NATO vs Russia
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From: Peripatetic
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c93x4nxlkjeo
President of Romania:
US Ambassador to NATO:
President of Czech Republic:
Nato condemns Russian 'recklessness' after drone hits Romanian residential block
A Russian drone has hit a block of flats in Romania, causing a fire and wounding two people, officials say, and prompting a strong response from Nato and EU officials.The incident happened on Friday in the eastern town of Galati - close to Romania's eastern border with Ukraine.
Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte said "Russia's reckless behaviour is a danger to us all", while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Russia's "war of aggression had crossed yet another line"......
A Russian drone has hit a block of flats in Romania, causing a fire and wounding two people, officials say, and prompting a strong response from Nato and EU officials.The incident happened on Friday in the eastern town of Galati - close to Romania's eastern border with Ukraine.
Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte said "Russia's reckless behaviour is a danger to us all", while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Russia's "war of aggression had crossed yet another line"......
President of Romania:
I had a conversation with the NATO Secretary General @NATO, @SecGenNATO, following the most serious security incident to occur on Romanian territory since the start of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.
I firmly condemned this unacceptable violation of Romania's sovereignty. Full responsibility lies with the Russian Federation, whose behavior demonstrates total disregard for international law and for the safety of the citizens of a NATO member state.
I thanked the Secretary General and the Allies for their solidarity and agreed to continue close coordination within @NATO to strengthen our defense and the Eastern Flank, particularly with anti-aircraft and anti-drone capabilities. Romania is a strong ally and will not accept Russia's aggression against Ukraine threatening the security of Romanian citizens.
I firmly condemned this unacceptable violation of Romania's sovereignty. Full responsibility lies with the Russian Federation, whose behavior demonstrates total disregard for international law and for the safety of the citizens of a NATO member state.
I thanked the Secretary General and the Allies for their solidarity and agreed to continue close coordination within @NATO to strengthen our defense and the Eastern Flank, particularly with anti-aircraft and anti-drone capabilities. Romania is a strong ally and will not accept Russia's aggression against Ukraine threatening the security of Romanian citizens.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cdep...36a735cb0#post
The president of the European Commission says Russia's "war of aggression has crossed yet another line” and the EU stands in "full solidarity with Romania and its people".
Ursula von der Leyen says the incident occurred in a densely populated area of Romania, injuring civilians.
"As we continue strengthening our security and deterrence, especially on our Eastern border, we will keep increasing the pressure on Russia," she says in a post on X.
"We are preparing a 21st package of sanctions."
The president of the European Commission says Russia's "war of aggression has crossed yet another line” and the EU stands in "full solidarity with Romania and its people".
Ursula von der Leyen says the incident occurred in a densely populated area of Romania, injuring civilians.
"As we continue strengthening our security and deterrence, especially on our Eastern border, we will keep increasing the pressure on Russia," she says in a post on X.
"We are preparing a 21st package of sanctions."
https://x.com/USAmbNATO/status/2060268480130117733?s=20
We stand with our NATO Ally Romania and condemn this reckless incursion on its territory. Our thoughts are with the injured in Galati. We will defend every inch of NATO territory.
We stand with our NATO Ally Romania and condemn this reckless incursion on its territory. Our thoughts are with the injured in Galati. We will defend every inch of NATO territory.
https://x.com/prezidentpavel/status/...594276040?s=20
The unprecedented nighttime strike on a residential building in Romania's Galați by a Russian drone, in which two people were injured, is utterly unacceptable.
However, we should not stop at mere joint condemnation. I therefore unequivocally support Romanian President Dan's call for a strong international response.
Russia must clearly understand that we will not tolerate such attacks.
The unprecedented nighttime strike on a residential building in Romania's Galați by a Russian drone, in which two people were injured, is utterly unacceptable.
However, we should not stop at mere joint condemnation. I therefore unequivocally support Romanian President Dan's call for a strong international response.
Russia must clearly understand that we will not tolerate such attacks.
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From: Peripatetic
..................
https://x.com/jurgen_nauditt/status/...364193332?s=20
Another Russian Drone Found in Romania Near the Village of Besesti – TVR.
This would imply that Russia has penetrated approximately 90 kilometers into Romanian airspace.
According to reports, the recovered specimen has a wingspan of approximately 3 meters.
