Michail Gorbatschow: USA haben Vereinbarung über Verzicht auf Osterweiterung gebrochen

Michail Gorbatschow, Ex-Präsident der Sowjetunion, ist der Ansicht, dass die USA durch die NATO-Erweiterung in Zentral- und Osteuropa gegen frühere Vereinbarungen verstoßen haben.

Bei den Verhandlungen über die Wiedervereinigung Deutschlands im Februar 1990 hatte die Nato versprochen, sich nicht nach Osten zu erweitern.

France sends first foreign minister to Cuba in 30 years

 HAVANA: France's foreign minister was expected to arrive in Cuba on Saturday for a brief but historic visit, the first by such a high-ranking French official in 30 years and a sign of the quickening pace of improving ties between the European Union and Havana.

Foreign minister Laurent Fabius was scheduled to have a working lunch with his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez before meeting with Cardinal Jaime Ortega and then French businessmen.

Rodriguez met with Laurent in Paris last month.

US ‘Deeply Concerned’ Over Syrian Chemical Arms Delay/France: concern over delay in Syria's chemical destruction

WASHINGTON, January 30 (RIA Novosti) – US officials said Thursday that they are “concerned” about delays by Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government in handing over its chemical weapons to be destroyed under a deal brokered by Russia and the United States.
“It is the Assad regime’s responsibility to transport those chemicals safely to facilitate removal. We expect them to meet their obligation to do so,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One.

US reassures Gulf allies wary over Iran Defence. -Secretary Chuck Hagel's remarks come at a time of rising tensions in their relationship with the GCC.

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US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has said the United States will maintain a wide array of military forces in the Middle East to ensure security in the region despite diplomatic overtures toward Iran over its nuclear program.
Hagel, in prepared remarks to the Manama Dialogue security forum in Bahrain, said on Saturday that the Pentagon had no plan to adjust its military presence or planning in the region as a result of an interim accord on Tehran's nuclear enrichment program.

US nearly detonated atomic bomb over North Carolina – secret document...

Exclusive: Journalist uses Freedom of Information Act to disclose 1961 accident in which one switch averted catastrophe.
A secret document, published in declassified form for the first time by the Guardian today, reveals that the US Air Force came dramatically close to detonating an atom bomb over North Carolina that would have been 260 times more powerful than the device that devastated Hiroshima.

The document, obtained by the investigative journalist Eric Schlosser under the Freedom of Information Act, gives the first conclusive evidence that the US was narrowly spared a disaster of monumental proportions when two Mark 39 hydrogen bombs were accidentally dropped over Goldsboro, North Carolina on 23 January 1961. 

Kerry offers halt to east Jerusalem settlement construction to resume peace talks - Israel open to 1967 border formula for Palestine talks

US Secretary of State met Palestinian leader Abbas reportedly proposing suspension of Jewish settlement construction in West Bank and East Jerusalem for 3 months to resume negotiations with Israel.

RAMALLAH

America's top diplomat John F. Kerry offered a three-month halt to the Jewish settlement construction in Eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank in a meeting in Jordan on Wednesday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in order to resumePalestinian-Israeli peace negotiations and lasting solution, al-Fatah sources said.

Kerry reportedly pledged Abbas US guarantee for the implementation of the proposal, sources added.

Armenian Genocide Truth and Justice Act Introduced in U.S. House

WASHINGTON, DC –
As Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Erdogan continues his official U.S. state visit, a bipartisan group of U.S. Representatives introduced the Armenian Genocide Truth and Justice Act, a new measure calling upon the President to build upon the U.S. record of having recognized the Armenian Genocide by working toward improved Armenian-Turkish relations based upon the Republic of Turkey’s full acknowledgement of the facts and ongoing consequences of the Armenian Genocide, and a fair, just, and comprehensive international resolution of this crime, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

DPRK calls nuclear test "self-defense" against U.S. hostility

PYONGYANG, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said Tuesday that its nuclear test was an act of self-defense against the United States' hostility.
It is "natural just measure for self-defense to react to the U.S. ever-increasing nuclear threat with nuclear deterrence," a spokesman for the DPRK's Foreign Ministry said in a statement released by the official news agency KCNA.
The DPRK's patience has "reached its limit as the U.S. intensified such hostile act", the spokesman said, warning to "take the second and third stronger steps in succession" if the U.S., its "sworn enemy," continues hostility.

USA und Südkorea starten dreitägiges Manöver

Nordkorea testet eine Langstreckenrakete. Die Sanktionen folgen prompt. Nun kündigt Pjöngjang verklausuliert einen Atomtest an - und der Westen reagiert erneut: Eine Militärübung wird angesetzt.

Vor dem Hintergrund der jüngsten Atomtestdrohung Nordkoreas starten die USA und Südkorea am Montag ein gemeinsames Marine-Manöver. Die auf drei Tage angesetzte Militärübung soll im Japanischen Meer nahe der südkoreanischen Hafenstadt Pohang beginnen. An der Übung ist nach Angaben aus Seoul auch ein Atom-U-Boot der USA beteiligt. 

