Russia is holding its largest military exercises since the Cold War, known as Vostok-18, and for the first time it has invited contingents from China and Mongolia. The war games come as relations between Moscow and the West continue to worsen and the trade war between Beijing and Washington continues to deepen. So is a new alliance emerging to challenge the West? Henry Ridgwell reports.
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Despite Turkey’s economic woes that include a sharp drop in the country’s currency, the Turkish Lira, its tourism industry appears to be booming. New data from Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism shows more than 21 million tourists visited Turkey in the first seven months of 2018. VOA’s Tan Cetin went to Istanbul to find out why. Alp Esmer narrates.
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Chancellor Angela Merkel’s junior coalition partners demanded the removal of Germany’s domestic intelligence chief on Thursday following much-criticized comments about recent far-right protests in the eastern city of Chemnitz.

Hans-Georg Maassen’s future as the head of the BfV intelligence agency has created new strains in Merkel’s six-month-old coalition. The center-left Social Democrats, the junior governing party, called for him to go after Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told parliament Maassen still has his confidence.

Merkel, Seehofer and Social Democrat leader Andrea Nahles met at the chancellery Thursday afternoon to discuss the spat, which comes only 2½ months after a crisis over migration policy that briefly threatened the coalition. News agency dpa, citing unidentified government sources, said they agreed to talk about the issue again on Tuesday.

The killing late last month of a German man, for which an Iraqi and a Syrian have been arrested, prompted days of anti-migrant protests in Chemnitz that at times turned violent.

In comments to the mass-circulation Bild daily last week, Maassen questioned the authenticity of a video showing protesters chasing down and attacking a foreigner. He also said his agency had no reliable evidence that foreigners were “hunted” in the streets — a term Merkel had used.

Maassen told Seehofer, his immediate boss, about his doubts before going public but didn’t inform the chancellery. Although they are conservative allies, Seehofer and Merkel have sparred on and off about migrant policy for three years. A dispute between the pair in June briefly threatened to bring down the government.

On Wednesday evening, Maassen was grilled by two parliamentary committees.

“He explained comprehensively, and from my point of view convincingly, the way he acted,” Seehofer told lawmakers. Maassen debunked “conspiracy theories” and “convincingly took a stance against right-wing radicalism,” he added.

Merkel doesn’t appear keen to make an issue of Maassen’s remarks, telling parliament Wednesday that a discussion about semantics isn’t helpful. But the Social Democrats, who are struggling in polls, said Seehofer’s decision to keep Maassen in place couldn’t be the last word.

Senior lawmaker Eva Hoegl told lawmakers that the security services must enjoy “our unrestricted confidence, and if there is even the slightest doubt about that, there is a problem — so we should act differently here.” She and others said Maassen had failed to restore confidence in his leadership.

The party’s general secretary, Lars Klingbeil, later increased the pressure, writing on Twitter that “for the Social Democrats’ leadership, it is completely clear that Maassen must go. Merkel must act now.”

The head of the Social Democrats’ youth wing, who fought unsuccessfully earlier this year to keep the party out of Merkel’s government, suggested that it should quit the coalition if Maassen is kept on.

But Hoegl told Deutschlandfunk radio that “the Social Democrats are, of course, not going to leave the coalition over Mr. Maassen.”

The coalition, which took office in March, so far has been remarkable mostly for squabbling.

The three parties in it all performed badly in last year’s election, which also saw the far-right Alternative for Germany enter parliament. And Seehofer’s Christian Social Union party faces a tough test in a Bavarian state election in mid-October.

 
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Two Russian men accused by Britain of carrying out the March poisoning of a former Russian spy in Salisbury, England, said Thursday it was just an “incredible, fatal coincidence” they were in the city at the time of the attack.

Britain quickly rejected the claims made by the two men, Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov, in an interview on the Kremlin-funded RT channel.

London renewed its assertions that the men were officers of the Russian military intelligence service GRU and lied about their involvement in the poisoning of one-time Russian agent Sergei Skripal.

“The government is clear,” Britain said, that the men “used a devastating toxic, illegal chemical weapon on the streets of our country.” British authorities say the GRU dispatched the agents to Salisbury to poison Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, with the nerve agent Novichok.

 

“We have repeatedly asked Russia to account for what happened in Salisbury in March,” Britain said. “Today, just as we have seen throughout, they have responded with obfuscation and lies.”

Boshirov and Petrov have been charged in absentia with carrying out the attack. In the television interview, they denied they were GRU agents and claimed to work instead in the nutrient supplements business. The suspects said they visited Salisbury to see its famous cathedral and did not know Skripal or where he lived.

