NATO: France and Turkey fracture Nato on Libya - "as Erdogan plays a dangerous game he could lose"- by Andrew Rettman

"Who cares about the EU or NATO ? Trump  agrees with me !"

Nato is to investigate French allegations that Turkish warships targeted a French one in a confrontation over the Libya conflict, which has divided allies.


"The incident in the Mediterranean [Sea] was addressed in the meeting by several allies", Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said after Nato defence ministers held video-talks on Thursday (18 June).

"We have made sure that Nato military authorities are investigating the incident to bring full clarity to what happened," he said.

Turkish warships locked their weapons systems on to a French frigate called the Courbet, which was part of a Nato monitoring mission called Sea Guardian, on 10 June, according to France.

And they did it in order to slip through yet another illegal shipment of arms to Turkey's ally in the Libya civil war, the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), France said.

Note EU-Digest:  Curious - Whenever, or each time we put the President of Turkey's name ,Erdogan into the "Labels" column of our blog (EU-Digest), we were posting, the blog reported an error, and we had to go back and re-post the entire content of the blog, and rewrite the "labels"  removing Erdogan's name for it to work. Does this mean censorship by either some internal or external "source", or is it a real technical error? This is not the first time it happened when other sensitive issues were published.

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France and Turkey fracture Nato on Libya

Airline Industry: EgyptAir flight from Paris feared to have crashed into Mediterranean

Egypt’s foreign ministry has exchanged condolences with France over what it called the “fall” of an EgyptAir flight carrying 66 people from Paris to Cairo.

The statement was the first official admission that those on board were likely to have died.

The plane was carrying people from multiple nationalities including 30 Egyptians and 15 French nationals.
EgyptAir flight MS804 departed Paris’s Charles de Gaule airport at 23.09 heading for Cairo disappeared from radar.

There is some confusion over whether the missing plane sent a distress signal that was picked up by the Egyptian military.

EgyptAir said in a statement earlier that a signal had been received by the army more than an hour after the plane was due to land. The army denied in a statement receiving any message.

The aircraft “crashed” off the Greek island of Karpathos in Egyptian airspace, reports AFP citing an airport source.

Read more: EgyptAir flight from Paris feared to have crashed into Mediterranean | euronews, world news

EU: Poll shows majority EU citizens want refugees stopped before they cross Mediterranean - by RM

Europeans want refugees stopped at departure points

In a recent poll conducted by EU-Digest in April and May 88.89%  polled said refugees and migrants should be stopped before they make the dangerous Mediterranean crossing.

Only 11.11% said that those reaching EU shores should be processed as legal immigrants.

No one  polled felt that the EU had done an effective job so far in coping or dealing with this momentous problem

The new recently posted EU-Digest poll (May 27 thru June 27) focuses on the increased concerns surrounding the secretive Transatlantic Trade Negotiations ( TTIP) between the European Union and the USA.

Critics say this controversial trade deal presently being negotiated will remove safety standards on a large number of essential products, including agricultural products, pesticides, food and medicines, as well as dismantle financial regulations designed to prevent banks from creating another financial crisis, to mention just a few.

The agreement would also make it easier for multinationals to sue governments and could lead to significant slashes in EU regulatory laws related to environmental pollution controls and a variety of safety and health standards.


EU-Digest

Italy: Christian migrants thrown overboard into Mediterranean en route to Italy

Italian police arrested 15 Muslim migrants on Thursday suspected of throwing about a dozen Christians from a boat in the Mediterranean as it headed to Italy. Police in the Sicilian capital Palermo said they had arrested the men, from Ivory Coast, Mali and Senegal after survivors reported they had thrown 12 people from Nigeria and Ghana to their deaths and threatened other Christians.

The 15 were arrested on charges of multiple homicide motivated by religious hatred.

“The motive for the resentment was traced to their faiths,” police said. “Twelve people are said to have drowned in the waters of the Mediterranean, all of them Nigerian and Ghanaian.”

The survivors’ account underscores the rising chaos in the Mediterranean, which thousands of migrants, many fleeing war and deprivation in Africa, try to cross in rickety boats in the hope of a better life in Europe.

In a separate incident the same day, another 41 migrants were feared drowned after their boat sank en route to Italy, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said.

Around 20,000 migrants have reached the Italian coast this year, according to the IOM, fewer than arrived in the first four months of last year, but the number of deaths has risen almost nine-fold.

Read more: Europe - Christian migrants thrown overboard into Mediterranean en route to Italy - France 24

Syria: Naval Confrontation Russia - US In The Making ? - by RM

Russian Navy Ships In  Mediterranean Manoeuvres

Sixteen months into an uprising that has now grown increasingly chaotic over the course of this year and the possibility of a political solution to the crisis in the offing seems more grim than ever. 

In the background of the ongoing drama in this key Middle Eastern country now also looms the shadow of escalating naval tensions in the eastern Mediterranean.

The West and its Arab and Turkish allies are demanding concessions from Russia on its position in Syria, concessions which Moscow finds far too lopsided. 

Consequently Russia and China wielded their third veto on Thursday on a Syria resolution which Russia fears could be interpreted as an authorization for military action. Moscow wants to hold on to political negotiations and is groping for ways to keep the dialogue on Syria alive. In the meantime, it is strengthening its naval power in the region.

Even though most military experts doesn’t foresee a deliberate clash between the two  major powers in the Eastern Mediterranean, one should not underestimate legitimate concerns about the possibility of an accidental  mistake resulting in a clash which spirals out of control.

Unfortunately the Syrian crisis could than boil-over into a naval face-off that could destabilize the Middle East and pose a potential threat to world peace.

The relationship between Russia and Syria can be compared to that of the US and South Korea. So just like the US would strike back at every aggressor which attacks South Korea, Russia can be expected to do the same when it concerns Syria..

"Playing chicken" is a very dangerous game when it concerns Russia and its partner Syria.

EU-Digest

Syria: After Russia detected ballistic objects Israel says it conducted missile tests in Mediterranean

Tensions over Syria ratcheted up a notch on Tuesday after Russia's Defense Ministry said it detected traces of ballistic "objects" — now claimed by Israel — launched from an area in the central Mediterranean and moving in an easterly direction.

After some initial confusion over who was responsible, the Israeli military said it was behind the launch, saying it was carrying out a joint missile test with the United States, reports from the BBC and Reuters said.

However, it was not immediately clear to what extent the U.S. was involved in the missile test. Earlier, CBS News tweeted that a U.S. official confirmed that American ships or planes were not involved in the missile launches.

Separately, Pentagon spokesman Navy Commander William Speaks told the Associated Press: "I have nothing to confirm those reports whatsoever."

Israel's Defense Ministry told the AP that a single missile was fired but gave no other details. It said the test was "successful."

Russia's state-run Interfax news agency said the "targets fell into the sea."
The Russian embassy in Syria said there was no sign of a missile attack or explosion inDamascus.

Read more: Reports: Israel says it conducted missile tests in Mediterranean