Meant for Missiles

9. North Korea says it successfully tested hydrogen bomb; Trump denounces its ‘hostile’ behavior

“North Korea said Sunday that it successfully conducted a test of a hydrogen bomb meant to be loaded onto an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

The announcement was made on state-run television. A news reader called the test a “complete success” and said the “two-stage thermonuclear weapon” had “unprecedented” strength. North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un ordered the test, according to the announcement.

It is the rogue nation’s sixth, and most powerful, nuclear test.

President Trump responded on Twitter, commenting on North Korea’s continuing “hostile and dangerous” actions toward the U.S. and its being a “great threat and embarrassment to China.” The president also said South Korea’s “talk of appeasement” with its northern neighbor won’t work.

Thank you all for your diligence in following and posting these links. Unless something major happens concerning Korea in the next few hours, please post all Korea related news to the comments under this post.

This just in. I have no idea what she is saying, But I would not buy a used car from her.

It is alleged to be the new hydrogen bomb in the hundred kiloton range the NORKS tested.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Koreas: News updates on Aug. 30, 2017

Posted on by

1. Japan Seeks New U.S. Missile Radar As North Korea Threat Grows – Sources

Japan wants to have a land-based version of the Aegis ballistic missile defense (BMD) system operational by 2023 as a new layer of defense to help counter North Korea’s missile advances.

 

Yet, without the new powerful radar, known as Spy-6, Japan will have to field the system with existing radar technology that has less range than a new generation of BMD interceptor missiles, the sources who have knowledge of the discussion told Reuters.

 

That could mean that while the interceptor has enough range to strike a missile lofted high into space, the targeting radar may not be able to detect the threat until it is much closer.

 

Japanese officials have witnessed a demonstration of Spy-6 technology, which boosts the range of BMD radars dozens of times, but efforts to secure the equipment from their ally have come to naught.

2. Seoul training special forces unit to infiltrate North Korea and assassinate Kim Jong-un if war breaks out 

South Korea is planning to send special forces units into Pyongyang in search of Kim Jong-un and his closest advisers in the event that North Korea should start a conventional war.

The plan is among the revisions being made to South Korea’s revised strategy for dealing with an attack from the North.

(Either South Korea is being led by Obama, or this cannot be quite true, as its very odd to telegraph your plans to the enemy in this way. The pun on telegraph was, by the way, initially unintended then I decided to go with it)

3. VLAD MOVE North Korea missile launch over Japan prompts Russia to evacuate hundreds to ‘safe zones’ – as Kim Jong un’s rogue state vows not to ‘flinch an inch’

VLADIMIR Putin ordered Russians to be evacuated from the North Korean border as war between Pyongyang and the US continued to loom this evening.

 

The Russian President signed off a move to get 1,500 nationals away from the 24-mile border with Kim Jong-un’s rogue state.

 

Russia described the move as a “training exercise” after Moscow’s foreign ministry earlier said the crisis could “lead the world to the brink of a catastrophe”.

 

The evacuated are expected to be moved to “safe zones” further inside Russia in the event that conflict breaks out.

The war of words between Pyongyang and Washington continued to ratchet up today as North Korea told Donald Trump it won’t “flinch an inch”.

 

The US responded by telling Kim’s regime “enough is enough” after a missile test flew over the Japanese mainland last night.

4. Kim Jong-un cackles like a maniac as he oversees latest North Korea missile launch and taunts Trump that ‘it’s just a curtain-raiser’ for possible strike on Guam

NORTH Korean dictator Kim Jong-un vowed to fire more missiles as pictures emerged of the despot cackling maniacally as he over saw the launch described as “just a curtain-raiser”.

 

Just one day after his latest launch brought his country and American one step closer to war the smirking communist called for more weapons testing over the Pacific to advance his country’s ability to contain Guam.

 

State media reported that the dictator had said: “The current ballistic rocket launching drill like a real war is the first step of the military operation of the Korean People’s Army in the Pacific and a meaningful prelude to containing Guam.”

 

The Rodong Sinmun newspaper, mouthpiece of the North’s ruling party, on Wednesday carried more than 20 pictures of the launch near Pyongyang. One showed Kim smiling broadly at a desk with a map of the Northwest Pacific, surrounded by aides.

5. This one is interesting. The URL cannot be found, although the headline still gives search results, but the URL gives an error.

Headline:

World War 3? US tests ‘most dangerous nuclear weapon ever produced’ amid North Korea row

Someone made a computer voice video of the article below:

6. North Korea: State TV footage shows missile launch over Japan

More links and videos on this critical issue will be posted as they become available. I ask readers to please post all relevant Korea links in the comments under this post.

Thank you M, Richard, and many more who sent in these videos and stories.

 

Unprecedented, serious and significant threat’: Japan’s prime minister on North Korea missile launch

Posted on by

CNBC.Com

North Korea fired a ballistic missile that passed over Japan early Tuesday, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had strong words about its gravity.

Abe said the missile was an unprecedented, serious and grave threat to Japan. The Japanese prime minister also said he would ask the United Nations to up the pressure on Pyongyang.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

Yoshikazu Tsuno | Pool | Reuters
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

A South Korean military official told NBC News that the missile was fired around 5:57 a.m. local time on Tuesday. The official said that the missile flew for about 2,700 kilometers (1,678 miles), reaching a maximum altitude of 550 kilometers (342 miles). U.S. Pacific Command projected that the missile splashed down at 6:29 a.m. local time.

 Japanese broadcaster NHK reported that the North Korean missile broke into three pieces and fell into the sea.

[Meanwhile, Trump has become Obama]

South Korean military fires at unidentified projectile from North Korea

Posted on by

WSJ

The South Korean military have fired at an unidentified North Korean projectile that is reported to have crossed the border between the two nations on Tuesday evening. Yonhap later said the object was a drone. After spotting the object, the army broadcast warning signals and fired shots in accordance with its procedures, the South Korean joint chiefs of staff said. “The military is on high alert and air surveillance has been strengthened,” it added. The army fired about 90 shots at 4pm local time when the device flew near South Korea’s eastern Gangwon province, the Yonhap state news agency reported.

VICE assists the North Koreans with disseminating their propaganda

Posted on by

This VICE clip is interesting on a couple of levels. Somewhat at face value. But I can’t help but wonder why VICE would be invited to North Korea after the exceptional and important documentary they did on VICE guide to Travel about North Korea, where they broke all kinds of local laws and showed the regime for what it really was.

Of course, that was when Vice was amazing and courageous, and before they took a hard hard lurch to the left. 

Perhaps the new slant on things makes it acceptable to the Kim Jong dynasty despite its previous libertarian bent.

General Mattis Warns North Korea: Stop or Face ‘Destruction of Its People’

Posted on by

From CBN:

jamesmattisap2

U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis warned North Korea to stop its missile tests and nuclear program or face devastation.

The news comes after dictator Kim Jong Un threatened to attack U.S. forces in Guam after revelations that his regime now has mini-nukes.

“The DPRK must choose to stop isolating itself and stand down its pursuit of nuclear weapons,” Mattis said in a statement, referring to North Korea. “The DPRK should cease any consideration of actions that would lead to the end of its regime and the destruction of its people.”