13 Feb, 2023 22:13

NATO to focus on ‘undersea cables and pipelines’

Stoltenberg vows to “prevent and counter threats” after Nord Stream expose blames US and Norway

NATO will set up a new coordinating body to address threats to undersea infrastructure, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday. His announcement comes just days after legendary investigative reporter Seymour Hersh said the US and Norway were behind the September explosions on the Nord Stream pipelines under the Baltic Sea.

“Protection of critical undersea infrastructure will also be high on our agenda,” Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels, following the meeting of NATO defense ministers. The US-led bloc “has been working on this for many years,” Stoltenberg added, “and we are now taking it to the next level.”

A new “coordination cell” will be established at NATO Headquarters to “map our vulnerabilities, and engage with industry,” which will “support our efforts to prevent and counter threats to critical infrastructure, including undersea cables and pipelines,” according to Stoltenberg. He said further measures will be decided at the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania in July.

Stoltenberg, who was the Norwegian prime minister before taking over NATO leadership in 2014, did not address Hersh’s story from last Wednesday. Neither did any of the reporters NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu called on.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist had accused the US of ordering the destruction of the pipelines running from Russia to Germany and Norway of helping to carry out the bombing.

The White House denounced it as “utterly false and complete fiction.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov pointed to the words of US Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland to say that Americans were “basically admitting” the pipeline blasts were their doing. Meanwhile, Beijing said that Washington owed the world an explanation.

“If Hersh is telling the truth, what he revealed is clearly unacceptable and must be answered for,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Friday.

As Hersh noted, both Nuland and US President Joe Biden had made very specific threats against Nord Stream 2 prior to the escalation of hostilities in Ukraine last year. After the blasts, US officials blamed Russia but said the situation presented an “opportunity” for Europe to cut ties with Moscow.

(Did he just admit the story was true? Seems like it.)

https://www.rt.com/news/571434-nato-undersea-cables-pipelines/

13 Feb, 2023 22:13

NATO to focus on ‘undersea cables and pipelines’

Stoltenberg vows to “prevent and counter threats” after Nord Stream expose blames US and Norway

NATO will set up a new coordinating body to address threats to undersea infrastructure, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday. His announcement comes just days after legendary investigative reporter Seymour Hersh said the US and Norway were behind the September explosions on the Nord Stream pipelines under the Baltic Sea.

“Protection of critical undersea infrastructure will also be high on our agenda,” Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels, following the meeting of NATO defense ministers. The US-led bloc “has been working on this for many years,” Stoltenberg added, “and we are now taking it to the next level.”

A new “coordination cell” will be established at NATO Headquarters to “map our vulnerabilities, and engage with industry,” which will “support our efforts to prevent and counter threats to critical infrastructure, including undersea cables and pipelines,” according to Stoltenberg. He said further measures will be decided at the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania in July.

Stoltenberg, who was the Norwegian prime minister before taking over NATO leadership in 2014, did not address Hersh’s story from last Wednesday. Neither did any of the reporters NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu called on.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist had accused the US of ordering the destruction of the pipelines running from Russia to Germany and Norway of helping to carry out the bombing.

The White House denounced it as “utterly false and complete fiction.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov pointed to the words of US Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland to say that Americans were “basically admitting” the pipeline blasts were their doing. Meanwhile, Beijing said that Washington owed the world an explanation.

“If Hersh is telling the truth, what he revealed is clearly unacceptable and must be answered for,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Friday.

As Hersh noted, both Nuland and US President Joe Biden had made very specific threats against Nord Stream 2 prior to the escalation of hostilities in Ukraine last year. After the blasts, US officials blamed Russia but said the situation presented an “opportunity” for Europe to cut ties with Moscow.

(Did he just admit the story was true? Seems like it.)

https://www.rt.com/news/571434-nato-undersea-cables-pipelines/

13 Feb, 2023 17:36

Jesus ads promote ‘fascism’ – Democrat

Congresswoman AOC slams Super Bowl commercials for social justice Christianity

Two commercials that played during Sunday’s American football Super Bowl final presented Jesus Christ as a persecuted migrant and a champion of diversity. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez argued they promoted “fascism.”

“Something tells me Jesus would not spend millions of dollars on Super Bowl ads to make fascism look benign,” the New York Democrat tweeted on Sunday evening.

Two minute-long commercials were titled “Refugee” and “Love Your Enemies,” and were commissioned by He Gets Us, at a reported cost of $20 million. One uses the footage of migrants from Latin America to compare them to the Christian savior, while the other admonishes Christians that he “loved the people we hate.”

Ocasio-Cortez, a self-declared democratic socialist, declared this to be “fascism” after a series of media stories denouncing the group behind the ads – the Servant Foundation, also known as The Signatry. Last week, the socialist outlet Jacobin called them “the far right” and a “rabidly anti-abortion and anti-gay” organization funding a “hate group” called Alliance Defending Freedom.

