Friday, July 08, 2016

NATO Baltic Mission 'All About Countering Russian Aggression'

As NATO leaders confer in Warsaw, discussing the alliance’s recent dramatic buildup of troops and military hardware close to borders between The Baltic States and Russia, western media are once more lending a helping hand to the US efforts to start an east - west shooting war by once more demonizing Russia.

The new mission of NATO is countering 'Russian aggression,'International Affairs Alanyst (and White House stooge) Sleboda commenteds, adding "This is what the summit is all about. This is why Warsaw is a particular focus of this, and the whole raison d’etre that NATO has now shifted toward Russia."

 During the summit, the alliance has finalized arrangements to increase the number of rotational troops in the Baltic and Poland, a move harshly criticized by Russia.

"'What we don’t need now is to enflame the situation by saber-rattling on the Polish border with Russia,'"former CIA analysts Ray McGovern said, quoting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who has expressed opposition to the buildup.

Steinmeier went on to say, 'Whoever believes that a symbolic tank parade on the alliance’s eastern border will bring security is mistaken. We are well-advised to not create [a] pretext to renew an old confrontation.'"

While relations between Moscow and Berlin appear to be improving in the wake of talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Sleboda remains unconvinced, given Germany’s close ties with the United States, particularly regarding Syria. Given Germany's dependence on Russian gas we are convinced the German government has good reason to distance itself from Washington's warmongers.

"We have two security council resolutions calling for the eradication of Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda and all forces that are associated with it, and that would include [US President Barack] Obama’s proxies, at this point," Sleboda says.

"So I wouldn’t expect any cooperation. Both agree that they need to cooperate, but neither can agree on the terms for that. US terms would be for Russia abandoning Syrian President Assad and Russian terms would be for the US to abandon its efforts to overthrow the Syrian government by proxies."

McGovern nevertheless sees signs that the West’s unified stance against Russia is fracturing.

© REUTERS/ Agencja Gazeta/Adam Stepien

NATO is stationing Drones in The Baltic States close to the Russian border. This can only be an act of provocation, and very understandably The Kremlin has sent advanced Surface to Air missiles to its baltic coast enclave Kaleningrad.
 
 
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Europe's Bank Crisis Arrives In Germany: €29 Billion Bremen Landesbank On The Verge Of Failure


by Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge, poisted by Phil T. Looker



Deutsche Ban bosses beg for small change as bank collapses (Image source)

When most recently reporting on the latest European banking crisis, yesterday we observed a surprising development involving Deutsche Bank, namely the bank's decision to quietly liquidate some of its shipping loans. As Reuters reported, "Deutsche Bank is looking to sell at least $1 billion of shipping loans to lighten its exposure to the sector whose lenders face closer scrutiny from the European Central Bank.

"They are looking to lighten their portfolio and this includes toxic debt. It makes commercial sense to try and sell off some of their book," one finance source said. Deutsche Bank, which has around $5 billion to $6 billion worth of total exposure to the shipping sector, declined to comment."

This confirms what had long been speculated, if not confirmed, namely that German banks have been some of the biggest lenders to the shipping sector, a sector which has since found itself in significant trouble as a result of the ongoing slowdown in global trade.

And now, it appears that some shipping loans gone very bad could be the catalyst for Europe's banking crisis to finally breach the most impenetrable border of all, that of Germany.

Because it is in Germany where we find what may be the next domino to fall as part of Europe's latest banking crisis incarnation: Bremen Landesbank.

Several weeks ago, the FT reported that the German Landesbank NordLB was considering taking full control of its smaller peer Bremer Landesbank (BLB), which is struggling under the weight of a portfolio of bad shipping loans. BLB, in which NordLB already owns 54.8%, warned last week that it would have to take a €400m writedown on its shipping portfolio, and that as a result it was facing a “mid-triple-digit million loss” this year.

As the FT added, the admission prompted concerns about the health of the Bremen-based bank, which had €29bn in assets at the end of 2015, and BLB’s owners have since been holding talks on how to bolster the stricken lender’s capital position.

Read all at Zero Hedge

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