The enlargement policy agenda of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) has progressed significantly over a period of two decades and has arrived at a point of near complete realization of its principal objectives. The core aim and intent of the enlargement agenda is to incorporate the entire region of Eastern Europe into the command and control structure of the military alliance.

An elaboration is provided in the NATO Strategic Concept document of 2010, whereby the following declaration enunciates, "our goal of a Europe whole and free, and sharing common values, would be best served by the eventual integration of all European countries that so desire into Euro-Atlantic structures." NATO has strategically encapsulated its core geospatial command area, and therefore a successful conclusion of the enlargement process is a matter of the highest priority. It is particularly critical, as the document states, to "facilitate the Euro-Atlantic integration of the Western Balkans," a region which holds the access key to the entire expanse of Southeastern Europe.

NATO Expansion and Consolidation

Southeastern Europe and the Balkan Peninsula are an essential component of this framework owing to their geopolitical and geostrategic significance. The entire Balkan Peninsula practically serves as a forward operating platform from which military force projection capability can be readily launched in the direction of the Middle East, Northern Africa, the Black Sea region, Eastern Europe, as well as Western Europe. This would signify the consolidation of NATO military supremacy in the entire hemisphere surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, particularly the Eastern sector.

For the establishment of NATO military pre-eminence in the entire region surrounding the Eastern Mediterranean and further afield, however, successful completing the enlargement process is a crucial necessity.

Damascus has initiated holding the defense ministers' meeting from Russia, Syria, and Iran, Russian Ambassador to Syria Alexander Kinshchak said Thursday.

"In my point of view, this [meeting] would be useful, taking into account all the circumstances and the impact of the military factor on the development of Syria's internal situation," Kinshchak told reporters.

From 1990 until 2000 the debt of the United States of America stood at between $3.5 and $5.5 trillion dollars. Then in 2001, the fateful events of 9/11 took place. The Bush administration unleashed the so-called "War on Terror", and the debt steadily climbed. Then as of 2009 something phenomenal happened, the rate of increase in the debt began to double. A 2000 debt of $5.67 trillion began to grow geometrically to the current level of $19.01 trillion. This staggering sum threatens the viability of government, America's future, and calls to question the purposes our government was established to serve in the first place. The implications of quadrupling our expenditures since 2000 are dubious, catastrophic, and unprecedented in the history of the United States. By the time you are done reading this report, you should be on the phone to your US Congressman and your US Senatorial representative. Please America, make them stop.

Before I continue, it is necessary for all readers to grasp the sums of money we are talking about here. $19 (or 20) trillion dollars is not even understandable expressed on a typed page, not for most people. The magnitude of this kind of number, the money power of it, is simply outside the normal sphere of our experience. Even typed out completely, $19,012,827,698,418.00 dollars is a meaningless string of numbers. The weight of the debt is inestimable, expressed in such a way. But what's more, the impacts such debt has, how it came about, and where the money went are even greater mysteries. Let me put the number in perspective, before we examine who caused the debt, and what the money was spent for. The American taxpayers and all the children of those taxpayers owe about $58,000 dollars just on the principal of this sum.

Now here is some of the evidence showing who is responsible for this mountain of debt, and what the repercussions will certainly be.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree lifting Russia's restrictions against Turkey.

Putin also instructed the Russian government to take steps aimed at lifting the ban of charter flights between the two countries. He canceled restrictions on the sale of tours to Turkey.

The decree comes into effect from the day of the official publication, the Kremlin said. The Russian president instructed the government to hold talks with Turkish authorities on bilateral economic ties.

On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a phone conversation for the first time in more than seven months. The leaders agreed to restore cooperation, including in the spheres of trade, tourism and the fight against terrorism.

On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin to express regret and send condolences for the November 2015 downing of a Russian Su-24 bomber in Syria by Turkey.

Following the incident, Moscow imposed a number of restrictive measures on Turkey and has repeatedly said that Ankara should apologize for downing the plane and cover any material losses to the country and the pilot's family.

The US Marine Corps will move one of its amphibious expeditionary groups from the west coast of the United States to the Asia Pacific as early as 2019, according to reports on Wednesday.

There will be "additional amphibious capability on multiple 90-day patrols in and around the Asia Pacific," Marine Corps Forces Command commander Lt. Gen. John Wissler was quoted as saying by DOD — BUZZ.

Portions of the South China Sea are contested by China, the Philippines, Japan and Vietnam, each making overlapping claims on island chains and navigation rights. China has been constructing artificial islands on top of the coral reef habitats of the Spratly Islands, a group of more than 750 islands and reefs, over the past year. Beijing claimed sovereignty over the land and the 12 nautical mile zone surrounding the islands.

The United States has repeatedly warned it does not recognize the Chinese claims of sovereignty over the man-made islands, and has engaged of freedom of navigation exercises in the region. The US Navy has positioned two aircraft carrier strike groups — the Stennis and Reagan — in the Pacific in a show of force.

The 31st Marine Expeditionary Force stationed in Japan is responsible for conducting 90 day patrols in the Asia Pacific region. The additional amphibious group will provide the US Marines and Navy greater reach. US Marines based in Australia and Okinawa may join the new battle group, according to the report.

