Most of the Russian capital’s airports were forced to close and remained out of action last night – shortly before Chinese President Xi Jinping was due to arrive.

Military units from 13 countries, including China, will take part in the parade marking the victory over Nazi Germany.

Xi is due to start a four-day visit to Russia today, giving Putin an important diplomatic boost at a time when the Russian leader is keen to show his country is not isolated on the world stage.

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Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14686397/Ukraine-launches-drone-attacks-Moscow-Chinas-President-Xi-prepares-fly-Putins-Victory-Day-showpiece-Russia-pounds-Kyiv-revenge-strikes-hours-planned-ceasefire.html

The post Ukraine launches more drone attacks at Moscow as China’s President Xi prepares to fly in for Putin’s Victory Day showpiece – while Russia pounds Kyiv in revenge strikes hours before planned ceasefire first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Vladimir Putin has declared there will be a three-day ceasefire next week by Russia in its war in Ukraine.

The president said it would be to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies over Nazi Germany in World War Two.

The truce is due to be from the start of Thursday 8 May (10pm on 7 May UK time) until the end of Saturday 10 May (10pm on 10 May UK time).

On 9 May, Mr Putin is set to host international leaders including Chinese President Xi Jinping for lavish celebrations to commemorate the WWII victory.

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Source: https://news.sky.com/story/putin-declares-72-hour-truce-in-may-as-ukraine-ready-to-support-lasting-and-full-ceasefire-13357344

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Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the Law and Justice party, announced the huge claim at the release of a long-awaited report on the cost to the country of years of Nazi German occupation as it marks 83 years since the start of World War II.

“We not only prepared the report but we have also taken the decision as to the further steps,” Kaczynski said during the report’s presentation.

“We will turn to Germany to open negotiations on the reparations,” Kaczynski said, adding it will be a “long and not an easy path” but “one day will bring success.”

Poland’s right-wing government argues that the country which was the war’s first victim has not been fully compensated by neighboring Germany, which is now one of its major partners within the European Union.

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Source: https://www.fox5dc.com/news/poland-germany-wwii-reparations

The post Poland wants Germany to pay over $1 trillion in WWII reparations first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Here’s What You Need To Remember: In the event of military conflict, most believe China would use the modern equivalent of the tactics used at Yijiangshan: a massive bombardment by long-range missile batteries and airpower well before any PLA troops hit the shore.

In 1955, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army embarked on a bloody amphibious landing to capture a fortified Nationalist island, only about twice the size of a typical golf course. Not only did the battle exhibit China’s growing naval capabilities, it was a pivotal moment in a chain of events that led Eisenhower to threaten a nuclear attack on China—and led Congress to pledge itself to the defense of Taiwan.

In 1949, Mao’s People’s Liberation Army succeeded in sweeping the Nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) government out of mainland China. However, the Nationalist navy allowed the KMT to maintain its hold on large islands such as Hainan and Formosa, as well as smaller islands only miles away from major mainland cities such as Kinmen and Matsu. These soon were heavily fortified with Nationalist troops and guns and engaged in protracted artillery duels with PLA guns on the mainland.

In 1950, the PLA launched a series of amphibious operations, most notably resulting in the capture of Hainan island in the South China Sea. However, a landing in Kinmen was bloodily repulsed by Nationalist tanks in the Battle of Guningtou, barring the way for a final assault on Taiwan itself. Then events intervened, as the outbreak of the Korean War caused President Truman to deploy the U.S. Seventh Fleet to defend Taiwan. However, the naval blockade cut both ways—Truman did not allow Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek to launch attacks on mainland China.

This policy changed with the presidency of Eisenhower in 1953, who withdrew the Seventh Fleet, allowing the Nationalists to build up troops on the forward islands and launch more guerilla raids on the mainland. However, the PLA was able to counter-escalate with new World War II surplus heavy artillery, warships, and aircraft it had acquired from Russia. The series of artillery duels, naval battles, and aerial bombardments that followed became known as the First Taiwan Strait Crisis.

On November 14, four PLA Navy torpedo boats laid a nighttime ambush for the KMT destroyer Tai-ping (formerly the USS Decker) which had been detected by shore-based radar. An ill-advised light onboard the destroyer gave the PLAN boats a target, and the 1,400-ton ship was struck by a torpedo and sank before it could be towed to safety. Later, Il-10 Sturmovik bombers of the PLA Naval Air Force hit Dachen Harbor, sinking the Landing Ship (Tank) Zhongquan. These episodes highlighted that the Nationalists could no longer rest assured of control of the sea, making maritime lines of supply to the more forward island garrisons progressively less secure.

