by Pepe Escobar with permission and first posted at Asia Times
Welcome to the latest NATO show: Sea Breeze starts today and goes all the way to July 23. The co-hosts are the US Sixth Fleet and the Ukrainian Navy. The main protagonist is Standing NATO Maritime Group 2.
The show, in NATOspeak, is just an innocent display of “strenghtening deterrence and defense”. NATO spin tells us the exercise is “growing in popularity” and now features more than 30 nations “from six continents” deploying 5,000 troops, 32 ships, 40 aircraft and “18 special operations and dive teams”. All committed to implement and improve that magical NATO concept: “interoperability”.
Now let’s clear the fog and get to the heart of the matter. NATO is projecting the impression that it’s taking over selected stretches of the Black Sea in the name of “peace”. NATO’s supreme articles of faith, reiterated in its latest summit, are “Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea” and “support for Ukraine sovereignty”. So for NATO, Russia is an enemy of “peace”. Everything else is hybrid war fog.
NATO not only “does not and will not recognize Russia’s illegal and illegitimate annexation of Crimea” but also denounces its “temporary occupation”. This script, redacted in Washington, is recited by Kiev and virtually the whole EU.
NATO bills itself as committed to “transatlantic unity”. Geography tells us the Black Sea has not been annexed to the Atlantic. But that’s no impediment for NATO’s goodwill – which the record shows turned Libya, in northern Africa, into a wasteland run by militias. As for the intersection of Central and South Asia, NATO’s collective behind was unceremoniously kicked by a bunch of ragged Pashtuns with counterfeit Kalashnikovs.
Meet the Bucharest 9
The White House defines its NATO eastern flank allies as the Bucharest 9.
The Bucharest 9 includes the members of the Visegrad Four (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia); the Baltic trio (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania); and two Black Sea neighbors (Bulgaria and Romania). No Ukraine – at least not yet.
When the White House refers to “strengthening transatlantic relations”, this means above all “closer cooperation with our nine Allies in Central Europe and the Baltic and Black Sea regions on the full range of challenges.” Translation: “full range of challenges” means Russia.
So welcome to the return, in style, of the Intermarium – as in “between the seas”, mostly the Baltic and Black, with the Adriatic as a side show.
After WWI, the drive for what would possibly become a geopolitical entente included the three Baltics, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Belarus and Ukraine. That concoction was made in Poland.
Now, under the hegemon and its NATO weaponized arm, a revamped Baltic-Black Sea intermarium is being pushed as the new Cold War 2.0 Iron Wall against Russia. That’s why the definitive incorporation of Ukraine to NATO is so important for Washington – as it would solidify the intermarium for good.
Double O Seven does Monty Python
The prequel to Sea Breeze took place last week, via a farcical Britannia Rules The Waves stunt enacted like a Monty Python sketch – yet with potentially explosive overtones.
Imagine waiting at a bus stop somewhere in Kent and finding a soggy blob – nearly 50 pages – of secret documents in a trash bin detailing Ministry of Defense elaborations on the explicitly provocative deployment of the Defender destroyer off Sebastopol, in the Crimean coast.
Even a BBC journalist embedded with the destroyer smashed the official London spin that this was a mere “innocent passage”. Moreover, the Defender weapons were fully loaded – as it advanced two nautical miles inside Russian waters. Moscow released a video documenting the stunt.
It gets better. The soggy blob found in Kent revealed not only discussions about the possible Russian reaction to the “innocent passage”, but also digressions about the Brits, “encouraged” by the Americans, leaving commandos behind in Afghanistan after the troop pull out next 9/11.
That would qualify as extra evidence that the Anglo-American-NATO combo will not really “leave” Afghanistan.
A vague “member of the public” contacted the BBC when he innocently found the geopolitically radioactive materials. No one knows whether this was a leak, a trap or a silly mistake. If the “member of the public” were a true whistleblower he would have gone the Wikileaks way, not BBC.
The “innocent passage” happened only hours after London signed a deal with Kiev for the “enhancement of Ukrainian naval capabilities”.
On the Russian reaction front, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova summed it all up: “London has demonstrated yet another provocative action followed by a bunch of lies to cover it up. 007 agents are not what they used to be.”
Meanwhile, in the Mediterranean front, which NATO considers its Mare Nostrum, two Russian Mig-31k fighters – capable of carrying Khinzal hypersonic missiles – were redeployed last week to Syria. The Khinzal range encompasses the whole Mediterranean, west as well as east.