Iran responds to EU oil and gas sanctions with… oil and gas sanctions

Iran has slapped a ban on oil and gas exports to the European Union, even though the EU has already forbidden Iranian petrochemicals from entering its territory.
“Despite many requests by EU countries on buying oil and gas from Iran, Iran will not sell any oil and gas to those countries,” Oil Ministry Spokseman Alireza Nikzad Rahbar told the official Mehr news agency.
It is not clear what “requests” Nikzad Rahbar was referring to, as the EU stopped importing crude oil in July last year, and gas under the latest round of sanctions that came into force earlier this month.
It comes as fresh restrictions are being  implemented  by the EU, preventing Iranian banks from dealing with Europe, unless for humanitarian purposes. The embargoes are aimed at hindering Tehrans nuclear program, which Brussels believes is aimed at developing a nuclear weapon.

New US-Canada bridge to be built this year

By CCTV correspondent Craig Mauro
The U.S. and Canada have the largest two-way trade relationship in the world. But you might be surprised to learn that the most vital piece of infrastructure sustaining that trade is more than 80 years-old and privately owned.
More commercial goods cross this one bridge connecting Detroit with the Canadian city of Windsor every year than are traded between the U.S. and the entire United Kingdom. Auto manufacturer Chrysler alone sends 400,000 trucks across it each year.

Japan, US defense chiefs pledge cooperation

Japanese and US defense chiefs have agreed to work closely on issues such as the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea and missile launches in the DPRK.Japan’s Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera and US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta spoke on the phone on Tuesday for the first time.

Onodera said he hopes to work closely with the US to strengthen the role of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces. He expressed hopes that both countries would pay careful attention to the proposed relocation of the US Futenma Air Station within Okinawa.

Nοrth Korean Leader Makes Overture to South/ Kim Jong Un kündigt Ende der Konfrontation an

SEOUL, South Korea — The North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for an end to the "confrontation" with rival South Korea on Tuesday in what appeared to be an overture to the incoming South Korean president as she was cobbling together South Korea’s new policy on the North. 

North Korea on Tuesday issued a major policy statement on New Year’s Day, following a tradition set by Mr. Kim’s late grandfather, the North Korean founder Kim Il-sung, and his late father, Kim Jong-il, who died in December last year, bequeathing the dynastic rule to Mr. Kim.

8 U.S. sailors sue Japanese gov't, TEPCO for lying about radiation

SAN DIEGO —

Eight crew members of the USS Ronald Reagan are suing the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) for lying to them about the radiation levels to which they were exposed during rescue operations near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant last year.
In a suit filed in San Diego this week, lead plaintiff Lindsay R Cooper accused TEPCO of intentionally concealing the dangerous levels of radiation in the environment from U.S. Navy rescue crews working as part of “Operation Tomodachi” off the coast of the Tohoku region following the devastating series of earthquakes and tsunami that resulted in the nuclear disaster of March 11, 2011.

US Navy sailors sue Japan for lying about Fukushima radiation

American sailors have filed a lawsuit against the Japanese government for allegedly lying about the health risks they faced while assisting in rescue efforts after last year’s Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Crewmembers from the USS Ronald Reagan filed a lawsuit in Federal Court in San Diego, California this week in an attempt to hold Japan accountable for any long-term damage they’ll caused during “Operation Tomadachi,” the spring 2011 relief effort that sent sailors near the coast of Japan to assist in the days after an earthquake and subsequent tsunami ravaged the island nation and caused a level 7 meltdown at three reactors in the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant.

Chinese ships seen in disputed waters for first time since LDP's win (Senkaku/Diaoyu issue)

China has sent ships into the islands’ waters 19 times since Tokyo nationalised the chain in September.

Abe has pushed an agenda that includes upgrading the country’s Self Defense Forces to make them a full-scale military, and has spoken of wanting to revise Japan’s pacifist constitution.

 

TOKYO —

China sent its ships into territorial waters around disputed islands Friday, in the first incursion since Japan elected a new government.
The move is a setback to hopes in Tokyo that Beijing might use the poll as a chance for a fresh start after months of bitter wrangling and rhetoric over an issue that neither side is prepared to budge on.

Japan’s next PM: No quarter for China, reach out to Russia

(Senkaku/Diaoyu issue)
As Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda steps down after exit polls reveal a complete defeat of his party in parliamentary elections, the winner of the race Shinzo Abe states that Tokyo won’t concede China "one millimeter" of “Japan’s islands.”
"China is challenging the fact that (the islands) are Japan's inherent territory. Our objective is to stop the challenge," Shinzo Abe, leader of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), declared Sunday.

Keen to make an impression: Japan-US military drills begin amid Asian island row

Japan has launched naval drills with the US in spite of heightened tensions with China over a territorial dispute. The exercise was initially planned to simulate an island re-occupation, but was scrapped for naval operations to avoid agitating China.
The 11-day drills are aimed at boosting the defense of Japan’s southwestern island territories and will involve more than 37,000 Japanese personnel and 10,000 US forces, along with an aircraft carrier.
Operation Keen Sword was originally planned to incorporate a mission to simulate the retaking of an island. Although neither the US nor Japan specified if the mission was aimed at the disputed archipelago “it was widely perceived they had in mind the Senkaku Islands,” said Japanese newspaper Kyodo.