Seems like Russia is flexing its military muscles again, eh? And Canada — maligned as “weak” by the idiot George W. Bush — is turning out to be the first defensive shield against Russia’s air space incursions.
From the BBC:
Canadian air force jets intercepted a Russian bomber approaching Canadian air space the day before President Barack Obama visited Ottawa, officials say.
Two fighter jets met the long-range Bear bomber over the Arctic last week, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said.
The Russian plane turned around after being signalled by the Canadian pilots, he said.
There has been an increasing number of similar Russian flights in the Arctic in recent years, Mr MacKay said.
The Canadian jets “met a Russian aircraft that was approaching Canadian airspace. They sent very clear signals that the Russian aircraft was to turn around – turn tail – to its own airspace, which it did,” Mr MacKay told reporters after meeting North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) officers in Ottawa.
He said he did not know if the flight was deliberately timed for when Canadian security efforts were focused on Mr Obama’s upcoming visit to Ottawa.
“It began just a few years ago when then-President Putin… [said] Russia was going to take a more active role in asserting itself”
Here’s a related video which features a simulated interception of a Russian bear bomber:
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Herman Simm, Estonian Spy, Sells NATO Secrets [Video]
We’re planning to call Herman Simm our Douchebag of the Day but his actions are way more than simple douchebaggery. So what do we call him? Terrorist? Nah, that word is as passe as George W. Bush? Traitor, maybe? Or, maybe friend of Vladimir?
Anyways, you can call him whatever you want to call him. We’re just glad that he’s been found out and is being sent to prison.
From the BBC:
A former Estonian defence ministry official who sold Nato secrets to Russia has been sent to jail for 12 and a half years after a secret trial.
Herman Simm, a former head of security, pleaded guilty to treason on Wednesday.
The court where he was tried did not reveal which country he spied for, but investigators said Mr Simm passed nearly 3,000 documents to Russia.
They said he received 1.3m kroons (£73,000; $106,000) for the data. The Kremlin denied any involvement.
Nato made no comment, but the case, which is Estonia’s biggest spy scandal since the Cold War, is seen as an embarrassment for the former Soviet state. Estonia joined Nato in 2004, angering Russia.
Investigators said Mr Simm, who used to be Estonia’s police chief, had been working for the Russian intelligence service (known as SVR) since 1995, when he joined the Estonian defence ministry.
He became head of security at the ministry in 2000, handling classified information regarding Nato’s communications and surveillance systems.
The investigators added Mr Simm met his SVR handlers, named as Valery Zemtsov and Sergei Yakovlev, three or four times a year in different European countries.
The rest is here.
Here’s videos of the guy during a hearing.
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Uwe Luthardt on Neo-Nazi Plans: They Want a Fourth Reich
26 February 2009
This is pretty scary. And given, the economic uncertainties and much public distrust in governments because of their mishandling of their economies, the Neo-Nazis might be able to achieve their plan. But for all our sakes, we hope they fail.
Says Uwe Luthardt, a senior member of the National Democratic Party (NPD) who defected from said party and is now revealing what he knows:
‘The simple aim is the restoration of the Reich in which a new stormtrooper organisation takes revenge on anyone who disagrees with them,’ he said.
‘In Jena in East Germany in the NPD HQ there are a load of SS pictures in the cellar. And there’s a room with weapons.
‘The basic concept the NPD talks about is “Let’s kick out all the foreigners, then the Germans will have jobs again.”
‘They only refer to freight trains (used to transport Jews to concentration camps during World War Two) when no one from outside is listening.
‘They want the Jews and the foreigners to be transported away once more once they’ve taken over the country again.
‘Internally there’s very plain speaking. And the singing of the Horst Wessel song – the anthem of the original Nazi party – is also very popular.
‘There are internal documents which clearly state how everyone should behave in public. Anything to do with the Third Reich is especially sensitive.
‘The dream is of the German Reich. They’re totally convinced that they’ll win an election one day and that things will really get going.
‘Everyone can imagine what would happen then.’