Now, all the NATO and EU bureaucrats just have to send another email of condemnation to Russia—the second one today. 😂😂😂
Another Russian Drone Found in Romania Near the Village of Besesti – TVR.
This would imply that Russia has penetrated approximately 90 kilometers into Romanian airspace.
According to reports, the recovered specimen has a wingspan of approximately 3 meters.
Now, all the NATO and EU bureaucrats just have to send another email of condemnation to Russia—the second one today. 😂😂😂
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Thread Starter
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
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From: Peripatetic
https://archive.is/20260522084055/ht...kers~b60acffb/
How a consultant and a concert pianist from the Netherlands aided pro-Russian hackers
In the international information war, few methods are off-limits. Pro-Russian cybercriminals carry out attacks to sow fear and disrupt Western societies. De Volkskrantinvestigated how Dutch companies helped facilitate this sabotage.
In the international information war, few methods are off-limits. Pro-Russian cybercriminals carry out attacks to sow fear and disrupt Western societies. De Volkskrantinvestigated how Dutch companies helped facilitate this sabotage.
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From: Vance, Belgium
I suspect that, if Romania asks Ukraine the permission to track and shoot down unidentified drones in a 10km wide buffer zone on the Ukrainian side of the Romania/Ukraine border, there is a good chance that such an agreement could be signed.
With some important details like: no shoot down over populated areas.
With some important details like: no shoot down over populated areas.
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From: Peripatetic
That'll teach em a lesson....... 
UST IN: Romanian President Nicușor Dan has declared the Russian Consul General in Constanța persona non grata and ordered the closure of the Russian consulate in the city, the only Russian diplomatic office outside Bucharest.
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From: Peripatetic
Video
https://x.com/JayinKyiv/status/2060002757453418874?s=20
Kremlin media in an uproar amid the aftermath of the newly inked defense alliance between Poland and the UK, with Solovyev threatening to nuke the UK, destroy Paris, occupy Berlin and bring Warsaw back into Putin's USSR 2.0.
Kremlin media in an uproar amid the aftermath of the newly inked defense alliance between Poland and the UK, with Solovyev threatening to nuke the UK, destroy Paris, occupy Berlin and bring Warsaw back into Putin's USSR 2.0.
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From: Peripatetic
Realpolitik....... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realpolitik
https://archive.is/20260530044441/ht...seth-0x79gpbql
https://archive.is/20260530044441/ht...seth-0x79gpbql
Allies guilty of ‘freeloading’ will be penalised, says US war secretary
Pete Hegseth said the UK’s special relationship alliance with the United States is “meaningless” unless it matches American military capabilities
The UK’s special relationship alliance with the United States is “meaningless” unless it matches American military capabilities and “locks arms and shields” with its ally, the secretary of war, Pete Hegseth, has told his British counterpart, John Healey.
In a blunt speech in Singapore, Hegseth set out a strategic contract for US allies, under which “model allies” who comply with American demands will be rewarded with arms sales and access to intelligence. At the same time, those judged to be guilty of “freeloading” will be penalised.
He referred to frank conversations with the British defence secretary, John Healey, in which he questioned the basis of the UK’s most important alliance. Speaking at a conference of defence ministers this morning, he said: “As my friends, Mr [Richard] Marles [the Australian defence minister] and John Healey know, I’m probably the most blunt with our closest friends about what our capabilities are and where they need to be to ensure that we’re locking arms and shields, considering the threats of the world.”
He added, “You can’t just say, ‘Oh, we’ve been friends for a long time, so let’s work together.’ It’s: ‘We’ve been friends for a long time, so you better have the same capabilities we do, because if we don’t, our alliance is meaningless.’”
In a speech to the Shangri-La Dialogue, organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a think tank based in London, he promised to move “to the front of the line” those allies that comply with US demands, and implied punishment for those who do not. He praised countries including South Korea, Japan and Vietnam for meeting the standard, and reproached European countries for failing to do so.
“We will prioritise working with model allies,” he told an audience that included defence ministers from Europe and Asia, including Healey. “We are moving them to the front of the line. Expedited arms sales, deep industrial base collaboration, expanded intelligence sharing, the list goes on, the benefits [are] many. But for those who believe they can continue to free ride on the generosity of the American taxpayer, hear us now. … The era of the United States subsidising the defence of wealthy nations is over.”