Jacobin’s claims were then amplified by other outlets, with headlines such as “The truth behind the ‘He Gets Us’ ads for Jesus airing during the Super Bowl” (CNN). The CNN story, which appeared just hours before the game – and AOC’s tweet – explains that ‘He Gets Us’ has “theological ties to evangelical practices as well as financial ones,” and that evangelical Christianity “is closely tied to conservatism.”

‘He Gets Us’ says it is not a political organization, or “affiliated with any particular church or denomination.” It does tell potential partners that it recognizes the 1974 Lausanne Covenant as “reflective of the spirit and intent of this movement” and that its partner churches “affirm” it. The

Lausanne movement was launched by evangelical preacher Billy Graham.

“The Jesusy ‘He Gets Us’ campaign is a truly toxic far-right effort — anti-LGBTQ, anti-abortion, etc. Ignore the gauzy social justice dressing,” liberal journalist Virginia Heffernan tweeted on Sunday evening, urging her followers to spread the word and make sure the $100 million invested in the campaign is “wasted.”

The Super Bowl is the top sporting event in the US and commands the most expensive advertising rates. The commercials and the halftime show are usually the topic of conversation afterward, as much as the game itself.

(What to fuck is wrong with AOC’s mind, she’s really crazy! She doesn't realize she is the definition of facist)

https://www.rt.com/news/571422-aoc-jesus-superbowl-fascism/

13 Feb, 2023 17:46

US tracked Chinese balloons in Middle East – air force commander

Such aircraft were “not something of concern” for the Pentagon, General Alexus Grynkewich said

The US military observed a number of alleged Chinese surveillance balloons over the Middle East in recent years, Air Forces Central Command chief Lt. Gen Alexus Grynkewich said on Monday. Washington and Beijing have thrown accusations of espionage at each other since the US shot down several high-altitude objects in recent days.

“Even though we have seen high altitude balloons in the region before,they have not been a threat, they have not been something of concern for us.” Grynkewich said at an event hosted by the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), a think tank funded by the US military and the weapons industry.

Across the US military’s Central Command, which encompasses the Middle East and parts of Central Asia, one “main incident” involving a balloon took place last fall, while “one or two others” took place in previous years, the general continued. These balloons, which Grynkewich identified as Chinese, “have not hung out over American bases or been any threat to our forces whatsoever,” he added.

“The level of concern that I have about them is extremely low,” he said. “It’s not something I lose sleep over.” (He’s admitting China already have all our data, but Keshel insinuated they were checking to see if there were any activity that showed another mission)

US warplanes shot down a “Chinese surveillance balloon” off the coast of South Carolina over a week ago, after the aircraft had crossed much of the country. The Pentagon said that the balloon carried equipment used to survey “strategic sites,” while Beijing insisted that it was a “civilian airship” that strayed from its course.

Three similar objects have since been shot down by American fighters over the US and Canada, although none of these craft have been labeled as Chinese by US officials. Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of US Northern Command, told reporters that the military is refusing to “categorize them as balloons,” and isn’t sure “how they stay aloft.”

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that “it is also common for US balloons to illegally enter the airspace of other countries.” Wang claimed that in the past year, “US high-altitude balloons have illegally flown over China’s airspace more than ten times.”

The White House denied Wang’s accusations, but Grynkewich said on Monday that balloon surveillance allows the user “to maintain your eye on a particular area of the planet for a while,” and that the US Air Force is “definitely interested in those technologies.”

https://www.rt.com/news/571430-spy-balloons-middle-east/

13 Feb, 2023 16:21

NATO launches new ‘surveillance’ network

Satellites will facilitate the sharing of intelligence data between commercial and national systems

NATO will launch a new “virtual network” comprisingnational and commercial satellites, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg revealed in a press conference on Monday ahead of a meeting of NATO defense ministers.

“This will improve our intelligence and surveillance. And support NATO missions and operations,” he said, adding that it would allow for “better navigation, communication, and early warning of missile launches.”

The move comes several months after the Russian Foreign Ministry warned that Western commercial satellites being used in the Ukraine conflict are valid military targets.

Stoltenberg acknowledged that the new network – as well as the much-needed replenishment of member nations’ weapons stores after a year of fighting in Ukraine – would requireincreased military spendingfrom those nations. The day’s meeting would thus include discussions of how to “maintain and step up defense spending across the alliance,” he said.

In addition to “stand[ing] with Ukraine for as long as it takes,”he hinted at an expansion of NATO’s efforts in Eastern Europe, explaining that “ministers will also address how to step up our practical support for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia and Moldova,” whom he called “valued partners which face Russian threats.”

While none of the three named countries are NATO members, the bloc has encouraged them to cozy up to it as the conflict in Ukraine drags on.

Moldova received EU candidate status in June, Bosnia in December, and Georgia applied for EU membership in March, though none have officially applied for NATO membership.

Russia has adamantly opposed NATO expansion, viewing the military alliance’s efforts to encroach on its borders and place missiles on its western flank as a direct threat. Moscow has sought a promise from Kiev that it will never join the bloc, though such a pledge has not been forthcoming.

Military Industrial Complex in full swing on many fronts in the world. The Beast needs death!

https://www.rt.com/news/571421-nato-military-commercial-satellites-network/