Across the Global South, NATO promoting “global peace” in the port of Odessa, in the Black Sea, is bound to evoke shades of Libya cum Afghanistan. Austin Powers, self-billed Agent Double Oh! Behave! would perfectly fit in the Kent trash bin “secret documents” caper. “Oh. Behave!” totally applies to Sea Breeze. Otherwise, the opportunity might arise to say hello to Mr. Kinzhal.
To quote a famous quote: Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
So 30 ‘nations’ are bringing 32 ships to the Black Sea. Uk has two here, Uncle Sugar has two here. Orcland is trying mightily to get their one semi floating frigate to move and will provide ‘over 14 ships for the exercise’, meaning maybe 1 dilapidated Soviet hull and 13 of this ridiculous little Dnepr River ‘armored ships’ just like the two ‘ships’ captured last year at Kerch. Armored? They are plastic, the ‘cabin’ is not even fiberglass, they have less than 2 meters of free board at the bow and their armament is one each 30 mm automatic ‘gun’ bolted to a fiberglass hull floor. So 18 ‘ships’ are contributed by three countries. It is my understanding that SK and Taiwan have withdrawn from the ‘exercise’ after the Brits pulled their farcical remake of Monty Python.
Doing the numbers, and assuming Bulgaria, Turkei and Romania and Gruzya each contribute two hulls, the numbers are pretty slim from the other contributors, ergo the remaining 23 nations will field 4 ships. Sounds like a really compact and supportive group gathering off our shores.
On the other hand the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Flot, the Kruiser Moskau, along with two of the most modern frigates of the flot and who knows how many ‘black holes’ belonging to Mother are in the Med now, driving the CO of the floating death trap carrier belonging to UK to complain of a ‘lack of sea room to maneuver’, and Foggy Bottom wants to pull off who knows what kind of foolishness over the next couple weeks. The other ships of the Black Sea Flot I have no idea where they are or even if they have sailed out from harbor. The newly formed ‘nato navy’ is now gathering inside a Russian lake from which there is no way out if things go sour and precisely zero chance of any resupply or support if this ‘navy’ gets silly and picks a fight.
My introduction sentence says a great deal. However, the situation is as serious as a heart attack and could explode at any moment. May God help this new ‘nato navy’ if they provoke shooting, their life expectancy is measured in literally minutes as is the brit units in the Med. The problem is we ordinary workers and peasants will face the storms of cruise missiles fired by nato as they sink. I guess there is a blessing in every cloud, though, there are no sharks in the Black Sea and no tide, so at least the swimming nato crews won’t be eaten alive.
Auslander
Author http://rhauslander.com/
“…ergo the remaining 23 nations will field 4 ships”.
Ah yes – that would be about as many proper warships would be allowed to enter the Black Sea under the Montreux Convention.
Given the sorry state of our Navy, after we were sold out by the politicians and occupied by NATO – Bulgaria most likely would provide a Soviet-era Koni-class frigate, or one or two Soviet-era minesweepers – all those second-hand equipment, bought by the belgians to “meet the NATO standards” are either without weapons, or non-operational.
Interesting numbers you provided Auslander! Thanks!
Perhaps each of the 30 countries is providing a token sailor which is then spun as 30 countries are “participating”..
You wonder if west was always this stupid or if it is a recent evolution.
Maybe (nato) is feilding a “sacrificial” task force. Bait, like gulf of Tonkin.
I’d like to know, what is the end game here?
While it seems fairly clear that much of this is the ubiquitous ‘kabuki’ theatre that has persisted for far too long, will this go on in perpetuity, never amounting to more than a hill of beans, or, at some point, will this escalate into something that we should really worry about.
It strikes me that the west is particularly fortunate that incredibly sensible people are at the helm of the nuclear armed countries that they (the west) seem intent on interfering with, quite literally to the point of an all out war.
If (or maybe when) one of these endless provocations goes spectacularly wrong, will there finally be an overt reckoning, or will this be relegated to the seemingly perpetual cycle of lip service that we’ve been putting up with since the 1940s.
Great article Mr. Escobar :D
I’m pretty sure that if things “go wrong” (from the perspective of sane people who prefer not to claw for bare survival through a nuclear winter) and the geniuses from Washington finely succeed in precipitating World War III, we will immediately hear nothing about it. They will cut off the internet and most other media, aside from their limited propaganda, and we will be left guessing, probably in the cold and dark after the EMP bursts irreparably crash the power grid. No legitimate power or leadership may be heard from again for years or even decades. Maybe never. Will widely dispersed survivors be up for reorganising society again from scratch? It will become a time for the preppers most of the “smart” people sneered at to try to salvage what’s left. See you on the other side? Not at my age.
