Uutisia Yhdysvalloista

Kunnes Putlerilta loppuu raha.

Niin. Tämä on se kortti.

Ryssä kuitenkin tiputtaa vanhaa ruosteista tyhmää rautaa pääasiassa, joten siellä on neuvostoaikaisten luolien tyhjennystalkoot käynnissä. Niin kauan kuin palkat juoksee ja koneet pysyy ilmassa, niin murkuloita tippuu taivaalta.

Ja sitten leikataan eläkkeet ja palkat ja ja ja... aika kauan menee ennen kuin viimeinen jeni on käytetty. Saattaapi olla, että Putler tarvitsee kunnon sodan oikeuttaakseen kansan riistämisen kuiviin sen varjolla.
 
joku esitti myös että putleri on puhaltanut yksin niin paljon rahaa valtiolta että se pystyisi maksamaan sen yksityisarmeijan sotimisen muistaakseni vuodeksi
 
Sillä vaan on muitakin maksettavanaan jos homma menee vituiksi.
Nii tämä oli tälläinen heitto enemmänkin. Aina ne rahaa jostain löytää sotimiseen. :D
 
Yhdysvalloissa estettiin terrori-isku somaliväestöä kohtaan
Jenny Thuneberg
3 tuntia ja 51 minuuttia sitten
Kolmea kansasilaista miestä odottaa elinkautinen massamurhan suunnittelemisesta.

  • FBI tutki miesten toimintaa kahdeksan kuukauden ajan ennen pidätystä.

    (Lehtikuva/Yuri Gripas)
Yhdysvaltain Keskilännessä on paljastunut vakava terrori-iskusuunnitelma. Kolme miestä pidätettiin perjantaina pommi-iskun suunnittelemisesta somalimaahanmuuttajia vastaan. Asiasta raportoi CNN.

Miesten oli tarkoitus täyttää neljä ajoneuvoa räjähteillä ja pysäköidä ne erään tietyn rakennuksen neljään eri kulmaan Garden Cityn kaupungissa Kansasissa. Kyseisessä rakennuksessa asuu 120 somalialaista maahanmuuttajaa, ja yhdessä osassa rakennusta toimii lisäksi moskeija.

Miehet kuuluvat puolisotilaalliseen The Crusaders -järjestöön, joka suomentuu "ristiretkeläisiksi". Kolmikko halusi omien sanojensa mukaan "herättää ihmiset" iskun avulla. Heidän tarkoituksenaan oli julkaista iskun jälkeen manifesti.

Iskua suunnitelleita miehiä odottaa syyttäjän mukaan todennäköisesti elinkautinen tuomio.

http://www.verkkouutiset.fi/ulkomaat/kansas_terrorismi-56411
 
Lawyer: Guantanamo prisoner had surgery to fix damage caused by sodomy

By Carol Rosenberg | Miami Herald | Published: October 15, 2016

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Tribune News Service) — An alleged accomplice in the 9/11 terrorist attacks underwent reconstructive surgery for decade-old damage from sodomy in CIA custody and was to be returned to prison to recuperate, his attorney said Saturday.

“All they said is there was minimal bleeding and he is recovering,” attorney Walter Ruiz, a Navy Reserve commander, said Saturday.

His client, Mustafa al Hawsawi, 48, was scheduled to begin surgery at 9 p.m. Friday and Ruiz said he was informed that it was over by 10:45 p.m.

Hawsawi, a Saudi, and four other men are awaiting a death-penalty trial for allegedly orchestrating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Pennsylvania and outside Washington. He voluntarily missed Friday’s hearing

An unclassified portion of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s of the CIA’s Black Site program included allegations that Hawsawi was subjected to rectal exams with “excessive force” before his 2006 transfer to Guantanamo, and that at one point he had a “medical emergency” that the agency considered having treated in a foreign hospital.

