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@Hevallo ‏@Hevallo 4m4 minutes ago #ISIS POLICE IN ANKARA! Ankara police showing the Islamic sign while attacking Kurds protesting attacks on #Kobane

"As Kobani falls to ISIS, the Turkish Army sits idle across the border." October 7, 2014 Years ago, I deployed to Germany with the First Infantry Division and thousands of other troops from the United States and its European NATO allies to participate in REFORGER (Return of Forces to Germany). These were war games designed to demonstrate to the Soviet Bloc that an invasion across the Fulda Gap would be met with a powerful response from the alliance and that the allies were prepared to commit substantial forces within a short time to repel such an invasion. There were troops...

The NATO alliance has drawn up a strategy to defend Turkey if it is attacked along its border with Syria, a Turkish official said Monday. Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz, whose country is a NATO member, said the alliance did that at his government's request as Islamic State militants, who have captured a large swath of Iraq and Syria, are trying to take the Syrian town of Kobani near the Turkish border. "If there is an attack, NATO's joint defense mechanisms will be activated," Yilmaz told reporters.

BERLIN, Germany — When Chancellor Angela Merkel took office after her re-election last fall, she promised to expand her country’s role in world affairs by unshackling its military. That would reflect the political and economic leadership position Germany has taken in Europe over the last two decades. But as the fight against the Islamic State, or IS, in Iraq and Syria is showing, that’s easier said than done in a society that’s been a perennial conscientious objector since World War II. Germany’s commitment to send $90 million worth of arms and equipment to Kurdish rebels fighting IS ended a longstanding...

A retired top-ranking German general said Monday a string of recent embarrassing military equipment failures shows the country needs to spend more on defense, as another aircraft breakdown came to light. […] Former chief of staff Harald Kujat told rbb-radio the problem comes because the German military has been increasingly involved in large operations like in Afghanistan, but has neglected equipment maintenance and replacement. Germany this year reduced defense spending by about €800 million to €32.44 billion ($41.30 billion)—far below NATO’s recommended level of 2 percent of GDP. …

NATO will defend Turkey if the country is ever attacked, the alliance’s new chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday, amid increased instability on its borders. The former Norwegian PM will visit Turkey next week as Ankara mulls using force to repel ISIL militants in Iraq and Syria. Turkish lawmakers are expected to debate authorising military action on Thursday. “Our responsibility, the basic responsibility, is to stand up and be very clear that we are going to protect Turkey. That collective defence, Article 5, is something which is also going to be applied if Turkey is in any way attacked,” said...

A senior Russian Foreign Ministry official says that Moscow has a responsibility to protect ethnic Russian citizens of other countries, "regardless of where they live," and that "we will do everything possible to defend the rights and interests" of ethnic Russian minorities in the neighboring Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The comments came from Anatoly Makarov, the director of the Foreign Ministry's Department for Interaction with Compatriots Abroad. He was speaking to the Russian outlet RuBaltic, as translated by Paul Goble. "We are carrying out a line so that Russian compatriots regardless of where they live are guaranteed...

A summit earlier this week achieves consensus on the inadmissibility of a foreign military presence in the sea. Iran and Russia have built unanimous consensus among the Caspian states, which also feature Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, over the inadmissibility of a foreign military presence in the Caspian Sea, ruling out any future possible deployment of NATO forces in the basin. A political declaration signed by the presidents of the five Caspian states at the IV Caspian Summit held in Astrakhan, Russia, on September 29, “sets out a fundamental principle for guaranteeing stability and security, namely, that only the Caspian littoral...

So the five Afghan soldiers who went missing from two separate U.S. military bases are now all accounted for and apparently headed back to their home country. Feel safer now? Don't. The Pentagon, State Department and Department of Homeland Security would like this story to be over and done. (Just like they wanted the White House "fence-jumper" story to be buried. But then we found out he didn't just jump the fence; he also overpowered a Secret Service agent, burst through the halls and invaded the East Room wielding a knife.) Here are my nagging questions about another hushed-up national...

Russia used its annual appearance at the U.N. General Assembly on Saturday to accuse the United States and its Western allies of bossing the world around, complaining they were attempting to dictate to everyone "what is good and evil."

