Turkey: EU warns Turkey after it violates Greek airspace 141 times in one day – by Sarantis Michalopoulos

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EU Euro-fighters  ready to chase Turkish intruders

Turkish aeroplanes and helicopters illegally entered Greece’s airspace 141 times yesterday (15 May), the Hellenic National Defence General Staff reported.

According to Greek press reports, 20 Turkish F-16, 5 CN-235 maritime surveillance aircraft and 19 helicopters entered the Athens flight information region (FIR) without submitting a flight plan.

In all cases, Turkish aircraft were identified and intercepted by Greek fighters, while in nine cases the interception process resulted in near combat situations.

In addition, two Turkish missile boats entered Greek territorial waters off the southeast Aegean island of Agathonisi.

The vessels, which were taking part in a maritime exercise code-named Denizkurdu (Seawolf), stayed in Greek territorial waters for about 20 minutes. As Kathimerini journal reported, last month Agathonisi was described as a “Turkish island” by Turkey’s Minister of European Union Affairs Omer Celik.

While the EU and the international community recognise the sovereignty of Greece over the Greek Aegean islands, Turkey has a list of issues regarding the delimitation of territorial waters, national airspace, exclusive zones, etc. Ankara also claims “grey zones” of undetermined sovereignty over a number of small islets, most notably the islets of Imia/Kardak.

The serious incidents occurred just a few hours after the meeting of Greek premier Alexis Tsipras with Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan in Beijing.

The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a strong communique saying that the incident “constitutes a flagrant violation of international law”.

Read more: EU warns Turkey after it violates Greek airspace 141 times in one day – EURACTIV.com

Middle East -Palestine:Stop Israelis from these crimes’: Palestine demands international action over settlements law

The Palestinian Authority has led an international outcry against Israel’s decision to retroactively legalize 4,000 Jewish homes, illegally constructed in the West Bank, but the US has chosen to stay silent, for now.

This is an escalation that would only lead to more instability and chaos,” warned Nabil Abu Rdeneh, spokesman for the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.

Passed by 60 votes to 52 in the Knesset on Monday night, the law will force the Arab owners of the land on which Israeli settlements have been built without permission, to either accept monetary compensation or another piece of land in exchange for their own.

Refusing to sell is not an option.

Abu Rdeneh said that the law contravened last December’s unanimously-approved UN Security Council resolution which declared that settlement construction “constitutes a flagrant violation under international law.”
 

Read more:‘Stop Israelis from these crimes’: Palestine demands international action over settlements law — RT Ne

NATO:- are Eastern Europeans and Baltic States Serving two Masters? and why is NATO catering to them?

Have they outlived their purpose ?

The NATO's chief on Monday said the alliance will agree this week to send four multinational battalions to the Baltic states and Poland as part of its response to Russian meddling in Ukraine and a series of alleged provocations by Russian military.

Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the troop surge in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland was meant to “send a clear signal that NATO stands ready to defend any ally”.

“We will agree to deploy by rotation four robust multi-national battalions in the Baltic states and Poland," he told a news conference ahead of a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels on Tuesday.

The Baltic states and Poland have expressed concern over perceived threats by Moscow, especially following the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and covert Russian military interventions on the side of Ukrainian separatists.

The announcement also comes after a series of risky military encounters between Russian and US military personnel.

In April, the US Navy vehemently protested what it described as a “simulated attack” by a Russian fighter jet, which flew within nine metres of a US destroyer that was conducting exercises in the Baltic Sea.

The Donald Cook was in international waters off the coast of Poland. Those waters are also close to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.

Note EU-Digest: why is the US military  leadership of  NATO  playing with fire (and endangering the EU) to please Eastern European members of the EU. 

Whenever these same Eastern European members of the EU are asked to support EU programs related to the refugee crises or other important programs, they are usually un-supportive and take a very nationalistic and self-centered position. 

Hopefully Brussels and other EU member states will remind these Eastern European EU member states that they can not serve two masters. 

As the saying goes, you can't have your cake and eat it too ! 

The EU,  as a whole, needs to be reviewing the actual need for and value of NATO, a cold war creation, which has outlived its time and purpose within the context of the European Union.

Read more: NATO to deploy four battalions in bid to reassure Poland, Baltic allies - France 24

Germany Condemns Parading of Military Observers

Germany's foreign minister has condemned as "revolting" the appearance under armed guard of eight European military observers being held prisoner by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier says the appearance of the observers in front of reporters in the eastern city of Slovyansk was "a breach of all the rules" and violated the men's dignity.

Steinmeier's statement Sunday came as the pro-Russia insurgents released one of the prisoners to representatives of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Steinmeier called on Russia to pressure the separatists into releasing all of the prisoners "as soon as possible."

Read more: Germany Condemns Parading of Military Observers - ABC News

US warplanes defy Chinese air defence rules with B-52 flyover of disputed area - by Spencer Ackerman

Two US B-52 bombers flew over a disputed area of the East China sea without notifying Beijing.

US warplanes have directly challenged China’s claims of an expanding territorial air defense zone, flying dramatically and without incident on Monday over a disputed island chain.

The incursion comes on the heels of a scathing statement over the weekend by defense secretary Chuck Hagel rejecting the expansion of the Chinese air defense zone into the East China sea as a provocative threat to regional stability.

But the Pentagon insisted Tuesday that the overflight was not a reaction to the Chinese declaration.

Lieutenant colonel Tom Crosson, a Defense Department spokesman, said the planes were not armed and flew “as part of a long-planned training sortie”. The Chinese did not in any way attempt to challenge the planes’ flight, Crosson said, nor did the pilots announce themselves to any Chinese authorities.

Read More: US warplanes defy Chinese air defence rules with B-52 flyover of disputed area | World news | theguardian.com