The Russian Defense Ministry gave its assessment to the crisis that took place in the Black Sea to HMS Defender of the British Navy, which violated the Russian state border. According to Major-General Igor Konashenkov, the official representative for the Defence Ministry, the British destroyer suffered an ”epic fiasco.”
Konashenkov’s statement came as a response to the recent remarks from Pentagon spokesman John Kirby, who claimed that, according to the British Ministry of Defence, the information about the warning shots for the British destroyer was nothing but ”Russian disinformation.” […]
Russia and the West are currently much closer to war than they were during the times of the Cuban missile crisis, when it seemed that the war was inevitable. The Soviets were ordered to stop in time, whereas the Americans were ordered not to provoke. The world could live on those agreements for 60 years.

When HMS Defender of the Royal Navy of the UK traveled from Ukraine to Georgia through the Russian territorial waters near Sevastopol, Great Britain deliberately invaded the Russian territory.

The Russians sent warning messages to the British crew, and when they remained unanswered, they opened warning shots on the ship. Obviously, the British did not want to start a fight with Type 45 destroyer with a displacement of more than 8,000 tons.

It also seems obvious that the Brits did not even assume that the Russians would dare to sink them. No matter what the motives of the British ship were, the crew of the British naval destroyer entered the Russian territorial waters being fully prepared for real combat action. Läs artikel

The exercise is taking place from June 28 to July 10 in the Black Sea region and will focus on multiple warfare areas including amphibious warfare, land maneuver warfare, diving operations, maritime interdiction operations, air defense, special operations integration, anti-submarine warfare, and search and rescue operations.

This year’s iteration has the largest number of participating nations in the exercise’s history with 32 countries from six continents providing 5,000 troops, 32 ships, 40 aircraft, and 18 special operations and dive teams scheduled to participate. […]

Ukraine and U.S. are cohosting the exercise in the Black Sea with participation and support coming from 32 countries in total: Albania, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, France, Georgia, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Morocco, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Senegal, Spain, South Korea, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States. Läs artikel

Minst sex maliska soldater dödades på fredagen i en attack i landets centrala delar.

Tidigare på dagen skakades minst 13 soldater från FN:s fredsbevarande insats Minusma när en bilbomb exploderade i de norra delarna av Mali.

Tolv av FN-soldaterna var tyska, varav tre ”skadades allvarligt”, säger Tysklands försvarsminister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer i ett uttalande. Hon klargör att läget är stabilt för två av dessa medan den tredje genomgår en operation. Samtliga skadade har evakuerats med helikopter, tillägger hon enligt AFP.

En belgisk soldat som också skadades i attacken vårdades på plats innan den evakuerades, enligt landets försvarsdepartement. Uppgifter om 15 skadade förekommer, enligt flera nyhetsmedier. Ingen svensk soldat skadades vid attentatet.

– Jag vet att olika uppgifter gällande nationalitet på de drabbade har cirkulerat, men vi har fokuserat på det svenska bidraget och kan konstatera att ingen svensk personal är berörd, säger Jonas Olsson, pressekreterare på Försvarsmakten.

Bomben detonerades vid ett tillfälligt läger som slagits upp vid Tarkint, ett samhälle i norra delarna av Gao-regionen där Minusma-insatsen är stationerad. Drygt 200 svenska soldater ingår i insatsen.Terrorgrupper kopplade till al-Qaida och IS är aktiva i området. Läs artikel

The US and NATO appear to be in retreat.
At least in the Muslim world. For hot on the heels of the Afghanistan drawdown, western militaries have committed to exiting Libya in a matter of days. And while this is ultimately cause for fatigued celebration — Alliance troops should not have been there in the first place.

This was the outcome of the recent Berlin conference on Libya, which saw Germany, in the role of mediator, and the UN bring together 17 nations to talk Libyan peace. These included the US and Russia as well as representatives of the Libyan transitional government. The game plan sees elections going ahead in December.

Naturally, everyone and their cat has been here before. The US and NATO raining down bombs-and-bullets on sovereign states; all gung-ho and trigger happy while peddling the myth of humanitarian intervention and civilian protection. And once entire societies are devastated and infrastructure destroyed — the US and its allies cut-and-run. Without giving a second thought to nation building. Läs artikel

Thanks to a meeting at the labor exchange, the Yéréwolo Movement calls on all Malian youth to a general mobilization on June 25 on the boulevard of independence, the departure of France.

The Yéréwolo Movement Debout sur les Remparts denounces the neo-colonialist policy of France in Mali, its policy of double standards of France and the occupation of the territory by foreign forces which only bog down the security of the populations.

According to Ben Diarra and Siriki Kouyaté, the reasons for this mobilization against the imperialist policy of France are: the interference of France in the management of the security crisis, the defense agreement signed in 2016 between Mali and France which mortgaging the sovereignty of Mali, the plundering of natural resources and economies, the invasion of our territory by occupying forces.

The leaders of the Movement therefore appeal to Malians for the sacred union to finally rid the country of these evils, and strengthen the Malian army so that the citizen can live in peace.

Through slogans we could read “Down with neo-colonialist France”, “No to genocide in Mali” reads the patriotic commitment on the faces of the youth. Läs artikel

Et britisk krigsskip ville ta den raskeste veien rundt den russisk-annekterte Krim-halvøya onsdag. Det russiske svaret kom kontant: Varselskudd, bomber og fly.