“The whole situation is an incredible, fatal coincidence, and that’s that,” Petrov said. “What is our fault?”

Both Skripal and his daughter recovered from the attack, but a woman who came into contact with a discarded perfume bottle that contained the nerve agent died.

 
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The United States has imposed sanctions on two North Korean-controlled information technology companies based in China and Russia, accusing them of moving illicit funds to North Korea.

“These actions are intended to stop the flow of illicit revenue to North Korea from overseas information technology workers disguising their true identities and hiding behind front companies, aliases, and third-party nationals,” said Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin in an official statement.

The department designated the China-based China Silver Star, its North Korean CEO Jong Song Hwa and its Russia-based sister company Volasys Silver Star as such fronts.

The sanctions come at a time when the U.S. is maintaining pressure on the North Korean government in its negotiations to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.

 “The United States will continue to fully enforce and implement sanctions until we have achieved the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea,” Mnuchin said.

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed an agreement during their historic summit in Singapore in June for the North to dismantle its nuclear program. But the two sides are at an impasse over the pace of North Korea ending its nuclear and missile development programs.

 
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The United States is hoping to use the threat of calibrated sanctions to deter individuals, companies or countries from attempting to interfere with the midterm elections in November.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday authorizing automatic sanctions against actors or entities assessed to have meddled with elections, whether by attacking America’s election infrastructure or through the use of propaganda and disinformation campaigns.

“It’s a further effort, among several that the administration has made, to protect the United States against foreign interference in our elections and really our political process more broadly,” National Security Adviser John Bolton said Wednesday while briefing reporters.

“We felt it was important to demonstrate the president has taken command of this issue, that it’s something he cares deeply about,” Bolton added. “This order, I think, is a further demonstration of that.”

Russian meddling attempts

There have been ongoing concerns about possible attempts by Russia to meddle with the upcoming November vote as a follow-up to what intelligence officials have assessed to be a fairly successful effort to meddle with the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

But Bolton and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said the new executive order is not country specific, citing evidence that China, Iran and North Korea may also be working to influence the midterm election in November.

“We see attempts,” Coats told reporters Wednesday, repeating previous assertions that the U.S. intelligence community has yet to see “the intensity of what happened back in 2016.”

“In terms of what the influence is and will be, we continue to analyze all that,” Coats added. “This is an ongoing effort here, and it has been for a significant amount of time, and will continue on a, literally, 24-hour-a-day basis until the election.”

The new executive order gives U.S. intelligence agencies 45 days after an election to report any efforts to meddle with the outcome.

The U.S. attorney general and the Department of Homeland Security will then have 45 days to review those findings. If they agree with the assessment, it would trigger automatic sanctions.

Those sanctions could include blocking access to property and interests, restricting access to the U.S. financial system, prohibiting investment in companies found to be involved, and even prohibiting individuals from entering the U.S.

Additionally, the order authorizes the State Department and the Treasury Department to impose further sanctions, if deemed necessary.

Bolton denied that recent criticism of Trump, and his interactions with President Vladimir Putin during their summit in Helsinki, played any role in issuing the executive order. In Helsinki, Trump told reporters he accepted Putin’s denial of Russian meddling in the 2016 election over the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment and later tried to clarify his statement in a tweet affirming support for the intelligence community.

“The president has said repeatedly that he is determined that there not be foreign interference in our political process,” Bolton said. “Today he signed this executive order, so I think his actions speak for themselves.”

Additional measures possible

Still, Bolton left open the possibility that the White House could work with U.S. lawmakers on additional measures.

Already, members of Congress have introduced various pieces of legislation aimed at setting out stiff penalties for Russia and other countries who seek to meddle with the U.S. electoral process.

And some lawmakers said Wednesday the Trump administration’s latest effort does not go far enough.

“An executive order that inevitably leaves the president broad discretion to decide whether to impose tough sanctions against those who attack our democracy is insufficient,” Mark Warner, the Democratic ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement.

“If we are going to actually deter Russia and others from interfering in our elections in the future, we need to spell out strong, clear consequences, without ambiguity,” Warner added.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio said that while the order is a step in the right direction, it is not enough.

“The @WhiteHouse & @POTUS deserve credit for taking this action. They did as much as they could do with an executive order but are limited from going further without legislation,” he tweeted.

Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have been critical of Trump for failing to fully enact a sanctions law that they passed over a year ago, even though the U.S. Treasury Department did impose major sanctions against 24 Russians as a result.

But Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Republican Richard Burr expressed hope late Wednesday the new executive order will “send a clear message” to Russia, Iran and others.

