Månad: augusti 2020

America seizing cargoes from four oil tankers conjures images of British privateers attacking Spanish treasure fleets in the late 1500s.

It was definitely the 21st century when I went to sleep Thursday night, but by Friday morning it was starting to feel as though I’d slipped back in time a few hundred years, to an age of state-sponsored piracy.

News that the U.S. had seized the cargoes of four oil tankers, allegedly carrying Iranian gasoline from the Persian Gulf to Venezuela, conjured images of British privateers — in essence, state-sponsored pirates — attacking Spanish treasure fleets carrying gold, silver and precious stones from the New World back to Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. […]

The U.S. isn’t licensing acts of piracy by private individuals. Nor, in this case, has it resorted to military action. A senior U.S. official told The Associated Press that no military force was used in the seizures. Instead, threats of potentially crippling sanctions against the owners, insurers and captains of the vessels persuaded them to hand over the cargoes.

But the concept has altered little in 440 years — we still have one of the world’s preeminent naval powers passing its own laws allowing it to seize treasure from its enemies in the ocean. […]

Senior Trump administration officials are expected to hold an event to mark the docking of the ships in Houston. I couldn’t help but think of Queen Elizabeth I staging a banquet for Francis Drake in Deptford on the River Thames in 1581, and knighting him on the main deck of his ship, the Golden Hind, that had just returned full of Spanish treasure. Läs artikel

Pressen på Belarus president Aleksandr Lukasjenko växer för var dag, och på lördag kontaktade han Rysslands president Vladimir Putin i något som verkade som en vädjan på hjälp. Samtidigt planerar den belarusiska oppositionen en massiv demonstration på söndag.

– Aggressionen mot Belarus utvecklar sig. Vi måste kontakta Rysslands president Putin, så jag kan tala med honom nu. För hotet gäller inte längre endast Belarus, sa president Lukasjenko till sina tjänstemän i ett tv-sänt möte på lördag.

Ryssland bekräftade senare under eftermiddagen att presidenterna hade diskuterat läget över telefon, men var i övrigt fåordig om mötet.

– De här problemen borde inte utnyttjas av destruktiva krafter, som vill skada våra två länders ömsesidigt gynnsamma samarbete i statsförbundet, skriver Kreml i ett uttalande.

Båda presidenterna uppgav sig vara säkra på att Belarus problem kommer att ”lösa sig inom kort”. Läs artikel

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has signed a new defence agreement with Poland that will see American troops redeployed there from Germany.

The deal will see the number of US troops in Poland rise to about 5,500. Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said the number could quickly be increased to 20,000 if a threat justified it. US President Donald Trump has previously accused Germany of not contributing enough to Nato. But the US move has raised concern among Nato allies worried over possible Russian expansionism.

The Enhanced Defence Co-operation Agreement (EDCA) was signed by Mr Pompeo and Mr Blaszczak in Warsaw on Saturday.

”This is going to be an extended guarantee – a guarantee that in case of a threat our soldiers are going to stand arm-in-arm,” Poland’s President Andrzej Duda said at the signing ceremony. Läs artikel

USA kommer nästa vecka att försöka tvinga igenom att FN-sanktioner mot Iran återinförs, meddelar president Donald Trump på en presskonferens på sin golfklubb Bedminster i New Jersey.

Beskedet kommer sedan länderna i FN:s säkerhetsråd i fredags avvisat ett förslag från USA om att på obestämd tid förlänga ett vapenembargo mot Iran.

– Vi kommer att genomföra en ”snapback”. Ni kommer att få se en sådan nästa vecka, säger presidenten.

Med det hänvisar han till en klausul som innebär att sanktioner kan återinföras mot Iran om landet anses ha brutit mot det kärnenergiavtal som slöts 2015. Trump hävdar att USA fortfarande är en part i avtalet, trots att han 2018 beslutade att landet skulle dra sig ur överenskommelsen. Läs artikel

The UN Security Council on Friday rejected the United States’ calls for an indefinite extension to the arms embargo on Iran.