He added, “Allies who refuse to step up and carry their own weight for our collective defence will face a clear shift in how we do business.”
It was a reversal of the position he set out a year ago, when he praised European governments for their new spending commitments and chided their Asian counterparts for falling short. He also changed his tone on China, reflecting the improvement in US relations with Beijing, following the meeting between President Trump and President Xi earlier this month.
At last year’s Shangri-La Dialogue, he suggested that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan could be imminent and warned that “the threat China poses is real”. In Singapore this morning, he said that “relations between the United States and China are better than they’ve been in many years.”
But he dismissed the diplomatic line pursued by European and Asian democracies — that China must abide by the “rule-based international order” — in favour of one in which peace is underwritten by raw military power.
“America is a Pacific nation, and we insist that China respect our longstanding position in the region, and [we will] maintain the manifest military strength to underwrite it,” he said. “We will prioritise lethal capability, strategic discipline, and business-like cooperation over empty rhetoric and peacocking. Any potential opponent will be forced to judge us by our hard power, collective readiness, and steadfast resolve.”
He added: “For too long, polite pleas for our European allies to spend more on their own defence fell on deaf ears. They’re finally playing catch-up, and we let ourselves get distracted by empty globalist rhetoric about the rules-based international order, while European capitals threw open their borders and hollowed out their militaries. You can have all the rules you want, and rules are great, but if you can’t back them up with hard power, the rules are not worth the paper they are written on.”
Pete Hegseth said the UK’s special relationship alliance with the United States is “meaningless” unless it matches American military capabilities
The UK’s special relationship alliance with the United States is “meaningless” unless it matches American military capabilities and “locks arms and shields” with its ally, the secretary of war, Pete Hegseth, has told his British counterpart, John Healey.
In a blunt speech in Singapore, Hegseth set out a strategic contract for US allies, under which “model allies” who comply with American demands will be rewarded with arms sales and access to intelligence. At the same time, those judged to be guilty of “freeloading” will be penalised.
He referred to frank conversations with the British defence secretary, John Healey, in which he questioned the basis of the UK’s most important alliance. Speaking at a conference of defence ministers this morning, he said: “As my friends, Mr [Richard] Marles [the Australian defence minister] and John Healey know, I’m probably the most blunt with our closest friends about what our capabilities are and where they need to be to ensure that we’re locking arms and shields, considering the threats of the world.”
He added, “You can’t just say, ‘Oh, we’ve been friends for a long time, so let’s work together.’ It’s: ‘We’ve been friends for a long time, so you better have the same capabilities we do, because if we don’t, our alliance is meaningless.’”
In a speech to the Shangri-La Dialogue, organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a think tank based in London, he promised to move “to the front of the line” those allies that comply with US demands, and implied punishment for those who do not. He praised countries including South Korea, Japan and Vietnam for meeting the standard, and reproached European countries for failing to do so.
“We will prioritise working with model allies,” he told an audience that included defence ministers from Europe and Asia, including Healey. “We are moving them to the front of the line. Expedited arms sales, deep industrial base collaboration, expanded intelligence sharing, the list goes on, the benefits [are] many. But for those who believe they can continue to free ride on the generosity of the American taxpayer, hear us now. … The era of the United States subsidising the defence of wealthy nations is over.”
He added, “Allies who refuse to step up and carry their own weight for our collective defence will face a clear shift in how we do business.”
It was a reversal of the position he set out a year ago, when he praised European governments for their new spending commitments and chided their Asian counterparts for falling short. He also changed his tone on China, reflecting the improvement in US relations with Beijing, following the meeting between President Trump and President Xi earlier this month.
At last year’s Shangri-La Dialogue, he suggested that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan could be imminent and warned that “the threat China poses is real”. In Singapore this morning, he said that “relations between the United States and China are better than they’ve been in many years.”
But he dismissed the diplomatic line pursued by European and Asian democracies — that China must abide by the “rule-based international order” — in favour of one in which peace is underwritten by raw military power.
“America is a Pacific nation, and we insist that China respect our longstanding position in the region, and [we will] maintain the manifest military strength to underwrite it,” he said. “We will prioritise lethal capability, strategic discipline, and business-like cooperation over empty rhetoric and peacocking. Any potential opponent will be forced to judge us by our hard power, collective readiness, and steadfast resolve.”