While the PLA unleashed heavy artillery bombardments on the well-defended Kinmen Island east of the city of Xiamen, it more immediately planned on securing the Dachen Archipelago close to Taizhou in Zhejiang Province. However, the Yijiangshan Islands, a little further than ten miles off the Chinese coast, stood in the way. The two islands measured only two-thirds of a square mile together, but were garrisoned by over one thousand Nationalist troops from the Second and Fourth Assault Groups and the Fourth Assault Squadron, with over one hundred machine gun positions, as well as sixty guns in the Fourth Artillery Brigade. The garrison’s commander, Wang Shen-ming, had been awarded additional honors by Chiang Kai-shek before being dispatched to the post, to signal the importance placed on the island outpost.

Source: https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/chinas-military-massive-can-taiwan-count-america-if-they-invade-179012

The post China’s Military is Massive: Can Taiwan Count On America If They Invade? first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

At the end of World War II, the Allied powers convened the Potsdam Conference to determine how Germany would be supervised, considering its role as the instigator of the war. After restraints on Germany following World War I proved unsuccessful at preventing another global conflict, it was decided that more stringent measures had to be taken. Germany was divided into four quadrants to be directly controlled by the four Allied powers. The United States controlled the southern zone, Britain the northwest, France the southwest, and the Soviet Union controlled the east zone. Berlin, located within the Soviet-occupied territory, was run jointly by the Allies until 1948, when the city was split between East and West Berlin. Germany was ultimately reunified in 1990 after the fall of the Berlin Wall during the decline of the Soviet Union.

This reunification elicited anxiety from the European community, and many eurozone nations feared that a reunified Germany would alter the balance of power and disrupt the peace they had experienced for nearly half a century. Germany is a powerful force in Europe and around the world, and their recent policies have challenged transatlantic relations and European cohesion. Their positions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, the Iran nuclear deal, and the NATO alliance are several examples of this disruption.

Germany is the destination of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which would double, to 110 billion cubic meters, the volume of Russian gas entering Germany and other European countries. Political tensions over the pipeline are high because Nord Stream 2 would not only increase German reliance on Russian gas but would also bypass Ukraine, a key ally in the region which is working to counter an expansionist Russia. Critics are concerned about European reliance on Russian energy, which is already at 40% across the continent. Nord Stream 2 would only increase Russia’s market share.

Nonetheless, Germany has been a powerful force in support of the project. This is a case of Germany pursuing policies contrary to our Allied geopolitical strategy.

Another problem for the United States is Germany’s position on the Iran nuclear deal. Signed in 2015 by Iran, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Germany, and the European Union, this deal compelled Iran to willingly relinquish its nuclear program in return for the removal of sanctions imposed by other signatories. In May 2018, the United States withdrew from the agreement, citing evidence that Iran was not in compliance, and reinstated sanctions. Meanwhile, Germany’s Foreign Minister Heiko Maas publicly called for a payment system to purposefully bypass United States sanctions on Iran.

Finally, Germany has been challenged on its funding of NATO. At the NATO summit in Wales in 2014, member states agreed to increase their defense spending to 2% of GDP by 2024. The United States has the highest defense spending of any NATO country at 3.6% of GDP. Germany, however, spends only 1.2% of GDP on defense, although it is Europe’s strongest economy. Of the 29 NATO members, more than half spend more than 1.2% of their GDP on defense.

Given that Germany can clearly afford its fair share for NATO, its commitment to this important alliance is seriously lacking.

We need a Germany which is in sync with the West and aligned with the eurozone instead of going it alone. To promote a positive and cohesive Western geopolitical strategy, Germany should pay greater consideration to the goals and concerns of their partners: the United States and our European allies.

Francis Rooney is the Representative for Florida’s 19th Congressional District. He is the ranking member of the Western Hemisphere subcommittee on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and previously served as U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See under President George W. Bush from 2005 to 2008.

Source: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/germany-goes-it-alone-without-respect-for-its-partners

The post Germany goes it alone without respect for its partners first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

It is incredibly instructive and fascinating to see the lengths to which the Europeans go to take care of their cities. They know that their cities are not merely urban habitats but remnants and living symbols of their nation’s history and heritage. The past is cherished and protected with a passion that is quite alien to us.

Unlike South Asia and the Middle East, where history is taken for granted and forever abused, no landmarks and monuments are abandoned or allowed to go to seed in Europe. Every slice of history is preserved for posterity with great care.

This may explain why European cities like Berlin and London proudly live and breathe the past whereas in a country like India, which is steeped in 5,000 years of history, old Delhi are falling apart and cheap, partisan politics is rampant over globally celebrated icons like the Taj Mahal.

Travelling through the German capital today, it is hard to believe that this is the same city which had been at the heart of action during World War II. Being at the head of Hitler’s unstoppable juggernaut that ravaged the whole of the continent, Berlin witnessed the most catastrophic war in human history.