That’s what I’m afraid of.
It seems very likely that nobody will survive the decadal nuclear winter that would follow the thermonuclear bombing of even 100 large cities, as the soot injected into the stratosphere means that will be insufficient sunlight to maintain photosynthesis challenging food, energy and oxygen availability (See Turco, Richard P., Owen B. Toon, Thomas P. Ackerman, James B. Pollack, and Carl Sagan. “Nuclear winter: Global consequences of multple nuclear explosions.” Science 222, no. 4630 (1983): 1283-1292. https://science.sciencemag.org/content/222/4630/1283 and Coupe, Joshua, Charles G. Bardeen, Alan Robock, and Owen B. Toon. “Nuclear winter responses to nuclear war between the United States and Russia in the whole atmosphere community climate model version 4 and the Goddard Institute for Space Studies ModelE.” Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 124, no. 15 (2019): 8522-8543.https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Nuclear-Winter-Responses-to-Nuclear-War-Between-the-Coupe-Bardeen/560033106c2d599bcace3ce4cb6c67d5b713ec50). Given that even a well funded research project like the Biosphere 2 project (Refer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere_2) failed to manage to sustain a small group for even two years, it seems likely that even those in well stocked deep bunkers will not survive.
And on a planet with known stocks of some 15,000 nuclear devices and an estimated 50,000 pits to produce more on short notice, it is unlikely that once the genii escapes the bottle that any amount of pushing will put it back.
So this is not a problem we need to worry about. A nuclear war is simple a way of ending out slow process of planetary ecocide with a spectacular removal of the problem (and most other extant life).
Some nice research material there, thanks.
On a side note, I suspect many of these imbeciles (the western ‘powers that be’) think that they will ride the whole thing out a few kilometers underground, given their ridiculous expectations where everything else is concerned, I suspect their ultimate reality will be a far cry from those ill contrived aspirations.
Thanks, Val—-re. the issue of the deep underground bases, if I remember anything from geology class it is that the deeper they go, the hotter they get. Hmmm….maybe for all that digging they’ll find some bitcoins. I suppose finding the entrances to the underground facilities would be quite do-able either by satellite, or by simply observing large trucks carrying the rubble out of the tunnels? (the debris then has to be dumped somewhere, yes?–and that by itself would be a “tell” that a big dig is near). A few other issues raise their steaming sweaty heads, like what happens if the entrances collapse. I hope the folks down there have plenty of shovels and are ready to “put their backs into it” even when the air conditioning and lights go out. Karma is a bastard.
It would be that simple if there were no means to stop nuclear ICBMs from hitting their targets, indeed of even launching at all. Faded Giant happened.
The great question arises: How long can the West live on hatred of Russia?
The US and UK have collected an array of mediocrities, lapdog entities with no culture left in them, bereft of common sense, stoke into foamy hatred that requires they attempt one more historic war against Russia.
Containment is not possible. When Russia wants to move in any direction, she moves. So, their containment in the Black Sea, the Baltic, the Med, straits, canals, passages, whatever, is papier-mâché at best.
As for the North Sea, Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic or any of the waters of the Asia Pacific, we see regularly that the Russian fleets are comfortable cruising even Hawaii during feeble US missile defense and prototype hypersonic missile trials.
As for near space, well nothing flies up with the MiG-31, so Russia isn’t contained there. Nor in Space are there limits the US and its gaggle can construct.
Black Sea a NATO lake? More than ever a target range for Russians. The entire 32 ship flotilla and 40 aircraft would disappear in minutes of Russian fury if they come for a fight.
Note that Shoigu hasn’t even bolstered the Southern District force structure. The normal order of battle is sufficient to eliminate the US/NATO force.
Go ahead and poke the brown bear, why don’t you?
It will be the most stunning “war” in world history. 32 missiles in salvo hitting on the ships and a few hundred from S-400s, S-500, S-300s and Pantsirs will clear the skies. Su-35s and MiG-31s will mop up the remains.
I repeat to the Pentagon and 10 Downing and Brussels. Go for it! We need a celebration and your demise is perfect soup for the feast.
art so often presages real life and its events. .. changes a few names, minutely alter this 2 minute clip and real life appears …..today or soon!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9eyOTxksjg
currently the west does not appear to have a savior in the wings for the follies it is seems to want to commit
the western voters, collectively, are idiots—driven for/against various special interest handouts.
if the western news outlets say loudly that the evil Russkies are the problem, people will eat it up unconditionally as long as petrol, carbs and TVs are (relatively) cheap.
now anyone in the UK or US volunteer to fight, sweat, bleed, and potentially die for the Beltway overlords? of course not, That is what is what the Bucharest 9 are for….DC’s 21st century “Light Brigade,” cannon fodder.
