Russia-Ukraine border: Why Moscow is stoking tensions - by Sarah Rainsford

When Russia wanted the US to sit up and take notice last April it sent tanks towards the Ukrainian border. The show of force worked: President Joe Biden called Russia's Vladimir Putin and in June the two men met in Geneva.

But whatever they agreed about Ukraine at their summit, something has since gone awry.

In recent weeks, Russian tanks have been moving west towards Ukraine once again, prompting fresh, even starker warnings from US intelligence circles that a cross-border offensive could be on the cards.

Read more at: Russia-Ukraine border: Why Moscow is stoking tensions - BBC News

EU - Iran US conflict: Distrusting Both Iran and U.S., Europe Urges ‘Maximum Restraint’ - by Steven Erlanger

Speaking of the attacks this week on fuel tankers in the Gulf of Oman, President Trump said flatly on Friday that “Iran did do it.” European governments may also think that Iran is probably to blame, but their distrust of the Trump administration and its hawkish policy toward Tehran have led them to measure their words, and call for de-escalation and “maximum restraint.”

Mindful of Washington’s exaggerations and outright misrepresentations of intelligence leading up to the Iraq war, European leaders are asking the Trump administration for hard evidence. The last thing they want is to be asked to support another American war in the Middle East that would be highly unpopular with voters.

Europeans are no fans of the Iranian government or its policies in the Middle East, but they are concerned by what they see as the Trump administration’s policy of “maximum pressure” on Iran — thus their use of maximum restraint. Many critics believe Mr. Trump is succeeding only in creating maximum pressure among hard-line factions in Iran to respond with carefully calibrated attacks that send a message, like those against tankers in a vital passageway for global oil supplies.

Germany wants a careful investigation of the attacks, insisting that “a spiral of escalation must be avoided.”

The European Union, in the words of the spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic, has “said repeatedly that the region doesn’t need further escalation, it doesn’t need further destabilization, it doesn’t need further tension.

Read more: Distrusting Both Iran and U.S., Europe Urges ‘Maximum Restraint’ - The New York Times

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Eastern Europe Cautiously "Welcomes" Larger U.S. Military Presence - by Rick Lyman

The Obama administration’s plans to quadruple military spending in Central and Eastern Europe, largely in response to recent aggression in Ukraine and elsewhere by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, were greeted warmly but warily in the region recently..

“It is clear that the European Union can no longer adequately respond to Russia’s demonstrations of power, so it is comforting that at least the United States is finally stepping up,” Roman Kuzniar, a professor at the Institute of International Relations at the University of Warsaw, said Tuesday.

Mr. Putin’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and his continued support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine — along with provocative incursions into Ukraine’s airspace, increased submarine patrols and military maneuvers near Russia’s western borders — have unsettled many of the former Communist states in the region and have led to increasing demands for a concrete Western response. The news from Washington was welcomed by several government officials.

Note EU-Digest: Military show of force is never a good idea and will probably further increase the tension in that area. The emphasis should be more on economic sanctions and diplomatic  solutions.



Read more: Eastern Europe Cautiously Welcomes Larger U.S. Military Presence - The New York Times

Russia and Ukraine mobilize, raising tensions in Crimea - by Carol J. Williams

Russian gunmen on the Crimean peninsula and the embattled new Ukrainian government in Kiev continued to escalate a dangerous confrontation Sunday, with both sides mobilizing armed forces and warning that the other was provoking war.

Hundreds of armed Russians surrounded Kremlin military installations in Crimea, where Moscow leases Soviet-era bases from what is now independent Ukraine. The men, called up from retirement or inactive status with Russia’s Black Sea fleet, sported black-and-orange ribbons celebrating the Soviet victory in World War II or red armbands identifying themselves as “volunteers of the autonomous republic of Crimea.”

The motley reserves joined thousands of professional Russian troops activated by Moscow in Crimea over the past three days in a defiant challenge to the interim government that has taken power in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, since deposed ex-President Viktor Yanukovich fled on Feb. 21 and took refuge in Russia.