NATO activity on Russia's doorstep has "more than doubled" recently, forcing Russia to take retaliatory measures, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said. "Now NATO and the US have deployed about 1,200 pieces of military equipment, including 30 combat jets, as well as more than 1,000 soldiers on the territories of the Eastern European countries on a rotational basis.

The US navy ships as well as military vessels of other NATO members regularly enter the Baltic and Black Seas," Shoigu said Wednesday at the session of the Russian Defense Ministry Board that comprises Russia's top military command, according to a statement from the Defense Ministry. He added that NATO also continues to modernize and upgrade various military facilities in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and the Baltic States to bring them up to NATO standards.

The deployment of the US anti-missile defense systems (ABM) in Eastern Europe is a source of particular concern for the Russian military, the minister said at the meeting, which was dedicated to planning and development of Russia's western military district. "On May 12, an Aegis Ashore anti-missile defense complex became operational in Romania," Shoigu said, stressing that this complex can be used to launch Tomahawk missiles and adding that construction of another such ABM site continues in Poland.

The minister also warned that, after the Warsaw summit that will be held on July 8-9, NATO can "significantly increase" its presence and activity near the Russian borders. "Such moves of our western colleagues lead to erosion of the strategic stability in Europe and force us to take counter measures, primarily in the western theater of operations," Shoigu said, stressing that Russia takes actions aimed at strategic deterrence in the western military district to "neutralize potential threats."

Citing systematic abuses in Yemen, two leading human rights groups have demanded that Riyadh be removed from its United Nation's post that focuses on the rights and well-being of civilians.

On Wednesday, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch released joint statements calling on the United Nations General Assembly to suspend Saudi Arabia from the UN Human Rights Council until Riyadh ends its military campaign in Yemen. Reports indicate that the operation has led to indiscriminate violence against children and civilians, with several school houses and hospitals coming under fire from Saudi-backed forces.

"Saudi Arabia has amassed an appalling record of violations in Yemen while a Human Rights Council member," said Philippe Bolopion, the deputy director for global advocacy at Human Rights Watch. "UN member countries should stand with Yemeni civilians and suspend Saudi Arabia immediately."

The lobbying effort to oust Saudi Arabia from its role on the Human Rights Council comes in the wake of a recent controversy surrounding war crimes committed by Saudi-led forces, as was initially documented by UN researchers.

There has been a major break in the decade-long fight to unveil records related to the New York City Police Department's surveillance of political organizations in the 1960s and 1970s. In recent years, the NYPD has come under fire for spying on Muslim communities and the Occupy Wall Street movement. But decades ago, the NYPD spied extensively on political organizations, including the Young Lords, a radical group founded by Puerto Ricans modeled on the Black Panther Party. The Young Lords staged their first action in July 1969 in an effort to force the City of New York to increase garbage pickups in East Harlem. They would go on to inspire activists around the country as they occupied churches and hospitals in an attempt to open the spaces to community projects. Among their leaders was Democracy Now! co-host Juan González. We speak with Baruch College professor Johanna Fernández, who has fought for a decade to obtain records related to the NYPD's surveillance of the group. Last month, the city claimed it had lost the records. But this week its municipal archive said it had found more than 520 boxes, or about 1.1 million pages, apparently containing the complete remaining records. We're also joined by Fernández's attorney, Gideon Oliver.

Russia has extended the food embargo on Western countries. The sanctions will be in effect through December 31, 2017.

President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the extension of the food embargo on Western countries. According to the document the authorization will be valid until 31 December 2017. The decree comes into force from the date of signature, i.e. 29 June.

From the document:

"To extend from 6 August 2016 to 31 December 2017 the action of the special economic measures envisaged by the decree of the President of the Russian Federation <...> On the engaging certain special economic measures in order to ensure the security of the Russian Federation."

Thus, the extension of the sanctions by Moscow was a reprisal for the actions of the West. Recall that on June 21, permanent representatives of the EU countries agreed to extend the economic restrictive measures against Russia for another six months - until the end of January 2017.

Earlier, June 17, the EU Council extended the restrictive measures, inter alia, in respect of Crimea and Sevastopol, in particular, to 23 June 23, 2017.

It should be noted that in Europe, not all agree with the sanctions policy of Brussels. In particular, the German public and business community of Germany are in opposition.

Via DNI.ru Translated from Russian by Tom Winter

Speeches and discussions by European politicians and businesspeople at SPIEF 2016 suggests an early end to sanctions.

Earlier this month I wrote a piece for The Duran in which I said that the sanctions policy forced on the EU by Angela Merkel and the US is cracking. At SPIEF 2016 the evidence of that was everywhere.

The Russians hosted at SPIEF 2016 three EU heavyweights: EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Nicolas Sarkozy - the past and possibly future President of France - and Matteo Renzi, the current Prime Minister of Italy.

Juncker had little to say in public though he held extensive discussions with the Russian leadership. However Sarkozy and Renzi both made clear in their very different ways their utter exasperation with the sanctions policy.

The person who stole the show was Renzi, the most important politician present and the leader of what was by a fair distance the strongest European delegation at the Forum. The Russians treated Renzi as the main guest and together with Putin and President Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan Renzi delivered one of the speeches at the plenary session.