Shortly after the result of the council’s vote was announced, China’s UN Ambassador Zhang Jun said the outcome ”once again shows that unilateralism receives no support, and bullying will fail.”

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo criticized the rebuff, saying in a statement, ”The Security Council’s failure to act decisively in defense of international peace and security is inexcusable.” In a tweet, Pompeo accused the UN of enabling Iran’s arms deals.[…]

The US-sponsored resolution was opposed by China and Russia. Eleven members abstained, including Germany, France and Britain, while the US and the Dominican Republic were the only members to back the proposal. To get approval, the resolution needed nine ”yes” votes. The embargo on Iran is set to end in October this year, under a provision of UN Resolution 2231, in which the Security Council backed the nuclear deal between Tehran and a group of world powers. The five permanent members of the Security Council — the US, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, and China — all endorsed the agreement in Vienna in 2015. Germany and the European Union also signed the landmark deal. Läs artikel

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday condemned the United Nations Security Council for rejecting a U.S. resolution to extend the arms embargo on Iran.

The council voted to allow the 13-year embargo to expire this October despite the protestations of the U.S., Israel and multiple Arab states. […]

Russia and China — two permanent members of the Security Council — had opposed the push for an indefinite extension. The Russian delegation asserted an extension would violate a UNSC resolution that endorsed the Iran nuclear deal. It argued the U.S. forfeited its right to negotiate the terms of an arms embargo under that resolution because it left the nuclear deal in 2018. […]

France, Germany and the United Kingdom had also pushed back on a U.S. threat to impose sanctions on Iran if the Security Council voted to let the embargo expire. The U.S. negotiated the right to do so under the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal. But the European countries argued the U.S. was not in a position to use the so-called snapback option after withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018. Läs artikel

75 år siden den siste gangen et atomvåpen ble brukt i krig, planlegger USA å forlenge livet til sitt atomvåpenarsenal femti år inn i framtiden, med en moderniseringsplan som varer så lenge som til 2042. Atomvåpen med samme sprengkraft som dem som ble brukt under 2. verdenskrig betraktes i dag som «små» og «taktiske» våpen. De fleste stridshodene i det amerikanske atomvåpenarsenalet er flere dusin ganger mer ødeleggende enn dem som ble sluppet over Japan. Og USA er ikke lenger den eneste makten med atomvåpen.

Dette gjør det desto mer skremmende, når man innser at flaks – den samme flaksen som sparte Kokura og dømte Nagasaki til sin undergang — er en av hovedgrunnene til at vi har unngått atomvåpen-katastrofer siden da. […]

Det har vært tilfeller av nesten-bruk der USA og Sovjetunionens varslingssystemer sviktet og informerte sine brukere om at et atomvåpenangrep var underveis. Det har vært øyeblikk på randen av atomkrig der ledere i begge nasjoner måtte ta beslutninger som kunne drept hundrevis av millioner mennesker på grunn av ufullstendig eller feilaktig informasjon (som Cuba-krisen i 1962). Har vi unngått uønskede atomvåpen-eksplosjoner og atomkrig fordi vi på adekvat måte har styrt og kontrollert våpen og kriser – eller fordi vi har hatt flaks?

Flaks, i denne sammenhengen, betyr det motsatte av kontroll. Det er alt det som forhindret katastrofale utfall når ting ellers kunne gått i gal retning. Läs artikel

As coronavirus case numbers soar, the state prepares to host Rimpac, the world’s largest international maritime military exercise.

In a year when the coronavirus has caused multinational war games to be conducted virtually or canceled, the world’s largest international maritime military exercise begins in Hawaii next week.

The Rim of the Pacific (Rimpac) war games, which run through the end of August, come as Hawaii struggles to contain community spread of the coronavirus amid what has become the highest reproduction rate in the country.

Critics of the exercise have protested against Rimpac for years, citing environmental degradation, increased sexual exploitation during military “liberty” port visits, the unwanted militarization of indigenous land, water and air, and now fear of increased Covid-19 risk. Läs artikel