Saudi Mustafa al Hawsawi appears in this courtroom sketch during his arraignment as an accused 9/11 co-conspirator at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on Saturday, May 5, 2012.
Janet Hamlinm, Miami Herald/TNS

Saturday, the military said nothing about the outcome of Hawsawi’s Guantanamo surgery. Ruiz said he received few other details, aside from the fact that, once the anesthesia wore off, the Saudi was to be returned to Camp 7, Guantanamo’s prison for former CIA Black Site captives — including five others awaiting death-penalty trials.

The detention center spokesman, Navy Capt. John Filostrat, provided no information Saturday about the medical procedure carried out at the naval base hospital, a 5- to 10-minute drive from the Detention Center Zone.

He said by email that it was prison policy “not to discuss detainee medical issues.”

Detention Center commanders have for years briefed reporters that their captives get medical care like that provided to soldiers and sailors, and that the Navy routinely brings in specialists to carry out some procedures.

Hawsawi was captured in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, in March 2003 with the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, and was held by the CIA until his delivery to Guantanamo in September 2006. He is alleged to have helped the hijackers with money, Western clothing, travelers’ checks and credit cards.

Hawsawi’s lawyers had been litigating over conditions at the remote prison and, sought medical intervention to treat a rectal prolapse that has caused Hawsawi to bleed for more than a decade.

“Mr. Hawsawi was tortured in the black sites. He was sodomized,” Ruiz said this past week, advising them to “shy away from terms like rectal penetration or rectal rehydration because the reality is it was sodomy,” he said. Since then, he said, he has had “to manually reinsert parts of his anal cavity” to defecate.

“When he has a bowel movement, he has to reinsert parts of his anus back into his anal cavity,” Ruiz said, which “causes him to bleed, causes him excruciating pain.”

Earlier in the week, Army Lt. Gen. Jennifer Williams, one of Hawsawi’s attorneys, asked the trial judge, Army Col. James L. Pohl, to order the prosecution or CIA to give them the Saudi’s complete medical records from more than three years in CIA custody.

©2016 Miami Herald
Visit Miami Herald at www.miamiherald.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

http://www.stripes.com/news/us/lawy...rgery-to-fix-damage-caused-by-sodomy-1.434312
 
Lawyer: Guantanamo prisoner had surgery to fix damage caused by sodomy

By Carol Rosenberg | Miami Herald | Published: October 15, 2016

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Tribune News Service) — An alleged accomplice in the 9/11 terrorist attacks underwent reconstructive surgery for decade-old damage from sodomy in CIA custody and was to be returned to prison to recuperate, his attorney said Saturday.

“All they said is there was minimal bleeding and he is recovering,” attorney Walter Ruiz, a Navy Reserve commander, said Saturday.

His client, Mustafa al Hawsawi, 48, was scheduled to begin surgery at 9 p.m. Friday and Ruiz said he was informed that it was over by 10:45 p.m.

Hawsawi, a Saudi, and four other men are awaiting a death-penalty trial for allegedly orchestrating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Pennsylvania and outside Washington. He voluntarily missed Friday’s hearing

An unclassified portion of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s of the CIA’s Black Site program included allegations that Hawsawi was subjected to rectal exams with “excessive force” before his 2006 transfer to Guantanamo, and that at one point he had a “medical emergency” that the agency considered having treated in a foreign hospital.

Saudi Mustafa al Hawsawi appears in this courtroom sketch during his arraignment as an accused 9/11 co-conspirator at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on Saturday, May 5, 2012.
Janet Hamlinm, Miami Herald/TNS

Saturday, the military said nothing about the outcome of Hawsawi’s Guantanamo surgery. Ruiz said he received few other details, aside from the fact that, once the anesthesia wore off, the Saudi was to be returned to Camp 7, Guantanamo’s prison for former CIA Black Site captives — including five others awaiting death-penalty trials.

The detention center spokesman, Navy Capt. John Filostrat, provided no information Saturday about the medical procedure carried out at the naval base hospital, a 5- to 10-minute drive from the Detention Center Zone.

He said by email that it was prison policy “not to discuss detainee medical issues.”

Detention Center commanders have for years briefed reporters that their captives get medical care like that provided to soldiers and sailors, and that the Navy routinely brings in specialists to carry out some procedures.