Should the time come, I am sure that Biden and Nuland will thank the mothers of eastern Europe for sacrificing their sons for an empire caught in a vortex of incurable suck.
BTW, those exersizes are good opportunity for 11th missile brigade out of Krasnodar to practice target tracking in near-real life (short of hot war) conditions – after all NATO has conveniently provided a target-rich environment.
Thank you for keeping things clear.
Can you help me understand the Monroe doctrine vs Black Sea and South China Sea. Would the US respond favorably if Russia, China were called to protect Valenzuela and Cuba (by these same countries) and perhaps other countries that are in the western hemisphere, to provide protection for free trade with the third world as well as Iran, Syria, Gaza Palestine etc.
What I see is the USA and perhaps NATO involving itself in the South China Sea and the Black Sea, while being entirely against similar activities in the western hemisphere.
Thanks in advance for your observations.
william
To me it is unfathomable what SehSha is trying to do. It’s almost, no is, as if they are deliberately provoking an armed conflict with one of the most powerful countries on this rock on the very borders of said power. I can think of numerous economic reasons for these actions, but reality is I do not think trade is the reason unless this is an amazingly dangerous last ditch effort to stop NS 2 and the growing trade between Europe and Russian Federation, that and like a recalcitrant and petulant child SehSha can not abide being told ‘no’.
Russia has clearly and publicly stated that if her red lines are crossed, it’s war. I know the word ‘war’ was not used, but there is no mistaking the meaning in the red line statement. Moskau has very clearly said, and these are the exact words, ‘An attack on Sevastopol is the same as an attack on Moskau and the retribution for such an attack will be the same.’ Could SehSha be so stupid as to not believe what it is told? Are the Powers That Be in Washington, London and Berlin so isolated and insulated that they think they will not suffer and suffer mightily in the event of this dangerous little contretemps in the Black Sea suddenly going hot and extremely violent? The ‘fleet’ being put together in the Black Sea by SehSha is ludicrous in comparison to the Russian Black Sea Flot, let alone that the entire Krimea Peninsula is as armed and protected as Moskau itself.
Or is this the Götterdämmerung Mutti has planned for her hated Germany and Europe and is it she who is egging the fools in Foggy Bottom on?
I can not see the Flot from my house and If I could I’d never say a word about what the Flot or the other military units are doing, but the feeling hereabouts is tense. Determined, very much so, but tense.
Auslander
both europe and the usa have reached a moment where their financial and economic systems have exhausted their lifespan without radical change which is politically impossible without a war, a force majeure which gives the politicians and central bankers COVER to implement what they have planned they think will save them without as great a fear of massive civil unrest or war against the state by its own. patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel
time is running real short more for the EU but th usa is not that far behind.
the fact russia thus far refuses to take the bait forces them to become even more bold. the problem is once this starts if it starts there is no way to predict how it will end so the gamble is profoundly dangerous
They are neither stupid nor smart…they’re delusional in a “transient psychosis” due to latent sociopathy and stress…stress? Yeah…they’re facing the pitchforks and the lamp-posts,,,so said Bushie41 and the Hillariousperson.
Being crazy (seeRay McGovern’s’ ” gods would destroy”, they want war. Just as his royalnessking George wanted war…
And they seem to have got it.
Putin, the son of Sun Tuz is looking at the EU-NATO Zoo as it fragments. It seems as if nothing will hold back Hungary and even Germany and France drifting off into the warm arms of China’s Xi Jinping and Russia.
Plus, Western actors in the Black Sea will soon run out of being able to survive on borrowed money as they head into Hyperinflation and Bankruptcy. We wait.
This year, Sea Breeze 2021 will showcase the USS Donald Duck, the U.S. Navy’s latest addition to the annual surface vessel exercise in the Black Sea. This massive dreadnought is the sister ship of the USS Donald Cook and some sailors in the 6th fleet (who wish to remain anonymous) refer to the two vessels as “Cook and Duck” or “Cook the Duck” depending on whether the scuttlebutt comes from the Officers’ clubs or the Acey-Duecy clubs as the case maybe.
Due to the floating leviathan’s humongous displacement, a special tonnage limit exemption was granted to the U.S. Navy by the Turkish government that normally would be prohibited under the 1936 Montreux Convention (see Article 18).
