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Pentagon responds to Russian 'chemical weapon' warning
22 Dec, 2021 15:23
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu’s claim that US private military companies (PMCs) are planning to stage a provocation in eastern Ukraine using chemical weapons is incorrect, the Pentagon has insisted.
Speaking to the press on Tuesday, US Department of Defense press secretary John Kirby completely denied all suggestions of any American plans to stage an incident.
“Those statements by Minister Shoigu are completely false… they’re false,” Kirby said, in response to a question from a reporter.
Earlier on Tuesday, at a meeting of the Russian Defense Ministry board attended by President Vladimir Putin, Shoygu claimed that 120 employees of American PMCs have been placed in Ukraine’s Donetsk region.
“They are setting up firing positions in residential buildings and socially important facilities and are training Ukrainian special operations forces and radical armed groups for active combat operations,” Shoygu claimed. “To carry out provocations, tanks with unspecified chemical components have been delivered to the towns of Avdeevka and Krasnyi Lyman.”
Sounds like defensive positioning to me, pfft!
The minister provided no further details or evidence to back up the claim.
Tensions have been mounting in eastern Ukraine since last month when several Western media outlets reported that Russia had been massing troops near the border and claimed that Moscow was planning a large-scale military invasion of the country. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied that it has any plans to invade and has called for a diplomatic solution.
Also on Tuesday, during the same board meeting, Putin said that tensions in Europe were the fault of the US. According to the president, the deployment of American missiles, as well as large-scale exercises near the country’s borders, are causing concern for Moscow.
Biden signs $768bn military spending bill
The US administration devotes $300 million in security aid to Ukraine amid mounting tensions with Russia
US President Joe Biden has signed into law a $768 billion defense package. It represents an overall increase in military spending and includes $300 million to be set aside for security initiatives related to Moscow and Beijing.
Biden signed the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on Monday, marking a $25 billion increase on his original proposal and authorizing a 5% boost in US military spending from 2021.
The vast spending package includes $300 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which, according to supporters in the Senate, will be used to train and equip Ukrainian forces to defend against alleged “Russian aggression.” Another $150 million was earmarked for “Baltic security cooperation” – another project aimed at deterring Moscow – while a larger sum of $4 billion will be spent on the European Defense Initiative, which is intended to bolster Washington’s NATO allies.
The aid package to Ukraine comes as Washington and several other Western nations accuse Russia of amassing forces along its border with Ukraine. At the weekend, US Vice President Kamala Harris threatened “sanctions like you’ve not seen before,” should Russia make a move against its neighbor. Though Moscow insists it has no interest in an invasion, it has warned against further NATO expansion into Eastern Europe, deeming the issue a matter of “life and death” for Russia. It also denounced Western involvement in Ukraine, where the US supported the 2014 ‘Euromaidan’ coup.
In line with the Biden administration’s growing military focus on China, the new NDAA also includes a $7.4 billion allocation to the Pacific Deterrence Initiative and a statement of support for the defense of Taiwan, which Beijing considers part of its own territory. The bill also prohibited the US military from purchasing wares from China’s Xinjiang region, citing allegations of forced labor there.
Though Biden’s slightly more modest spending proposal was rejected by lawmakers over concerns the US military could soon lag behind adversaries, as of last year, the United States continued to spend more on its armed forces than the next 11 largest militaries combined worldwide, including China’s and Russia’s, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
What madness! Imagine what good things could be done with all that money! Even if they just out-spent the next highest military budget (Russia? China?) there would still be close to a half trillion dollars available for useful, sane programs. How does the government justify spending 3/4 of a trillion dollars on the military?
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Israel doesn’t need US permission to strike Iran – FM
The Jewish state possesses capabilities the world can’t even imagine and will
use them against Tehran if necessary, the Israeli foreign minister has warned
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid has made it clear that his country can use force to curb Iran’s nuclear development without informing US President Joe Biden.
“Israel will do whatever it needs to do to protect its security. And we don’t need anybody’s permission for that. That’s been the case since the first day we established this state,” Lapid told Israel’s Channel 12 on the last day of 2021.
When asked if his country possesses the means to successfully carry out this type of attack, the foreign minister said that “Israel has capabilities, some of which the world, and even some experts in the field, cannot even imagine. And Israel will protect itself against the Iranian threat.”
Israeli officials and military figures have been mulling a strike on Iran since talks on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA) between Tehran and world powers began under the Biden administration.
Tehran has expressed skepticism over the warnings coming from Israel, calling them “empty threats,” though promising a harsh response to any aggression.
Under the JCPOA, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.
Former President Donald Trump unliterary withdrew the US from the JCPOA in 2018, calling it the “worst deal ever.” The Jewish state fully shared his view, vigorously opposing the agreement which, it insisted, was not enough to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb.
During his interview on Friday, Lapid said there has not been a “capitulation” to Tehran during the ongoing talks in Vienna. “Israel is not against a good deal, it is only against the wrong deal,” he added.
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