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Neo-Stalinist Russia

A Russian woman carries a portrait of Soviet leader Josef Stalin in a Victory Day celebration in Moscow Getty Images

…while critics accuse Putin of presiding over the creeping rehabilitation of Stalin – preferring to downplay the human cost of his rule to focus on the Soviet Union’s successes – an independent poll conducted in Russia in March last year revealed that 45 per cent of those questioned said they thought that the sacrifices made under Stalin were justified given the speed of the Soviet Union’s A placard depicting Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Putin, in Independence Square, Kiev, in 2014 (Getty)economic growth during his rule. more…

(Independent,  Stalin rises again over Vladimir Putin’s Russia, six decades after his death, Nadia Beard, 4 February 2016)

A placard depicting Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Putin, in Independence Square, Kiev, in 2014 (Getty)
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NATO Actions to Deter Russia in Eastern Europe

U.S. troops arrive in Poland in 2014. NATO is hardly in the position to stop a Russian offensive in the event that war breaks out, especially if that offensive begins in the Baltics. (JANEK SKARZYNSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

Washington grabbed international headlines Wednesday when it announced plans to deploy another armored brigade to Eastern Europe. This is the latest step in Operation Atlantic Resolve, the United States’ effort to show its commitment to NATO’s collective security in the face of Russia’s growing assertiveness in Ukraine. The plans include the nine-month deployment of 4,500 troops beginning in February as well as the withdrawal and refurbishment of some of the United States’ pre-positioned equipment on the Continent. Despite the attention the combat rotation is getting, however, the U.S. military is making other moves in the region that are just as important, if not more so, in signaling its intentions for Russia. more…

(SRATFOR, A New U.S. Brigade Won’t Change the Status Quo in Eastern Europe,  Geopolitical Diary, 

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Increase in NATO Defense Posture vs. Putin’s Russia

Marines with Combined Arms Company, step back as an M777 Howitzer fires a round during a live-fire shoot in Rena, Norway, Feb. 23, 2016. U.S. Marine Corps Photo

There have been a number of recent articles regarding increased posture by NATO to counter an aggressive Russia in Europe.

General Philip Breedlove, NATO Commander, recommends increasing NATO deterrence–see section A, Deter Russia.

Feb. 25, 2016 U.S. European Command posture statement from commander Gen. Philip Breedlove.

 

 

 

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Go Cardinals, Go Blues, Good Riddance Rams!

St. Louis Cardinals president Bill DeWitt III, second from left, prepares for a ceremonial puck drop alongside St. Louis Blues owner Tom Stillman as Blues' David Backes, left, and Carolina Hurricanes' Eric Staal, right, wait before an NHL hockey game on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
St. Louis Cardinals president Bill DeWitt III, second from left, prepares for a ceremonial puck drop alongside St. Louis Blues owner Tom Stillman as Blues’ David Backes, left, and Carolina Hurricanes’ Eric Staal, right, wait before an NHL hockey game on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

I didn’t like the Rams when I lived in the Bay Area (go 49ers), I didn’t like the Rams when I moved back to St. Louis, and I still don’t like the Rams now that the team is going back to LA. The owner is obnoxious and the team isn’t very good–bye, bye!

Click on the link to see how our great teams–the Cardinals and Blues–show support for our town!

 

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US-backed offensive against Islamic State in Iraq stutters

In this photo from a militant website, “lion cubs” hold rifles and Islamic State flags as they exercise at a training camp in Tal Afar, near Mosul in northern Iraq. Photo: Supplied

Baghdad: A US-backed offensive against Islamic State faltered in its first week as several hundred militants entrenched in Ramadi, the capital of Iraq’s Anbar province, withstood punishing airstrikes and held off a far-larger force of Iraqi ground troops, senior US and coalition commanders said.

The slow going in what officials portray as a major test of efforts to bring Iraq’s fractured security forces into a common front against IS comes as a truck bomb late on Friday killed more than 100 people, including women and children, in a mostly Shiite Muslim market town about 55 kilometres north of Baghdad.

The explosion in Khan Bani Saad, one of the deadliest since US combat troops withdrew from Iraq in December 2011, caught shoppers out for the Eid al-Fitr celebration that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. IS claimed responsibility, posting grisly pictures online of bodies and wreckage-strewn streets and saying the attack was aimed at government-allied Shiite militia fighters.

via The Sidney Mornigng Herald; read more athttp://ift.tt/1Id6Fhg
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Tunisia beach attack: State of emergency declared

Tunisian security forces on the beach at Sousse, one week after deadly attack (3 July)
Armed members of Tunisia’s security forces were deployed to the beach at Sousse for a ceremony of remembrance one week after the attack

Tunisia has declared a state of emergency, just over a week after 38 tourists, mainly Britons, died in an attack in the resort city of Sousse.

The state of emergency gives security forces more powers and limits the right of public assembly.

Authorities had already tightened security, deploying more than 1,400 armed officers at hotels and beaches.

Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi said in a national address that “exceptional measures” were needed.

“In order to face up to this scourge we need to be prepared. We need to have enough troops, proper training and material means – we are in desperate need of material means,” he said, appealing for international counter-terrorism support and co-operation.

The state of emergency will be in place for a renewable period of 30 days.  More via BBC News…