He added: “For too long, polite pleas for our European allies to spend more on their own defence fell on deaf ears. They’re finally playing catch-up, and we let ourselves get distracted by empty globalist rhetoric about the rules-based international order, while European capitals threw open their borders and hollowed out their militaries. You can have all the rules you want, and rules are great, but if you can’t back them up with hard power, the rules are not worth the paper they are written on.”
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From: PLanet Earth
We need to take it into our own hands and stop whining.
Let's start drone defence and ISR + Long Range Strike. 2000 km range. In the thousands. That's the main areas where Russia still has capabilities, or where it really hurts them, respectively.
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This entire new "free loading" narrative is rather unfriendly and unwarranted after everything NATO had been set up exactly the way the US wanted it to be and under US leadership. The US should look at how many nations supported it after 9-11 without asking questions and with lives lost. We need reliable alliances, treaties that can be trusted and US nukes to continue protecting Western Europe. Everything else feels like Kremlin support and creating headlines to avoid others. Yes, Europe needs more independent options now but on the long run we will need the US as our partner. This is not the time for ego trips on any side of the Atlantic.
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From: Peripatetic
https://x.com/EGYOSINT/status/2060670341492383979?s=20
U.S. forces evacuating Romania? 4× U.S. Air Force KC-135R/T aerial refueling aircraft have departed Bucharest airport in Romania and are heading south, likely repositioning to Chania, Greece.
U.S. forces evacuating Romania? 4× U.S. Air Force KC-135R/T aerial refueling aircraft have departed Bucharest airport in Romania and are heading south, likely repositioning to Chania, Greece.
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From: Europe
Could be related to this, if ROMANIA has taken the same stance in private as BULGARIA has in public, or if there are airspace access implications ?
"Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said Friday his government will give U.S. military aircraft and personnel until the end of June to leave Sofia Airport, after the Trump administration failed to advance visa-free travel for Bulgarian citizens.The decision extends a current agreement by just one month. The existing deal expires at the end of May. Radev made clear the short extension was a deliberate message to Washington.
“I called for the suspension of visas for Bulgarian citizens during my conversation with the U.S. President, but I have not received a positive answer,” Radev said on May 29, according to Balkan Insight. etc etc etc"
https://thekenyatimes.com/americas/b...ly-draws-line/
"Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said Friday his government will give U.S. military aircraft and personnel until the end of June to leave Sofia Airport, after the Trump administration failed to advance visa-free travel for Bulgarian citizens.The decision extends a current agreement by just one month. The existing deal expires at the end of May. Radev made clear the short extension was a deliberate message to Washington.
“I called for the suspension of visas for Bulgarian citizens during my conversation with the U.S. President, but I have not received a positive answer,” Radev said on May 29, according to Balkan Insight. etc etc etc"
https://thekenyatimes.com/americas/b...ly-draws-line/
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From: Peripatetic
I doubt it. I posted previously concerning the Bulgarian situation on the Iran thread ( Iran V2.0 ), but even Bulgaria is only withdrawing siting authorisation at the end of June.
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Questions regarding NATO underfunding go back years. Robert Gates clearly observed what was coming.
In 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned European allies that "the American well can run dry" and pressed them to assume a larger share of the alliance's defense burden. The issue resurfaced repeatedly over the following decades as successive administrations sought greater European contributions to collective defense.
The concern persisted long after the Cold War. In a blunt 2011 farewell speech in Brussels, then-War Secretary Robert Gates warned of a "dim if not dismal future" for NATO if European governments continued underinvesting in their militaries. Gates cautioned that there would be "dwindling appetite and patience" among American lawmakers and taxpayers to bear a disproportionate share of the alliance's defense costs.
Yet despite decades of warnings, the underlying incentives changed little.
The concern persisted long after the Cold War. In a blunt 2011 farewell speech in Brussels, then-War Secretary Robert Gates warned of a "dim if not dismal future" for NATO if European governments continued underinvesting in their militaries. Gates cautioned that there would be "dwindling appetite and patience" among American lawmakers and taxpayers to bear a disproportionate share of the alliance's defense costs.
Yet despite decades of warnings, the underlying incentives changed little.
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