General Dynaflop, the military contractor that built the ship claims it has a “stealth-like” weapons platform and of course the U.S. Navy’s Admiralty bought the idea, hook, line and anchor.
This formidable warship will amaze and entertain the citizens of the Crimean Federal District of the Russian Federation who will relax on their sandy beaches and watch the 13-day show.
See: https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8e710b1f2f00d0d27afe1933a6abfa6d5317274d5b0dcec604c7226ec6b08eb7.jpg
However the Bandarastan Nazi’s in Kiev that control the Zelensky regime will profusely sweat in their uniforms hoping it will be worth a guarantee of a future NATO membership. Sadly, they will be disappointed in the end because the U.S. is too confused right now on what its purpose is in Eastern Europe.
I till have the feeling, that Turkey will ditch NATO some day, when they built up their own military and navy strong enough, and just close the access to the Black Sea. Ankara has strong ambitions of becoming their own Ottoman style superpower. I mean what else is that new Istanbul channel project for? Why do they buy Russian weapons? Why are they vetoeing some NATO proposals and have their own plans in the middle east. It’s unlikely that Turkey will ally with Russia, but they sure could oppose NATO and blackmail them. If the bosporus strait is closed, all those pretty little “Sea Breaze” NATO vessels are trapped.
UNITS PER USD USD PER UNIT
6-27-21 TRY Turkish Lira 8.7473177622 0.1143207583
6-27-20 TRY Turkish Lira 6.8510335070 0.1459633790
6-27-19 TRY Turkish Lira 5.7739863837 0.1731905712
From Baku to Timbuktu, the Sultan of Swing is all over the place; poring over the maps, rarely sleeping..
Having received a reactor from Mr Putin for Turkey’s first nuclear power-plant, all He now requires of Russia is to buy his tomatoes, and send plenty of tourists to his trembling economy.. His new Eddie of Ankara canal will be a deluxe toll-road for those who can afford it.. Will he still be around when it is completed?
I’m not a fan of Erdogan at all, but one has to realize he is a significant player both in the Mediterranian and the Black Sea. Turkey occupies both Northern Syria and Northern Cyprus, making them somewhat of a small world power. When considering the players in the Black Sea, the possibility excicts (in my opinion) that Turkey stopps acting in the way NATO likes them too. Washington has annoyed the Turks several times and there is virtually no benefit in Turkey to support the Ukraine. In fact, as you pointed out, it’s the best for Turkey’s economy to have a good relationship with Russia.
He is only as significant as allowed to be. There is nothing to fear in the Turkish military.
Russia can neutralise Turkey completely in 30 minutes if it finds that necessary. And I’m not even
talking about “nukes”.
Turkey has a lot more leverage against NATO **by being a NATO member**. Put another way, she can’t be a thorn in NATO’s side unless she’s a NATO member. Even better, she knows that NATO has no mechanism for expelling her . . . which would risk pushing her toward Russia anyway.
I see no reason why Turkey would want to ditch her NATO membership, and every reason why she’d want to keep it.
I can see your point. I mean, if Turkey plays it that way this is indeed a clever way to disrupt NATO from the inside. But especially Italy and France have always been two NATO-critical countries, yet they did not manage to transform NATO. Not even France’s general Charles de Gaulles or Jacques Chirac, or from Italy Palmiro Togliatti – God bless them all – could achieve such a thing. But perhaps Turkey could play the pivotal role in destabilizing NATO. We are living in turbulent times after all.
‘NATO spin tells us the exercise is “growing in popularity” and now features more than 30 nations “from six continents” deploying 5,000 troops, 32 ships, 40 aircraft and “18 special operations and dive teams”’.
I am puzzled as to how NATO intends to assemble 32 ships – presumably warships – in the Black Sea.
The Montreux Convention states, among other things, that
“Non-Black-Sea powers willing to send a vessel must notify Turkey 8 days prior of their sought passing. Also, no more than nine foreign warships, with a total aggregate tonnage of 15,000 tons, may pass at any one time. Furthermore, no single ship heavier than 10,000 tonnes can pass. An aggregate tonnage of all non-Black Sea warships in the Black Sea must be no more than 30,000 tons (or 45,000 tons under special conditions), and they are permitted to stay in the Black Sea for no longer than twenty-one days”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreux_Convention_Regarding_the_Regime_of_the_Straits
The Convention has been agreed upon and adhered to since 1936, and there seems no reason why it should be changed or cease to operate. Note that the Convention places very few restrictions on states (such as Russia) with Black Sea coasts; mostly it limits the number and size of foreign warships allowed to enter the Black Sea (and how long they may stay there). The 30,000 ton aggregate rule severely constrains the scale of any NATO naval exercises in the Black Sea. An American “Arleigh Burke” class destroyer, for instance, displaces at least 8,000 tons – so no more than three of them would be allowed in at a time, provided no other foreign warships entered.