Hawsawi was captured in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, in March 2003 with the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, and was held by the CIA until his delivery to Guantanamo in September 2006. He is alleged to have helped the hijackers with money, Western clothing, travelers’ checks and credit cards.

Hawsawi’s lawyers had been litigating over conditions at the remote prison and, sought medical intervention to treat a rectal prolapse that has caused Hawsawi to bleed for more than a decade.

“Mr. Hawsawi was tortured in the black sites. He was sodomized,” Ruiz said this past week, advising them to “shy away from terms like rectal penetration or rectal rehydration because the reality is it was sodomy,” he said. Since then, he said, he has had “to manually reinsert parts of his anal cavity” to defecate.

“When he has a bowel movement, he has to reinsert parts of his anus back into his anal cavity,” Ruiz said, which “causes him to bleed, causes him excruciating pain.”

Earlier in the week, Army Lt. Gen. Jennifer Williams, one of Hawsawi’s attorneys, asked the trial judge, Army Col. James L. Pohl, to order the prosecution or CIA to give them the Saudi’s complete medical records from more than three years in CIA custody.

©2016 Miami Herald
Visit Miami Herald at www.miamiherald.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

http://www.stripes.com/news/us/lawy...rgery-to-fix-damage-caused-by-sodomy-1.434312


"They sentenced me for seven years, not seven times a day!"
 
Kovaa peliä Bostonissa... eikun Washingtonissa

"Pahempaa kuin Watergate" – FBI:ta yritettiin lahjoa Hillary Clintonin sähköpostien vuoksi
SAMI METELINEN
eilen klo 15:54 (päivitetty eilen klo 15:56)
Yhdysvaltain ulkoministeriön korkea virkamies ehdotti liittovaltion poliisille FBI:lle vaihtokauppaa asiakirjan salaisuusluokituksen muuttamiseksi.

  • 561a6e7be6de2967c34ea390379bf4d10784fbb48dc4b9b3e3f436fcea0147a9

    Hillary Clinton.

    (Lehtikuva/AFP)
Asia paljastui, kun liittovaltion poliisi FBI julkaisi maanantaina lisää asiakirjoja, jotka liittyvät demokraattien presidenttiehdokasta Hillary Clintonia koskevaan tutkintaan.

Tutkinta koski Clintonin toimia Yhdysvaltojen ulkoministerinä ollessaan. Tuolloin Clinton käytti yksityistä sähköpostia salaisiksi luokiteltujen asiakirjojen lähettämiseen, ja saattoi siten vaarantaa Yhdysvaltojen turvallisuuden. Yhdysvaltain oikeusministeriö päätti kuitenkin kesällä olla nostamatta syytteitä Clintonia kohtaan.

Maanantaina julkaistujen tutkinta-asiakirjojen myötä paljastui, että Yhdysvaltojen ulkoministeriön valtiosihteeri Patrick Kennedy pyysi FBI:ta muuttamaan erään Clintonin yksityiseltä palvelimelta lähettämän sähköpostin turvaluokitusta "salaisesta" luokittelemattomaksi. Vastapalvelukseksi Kennedy ehdotti, että FBI:lle myönnettäisiin toimivaltuuksia sellaisissa maissa, joissa FBI:lla ei ole tällä hetkellä oikeuksia toimia. Tällainen maa on esimerkiksi Irak.

FBI:n mukaan sähköpostin turvallisuusluokitusta ei muutettu.

Republikaanien presidenttiehdokkaan Donald Trumpin mukaan FBI:n asiakirjat paljastavat "rikollisen teon", joka on "pahempi kuin Watergate". Trump viittasi sillä Yhdysvaltain presidentti Richard Nixonin kaataneeseen Watergate-skandaaliin, jossa Nixon yritti peitellä osallisuuttaan demokraattipuolueen vakoiluun.

Trump syytti kampanjatilaisuudessaan Wisconsinissa Yhdysvaltain ulkoministeriötä yrityksestä "peitellä Hillaryn rikoksia luottamuksellisten sähköpostien lähettämisestä palvelimella, johon vihollisemme pääsivät helposti käsiksi".