“[The executive order] strengthens our ability to quickly and appropriately hold responsible anyone who interferes in our elections,” Burr said in a statement.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that he wanted to sign a formal peace treaty with Japan ending hostilities from World War II by the end of the year without conditions.

Seventy-three years after the war concluded, the two countries remain technically at war because of a territorial dispute over four Pacific islands.

“Let us sign the peace treaty … and later we will continue to talk about all of our disagreements as friends on the basis of a peace treaty,” Putin said at an economic conference in Vladivostok.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appeared open to a treaty, saying it was “not normal” that one still hasn’t been signed after seven decades.

“Japan and Russia — both President Putin and myself — share the same position and determination to solve our territorial disputes,” he said.

But a Japanese government spokesman said Japan’s position had not changed and that the issue of sovereignty over the islands needed to be resolved before signing any treaties with Russia.

The Soviet Union seized the four islands north of Hokkaido and east of Sakhalin in the closing days of World War II.

Russia calls the islands the Kurils, while Japan calls them the Northern Territories. Russia has sovereignty over the islands. Japan wants them back.

The islands are rich in minerals and rare metals, and its waters are excellent fishing grounds. 

Putin and Abe have met more than 20 times to discuss the dispute.

Abe has proposed making the islands a joint economic zone, which could lead to a settlement.
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British, French and German fighter jets simulated flight interceptions over Western Europe on Wednesday as part of NATO drills to deter Russian planes from entering allied airspace and to showcase European efforts to integrate their air defenses.

 Fighter pilots carrying air-to-air missiles from 10 NATO nations took turns to simulate the interception of a Belgian air force transport plane en route to Spain, performing visual inspections of the aircraft’s status by hovering off the wings at speeds of 900 km/hour (560 mph).

Some 60 NATO jets, mainly from European allies, are on alert to defend alliance airspace, as NATO deals with a dramatic increase in Russian air activity on its borders since Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, with a record 870 interceptions in the Baltics alone in 2016

 

This month, Moscow is holding its largest war games since the fall of the Soviet Union, with some 1,000 aircraft.

 “NATO is relevant. This is not theoretical,” said Spanish Air Force Lieutenant General Ruben Garcia Servert on board the Belgian military transport plane, as Italian Eurofighters flew close to the cockpit to simulate interceptions. They later included British Typhoons and French Mirages.

 “We have not always been successful in showing the taxpayer that we have the means and the capabilities to protect the population,” he told Reuters during a rare mid-air public display of flight interceptions.

 European allies hope such displays highlight how their air forces are defending Europe in the face of sharp criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump, who at a summit in July railed against Europeans for not spending enough on defense and ports.

 Able to divert, force to land or potentially even shoot down combat aircraft, NATO says its so-called air policing is not directed at Russia. But showdowns between rival warplanes in the Baltic and Black Sea are intensifying.

Two U.S. jets escorted two Russian bombers over the Arctic Ocean on Sept. 7 in the latest incident, while Russia has scrambled fighter jets to intercept nuclear-capable U.S. bombers in interceptions that have echoes of the Cold War.

Analysts warn that any collisions in the air over the Mediterranean, Baltic or Black Sea could risk the start of a wider conflict with Russia.

‘Single sky’ defenses 

Both sides accuse the other of dangerous pilot behaviour, but NATO says Russian warplanes regularly fly without respecting international safety norms, such as responding to air traffic control and requests to identify themselves. Russia says all its flights are conducted in accordance with international law.

“We have seen aircraft coming to our borders without flight plans, without any kind of controls … safety regulations, entering into our area,” Garcia Severt said.

“We have seen frequent activities in the Black Sea, but not only, sometimes we have seen aircraft flying around Europe,” he said, referring to Russian bombers off Portugal’s coast.

NATO will hold its biggest exercise since 2002 in October and November in Norway, called Trident Juncture, and involving non-NATO Finland and Sweden, with more than 40,000 troops.

While tensions with Russia have already prompted NATO to deploy multinational land battalions in Poland and the Baltics, NATO is also pushing to integrate its air forces, despite political resistance over issues of sovereignty.

Under an agreement being negotiated, individual NATO countries’ air forces would defend each other’s airspaces, regardless of the country they are in, under a “single sky” concept that could see Portuguese planes defending Spanish airspace, for example.

Today, each nation defends its own airspace, unless, as in the case of the Baltics, it does not have fighter planes.
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U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Tuesday he would visit Macedonia before a Sept. 30 referendum on changing the country’s name, also expressing concern about suspected Russian interference in the vote, which Moscow denies.