Poland kicks off major military exercises involving eight NATO partners on Wednesday amid the West's worst standoff with Russia since the end of the Cold War sparked by differences over the Ukraine crisis. Organised every two years since 2006, this year's Anaconda manoeuvres involve 12,500 soldiers, with 750 from NATO members the US and Britain among others, the Polish defence ministry said, adding the event "has become a permanent training element of the North Atlantic alliance". The exercises are designed to coordinate cooperation with NATO's rapid reaction forces, created at the alliance's Cardiff summit earlier this month. They also come...

The UK Parliament has backed British participation in air strikes against Islamic State extremists in Iraq. After a seven-hour debate, MPs voted for military action by 524 votes to 43. The Conservatives, Lib Dems and Labour leaderships all backed air strikes although some MPs expressed concerns about where it would lead and the prospect of future engagement in Syria. The BBC's political editor Nick Robinson said RAF planes could be called into action as early as Sunday. Speaking after the vote, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said a long campaign lay ahead and there would not be a "series of immediate...

Parliament is to be recalled on Friday to discuss the UK's possible involvement in air strikes against Islamic State (IS) in Iraq. Prime Minister David Cameron said MPs should respond to the Iraqi government's request for help. He added that the UK "should not turn away from what needs to be done". The Liberal Democrats are backing air strikes in Iraq and Labour leader Ed Miliband has confirmed his support, saying the UK cannot "opt out". Meanwhile, the Foreign Office has said it is "aware" of reports that a British national has died in Syria, but it has "no further...

The number of Europeans joining Islamist fighters in Syria and Iraq has surged to about 3,000 from 2,000 only months ago, the EU counter-terrorism chief said Tuesday. (snip) The European fighters, he said, come mainly from France, Britain, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark but a few come from Spain, Italy, Ireland and now Austria.

The U.S. Embassy in Turkey has issued a security warning, urging U.S. citizens to be vigilant against possible terrorist attacks in retaliation for U.S. airstrikes against the Islamic State group.

German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen and President Massoud Barzani. ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A cargo plane carrying the first delivery of high-tech German weapons arrived in Erbil today, ready to boost Kurdish Peshmerga forces in the fight against Islamic State militants. "We assure you that we are beside you to tackle this crisis," German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen told Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Massoud Barzani at a press conference.  “It is clear that a lot of support has arrived but more is needed,” she added. The minister landed in Erbil shortly after a plane...

The U.S. military and two Arab allies on Wednesday bombarded a dozen small-scale oil refineries in eastern Syria as part of an expanding campaign to cut off key sources of financing and fuel for the Islamic State, according to the Pentagon. ... The Islamic State is estimated to produce between 25,000 and 40,000 barrels of oil a day, earning as much as $1 million a day, according to industry experts. The attacks on the refineries came on a day when U.S. military forces reported hitting an Islamic State convoy in Syria near the Iraqi border and Syrian opposition groups reported...

US-led air strikes on Islamic State (IS) militants have destroyed four tanks and damaged another during a fourth night of bombardments in Syria. ... The Danish government says it is sending seven F-16 fighter jets to join anti-IS operations - but only in Iraq.

BRITAIN WILL go to war again after politicians today voted overwhelmingly to join airstrikes against the so-called Islamic State terrorist group. RAF jets could now fly bombing missions over Iraq within hours after all three major parties backed action against the brutal regime, which David Cameron called a "clear" threat to Britain. The vote comes amid warnings that the action to defeat the Islamic terrorists could take years. Initially British airstrikes will only take place over Iraq, despite the IS group controlling areas of Syria in its bid to establish an Islamic caliphate across the Middle East. The vote comes...

Thomas EscrittSeptember 24, 2014  THE HAGUE (Reuters) - The Dutch government said on Wednesday it would deploy six F-16 fighter jets, which could be operational in a week, to support the U.S.-led strikes against Islamic State insurgents in Iraq. The Netherlands, a member of NATO and a close U.S. ally, will target the ultra-radical Islamist militants in Iraq and provide training and advice to Iraqi and Kurdish regional military forces for a period of up to one year, Deputy Prime Minister Lodewijk Asschertold journalists. "We regard IS as a grave threat, not just for the region it is destabilising,...