– Tämä on rikollista korruptiota. Valtiosihteeri Kennedyn pitää erota, Trump vaati.

– Tämä on iso juttu. Tämä on Watergate, Trump sanoi Fox Newsille.

http://www.verkkouutiset.fi/politiikka/clinton watergate-56555
 
Img_161019130949.JPG Img_161019131019.JPG Img_161019131605.JPG Img_161019131019.JPG Img_161019131605.JPG En nyt ole ihan varma kuuluuko tanne, mutta jos ei niin modet voi aina siirtaa.
Kuvat ovat Ely nimisesta pienesta kaupungista minnesotassa.
Hyvin paljon suomensukuisia siella, ja sielta loytyi tosiaan kunnon suomalainen sauna. Aholoiden rakentama, miesten saunan kiuas oli rakennettu veturin jaahdyttimesta aikanaan.

Tassa muutama kuva heidan uhrauksistaan sodissa.
Uusi veteraani puisto on siella jo rakenteilla. Ja kuulemma kaikki suomalaiset ovat enemman kuin tervetulleita ko. kaupunkiin.
 
Katso liite: 12075 Katso liite: 12076 Katso liite: 12077 Katso liite: 12076 Katso liite: 12077 En nyt ole ihan varma kuuluuko tanne, mutta jos ei niin modet voi aina siirtaa.
Kuvat ovat Ely nimisesta pienesta kaupungista minnesotassa.
Hyvin paljon suomensukuisia siella, ja sielta loytyi tosiaan kunnon suomalainen sauna. Aholoiden rakentama, miesten saunan kiuas oli rakennettu veturin jaahdyttimesta aikanaan.

Tassa muutama kuva heidan uhrauksistaan sodissa.
Uusi veteraani puisto on siella jo rakenteilla. Ja kuulemma kaikki suomalaiset ovat enemman kuin tervetulleita ko. kaupunkiin.

Oliko nämä sankarivainajat "vieti vai tuonti patriootteja?"...? :rolleyes:

Rauha heidän sieluilleen :salut:
 
Ilmeisesti vienti mallia. Pula-aikana sinne menneet kaivoksiin ja metsille toihin. Jos ajatellaan, etta 3000 ihmisen kaupungista suuri maara on suomalaisia, ja arvostettuja viela, niin hieno homma. Kolmesta kaatuneesta koreassa kolme oli suomalaisia, ainakin mita sain selville siella juteltuani. Samoin ww2 kaatuneista, osalla on muutettu nimi kun olivat kuulemma vedelleet turpaan toisaalla porukkaa, niin muuttivat tuonne, ja ottivat amerikkalaisemman nimen.
 
USAssakin on näköjään Loch Nessin hirviö?


http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/10/2...ka-river-loch-ness-monster-like-creature.html

Is video of 'strange thing' in Alaska river a Loch Ness monster-like creature?
Published October 29, 2016
FoxNews.com
Facebook Twitter livefyre Email Print
1477764775926.jpg

A Bureau of Land Management staffer captured this "strange thing" in the Chena River in Fairbanks. (Bureau of Land Management Fairbanks)

Are the icy waters of an Alaska river home to a Loch Ness monster-like creature?

Bureau of Land Management staffer Craig McCaa was recording video of the Chena River Oct 18 when he saw a 12-to-15-foot-long object swirling back and forth in the current for several minutes, the Alaska Dispatch News reports.

McCaa posted the video on the BLM-Fairbanks video page where speculation is runing rampant over what the creepy object might be, the paper reports.

RECOVERED WWI GERMAN U-BOAT REVIVES 'SEA MONSTER' TALES


As of Saturday the video has been viewed more than 178,000 times.

“I initially thought, and several people thought, it could be some rope that snagged on the bottom of the river with chunks of ice,” McCaa said. “Other people have mentioned everything from sea monster to giant sturgeon.”

McCaa said he shot the video from a safe distance on a bridge.

'GHOST SHIP' VIDEO GOES VIRAL

“I don't know what I would have done if I had come by in a canoe or something,” he told the Dispatch. “But looking from it above on the University Avenue bridge I didn't feel too threatened.”

Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Klaus Wuttig told the Dispatch he thinks it’s probably just rope stuck to a bridge pier that floated to the surface because of ice particles.
 
Lesin-tutkinta on päätöksessään. Onnettomuus. Yhdysvaltoihin karannut entinen Putinin luottomies kaatui kännissä hotellihuoneessaan. Vammoista päätellen kaatui vähintään pesäpallomailaan, joten huhut jatkavat pyörimistään.

Hänen uskottiin aluksi menehtyneen sydänkohtaukseen. Myöhemmin syyksi paljastuivat laajat ruhjevammat miehen kaulassa, ylävartalossa ja ylä- ja alaraajoissa.


http://www.verkkouutiset.fi/ulkomaat/mihail_lesin_kuolinsyy-57046
 
Tämä Usan kaasuputki mellakka intiaanien maille on todella mielenkiintoinen. Eli kyllä suuria medioita joku taho käskee. Uutiset loistavat poissaolollaan jokaisen isomman median etusivulta. Isot määrät mielenosoittajia ja hampaisiin asti aseistautuneet viranomaiset.
Pari hyvää pointtia. Tätä Hillaryn miespuolista kollegaa joka pippelikuvia lähetteli on pyydetty lähettämään mulkustaan kuvan tuonne jos silloin media kiinnostuisi.
Salaliittoteoreetikot ovat väittäneet vuosia,että viranomaiset valmistautuvat sotaan aseettomia siviilejä vastaan.
Se näyttää toteutuvan tuolla.

Hillary ei inahdakkaan. Kuuluu vasta puolen tukijoihin.
 
Aika hurja meno taalla nyt. Toki me olemme jo etelassa, mutta raakaa menoa Iowassa.

http://www.kcci.com/article/breaking-two-officers-shot-overnight/8089441

Des Moines police said two police officers were shot and killed early Wednesday, in what police describe as ambush-style attacks.

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The first shooting happened at 1:06 a.m. at 70th & Aurora. An Urbandale police officer was shot and killed there.

The second shooting happened blocks away at Merle Hay & Sheridan at 1:26 a.m. A responding Des Moines police officer was shot there. He was transported to Methodist Hospital, where he died a short time later.

Urbandale police said Officer Justin Martin was killed in the first shooting.

Des Moines Police Sgt. Paul Parizek said Des Moines Sgt. Anthony "Tony" Beminio was killed in the second shooting.

Sgt. Beminio, 39, has been with Des Moines police since 2005. Parizek indicated that Beminio has a wife and children at home.

Urbandale police said Officer Martin, 24, has been with the force since 2015. Martin was single, with no children.

SUSPECT CAPTURED

Law enforcement officials have captured a suspect in a pair of ambush-style killings.

Reports indicate the suspect was captured alive in Dallas County around 9 a.m. Wednesday.

Scott Michael Greene was located two miles south of Redfield in Dallas County by the Dallas County Sheriffs Office and the Iowa State Patrol.

Des Moines police said Greene was arrested without incident after flagging down state employee on a road and asking to call 911.

Greene was transported to a hospital in Des Moines. Reports indicate Greene was suffering from seizures.

Police said Greene was not armed when he was captured. Officials are searching for the weapon involved. A line of officials could be seen combing a field for evidence where Greene was captured.

scott-greene-1478090283.jpg

Urbandale police said Greene was known to them. Officers had escorted Greene from an Urbandale High School football game in October. He had been asked to leave the property after displaying a confederate flag inside the stadium.

Iowa court records show Greene was jailed and charged with interference with official acts after resisting Urbandale police officers trying to pat him down for a weapon on April 10, 2014.

A complaint signed by an Urbandale officer says Greene resisted verbal commands, was hostile and combative. It says he was known to be armed. He entered a guilty plea and was fined.

Two days later, Urbandale police were called to answer a complaint of harassment at the apartment complex where Greene lived. The complaint says he threatened to kill another man during a confrontation in the parking lot. He was charged with harassment, pleaded guilty and received a suspended jail sentence and a year of probation.

