The New Dark Age

6 July 2011 — Stop NATO

• NATO’s Air War In Libya: Over 14,000 Air Missions, 5,285 Strike Sorties
• France, Germany, Poland Establish EU Battle Group
• Russia Concerned Over NATO Intrusion In Arctic: Admiral
• NATO Uses Azerbaijan For Afghan War Nexus, Caspian Energy Strategy
• Azerbaijani Cargo Plane Crashes In Afghanistan
• ‘Occupied Territories’: Polish General Takes Over EU Mission In Georgia
• Tbilisi: NATO Delegation Discusses Georgia’s Integration

NATO’s Air War In Libya: Over 14,000 Air Missions, 5,285 Strike Sorties

Click to access 20110706oup-update.pdf

North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Allied Command Operations
July 6, 2011

NATO and Libya
Allied Joint Force Command NAPLES, SHAPE, NATO HQ

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Over the past 24 hours, NATO has conducted the following activities associated with Operation UNIFIED PROTECTOR:

Air Operations

Since the beginning of the NATO operation (31 March 2011, 08.00GMT) a total of 14,007 sorties, including 5,285 strike sorties, have been conducted.

Sorties conducted 05 JULY: 134

Strike sorties conducted 05 JULY: 56

…

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France, Germany, Poland Establish EU Battle Group

http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/07/06/52848113.html

Voice of Russia
July 6, 2011

Germany, France, Poland set up joint EU battle group

Germany, France and Poland are setting up an EU joint battle group that should be ready for deployment in crisis areas as of 2013.

An agreement to that end was signed in Brussels yesterday by officials of the three countries’ Defence Ministries. EU battle groups are formed by the European Union Rapid Reaction Force. Battle groups are multinational units, 1,500 man-strong each.

According to the news media, Poland will assume the command of the tripartite battle group, since Warsaw will provide the greatest number of personnel. Germany will take care of logistic support, while France, of medical aid.

The command centre of the battle group will be deployed in the Paris suburb of Mont Valerien.

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Russia Concerned Over NATO Intrusion In Arctic: Admiral

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20110706/165057023.html

Russian Information Agency Novosti
July 6, 2011

Russia concerned over NATO, Eastern countries activation in Arctic

NARYAN-MAR: Russia’s economic interests are threatened by the activities of NATO and a number of Asian countries in the Arctic, Navy commander Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky said on Wednesday.

‘Currently, a wide range of threats, which may negatively effect Russian economic interests, are concentrated in the Arctic,’ Vysotsky said.

‘Recently, we received confirmation that NATO has marked out the Arctic as a zone of its interests,’ Vysotsky said.

Vysotsky also said that apart from NATO states, China, Japan, the two Koreas and such ‘well-known Arctic countries’ as Malaysia and Thailand have also intensified their activities in the Arctic.

Russia is planning to file a proposal a UN Commission in 2012 to expand its Arctic shelf borders, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said.

The nuclear-powered icebreaker Rossiya left the port of Murmansk on Tuesday to accompany a research vessel on a second mission to determine the boundaries of Russia’s continental shelf in the Arctic.

Russia is in a dispute with Canada over the Lomonosov Ridge, with both countries trying to persuade a UN commission that it is an extension of its own continental shelf. The sides have agreed that scientific evidence should resolve the dispute.

A settlement of the dispute in Russia’s favor would give the country the right to develop vast energy resources on the Arctic shelf.

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http://en.rian.ru/russia/20110706/165053561.html

Russian Information Agency Novosti
July 6, 2011

NARYAN-MAR: Russia is planning to file a proposal a UN Commission in 2012 to expand its Arctic shelf borders, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said.

The nuclear-powered icebreaker Rossiya left the port of Murmansk on Tuesday to accompany the research vessel Academik Fyodorov on a second mission to determine the boundaries of Russia’s continental shelf in the Arctic.

‘I hope that next year we will file to the UN commission a normal, scientifically grounded proposal,’ Ivanov said.