Det melder russiske medier og en BBC-journalist om bord på krigsskipet.

Etter en halvtime skiftet det britiske skipet kurs. Her er fem storpolitiske utviklingstrekk som ble satt på spissen i disse 31 minuttene:

1. Krim-konflikten består

I 2014 ble Europa rystet i grunnmuren. Et massiv folkelig opprør i Ukraina ble møtt med motstand. Størst var motstanden øst i landet og på Krim-halvøya. […]

4. Informasjonskrigen raser

Hendelsen blir forskjellig fremstilt. I russiske medier blir det britiske skipet fremstilt som en farlig provokasjon. I detalj går statlig TV gjennom hvor godt utrustet det britiske skipet var med våpen.

I vestlige medier understrekes det hvordan hendelsen er et bevis på hvor aggressiv Russland er.

I tillegg: Hele onsdag hersket det stor forvirring rundt hva som egentlig hadde skjedd i Svartehavet. Russerne sa at de hadde skutt varselskudd. Britiske myndigheter nektet deretter for at noe slikt hadde skjedd.

BBC-journalisten om bord på skipet hadde en annen historie. Han forteller at to russiske skip som skygget HMS Defender, prøvde å tvinge britene til å endre kurs. Siden ble det avfyrt skudd som hørtes ut som de var i trygg avstand, forteller journalist Jonathan Beale.

Benektelsen fra britiske myndigheter ga inntrykk av at Kreml var skyldig i desinformasjon. Men det de kanskje egentlig bare var skyldige i, var å overdrive situasjonen, skriver Sabbagh i The Guardian.  Läs artikel

What really happened between Russian forces in Crimea and the British destroyer HMS Defender today is wholly unclear. Maybe, as the British admiralty says, the Russians were conducting live fire exercises in the vicinity and warned the British of this. Maybe, as the Russians say, they deliberately fired nearby to warn the British ship to leave what Russia claims are its territorial waters, which the British ship deliberately entered to challenge this Russian claim.

The episode does however highlight the dangers involved in using warships or warplanes to make diplomatic or legalistic points. The danger of an accidental collision is always present, and the resulting international crisis may spiral beyond anything that either side would have wished or can control. […]

We should also remember the hysteria in our own media and security establishments when the ships and aircraft of rival powers approach our own air space and territorial waters. In recent weeks, the U.S. media has engaged in panicky speculation about the appearance of two (two) Iranian warships in the Atlantic Ocean (apparently viewed by the journalists and analysts concerned as an American lake). Läs artikel

– Er dere ikke fryktelig redde, dere som lever med Sovjet rett innpå dere? spurte tremenningen min. Det var i midt i den kalde krigen, og vi sto og så ut over de uendelige solsikkeåkrene på farmen hans i Nord-Dakota. Et stykke ute i åkeren var det en silo, hadde han fortalt meg. Nede i den befant det seg en interkontinental atomrakett, siktet inn mot et mål i Russland. Han tjente noen slanter på tomteleie for den.

Jeg opplevde at tremenningen min var langt mer utsatt og hadde større grunn til å frykte. Hvis den sovjetiske lederen trykket på atomknappen, ville min slektnings farm bli noe av det første som ble utslettet. Läs krönikan

France and Germany have suggested inviting Vladimir Putin to a summit with the EU as part of a broader reset of the bloc’s relations with Russia.

The proposal from Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel comes after Joe Biden’s Geneva summit with the Russian president, and supporters of the idea argue that European leaders can deliver the same direct messages about Russian behaviour while keeping the door open to compromise and cooperation. […]

“We need to have a discussion about how to get away from this negative spiral … but we need to advance united,” Reuters news agency quoted one senior EU diplomat as saying, while noting that there could be opposition to a summit from Baltic member states. Läs artikel

Marineøvelsen Sea Breeze 2021 er under oppseiling og skal etter planen starte 28. juni, ifølge Newsweek . 32 land, deriblant Norge, og 5000 soldater skal delta i øvelsen som ledes av USA og Ukraina.

– Sea Breeze er en årlig øvelse som holdes for 21. år på rad i år. Å holde en slik felles øvelse årlig er en synlig demonstrasjon av USAs nære samarbeid med våre allierte i Nato og andre land for å forbedre den maritime sikkerheten i Svartehavet. sier talsmann for den amerikanske marinen, løytnant Bobby Dixon, til Newsweek.

Styrken skal blant annet øve på ubåtjakt, luftvern, redningsaksjoner og operasjoner knyttet til spesialstyrker. […]

Storbritannia og Russland er høyst uenige om hvorvidt russerne har skutt varselskudd mot et britisk marinefartøy i Svartehavet. Ikke riktig, sier britene. Meldingen om de angivelige varselsskuddene ble spredt av russiske nyhetsbyråer onsdag. Britiske myndigheter avviser dem helt.

– Ingen varselsskudd er rettet mot HMS Defender. Det britiske marinefartøyet seiler fredelig gjennom ukrainsk farvann i tråd med internasjonale regler, heter det i en Twitter-melding fra forsvarsdepartementet i London, skriver Ritzau/TT/NTB.

Meldingen er stikk i strid med hva russerne meldte tidligere på dagen. Läs artikel