Records show he completed a court-ordered substance abuse and psychological evaluation.

urbandale-scnee-1478089571.jpg

THE SHOOTINGS

Des Moines police said two police officers were shot and killed overnight, in what police describe as ambush-style attacks.

The first shooting happened at 1:06 a.m. at 70th & Aurora. An Urbandale police officer was shot and killed there.

The second shooting happened blocks away at Merle Hay & Sheridan at 1:26 a.m. A responding Des Moines police officer was shot there. He was transported to Methodist Hospital, where he died a short time later.

Des Moines police said the shootings appear to have been ambush-style attacks.

Des Moines Police Sgt. Paul Parizek said both officers appear to have been shot while sitting in their cars.

“It doesn’t look like there was any interaction between these officers and whoever the coward is who shot them while they sat in their cars,” said Parizek.

Urbandale Police Sgt. Chad Underwood indicated that this is the first deadly Urbandale police shooting he is aware of. He said the Urbandale department employs about 50 officers.
 
Pojoismaissa varaudutaan Venäjän toimiin, kertoo U.S.News;



NATO’s ‘Northern Flank’ Vulnerable to Russia

Norway, Sweden and Finland are out in the cold against a rise in Moscow’s aggressive activity.


NATO’s ‘Northern Flank’ Vulnerable to Russia
MORE
(Matt Cardy/Getty Images)


MORE


By Paul D. Shinkman | Senior National Security Writer

Nov. 3, 2016, at 4:00 p.m.


STOCKHOLM – Officials in Finland, Sweden and Norway are concerned about what have become almost routine acts of Russian aggression, how they can respond, and whether they could prevent an incident, or even an accident, from spiraling out of control. So now, quietly, they're preparing for a confrontation.

"This is where the accident – God forbid – would more likely occur," Air Force Secretary Deborah James says of the Baltic region, an area of critical importance to NATO and where it abuts Russia. Commonly called the alliance's "northern flank," the three Nordic countries beget military activity frequently due to their geography, instilling in them the need for greater cooperation with the West both to train their forces and to determine how they could synchronize their activities in the event of an actual conflict.

85

Part two of two about Russia’s military activity against northern Europe and the vulnerabilities of America’s closest allies there.

Part 1: Russia’s Ramping Up for War Where Nobody’s Looking

In October, James completed a tour through each of the three Nordic countries, months after the U.S. signed a new security pact with Sweden, days after after Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work secured to a similar agreement in Helsinki, and weeks after Defense Secretary Ash Carter visited Norway, a NATO ally.

Throughout meetings with her Nordic counterparts, the secretary heard common concerns about the threats they face, as well as the national shortcomings that would limit their ability to understand and respond to a potential incident. They also wish to move closer to cooperation with the U.S. and others in NATO without upsetting what remains of the security balance in the region.

The Baltic area has been at the center of recent incidents that observers worry only contribute to a greater divide between Moscow and NATO. Norway confirmed last month it would allow a rotation of more than 300 U.S. Marines to be based on its territory for training and exercises, a move Russia's state news service blasted as sending "negative signals eastward," citing Norwegian critics of the deal. Weeks after deploying a nuclear-capable missile shield to its outpost province of Kaliningrad, Russia reportedly bolstered its Baltic Fleet, which the Polish defense minister called "an obvious cause for concern." And Russia already had deployed a flotilla of warships through the English channel en route to support operations in the Mediterranean, causing Britain to deploy its own navy to shadow the ships and which an official in Sweden called "worrying."



"The risk for an armed Russian attack is still very low, but the risk for incidents is, of course, there as long as we are seeing increased military activity," says navy Rear Adm. Jonas Haggren, head of the Policy and Plans Department with Sweden's Armed Forces Headquarters. "The catalyst is, of course, the deteriorating regional security situation, which Russia is, of course, a part of."

"Russia has clearly shown they are prepared to move borders in Europe, that they are prepared to use violence to achieve political aims."

This area around the Baltic Sea, the career submariner says, is complicated and crowded.