Macedonia scheduled the referendum on the government’s deal in June with neighboring Greece to change its name to the Republic of North Macedonia which would open the door for it to join NATO and the European Union.

“I am concerned about it … The kind of mischief that Russia has practiced from Estonia to the United States, from Ukraine and now to Macedonia, it always has adapted to the specific situation and it’s always beyond the pale,” Mattis, who will visit Macedonia over the weekend, told reporters.

Mattis said he wanted to make it clear the United States supported the Macedonian people.

NATO invited Macedonia to begin accession talks with the alliance, but said it would have to change its constitution and adopt the new name first. The EU has also said it would set a date for Macedonian accession talks pending implementation of the name deal.

Moscow’s ambassador to Skopje has criticized Macedonia’s ambitions to join NATO, saying it could become “a legitimate target” if relations between NATO and Russia deteriorate further.

Greece, a member of both NATO and the EU, has refused to accept the Balkan country’s name, saying it implies territorial claims on the Greek province of Macedonia and amounts to an appropriation of its ancient civilization.

Prime Minister Zoran Zaev’s government, elected in 2017, pushed for an agreement with Greece. Nationalists, including President Gjorge Ivanov, oppose the deal saying it is against the constitution.

In July, Greece expelled two Russian diplomats and barred two other people from entering the country, accusing them of having meddled by encouraging demonstrations and bribing unidentified officials to thwart the Macedonia agreement.

Russia has denied wrongdoing and responded in kind with expulsions of Greeks.
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European Union governments are failing to comply with air quality limits that are already weaker than the World Health Organization’s recommendations, the bloc’s auditors said Tuesday.

The findings by the EU watchdog come as Brussels is taking half a dozen member states to court over their failure to enforce the bloc’s air quality laws.

Respiratory illness caused by pollution result in 400,000 premature deaths a year, costing governments heavily in health care expenses, the European Court of Auditors found.

“There are still considerable impacts on public health,” said Janusz Wojciechowski, one of the report’s authors.

As many as 23 out of the bloc’s 28 nations are failing to comply with the existing limits on harmful pollutants such as nitrogen oxide and particulate matter, according to EU data.

Responding to the report, the EU executive said it was stepping up action to reduce pollution and defended its policy record, pointing to improvements in some areas.

“The commission is fully aware that there is still an urgent need to further improve air quality in Europe,” a European Commission spokesman said.

The commission said in May that it would sue Britain, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy and Romania at the bloc’s highest court for breaching rules on air pollutants.
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At the height of the crisis over Catalonia’s secession drive last year, thousands of companies moved their legal headquarters out of the region, the Madrid stock market and government bonds took a hit, and the Spanish

state came under strong pressure.

Nearly a year later, the organizers of an illegal referendum on independence for Catalonia are in jail or in self-imposed exile, Spain has a new prime minister, and the economy has stabilized. But the situation remains tense and could flare up any time.

Danger for economy

Despite the crisis, Catalonia remains one of Spain’s main economic powerhouses and still accounts for around a fifth of national gross domestic product. 

However, a Catalan trade group says hotels in Barcelona have seen revenue fall 14 percent this summer after the city developed a negative reputation internationally, partly as a result of political instability.

Data also showed fewer new businesses were created in Catalonia and international investment had dropped, putting the region on track to fall behind Madrid in terms of economic output for the first time.

More than 3,000 firms have shifted their headquarters outside the region, many to Madrid. The risk is that the uncertainty over investments in Catalonia will translate into a slow economic decline.

Impact on politics

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who ousted the conservative Mariano Rajoy in June, remains opposed to independence for Catalonia, something the Spanish constitution does not allow.

Sanchez has, however, adopted a softer tone and offered to hold a wide-ranging dialogue that could lead to drafting a new statute of autonomy that Catalans would have the opportunity to adopt or reject by referendum.

Catalonia’s new leader, Quim Torra, last week dismissed the idea that this could be a way forward and instead called on Sanchez to accept a legally binding referendum on independence.

Because Sanchez needs Torra’s party votes in the national parliament to pass the annual budget bill, a failure to find common ground in Catalonia would most likely spill over to national politics in Madrid — and possibly trigger a snap national election in early 2019.

Will issue go away?

According to a survey released in July, 46.7 percent of Catalans want their region to become an independent state, while 44.9 percent oppose this solution.

The proportions of those who favor and those who oppose independence has remained roughly stable over the last four years, meaning the issue is unlikely to go away any time soon.

Catalonia also elected a new regional parliament this year in which separatist forces retained a majority of seats. The trials of jailed separatist leaders should keep the Catalan question at the top of the political agenda for the time being.
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