DER FEHLENDE PART: Münchner SiKo - Wo Sicherheit draufsteht ist Krieg drin [S2 - E65]
12.02.2016 • 19:27 Uhr
Quelle: RT
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Immer Freitags um 19.30 Uhr
Heute in der Sendung:
Seit heute findet in München die 52. Sicherheitskonferenz statt. Die unter dem Motto „Frieden durch Dialog“ ins Leben gerufene Konferenz setzt sich offiziell zum Ziel, militärische Konflikte durch Dialog zu vermeiden. Etwa 450 hochranginge Entscheidungsträger aus aller Welt versammeln sich in München, um sicherheitspolitische Themen zu diskutieren. Doch wird dieses Forum seinem ursprünglichen Gründungszweck noch gerecht? Der CDU-Politiker Willy Wimmer meint: „Die Münchener Sicherheitskonferenz hat jeden konstruktiven Charakter verloren“. RT-Moderatorin Jasmin Kosubek sprach mit dem früheren Parlamentarischen Staatssekretär im Verteidigungsministerium, der einst selbst Teilnehmer der Konferenz war.
Unter dem Motto „Leben und leben lassen“ wurde im Mai 2015 die Freie Republik Liberland gegründet. Gelegen zwischen Kroatien und Serbien ist der neue Staat bis jetzt jedoch noch nicht international anerkannt. Nichtsdestotrotz wird nun in Deutschland die erste diplomatische Vertretung von Liberland eröffnet. RT-Moderatorin Jasmin Kosubek besuchte die frisch gegründete Botschaft in Berlin und sprach mit dem Gründer und Präsidenten von Liberland Vít Jedlička und seinen Mitarbeitern über das Staatswesen und die zukünftige Entwicklung des Mikrostaates.
Andrej Ciesielski bezeichnet sich selbst als „professionellen Träumer“. Er ist bereits mehrmals auf hohe Gebäude geklettert und hat von dort atemberaubende Bilder geschossen. Erst kürzlich ist er auf die Cheops-Pyramide in Ägypten geklettert. Das Abenteuer blieb nicht ohne Folgen. Im Gespräch mit RT Deutsch erzählt der 18-jährige Münchener von seinen Erlebnissen am Nil und über die Gründe für seine Leidenschaft in die Höhe zu klettern.
An ambitious plan to end hostilities in Syria with verifiable results within a week, revive the Geneva-3 peace talks, and immediately begin delivering humanitarian aid to civilians has been unveiled in Munich, Germany after talks including the US, Russia, and the UN.
Hostilities in Syria could come to a halt within a week after confirmation by the government of President Bashar Assad and the opposition, according to an official communiqué from the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) meeting.
A mechanism to help resolve humanitarian issues in Syria has been developed, which includes the creation of a task force that will begin work on Friday.
A press conference was held after the meeting of the so-called Syria Support Group, with the participation of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, US Secretary of State John Kerry, and UN Special Envoy on Syria Staffan de Mistura.
Kerry noted that the commitments agreed upon during the Munich meeting are only on paper and that the “real test” of progress will be to get all of the parties involved in the Syrian conflict to sign on and honor them.
Russia is counting on the US and other ISSG countries to put pressure on the Syrian opposition to cooperate with the UN, Lavrov said.
The main objective that everyone agrees on is to destroy Islamic State, Lavrov added. He also called the notion that the situation in Syria would improve if Assad’s regime was to abdicate an “illusion.”
Talk about the need to prepare ground troops for an invasion of Syria will only add fire to the conflict, Russia’s foreign minister stressed.
The aim now is to resume peace talks without preconditions between the Syrian government and the whole spectrum of the opposition, which is the only format in which they could be successful, Lavrov emphasized.
“The goal of resuming the negotiation process, which was suspended in an atmosphere where part of the [Syrian] opposition took a completely unconstructive position and tried to put forward preconditions, was stressed [at the ISSG meeting]. We noted [today] that the talks must resume as soon as possible in strict compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 2254, without any ultimatums or preconditions,” he said.
While Lavrov, Kerry and Mistura held a press conference to explain the results of the ISSG meeting, separate statements came from several EU leaders. Germany’s foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, was quoted by Reuters as saying that the US and Russia should coordinate their military actions in Syria “more closely.”
Lavrov made clear that an end in hostilities in Syria would not mean a halt in anti-terrorist activities in the region. Operations against all groups designated by the UN as terrorists will continue, including the fight against Islamic State and Al-Nusra Front.
Lavrov added that militants are the only ones fleeing from the Syrian city of Aleppo, stressing that they have been receiving support from Turkey.
Meanwhile, Kerry argued that the Syrian government’s military advances would not be enough to win the war and urged for a peaceful resolution to conflict, as well as continued efforts to fight terrorism in the region.