Romania and Turkey are NATO members, so could contribute as many warships as they wish. Ukraine could too – if it had any. Somehow I doubt if the Turkish government will be keen to participate in this bear-baiting exercise.
Well spotted Tom.
An Arleigh Burke + Defender + the Dutch frigate would roughly displace about 30 000 tons. That’s about the maximum number of ships they can bring from non-coastal navies to the show — if the Montreaux Convention is to be respected, that is.
And there’s no reason to think otherwise. HMS Defender did a probe (illegally) inside Crimean waters. RF’s reaction was not encouraging for FUKUS not only on the question of encroachment but also, by extension, tonnage.
Johnson’s regime sought to downplay the seriousness of RF’s attitude to infringements partly to calm the other participants, particularly the non-Nato ones, who may start getting second thoughts about the wisdom of their participation in the exercise. The prospect of being dragged by UKUS into a shooting war with RF is certainly more than they bargained for when they signed up.
Your astute observation brings the hint I left in my earlier satirical post under greater scrutiny regarding the annual Sea Breeze naval exercises in the Black Sea.
NATO brags about “32 ships and 30 participating nations” but they know as you succinctly pointed out there is an aggregate tonnage limit permitted to non-coastal States operating in the Black Sea. For example, The U.S. USS Ross is a destroyer class warship and displaces anywhere between 7,000 – 8,000 tons. That translates to no more 4 – 5 of these types of vessels at any one time across all non coastal States.
Article 14 states, “The maximum aggregate tonnage of all foreign naval forces which may be in course of transit through the Straits shall not exceed 15.000 tons, except in the cases provided for in Article 11 and in Annex Ill to the present Convention. The forces specified in the preceding paragraph shall not, however, comprise more than nine vessels.”
Article 11 deals with a tonnage exception for coastal States and Annex III is specific to the Japanese fleet.
So as I read it, the 30 participating nations identified in the NATO press release cannot have an aggregate total that exceeds the 9 vessel restriction. The “courtesy visit” or “humanitarian purpose” allowance outlined in Article 17 and Article 18 respectively does not include naval exercises, in my opinion.
The bottom line is the annual Sea Breeze exercise is a “nothing-burger” whose sole purpose is to show-off naval littoral skills and not much more. My concern is what follows after with the Ukraine looking to use the Sea Breeze exercise as a jump-off to something more deadly for Donbass.
So UK building ships for Ukraine will get round this ” restriction”
Babcock, the company said the program includes the “enhancement of capabilities on existing naval platforms, the delivery of new platforms, including fast attack missile craft, a modern frigate capability, shipborne armaments and the training of naval personnel.” Babcock recently revealed Greece was a target for a possible sale of the its new Type 31 frigate and it’s likely Ukraine could be added to the list of possible export opportunities being pursued by the company. The company spokesman declined to discuss whether the Type 31 was part of the British offer. The company said part of the plan also involves working together to regenerate Ukrainian shipyards. Speculation when the initial deal was first announced last year suggested the Ukrainians were discussing purchasing eight missile boats , with at least the first two vessels, maybe more, being built in U.K. shipyards. One option being considered was an updated version of a 56 m patrol boat already sold to Oman by the British sometime ago, Ukrainian media previously reported. At the time, local media reported president Volodymyr Zelensky as saying the proposal was being supported by U.K. government funding to the tune of £1.25 billion, or $1.7 billion. That’s partly borne out by a statement by Babcock chief executive David Lockwood who was on HMS Defender for the signing.””
The Type 31 frigate or Inspiration class, and formerly known as the Type 31e frigate or General Purpose Frigate, is a planned class of frigate, based on the hull of the Iver Huitfeldt-class frigate, … Wikipedia Armament: Up to 24 cells VLS Sea Ceptor anti-air missiles; 1 × 57 mm Mk 110 main gun; 2 × 40 mm Mk 4 secondary guns; 4 × 7.62 mm General purpose machine guns; 4 × 7.62 mm Miniguns Cost: GB£250 million (2019) per unit (est.) Propulsion: MAN Alpha VBS Mk 5 CP propeller, two shafts, CODAD Sensors and; processing systems: TACTICOS combat management system, Thales NS110 3D radar, Raytheon Warship Integrated Navigation and Bridge System, Terma Scanter and Raytheon NSX navigation radars, 2 Mirador Mk2 EOS, Viasat Ultrahigh-frequency satellite communications Length: 138.7 m (455 ft 1 in) Displacement: 5,700 t (5,600 long tons)
Cost each 250 GBP
250 million GBP
Tom.
