Russia's Finding Ways to Attack NATO – Using Hybrid Tactics - YouTube - UA News

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President Biden Plans Major Foreign Trip

From 9-13 July 2023,President Joseph R. Biden will conduct an overseas trip,according to White House Press Secretary Karine-Jean Pierre's Statement.His first stop will be London,UK,for his first meeting with His Majesty King Charles III as monarch,spending some quality time with him.He will also meet with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. This stop is to further strengthen the relations between the two countries. From 11-12 Juy,he will attend the 74th NATO Summit in Vilnius,Lithuania.On 13 July,he will attend the U.S.-Nordic Leaders Summit. The London stop will be to shore up the relationship between the US and UK amid the ongoing war in Europe and difficulties with China,North Korea and Iran.At the NATO Summit,the Alliance will consider further steps to enhance NATO's deterrence and defense capabilities in light of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.It will also discuss a clear pathway for Ukraine's membership in NATO.Poland may request participation in the US nuclear sharing program with NATO Allies given Russia's deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus,which borders Poland. Some NATO Allies may request more US and other NATO troops on their soil.The U.S.-Nordic Leaders Summit may cover vulnerabilities in Scandanavia,Greenland,Iceland and the Faroe Islands. The desire for less reliance on China and energy security will likely come up in the various fora.

Panorthodox Synod : ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH MET THE FIVE DEPOSED LITHUANIAN PRIESTS - photos (for best results,click on photos)

Panorthodox Synod : ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH MET THE FIVE DEPOSED LITHUANI...:   Ecumenical Patriarchate In the context of His All-Holiness Official visit in Lithuania, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew had a meeting wi...

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Meets With President of Lithuanian Parliament,Speaks at Seminar

On the second day of his official visit to Lithuania,His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew met with the President of the Lithuanian Parliament,which is called the Seimas,Ms.Viktorija Cmylite-Nielson.Ms.Cmylite-Nielson thanked the Patriarch for the restoration of historical justice and the reinstatement of the five priests deposed by the Moscow Patriarchate.She went on to say that: From the thirteenth century until 1686,the Orthodox living in the territory of Lithuania considered Constantinople as the Mother Church from which Orthodoxy came to our country.It was part of the Metropolis of Kyiv and the Ecumenical Patrarchate.And only later passed to the Patriarchate of Moscow. The Lithuanian capital,Vilnius,had always been a city of religious freedom and tolerance,with those of Roman Catholic,Orthodox,Lutheran,Jewish,Uniate and Muslim faiths living together.In Vilnius,the word of God was spread with love,not with the swords.It is therefore absolutely unacceptable for us,the inhabitants of the city and the descendants of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania,when God covers the imperialist aspirations of the Kremlin regime.I told His All-Holiness that in this light we see the situation of Orthodox Christians in Lithuania.* Patriarch Bartholomew also addressed a seminar in Vilnius sponsored by the EPP Group,a coalition of center-right parties in the European Parliament.He emphasized the central role of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the Orthodox Church,contrasting it with the ethnocentrist tendency of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Kremlin in their "Russian World" philosophy,which is inherently chauvinistic,resulting in conflict within the Orthodox world and,ultimately,Putin's war of aggression against Ukraine.

Update on Patriarch Bartholomew's Visit to Lithuania

On Tuesday 21 March 2023,His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew,on the second day of his three day official visit to Lithuania,conferred with Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte.They announced that they are cooperating on establishing a branch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Lithuania.Its purpose is to serve residents of Lithuania who reject the Moscow Patriarchate's support for Putin's war of aggression against Ukraine,including a number of Ukrainians and Belarusians,as well as five Lithuanian clerics who had been deposed by the Moscow Patriarchate for opposing the Ukraine war.* In the course of his visit,Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew was also scheduled to meet with President Gitanas Nauseda of Lithuania,as well as the Parliament leader.Lithuania is a former Soviet Republic.Located in the Baltic Sea Region of Eastern Europe,it belongs to NATO and the EU.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to Meet With Lithuanian Prime Minister

His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is headed to Vilnius,Lithuania this week.On Tuesday,21 March 2023 he is to meet with Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte,the Government Chancellery told BNS News,according to church news website vema.com.au.This is in the context of the His All-Holiness' reinstatement of five clerics who had been deposed by Metropolitan Innokenty of the Lithuanian Orthodox Church,a branch of the Moscow Patriarchate,only because they are rightly opposed to Putin's war of aggression against Ukraine.The clerics had appealed to the Ecumenical Patriarchate for reinstatement last summer.* The Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate deliberated on the request and unanimously approved it based on the Divine and Sacred Canons 9 and 17 of the Fourth Ecumenical Council.* Earlier,the Deputy Foreign Minister of Lithuania had been received by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on 19 September 2022,and His Eminence Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon followed up by meeting with Prime Minister Simonyte in December 2022.The reinstated clerics are hopeful that the Ecumenical Patriarchate will establish a local branch of the Patriarchate for Lithuania similar to the one it created for Estonia years ago.