During the press conference, both Russian and American diplomats employed a more friendly rhetoric, complementing their mutual efforts in Syria when it comes to delivering humanitarian by air and working to achieve progress in peace talks.
“We welcome the readiness of the US and other countries to join in the Russian-Syrian government operation to disseminate humanitarian aid from planes into the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zour, the location of the biggest number of citizens without humanitarian aid,” Lavrov stated.
Other options agreed upon include parachuting aid into other residential locations in need, Lavrov explained, adding that most of the efforts would have to be concentrated on the ground.
In turn, Kerry stressed that it was not Russia or Iran who had interfered with bringing a halt to hostilities in Syria.
Syria Support Group talks ran longer than expected on Thursday, beginning at 7 pm local time and running over five hours, before resuming again for the finalizing of a communique. The last Syria Support Group meeting was held in Vienna on November 14.
In the beginning of February, the United Nations temporarily suspended peace talks aimed at resolving Syria’s five-year civil war. The UN said that the process was to be resumed on February 25 and called on the sides involved to do more to acheive progress.
“I have concluded, frankly, that after the first week of preparatory talks, there is more work to be done, not only by us but by the stakeholders,” the UN mediator, Staffan de Mistura, said after meeting with the opposition delegation at a Geneva hotel.
The latest inconclusive Syrian peace talks were attended by representatives of the Syrian government, the Saudi-backed coalition, and the High Negotiation Committee (HNC), which sent 35 leading members, excluding Syrian Kurdish groups, along with some additional moderate opposition members supported by Russia. Turkey insisted on the exclusion of the Syrian Kurdish party, the PYD.
Russian PM warns against triggering ‘permanent war’ in Syria
Meanwhile, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has warned against the initiation of any sort of foreign land operations in Syria, arguing that it could unleash “yet another war on Earth.”
“All sides must be compelled to sit at the negotiating table, instead of unleashing yet another war on Earth,” Medvedev told Germany’s Handelsblatt newspaper. “Any kinds of land operations, as a rule, lead to a permanent war. Look at what’s happened in Afghanistan and a number of other countries. I am not even going to bring up poor Libya.”
The PM was commenting on recent statements from Saudi Arabia claiming that it was ready to send ground troops to Syria.
“The Americans and our Arab partners must think well: do they want a permanent war? Do they think they can really quickly win it? It is impossible, especially in the Arab world. Everyone is fighting against everyone there,” Medvedev added.https://www.rt.com
US Targets Russia and China with North Korea Pretext
The North Korean state is routinely mocked in the West for engaging in hyperbole and bombast. Ironically, the Western reaction to its latest satellite launch is a carnival of knee-jerk hysteria and hyperbole. But all the bluster has conveniently given Washington an opportunity to proceed with its global missile shield plans. That is far more destabilizing to international security than any alleged North Korean violation.
In an interview this week on CBS, US President Obama repeated denunciations of North Korea’s rocket launch into outer space last Sunday, which Pyongyang claimed was for the purpose of putting an observation satellite into orbit.
Obama said: «I think we have been concerned about North Korea’s behavior for a while. This is an authoritarian regime. It’s provocative. It has repeatedly violated UN resolutions, tested and produced nuclear weapons and now they are trying to perfect their missile launch system».
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond lambasted North Korea, saying its actions «continue to present a threat to regional and international security».
Within hours of the satellite launch by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), the US and its South Korean ally unveiled their plans to install the Pentagon’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system. The system is designed for intercepting intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) as high as 200 kilometers. It is part of the global «missile shield» network that Washington is pushing elsewhere in Europe.
Aware of the sensitivity of the move, a South Korean official immediately qualified the planned deployment of the THAAD as being «against North Korea’s advancing threats»,according to a report in the Financial Times.
The inference is that the US missile system is not related to China’s security. But that’s not how Beijing sees it. While China rebuked its North Korean ally for its rocket-satellite launch, it also strongly protested the subsequent US move towards deploying the THAAD.
China, like Russia, has consistently opposed any such deployment of a missile shield by the Americans near its borders as a provocative step towards giving Washington a «first strike nuclear capability» because the THAAD in theory can take out any Chinese warheads, thus giving the US a license to hit first, unburdened by a threat of retaliation.
Moscow has similarly admonished US-led NATO plans to install Aegis-class ballistic missile interceptors in Poland, Romania and Bulgaria.
Russian President Vladimir Putin previously argued that Washington’s claims for a missile shield in Europe and South Korea, as providing a defense against Iranian and North Korean ICBMs, are bogus. The real purpose, said Putin, is for the Americans is to be able to target both Russia and China with a perceived nuclear-threat dominance. Such military power is a corollary of political and economic hegemony.
This week – apparently unrelated to the Korean controversy – Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov reiterated Moscow’s concerns that US attempts to «create a global missile defense system» are aimed at acquiring a «global first strike» capability.