Former Soviet nations that have since joined NATO share the same seas with Russia's traditional competitors, like Norway, a founding member of the pro-Western bloc, and former friends, like Finland, which until 1917 was a Russian state and has since maintained close ties along the 800-mile border the countries share.

RELATED CONTENT

Russia’s Ramping Up for War Where Nobody’s Looking
The Nordics' vulnerability is a shortcoming at the center of recent U.S. military efforts to reinforce its alliance with Norway through NATO and bolster ties with Sweden and Finland, the two countries it's signed new defense pacts with in recent months.


Those two, which aren't NATO members, are particularly concerned about their relative inability to communicate securely with allies in the event of a crisis.

Haggren describes his nightmare scenario as something akin to the series of incidents in which Russian jets have buzzed U.S. Navy vessels. Sweden's shortcomings in encrypted communications limit its ability to, first, understand provocations, and then coordinate a response with allies before an incident spirals into a conflict.

In an effort to make up for the lag in a military response that inadequate communications creates, countries in the region in some cases are acquiring more versatile weapons and deploying troops in advance to potential hotspots. Sweden dispatched a rotational force of soldiers to Gotland Island in the middle of the Baltic Sea in case Russia were considering testing its resolve to protect the territory. Norway purchased the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter for its deterrent capability as well as its information-gathering potential.

"We're being firm toward Russia," says air force Maj. Gen. Morten Klever, director of Norway's F-35 program.

Russian state-sponsored news repeatedly blasts the purchase as provocative, claiming Norway is only interested in the highly advanced airframes to evade Russian defenses and attack its territory. Klever, however, like his counterparts in the U.S., insists the aircraft is a necessary evolution to replace aging squadrons, like Norway's F-16s.

"It's not in our interest to attack Russia," he says. "We have the capability, there's no doubt about that … as Russia has."


Perhaps more importantly, the potential for military misunderstandings in this part of the world makes the F-35 an essential tool for de-escalations, due to its sophisticated sensors and computers that allow it to serve as more of an airborne intelligence collection hub and combat controller, not just a direct-attack craft. Klever describes it as a "vacuum cleaner for information," which it can then process into one picture and share with politicians and military decisionmakers.

"That's very valuable, specifically in the beginning of a crisis," he says.

In many ways, Russia is a good neighbor to Norway and the others along its border. Oslo and Moscow maintain long-established coordination for search-and-rescue efforts in the Arctic Sea, for example.

And Norway has a unique relationship with Russia, Klever says, because the presence of its jets should not be an inherently threatening signal as new formations of other countries' planes could. Finland and Sweden, however, must tread more carefully in escalating military purchases, deployments or patrols.

Another obstacle these countries face is the intense presence of propaganda, perhaps the most damaging instrument of war that Russia has exercised outside of its declared war zones. Authorities in Finland, for example, have complained about what they say is an uptick in propaganda by Russian-controlled news outlets, including reports that criticize its government and question the foundation of the country's independence nearly 100 years ago.

As Finnish government communications chief Markku Mantila told The Independent in October, the Russian media activity "aims at creating distrust between leaders and citizens, and to have us make decisions to harm ourselves. It also aims to make citizens suspicious about the European Union and to warn Finland over not joining NATO."


RELATED CONTENT

Under Putin's Shadow
Haggren offers a similar assessment.

"It is in our opinion that Russia is trying to influence our public opinion" through cyber operations, he says. Russia wants to maintain the status quo, and doesn't want to see changes in security cooperation in the region.

Such changes could include either Sweden or Finland joining NATO or merely a stronger NATO presence around the Baltics. Russia preys on societies that have a free media by injecting ideas that serve its interest.

"We have to have a clear idea of how to handle that type of hybrid warfare as it's being done and also how to influence our public opinion," Haggren says. "The more we talk about it, the more we're making people aware of it."

Underlying this fear are the propaganda campaigns Moscow has employed before, like to exacerbate unrest in Ukraine in 2014 and capitalize on the subsequent dissension by laying claim to Crimea. To the rest of the world, this brand of information warfare serves what most officials in the region believe is Russia's ultimate goal: to restore its once-proud role in the world, beginning with establishing dominating influence over its neighborhood and earning the respect of other global powers.