Nearly 70 million people – about the size of Iran’s population – were killed, not to mention the economic and other incalculable costs of the war. The Nazi monster was eventually defanged, but not before it had wreaked havoc all across Europe and beyond. It took the collective might and firepower of the US, the Soviet Union, Britain and the rest of Europe to bring the Fuhrer to his knees.

The endless Allied bombing during the Great War totally decimated Germany, with the victors partitioning the country and even dividing Berlin right down the middle. Indeed, the wall that separated the two parts of Berlin came to define not just the division of one country but also epitomised the split of the world into two perpetually bickering blocs and a nuclear holocaust that the cold war threatened.

Not surprisingly, when the Berlin Wall came crashing down, under the weight of its own historical contradictions and a changing world, it was not just the Germans who cheered; the world celebrated with them.

The ground had truly shifted. It was the end of an era – literally. So it all began and ended here in Berlin. For decades, Germany had been humiliated and made to pay for Hitler’s appalling crimes against humanity and delusions of grandeur – just as it had happened after the First Great War.

Today, the scars of that destruction and all the evil that took place in this land are hardly visible. What is truly remarkable is the incredible pace at which Germany has managed to spring back to its feet. Like the mythical phoenix, it has risen from its ashes – just as it had risen after World War I – emerging even more powerful and clearly more mature and wiser in its new avatar.

It has not just managed to survive the last great war and the years of humiliation and punishment that followed, but has emerged as the continent’s largest economy – and not just as the leader of post-war Europe but a global power once again. Although thanks to its past, its military wings still remain clipped and, like Japan, it is still largely dependent on the US for its protection and defence, Germany has begun to come into its own slowly but surely.

With the continuing economic meltdown claiming one formidable EU economy after another, the impregnable economic fortress that Europe used to be has suddenly started wobbling slowly but unmistakably. The only port that looks safe in this economic storm is Germany. Even more so after a Britain full of hubris decided to walk out of the EU.

Barring some awfully polite protests demanding higher wages and curbs over immigration, Germany did not witness the chaos that ruled the streets of Europe after the 2008-9 market crash. Its economy remains robust. Indeed, the country has been helping others.

Germany has invested a great deal of hard work and famous German dedication over the decades to reach where it finds itself today. The Germans put in the longest working hours in Europe. The country has moved towards other fronts too. It appears to have learned from its past and is remorseful over what happened to minority groups under the Nazis. There are no attempts to gloss over the past or brush it under the carpet.

So, is the mindset that created the Nazi Frankenstein and sent millions of innocent people to their deaths dead and buried now? The answer is in the negative. It is still seen in the occasional targeting of mosques and Jewish and Muslim cemeteries. Despite the growth of far-right anti-immigrant parties like the AfD (Alternative for Germany), the Right remains in check thanks to the charismatic and powerful leadership of Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Perhaps to compensate for the Nazi crimes against humanity and religious minorities, Merkel’s Germany generously welcomed refugees from conflict zones in the Middle East and Africa, especially the victims of Syrian conflict. In 2015, at the height of the Syrian refugee crisis, Germany accepted at least a million refugees. People opened their homes and churches to accommodate the guests, winning hearts and minds around the world – especially in the Muslim world.

When it comes to safety and a general sense of security for religious and cultural minorities, Germany is perhaps far ahead of many European nations that trumpet themselves as champions of human rights and tolerance.

While the vilification of immigrants, especially Muslims, has acquired dangerous proportions in France, Austria and the Netherlands, Germany has managed to buck this growing trend of demonising the other. The country is home to nearly five million Muslims, a majority of them from Turkey (almost two-thirds); the Balkans; and the North African Arab countries, forming five percent of the 82 million-strong population. For their part, Muslims are at peace with themselves and their adopted nation even as they remain loyal to their tradition and faith. You see Middle Eastern or halal eateries all over Berlin and elsewhere with Germans queuing up for their regulation doner kebab with their characteristic discipline.

A 2009 survey by the German government together with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) found that Muslims are far more integrated into German society than other European nations. Second-generation German Muslims, especially women, are better educated and more upwardly mobile than their parents as compared with second-generation Muslims in France and Britain. Clearly, when it comes to tolerance and cultural diversity, today’s Germany can teach a lesson or two to the rest of Europe. Adolf must be turning in his grave.

The writer is an independent writer and former newspaper editor.

Email: aijaz.syed@hotmail.com

Source: https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/275818-germany-shows-the-way

The post Germany shows the way first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

A legal team at the Bundestag scoured through an agreement signed by the two countries back in 1990, called the Two Plus Four Treaty, which paved the way for the reunification of East and West Germany.

They came to the conclusion that the wording of the legal document specifically “blocks any reparation demands against Germany to the present day,” according to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.