The apparent «response» by Washington to Pyongyang’s satellite launch, involving the installation of its THAAD in East Asia is in reality an ominous shift in the balance of nuclear power. As well as South Korea, America’s other ally Japan is also preparing to deploy the same missile shield. Fortuitously for Washington, North Korea’s «rogue behavior» has given it a cover for moving ahead with its missile system.
Lt General Thomas Vandal, Commander of the US Eighth Army based in South Korea, said Pyongyang’s «provocative» satellite launch now paved the way for the deployment of the THAAD system, adding with a notable tone of haste: «It’s time to move forward on this».
A New York Timesreport, headlined: «North Korea Launches Rocket Seen as Cover for a Missile Test», had this to say: «Hours after the North declared the success of its launch on Sunday, the United States and South Korea jointly announced that they had begun discussing deployment of the American THAAD ballistic missile defense system».
The irony of the New York Times report is that the North Korea rocket launch appears rather more like a cover for the US moving ahead with its controversial and destabilizing missile shield.
It is a measure of how problematic the issue has been in the past that the South Korean government of President Park Geun-hye has up to now spurned American requests to deploy the missile system. President Park has made strenuous efforts in recent years to build stronger relations with China, becoming Beijing’s top trading partner. Although formally a US ally, Seoul has nonetheless been mindful of China’s security objections over the US missile system on South Korean territory as it would neutralize China’s nuclear capability.
As Britain’s Independent newspaper reports: «South Koreans have long been lukewarm about US insistence on the need to deploy multibillion-dollar missile launchers capable of shooting down enemy missiles hurtling more than 100 miles overhead. One of South Korea’s objections has been concern about offending Beijing, which has repeatedly expressed alarm about THAAD and its potential for use against China».
However, South Korea’s military establishment appears to be augmenting the US agenda of hamming up the North Korea threat. Immediately following the rocket launch by Pyongyang, the BBC reports: «South Korean MPs were told in a behind-closed-doors briefing by the country's spy agency later on Sunday that the launch should be treated as a ballistic missile test as the satellite it put into orbit would be useless… They were also reportedly told North Korea has the technology for inter-continental ballistic missiles and is preparing a fifth nuclear test».
Let’s unpack those claims a bit. Yes, North Korea’s latest rocket action was in violation of United Nations resolutions banning the use of ballistic technology. The latest rocket launch – the second since December 2012 – was no doubt a satellite cover story used by Pyongyang to assay the dual capability of ballistic power. And yes, North Korea did conduct a fourth nuclear test explosion last month – again in violation of UN resolutions.
But there is chasm between all of this and the claims put out by Washington that North Korea presents an imminent threat from being able to launch a nuclear warhead on a ballistic missile. The North has evidently developed nuclear warheads, with the first test back in 2006. But there is a vast way to go before it can ever build an ICBM charged with a nuclear weapon. Most international ballistic experts contend that Pyongyang is very far off reaching that level of sophisticated technology.
AFP news agency quoted aerospace engineer John Schilling, who has closely followed the North's missile program, as saying: «An ICBM warhead, unlike a satellite, needs to come down as well as go up. North Korea has never demonstrated the ability to build a re-entry vehicle that can survive at even half the speed an ICBM would require».
In short, despite what the US, its British ally and heaps of Western media coverage would have us believe, North Korea is not a threat to international security. Sure, the secretive state of Kim Jong-un can be said to be in breach of UN resolutions. But a nuclear enemy of the world it is most certainly not.
There is a bizarre lack of intelligent perspective on the real issues. Washington possesses more than 1,500 actively deployed nuclear warheads across the globe, ready to launch at the touch of a button. Nearly 40 years after the Non-Proliferation Treaty mandating nuclear disarmament, the US is in a process of upgrading its nuclear arsenal at a cost of $1 trillion over the next 30 years. And it is pushing ahead with a global missile shield system that is profoundly destabilizing international security, in particular with regard to Russia and China.
As for the matter of violating international norms and obligations, it is not removed from the subject to ask about Washington and London’s illegal bombing of sovereign countries like Syria. Or, as international lawyer Christopher Black wrote recently, to refer to Washington’s repeated acts of aggression towards China when its missile destroyer Wilbur Curtis flagrantly breached territorial waters in the South China Sea on January 30.
On the specific issue of resolving Korea’s historical tensions, what is needed is a return to earnest dialogue between the North and the South, and their respective allies China and the US. However, Washington’s hidebound policy of isolating Pyongyang and refusing to demilitarize the Korean Peninsula is the main obstacle to a negotiated resolution.
Indeed, it can be reasonably deduced that Washington does not want to ever resolve the conflict in the region for the precise reason that it needs to keep North Korea isolated and hostile in order to maintain its military presence in the Asia Pacific.
Under the cover of a «chivalrous protector» of allies, the US is cynically exploiting a much overblown «threat» from North Korea for pursuing its much more concrete and malevolent threat of nuclear aggression towards Russia and China.
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