Crimean government leader Sergei Aksenov, installed Thursday during a parliamentary session in Simferopol held while the building was occupied by masked Russian gunmen, reiterated Sunday that he was in command of all security and military forces in Crimea and was determined to protect the Russian population and military installations from “radicals” and "bandits" sent from Kiev.

In a broadcast carried by Rossiya-24 television, Aksenov reminded Russian forces deployed in Crimea of their "responsibility to defend and protect Russian people and interests."

Hundreds of the mobilized civilians and Russian troops surrounded a military base in Privolnoye, spurring outcries in Kiev and western Ukraine that Moscow was trying to provoke war.

After a closed session of parliament, Yatsenyuk said Ukraine was "on the brink of national disaster" and urged Putin to pull back Russian forces to their bases, saying the Kremlin chief surely didn't want to be "the president who starts war between two friendly and neighboring countries," but was inches away from doing so.

Ukrainian reservists were also activated Sunday to bolster regular armed forces that even Kiev’s interim defense minister, Ihor Tenyuh, has conceded are outnumbered and outflanked by Russia’s forces, which were given a green light by the upper house of the Russian parliament Saturday to deploy to Ukraine if President Vladimir Putin judges that Russian citizens or military assets are threatened.

 Read more: Russia and Ukraine mobilize, raising tensions in Crimea - latimes.com

Middle East: Syria's Assad slams Saudi ideology as 'threat to world'

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad warned during a meeting in Damascus on Wednesday with Iran's foreign minister that Saudi Arabia's political and religious ideology is "a threat to the world," state television reported.

He was referring to Wahhabism, an ultra-conservative Sunni Muslim tradition which is predominant in Saudi Arabia, a key backer of Syria's revolt against Assad.

"President Assad warns during his meeting with Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif of the threat posed by Wahhabi thinking to all the world, not just to the region," the report said.

"The Syrian people and some peoples in the region know how serious the threat posed by Wahhabism is, and everyone must contribute to the confrontation against it and to eradicating it from the root," said Assad, who belongs to the Alawite offshoot of Shiite Islam.

The comments came amid ongoing tensions between Syria and Saudi Arabia, which are fiercely opposed to each other.

Assad's meeting with Zarif, top diplomat of Syria's chief regional ally Iran, comes less than a week before the so-called Geneva II peace conference, which is aimed at ending the conflict in Syria that has killed 130,000 people in nearly three years.

Read more: Syria's Assad slams Saudi ideology as 'threat to world' - Yahoo News

Germany-Refugees: Influx of refugees creates tension in Germany - by K. Grieshaber

Daniel Krawczyk is convinced bad things will happen to his Berlin neighborhood once the refugees move in: ‘‘They'll break into our basements,’’ he says, ‘‘steal our kids’ cell phones, bring crime and violence and take away our jobs.’’

The 29-year-old janitor in the eastern outskirts of Berlin is among many locals up in arms over the city’s plans to turn an empty high school into a center for up to 400 asylum seekers, part of growing opposition to refugee shelters across the country.

The boat-is-full mentality in Germany is finding an echo in the government: ‘‘Even an economically strong country like Germany is considerably challenged’’ by the influx, Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said recently, in an apparent attempt to reflect voter fears two months ahead of general elections. Meanwhile the far-right is exploiting anti-refugee fears, seeking new supporters as its members participate in rallies against new asylum shelters.

About 43,000 people applied for asylum in Germany in the first six months of 2013, almost double the roughly 23,000 for the same period in 2012. While the numbers are a far cry from the hundreds of thousands who flowed into Germany at the height of the 1990s Yugoslavia wars, German cities still find themselves struggling to cope with the influx of recent refugees, mainly from Syria, Chechnya and Afghanistan. Germany is the top destination for refugees to the European Union, followed by Sweden, France and Britain, all of which also received thousands of asylum applications during the last few months.

Read more: Influx of refugees creates tension in Germany - Europe news - Boston.com