It’s the “rules based international order”.
The rules?
Are what we say they are.
Rule 1: There are no rules.
Rule 2. See rule 1.
Bulgaria is a NATO quisling as well, and like Romania & Ukraine, its naval power consists of tied-together rubber tires..
Yes, Turkey is participating in this pantomine..
Bulgaria is a very tragic country. They sacrifised their centuries old relationship with Russia and betrayed their slavic brothers and sisters for Yankee-Land on the other side of the ocean. Since they joined the EU their country basicly bleeded dry from people. Bulgarians work for slave labour salaries in western European countries. This is what happens, if you decide to join the liberal capitalist utopia of the West. After you dreamt your dream, you wake up in a complete nightmare.
To Tom Welsh
I have wondered about this as well. There are clear rules under the Montreux Convention as to how many and for how long warships from countries other than those having Black Sea coast, can be allowed the entrance thru the Bosporus at any given time – that passage is administered by Turkey. Note – administered, not controlled. Lavrov is in Turkey right now, I wonder what is the agenda they are discussing? Erdogan had just announced the launch of Turkish own Istanbul Canal – anyway one can join the dots as to what is going on? Has Turkey exceeded here it’s responsibilities and broke the rules, allowing for this unholy lot to enter the Black Sea en-mass? If so, the punishment from Russia will be severe. There are many ways Russia can inflict much pain on wannabe “sultan”. Can anyone shine some light in here and explain how this so-called NATO exercise with 32 warships, plus troops, plus 40 aircraft was allowed to be held in the Black Sea in the fist place, especially with the participating countries that have nothing to do with it?! Has Turkey stepped over the line again?
Keep it simple.
Putin has redlines.
Russia has overwhelming edge in the Black Sea with its weapons.
The more ships and planes, the more density the targeting will be, thus the more very rapid hits and NATO losses.
Salvos of missiles will decimate the intruders.
It is this simple. Minutes after the salvos, there will be no NATO navy.
Have you seen what happened to the Ukies in the cauldrons in 2014-2015 with Russian MLRS rockets?
The missiles that will strike have much larger warheads.
If NATO has come to start a war, they will get a war in which they will sue for peace or lose their capitals and the rest of their militaries.
This is where empires come to die. The West is about to meet something so powerful, fast and overwhelming, they will be in catatonic shock as their navy sinks into the depths of the Black Sea.
This reminds me of when in 1798 a French navy armada docked in Alexandria, while Napoleon led the French army into Egypt, swiftly conquering Cairo. While the French Navy was at anchor in Aboukir Bay, the British Navy came along and sank all the French warships, leaving the French army with no means of getting back to France, and they eventually had to surrender, having lost over 20,000 men. Napoleon then treacherously escaped leaving the remainder of his soldiers marooned in Cairo. He was however, greeted as a hero upon arrival back in Paris.
It would probably be more ‘asymetrical’ if the British aircraft carrier QEII (with the leaking kitchen) was to hit an unknown object somewhere in the Pacific waters it is ‘patrolling’ atm.
Since the Exceptionalists and their lackey NATOans would probably become very irate and inclined to spread the war to Russia itself and very likely make it nuclear if their intruding fleet were literally destroyed (as in sunk), perhaps Russia has the capacity to inactivate it completely with non-nuclear High Power Microwave devices. They could either use directed beams of such radiation (which I think Russia already deployed at the outbreak of the Maidan coup against an American destroyer in the vicinity of Sevastopol) or they could deliver so-called “e-bombs” over the fleet on appropriately spaced hypersonic missiles. The results would be instantaneous and just might be educational for the Exceptionalists and their brown-nosing flunkies who could retrieve their vainglorious warriors and non-functional hardware back alive and intact, complements of a civilised opposition. Washington just might get the message once they realise that what happened to their fleet could happen to their whole country should they escalate the situation with nukes and targeting of Russian assets. Of course, the Yanks probably have their own Wunderwaffen ready for deployment. The winner may be whichever side uses theirs first.
Pepe, accolades, your incredible enlightenment word army.
WAR ongoing for eons earth humans insanity. Weaponry has advanced.