Panorthodox Synod : COMMUNIQUE ON THE PETITION OF APPEAL BY CLERGYMEN FROM LITHUANIA

Panorthodox Synod : COMMUNIQUE ON THE PETITION OF APPEAL BY CLERGYMEN ...:   Οικουμενικόν Πατριαρχείον Ἀνακοινωθέν περί τῆς ἐκκλήτου προσφυγῆς κληρικῶν ἐκ Λιθουανίας It was ascertained that several clerics were uncanonically deposed by the Patriarchate of Moscow.

NATO Defence Ministerial:Major Decisions Taken on New Commands - plus is Russia militarising Kaliningrad

The first day of the NATO Defence Ministerial has concluded in Brussels with big decisions being made on the new command structure elements.According to Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg,speaking at a news conference to summarise the meeting:
We took major decisions to modernise the NATO command structure.It is the backbone of our Alliance,and it enables our 29 nations to act as one;it allows us to run our missions and operations,and to train and act in case of a crisis with the right forces in the right place at the right time.
We will establish a new joint force command for the Atlantic,to help protect sea lines of communication between North America and Europe.
We will establish a new support command for logistics,reinforcements and military mobility-improving the movement of troops and equipment is essential to our collective deterrence and defence.
We will also set up a cyber operations centre at our military headquarters in SHAPE to further strengthen our defence.*
There will also be some new land component commands,Mr.Stoltenberg said,but no final decisions on location have been taken.That will be addressed at the July Summit.The US has offered to host the new Atlantic command,and Germany has offered to host the new logistics support and enablement command.*
Reportedly,Germany said it could host the logistics command near Koln or Bonn.*
In response to a reporter's question about Russia beefing up its military posture in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad between Poland and Lithuania,Mr.Stoltenberg noted that:
We have seen that they are investing in their infrastructure;we have seen that they are strengthening their military presence in Kaliningrad;but whether they have now deployed Iskanders (short-range ballistic missiles) is something I will not comment on.That's an intelligence matter and I will not comment on our intelligence on these issues;but I will only call on Russia to be transparent.

Allied Spirit V:NATO Land Exercise Stresses Interoperablility

NATO Exercise Allied Spirit V is underway at the Hohenfels Training Area,Germany.It runs from 26 September to 15 October 2016 and involves some 2520 troops from eight countries.Besides the US,participants include Belgium;Canada;the Czech Republic;Germany;Italy;Lithuania;and the UK.*
The US Army is leading the drills,sending soldiers from the 2nd Cavalry;12th Combat Aviation Brigade;and the 40th Infantry Division California Army National Guard,Louisiana Army National Guard and Pennsylvania Army National Guard.Allied Spirit prepares forces in Europe to tactically interoperate and tests communications security among NATO Allies and partners.*
Lithuania's "Iron Wolf" Brigade is commanding Brigade HQ at Hohenfels,which is the US Army Training Command's facility.The multinational unified land operations promote both the interoperability and the integration of the participating forces as they confront the simulated aggressors.*
The drills are the follow-on to Allied Spirit IV,which took place in January 2016.

Columnist Assesses Ukraine Crisis

New York Times columnist Roger Cohen made several remarks at a panel discussion Wednesday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington,DC on the topic of The Russian Intervention in Ukraine.It was moderated by former CBS News anchor Bob Schieffer and also included former US national security advisors Zbigniew Brezinski and Lieutenant General Brent Scowcroft.
I'm not sure Vladimir Putin is a man who listens to concessions,Mr.Cohen said.Unless you respond to his strength with your own,you end up losing.We cannot take a veto from Moscow on whether free countries can join the EU.
Putin had the perception he could get away with this.There was a sense of a United States where the apposite word was "retrenchment."I think it's a matter of great concern when the US steps back from a red line at the last minute,as in the Syria chemical weapons matter.There is a sense of disunity and weakness that gave Putin a kind of green light.
President Putin is trying to recreate some sort of Russian imperium.While it's true there are "three Ukraines,"in the sense of Crimea,Eastern Ukraine and Western Ukraine,one Ukraine was recognised by Putin in 1994.This intervention is a game changer,a sea change.I think the situation is combustible,both within Ukraine and in the Baltic states.It was a 19 year-old kid that precipitated World War I.I think this is a far,far more dangerous situation than many people imagine.
I think what Putin has presented the West is,looking again at the transatlantic alliance;at defence budgets;at the notion that our attention should be elsewhere.President Obama is about to go to Europe.I think it's absolutely critical that this trip be well-prepared and a strong,united,vigourous statement about what has occurred be made,New York Times columnist Roger Cohen told the CSIS audience.*
President Obama will travel to a G7 developed nations summit in the Hague,Netherlands next week,but Vice President Joe Biden met with Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite in Vilnius Wednesday.He reiterated America's commitment to the security of the Baltic states and warned Russia of further consequences if it contiued on its "dark path."*
EU ministers are meeting in Brussels today,Thursday,to discuss further sactions on Russia.They may put higher ranking government officials and industry bigwigs on the sacnctions list.