Russia is still in a dispute with Canada over the Lomonosov Ridge, with both countries trying to persuade a UN commission that it is an extension of its own continental shelf. The sides have agreed that scientific evidence should resolve the dispute.

The main goal of the two-month-long expedition is to measure the thickness of the bottom silt along the Lomonosov Ridge as part of the evidence that supports Russia’s territorial claim.

The settlement of the dispute in Russia’s favor will give the country the right to develop vast energy resources on the Arctic shelf.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin reiterated last week that Russia will not backtrack on its territorial claims on the underwater Lomonosov and Mendeleev ridges in the Arctic region and will protect its geopolitical interests ‘firmly and consistently.’

Russia sent the first expedition on a similar mission last year, when the Academik Fyodorov was accompanied by the Yamal nuclear icebreaker.

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NATO Uses Azerbaijan For Afghan War Nexus, Caspian Energy Strategy

http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=150919

Azeri Press Agency
July 5, 2011

Special representative: I asked Azerbaijan to support NATO
‘Azerbaijan and NATO can cooperate more closely’
Viktoria Dementyeva

Baku: NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for the South Caucasus and Central Asia James Appathurai, who is visiting Azerbaijan, met with President Ilham Aliyev, APA reports. James Appathurai told journalists that he expressed his gratitude to President Ilham Aliyev for the contribution of the Azerbaijani peacekeepers to the NATO mission in Afghanistan.

‘Azerbaijan is contributing to NATO in Afghanistan through a peacekeeping contingent and as a transit country. I asked Azerbaijan to continue supporting NATO in Afghanistan as a transit country,’ he said.

NATO’s representative said bilateral cooperation was discussed during the meeting.

‘We are already cooperating concerning several specific issues. But we can cooperate more closely,’ he said.

James Appathurai said at the meeting with Azerbaijani President they touched on Nagorno Karabakh problem.

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James Appathurai noted that he held meetings in several ministries of Azerbaijan. He said discussions were held concerning the start of the third stage of the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) signed between NATO and Azerbaijan.

‘We are holding discussions concerning the next stage. Cooperation continues between Azerbaijan and NATO,’ he said.

NATO’s representative said they intend to strengthen cooperation in Afghanistan, energy security and cyber security.

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Azerbaijani Cargo Plane Crashes In Afghanistan

http://en.rian.ru/world/20110706/165056469.html

Russian Information Agency Novosti
July 6, 2011

Azeri cargo plane with 9 crew crashes in Afghanistan

Baku: Fragments of a crashed Azerbaijani cargo plane were found on Wednesday to the north of Kabul, the Azerbaijani Civil Aviation Administration said.

The Soviet-designed Ilyushin Il-76, which Afghan television said was carrying fuel intended for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), an international U.S.-led coalition fighting the Taliban, crashed late on Tuesday while preparing for landing at the airport of the northern Afghan town of Bagram.

The plane, operated by Azerbaijan’s Silk Way Airlines, which had 9 crew members on board, ripped into many pieces after crashing. Investigators believe the aircraft collided with an unspecified object, probably a mountain.

The plane took off from the Geidat Aliyev Airport in Baku at 9:26 p.m. local time (16:26 GMT) on Tuesday, the Azerbaijani aviation agency said. At around 21:10 GMT, it disappeared from radars, the report said, adding that its crew had not sent any warning signals.

The plane fragments were found some 50 kilometers to the north of Kabul, in the Parwan Province.

The crashed Il-76 plane was produced in 2005, with the latest inspections carried out in June. Planes of this kind are capable of carrying up to 40 tons of cargo.

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http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=150977

Azeri Press Agency
July 6, 2011

Azerbaijani Embassy in Pakistan: There were 3 Azerbaijani citizens on board of the plane crashed in Afghanistan
Victoria Dementyeva

Baku: There were at least 3 Azerbaijani citizens on board the Azerbaijani plane that crashed in Afghanistan, the rest were citizens of Uzbekistan, the third secretary of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Pakistan Chingiz Garibli told APA-ECONOMICS.