"Russia certainly yearns for the so-called 'great power status,' which I think is quite remarkable because I would say they're already a great power," James says. "They don't need to be doing all this to demonstrate great power status."

"They have a large territory, they have a plethora of natural resources, they have a history of being a great civilization," she explains. "To me, they should not have such an inferiority complex."


James also points to what she sees as another aspect of Russian identity: that its leaders understand the "the consistency of action," or emphasizing the importance of, for example, professionally intercepting provocative Russian flights each time they happen.

"Consistency and strength," James says. "That, Russia understands."

The strength of the counterbalance the alliance provides has been a question for the Nordic countries amid a U.S. presidential election in which Republican nominee Donald Trump has repeatedly said he would pull back U.S. involvement in NATO, perhaps even withdraw fully from the treaty unless other participants contribute more.

"What I told my counterparts was, 'Hold on,'" James says. "Every president, once he or she becomes president, still has their opinions, but you don't get to choose your facts. Your facts are the facts and your opinions will shape what you do about the facts.

"Once all these details are revealed, I can't imagine any future president wouldn't remain very committed to Europe, wouldn't remain very committed to a defense strategy for the U.S. and in partnership with others which is robust."

As the reaction to the statements of would-be world leaders shows, conflict today is not limited to bullets and bombs. In addition to rhetoric and propaganda, countries within Russia's perceived spheres of influence routinely fall subject to subversive cyberattacks and other forms of hybrid tactics in addition to provocative overt actions. As one Finnish analyst said privately, "this sense of uneasiness is a form of psychological warfare."


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It's something Washington now understands directly, after the U.S. intelligence community concluded earlier in October that operatives connected to Russia hacked the Democratic National Committee servers to interfere with the U.S. election.

For many Americans, Moscow's invasion of Crimea in 2014 was uncharacteristic of the Russia they knew. Everyone below the age of 25 lived in a world that had known Russia as a partner, one that is now solely responsible for transporting and protecting American astronauts traveling to and from the International Space Station. In the early years of Putin's administration, he appeared committed to bolstering economic and political cooperation with the West and even suggested the possibility of Russia's joining NATO during a BBC interview weeks before he was first elected president in 2000.

Countries here, however, began to perceive a threat much earlier. Shortly after Russia annexed part of northern Georgia in 2008, Sweden passed a new defense postures through parliament shortly after the Russian incursion, moving from a strictly neutral state to one that would help defend a fellow European Union or Nordic country that came under attack. It has since worked to bolster the military it let atrophy after the Berlin Wall came down and find ways to integrate it into the forces it could prospectively fight alongside.

"We're getting into a rough ride," says Robert Dalsjo, an expert on the Baltics with the Defense Research Agency, an independent think tank sponsored by the Swedish government. "We have forgotten how to do this for real, and we are suddenly faced with a threat that is much bigger than we expected."

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Finland Wary Of Russian Propaganda
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Tags: Norway, Sweden, Finland, NATO, Russia, Vladimir Putin


Paul D. Shinkman
SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY WRITER
Paul D. Shinkman is a national security reporter for U.S. News & World Report. You can follow him on Twitter or reach him at [email protected]


http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2016-11-03/natos-northern-flank-vulnerable-to-russia
 
Hups... kuinkas tässä näin pääsi käymään..? U.S. Navy:n Zumwalt-luokan ammukset hyllytetty:

Advanced Gun System (AGS), is a 155mm/62-caliber gun with an automated magazine and handling system. Each of the three Zumwalts will carry two of the guns – the largest weapons to be designed for and fitted on a warship since World War II.

Kokonaistuotanto jää nyt jo valmistettuun 150kpl:n testierään, jolla suoritetaan meripalveluskelpoisuuden vaatimat koeammunnat. Sähkömagneettinen rail gun on ilmeisesti tulossa ainoastaan Z-luokan kolmanteen ja viimeiseen alukseen.

... aika kallis test bed -projekti!

http://www.defensenews.com/articles/new-warships-big-guns-have-no-bullets
 
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