The revelations are likely to open up a fresh rift between Germany and Poland, who are separately at loggerheads over what Warsaw perceives as unjust meddling in its sovereignty by the European Union.

Earlier this month Polish ministers took the hugely incendiary step of preparing a £37 billion claim for war reparations from Berlin, which it argued should be paid to cover damage caused by the Second World War.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the extremely influential chief of the ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS), described the move to extract more cash from Germany as an “historical counteroffensive”.

He told a Polish radio station: “We are talking here about huge sums and also about the fact that Germany for many years refused to take responsibility for World War Two.”

And Ryszard Czarnecki, an MEP from his party, added: “If Jews have gotten compensation – and rightly so – for loss of property, why shouldn’t we also make claims?”

But Germany immediately rejected the claims, with a government spokeswoman saying the country had already “made significant reparations for general war damage, including to Poland, and is still paying significant compensation for Nazi wrongdoing.”

Poland is claiming that a waiver it signed in 1953, waiving its rights to war reparations, was done under duress whilst it was part of the Soviet Union and is therefore legally invalid.

But Berlin, keen to scotch the claim once and for all, got its own lawyers onto the case and found that the later 1990 treaty, signed a year after it regained independence, also precludes such a scenario.

The row comes at a tricky time for Germany and the EU, who are both at loggerheads with an increasingly angry and unpredictable Warsaw over several alleged infringements of European law.

Poland currently has ongoing infringement cases against it for failing to accept migrant quotas and for proposed amendments to its judicial system which eurocrats say would give the Government too much power over judges.

It has also angered Brussels and environmentalists by refusing to stop logging in the Białowieża forest – Europe’s last prehistoric woodland – despite being ordered to do so by the European Court of Justice.

Source: http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/848775/European-Union-German-lawyers-reject-Polish-demand-WW2-reparations

The post ‘NO CASH!’ Merkel’s lawyers say Germany can REJECT Polish claim for WW2 reparations first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

On August 8, 1945, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, pouring more than a million troops into Japanese-occupied Manchuria, in northeastern China. The 700,000-strong Japanese army was overwhelmed, as their compatriots at home faced the catastrophic allied nuclear strikes at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

With Japan’s imminent defeat, Stalin’s troops stayed on the territories that Russia rebranded the South Kuril Islands and has kept ever since.

The four islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories, are Japanese by virtue of a treaty with Russia signed in 1855. In the wake of World War II, the islands, like a handful of non-Soviet territories before the start of the war, underwent a drastic change.

The Soviet Union by 1949 had deported all Japanese residents to Japan. The dispute continues until today, meaning Russia and Japan still have no official document of peace that reconciles their post-war relationship.

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most frequent interlocutors as Putin pencils in a meeting with the leader for practically every summit or event that both attend. Tokyo even created a ministerial position earlier this year whose entire portfolio is negotiating with Russia.

More recently, Abe has said he aims at convincing Putin to see the value in closing ranks against North Korea’s nuclear posturing. Yet a solution to the dispute surrounding the islands remains elusive and Ambassador William Courtney, adjunct senior fellow at the RAND Corporation, says the Kremlin’s track record of avoiding compromise may be to blame.

“The island dispute and the idea to use trade and energy deals to resolve it has been around since the Soviet period,” Courtney says. “In Moscow, the Kremlin has been reluctant to make any territorial concessions, in big part because they are strongly opposed by a group of ultranationalists in the security forces and many other places. Putin has a real challenge from people who are more nationalist than him.”

With two major waves of protests within the last year and Putin’s term finishing in March, the Kremlin will be averse to make any decision that could constitute a sign of weakness.

Both Japan and Russia have an interest in finding nearby trading partners in the Asia Pacific region, to counter China’s dominance. Russia has courted Japanese investment in its underdeveloped far east, while Japan is looking for energy.

“Gas is a critical issue,” Courtney says. “Japan imports about 10 percent of its energy from Russia, and there has been an issue with Russia building pipelines because of the dispute. If the Kremlin was smart they would resolve this issue and seek to become the gas provider to Japan as it is to Europe now.”

Russia’s state-run Gazprom pumps more than a third (34 percent) of the entire European Union’s gas and currently plans to open two more pipelines, heading west. Hiroshige Seko, Japan’s minister for Economy, Trade and Industry, said on Monday that Tokyo would be interested in receiving more liquefied natural gas from Russia, with the island dispute being the main hurdle.

“Both in the Soviet period and today, the Kremlin has tended to make decisions on political grounds rather than economic grounds,” Courtney says. “It makes economic sense for Russia to resolve this issue with Japan. But Putin is probably concerned about his political situation. He is probably more concerned about pressure from the ultranationalists to look strong.”

Source: http://www.newsweek.com/japan-russia-war-wont-end-647992

The post Japan and Russia: The War that Won’t End first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.