‘It has already been specified that three crew members are citizens of Azerbaijan. Now there is information that our citizens can be 4. The rest of the crew are nationals of Uzbekistan. Information was provided to us from official sources in Afghanistan’, Garibli said.

To him, a commission including Azerbaijani experts will investigate the crash: ‘The plane crashed in mountainous terrain and a rescue team was unable to arrive at the scene yet. Therefore, details will be announced later when the team gets to the place of the crash’.

Commenting on the possibility that the plane was shot down by the movement of ‘Taliban’, Garibli noted that this probability is very low: ‘Typically, Taliban immediately takes responsibility for what happened’.

Note that, earlier, a representative of the movement ‘Taliban’ Zabibulla Modzhahid told Afghan media that the Azerbaijani plane was shot down by Taliban.

On July 6, 2011, at about 00.10, while preparing to land in the Bagram airport, communication with IL-76 4K-AZ 55 belonging to Azerbaijan’s Silk Way aviation company suddenly broke off and its view disappeared on radars. According to statement made by Azerbaijan State Civil Aviation Administration, the aircraft collided with unknown object in the air.

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‘Occupied Territories’: Polish General Takes Over EU Mission In Georgia

http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=23702

Civil Georgia
July 5, 2011

Polish Gen. to Lead EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia

Tbilisi: The EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM) will be led by Lieutenant General of the Polish army, Andrzej Tyszkiewicz, starting from July 18.

Tyszkiewicz was commander of the Polish forces in Iraq in 2003 and served as Poland’s ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2005-2010.

‘I am very pleased that Member States have decided on the basis of my proposal to appoint Andrzej Tyszkiewicz, from Poland, as Head of Mission for the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM),’ Catherine Ashton, EU foreign policy chief, said in a statement on July 5. ‘I am sure he will lead this mission to greater achievements for enhancing security and stability in Georgia as well as in the whole region…For that reason, Mr. Andrzej Tyszkiewicz will have my full support and that of the EU as a whole.’

Tyszkiewicz has replaced German diplomat Hansjörg Haber, who led EUMM from the very establishment of the mission in October, 2008 to monitor ceasefire following the August, 2008 war.

Haber was appointed as head of the EU Civilian Planning and Conduct Capability (CPCC) this March. EUMM is one of EU’s eight civilian missions under the Common Security and Defence Policy, which is supervised by Haber in his capacity of head of CPCC.

EUMM’s mandate expires on September 14, which Tbilisi expects to be further extended.

‘Although the mission is not able to fully implement its mandate – the mission is not yet able to implement its monitoring duties in the occupied territories [Abkhazia and South Ossetia] – it is very important for us to have this mission,’ Nino Kalandadze, the Georgian deputy foreign minister, said on July 5.

She also said that with OSCE and UN missions scrapped as a result of Russia’s veto following the August war, Tbilisi considered EUMM as ‘the only international security guarantee’ on the ground.

‘We are glad, that EU shares this opinion and has an approach to further extend the mission’s mandate,’ Kalandadze said.

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Tbilisi: NATO Delegation Discusses Georgia’s Integration

http://rustavi2.com/news/news_text.php?id_news=42309&pg=1&im=main&ct=0&wth=

Rustavi 2
July 6, 2011

NATO delegation visits Tbilisi

An official NATO delegation arrived in Tbilisi this morning to attend the joint Georgia-NATO conference, which will be dedicated to the discussion of security issues and mechanisms of preventing the main threats of the 21st century.

Along with the participation in the aforementioned conference, the members of the delegation will hold meetings with Georgian authorities and discuss the process of Georgia`s integration into the alliance and the activities, which Georgian should carry out in this process.

NATO-Georgian joint conference will be held in Tbilisi on July 7-8. The members of the delegation say it is very significant that the event takes place in Georgia.