Our home on this planet, is a casino readying to cash in, all chips, for nuclear winter …
In a word,
they will have to re-rub “‘ Lifeof Bryan” in the mess-halls of the Royal Navy ships so that they learn the song that became popular among the British sailors who awaited their rescue in the cold waters of the Atlantic after be sunk by the Argentinians during the Falklands War (Historical)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJUhlRoBL8M&t
maybe they pull out a real Monty Phyton stunt
https://www.dodgone.com/blog/a-shot-thru-the-bow
The truth is, it was clearly the ‘Ministry of Silly Walks’ that sent HMS Defender into Russian waters. They were just trying to prove to the Russians how silly they were by naming an attack ship “Defender”, preteding the crew could not hear the warning singnals and not realize the Russians we’re attacking their ship.
Pepe says: “All committed to implement and improve that magical NATO concept: “interoperability”.” Interoperability is the death knell of national sovereignty. What it means in practice is that your nation’s military can no longer make independent decisions to act in the interests of your nation: (a) because, for technical reasons, you cannot operate on your own the sophisticated military equipment purchased from NATO countries (predominantly the US); and (b), following from (a), the supplier nation of your sophisticated equipment therefore has de facto veto power over your nation’s decisions to act militarily in any given theatre of conflict.
32 ships from 30 countries. One hopes they don’t bump into each other. If they do, it would surely be blamed on the GRU diabolical duo.
Bit late for commenting but just for the record – Sea Breeze is staged under the promotional heading ‘America’s Back!’ But I’m wondering about this. The Biden admin is curiously reminiscent of the admin before it, the one that wanted out of Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and wanting to restore predictable relations with Russia. Remember that admin? But we don’t have to. Biden even wants to restore America’s infrastructure. And China’s the big enemy. ‘The more things change .. ‘. I don’t think ‘America’s Back!’ the way the Euro lapdogs would like to believe. Something’s changing. My guess is that the Americans (but which ones?) want to cut their losses, wind down the forever wars, sign the Iran nuclear deal, pull the troops back and pivot to Asia. So where does that leave Nato? Looks like the deal is to outsource Operation Barbarossa to the Brits and maybe those tough as nails Dutch to lead the motley Euro gang against the Russian hordes while America gets back to ‘air sea’ tactics in the Pacific. So our attention is constantly drawn to the Mighty QE. It’s Britain that’s going to restore the Ukie navy and rebuild their shipbuilding industry. Britain takes the lead in training exercises. The Defender does the FON cruise. We’re not looking at war. If war is brewing we’ll see the buildup of personnel and gear. But even so, I think the Nato chiefs really would like to engineer a suitable ‘incident’ in the Black Sea or anywhere else that would serve the purpose of rousing Europe to get tough with Russia, even if America is surprisingly quiet and more absent than present – even though they’re still issuing the orders. Events in Eastern Europe are not what they appear methinks.
Hal Turner said on 29th USS Ross was running @ 24 kts to Crimea…then, near beach, slowed to 4 kts and turned hard right…
Since VVP said that sinking a ship would not provoke W3, we’ll see, I expect, what sort of fuss the pirates make…’cause sooner or later…
And it is said that Russian PacFleet sent 2 vessels up to the 12 mile line at Hawaii, and that they were not detected…well, maybe it was on a Sunday morning…
The Hawaiian Free State may be years away…but one can read the words about empire…mene mene tekel upharsin…and as the States came, they’ll go… Just wait until the Chinese make offers for prosperous ports and well-heeled Chinese and Russian tourists become essential to the island…same Alaska.
but…I suspect that Russia knows enough to keep China at arms length. Russia is peaceful enough and willing to trade and be friendly, but, to me, China wants to be the world hegemon—and even more brutal than the last bunch were. They are not innocent victims anymore at all.
No reason why Russia could not re-establish good relations with the US and the EU, hence balancing the power vis-a-vis China, once the warmongering fascists are removed from government leadership in those countries. Of course, India and a few other emerging powers will want in, and should be welcomed, as well. As long as Russia prevails, the world will be beating a path to its door looking to trade for all the critical resources that remain within the vast territories of Siberia. If Russia falters, it will be dissected for those treasures like a cadaver in first semester medical school. The silly fools in America and Europe should realise this and that maintaining a shared balance of power is in their interests as much as anyone’s because of all the contestants for Russian resources, China is most proximal geographically. The road to Novosibirsk runs closest to Beijing.
Does Her Majesty approve the British carrier operating or nearly so in a oversized pond?