MILNEWS.ca Highlights – May 23, 2017

#CAN-#USA Stuff

• “Trudeau heads to NATO, G7 summits, where Trump is top of mind for world leaders”
• “Justin Trudeau heads to Europe for NATO and G7 summits, where Trump’s ‘fireworks’ remain an expectation”
• “Le Canada à l’OTAN: rester dans la cour des grands”

#CANvsISIL

• “Canada reviewing its role in mission to fight Islamic State” – “Changes expected to Canada’s anti-Islamic State mission”
• DND’s latest on Operation IMPACT

Everyone Else Vs. ISIL

• “Last Mosul Neighborhoods Held by Islamic State Could be Hardest to Recapture”
• “Gulf-US Cooperation to Counter Terrorism Financing”
• “Shabaab spokesman calls on Kenyan jihadists to form an ‘army’ “
• “Sinjar Resistance Units repel ISIS attack on Yezidi district north Iraq”
• “Italy sends 500 special troops to Iraq for Mosul Dam sentry”
• “UN Envoy To Iraq Says Mosul Liberation Imminent, IS ‘Caliphate’ Days ‘Numbered’ “

#Syria

• “Who is who in the Syrian war. May 2017”
• “Syria: Amid ‘promising’ diplomatic steps, UN envoy says hostilities continue on the ground”

Cold War 2.0:  The Koreas

• “South Korea military fires warning shots at object flying near border with North Korea: official”
• “North Korea says missile ready for mass-production, U.S. questions progress” – “N. Korea announces Pukguksong-2 launch, says missile can now be “mass-produced” “
• “Kim Jong Un and his nuclear program can now be tracked by private satellites” – “Spring Has Sprung at Punggye-ri, but a Sixth Nuclear Test Likely Still on Stand-by” (38north.org) – “Security Council strongly condemns ballistic missile test by DPR Korea”
• “More Evidence Points to North Korea as Being Behind Recent Ransomware Attack”
• “Russia, China worried over Pyongyang’s actions and US’ disproportional military activities”
• “THAAD can be halted under Moon govt”

Cold War 2.0:  China & Environs

• CHN Communist Party op-ed:  “Properly handling the five major issues in Beijing-Washington military relations”
• “Pragmatic Trump distances US from Taiwan”
• “Senior military leader inspects troops in Hubei, Jiangsu and Shanghai”
• “Boeing prepares first Indonesia Apache AH-64E Guardian helicopters for delivery”
• “Chinese Hongdu L-15 Production line” (video)
• “Chinese peacekeeping force’s authority transfer ceremony held in Lebanon”
• “China Intervenes to Block Businessman From Revealing Spying Secrets on VOA”
• “Communist propaganda of the day: Operation Red Sea”

Cold War 2.0:  Russia/Baltics/Eastern Europe

• “Canadian fighter jets patrolling in Iceland”
• “The Daily Vertical: Challenging Russia’s Humiliation Narrative”
• “Future Russian carrier on rocks as defence cuts bite”
• “Europe’s largest aviation drills kick off near Russian border”
• “Estonia: Allied tanks to face off in final battle of Spring Storm exercise”
• “Record number of NATO servicemen suffer injuries during military drills” (Pravda)
• “House looks at increasing permanent military presence in Europe”
• “Estonia unveils unmanned ground vehicle with 12.7mm RWS during military exercise”
• “Kremlin Watch Monitor. May 18, 2017”

#Ukraine

• Updates from All Sides   “Latest from the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM), based on information received as of 19:30, 21 May 2017” – UKR govt ATO map, 23 May 2017 – “Russia-backed militants blame ATO forces for Opytne shelling” – “62 ceasefire violations reported in DPR over 24 hours” – “Militants use Grad in Avdiivka in ATO area” – “Kiev forces violate ceasefire four times over 24 hours – LPR” – “Four Ukrainian servicemen wounded in Donbas in past 24 hours” – “Ukraine’s army advances one km closer to occupied Debaltseve in Donbas – volunteer” – “Kyiv denies Ukrainian army shelled Avdiyivka Coke and Chemical Plant”
• “Oh, Those Russians …”  “Analysis of Documents from 1S Accounting System of Terrorists’ Union of Donbas Volunteers: Sanctions, Humanitarian Aid, and Murder of Bolotov” (InformNapalm.org) – “Number of Russian troops increases in occupied Crimea, – Ukraine’s Border Guard Service”
• Really?  “The (UKR) defense Ministry ordered to deal with alcoholism military” – “The Ministry of Defense was ordered to combat the drunkenness of the military” (korrespondent.net, in Russian)
• Really??  “New secret documents hold Ukraine responsible for MH17 plane crash” (Pravda) – ” “Destroy the facts of the special operation” “ (Sovershenno Secretno, in Russian)
• “Chemical dependence on Russia could become barrier to Ukrainian exports”
• “Enterprises in occupied areas of Donbas in 2016 pay UAH 6.3 bln (CDN $323 million) in taxes and single social contribution to Ukraine’s budget”
• “Poroshenko is going to rename Crimea”
• “Future of Normandy format, Minsk accords to be decided at G7 summit – Ukrainian diplomat” – “Ukraine to present specific proposals for hostage release in Minsk on May 24” – “Kyiv expecting Normandy format leaders to have phone call to intensify talks” – “Lugansk set to give up on Steinmeier’s peace plan citing Kiev’s foot-dragging”
• Elsewhere in the ‘Hood …  “OSCE Special Representative for the Transdniestrian Settlement Process Wolf Dietrich Heim to meet the sides on 24 and 25 May” – “Ukraine to allow cargo transit to unrecognized Transnistria only upon agreement with Moldova”
• From the Info-fight  “Rada approves Ukrainian language TV quotas” – “Ukraine’s Rada says 75% of TV broadcasts now must be in Ukrainian” – “Ukrainian broadcast to be 75% in Ukrainian” – “The Canadians began the development of the social network of Ukrainians”

What’s Canada Buying?

• “Boeing military arm frets over Canada jets threat, seeks gov’t talks -source” – “Trudeau escalates trade war with Trump, and Canadian military pays the price” – Colonel Ted:  “Doing the wrong thing for the right reason … I’m not a fan of the Super Hornet procurement … But since I am convinced that buying the Super Hornet is doing the wrong thing for the wrong reason then maybe buying a European fighter jet would be doing the wrong thing (still) bur for the right reason: to win concessions in a trade deal.”
• Wanted:  “Mortuary Services … The Department of National Defence (DND) requires a mortuary service provider on an “as and when requested basis” with the capacity to recover and transfer full or partial human remains of formerly missing Canadian servicemen, deceased prior to 1970, from one country to another, to arrange for purchase and transport of burial accoutrements and to arrange for funerary services worldwide. The majority of Canadian war dead that are missing with no known grave are mainly in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Eastern Europe and East Asia where Canadian service members suffered high casualty rates during 20th-century wars …”
• Wanted:  “TRAINING CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT … DND has a requirement for a Professional Services contract to support and manage their Simulation Centers …”

Way Up North

• “New report from Canada’s Special Representative on Arctic Leadership”  – “A new Shared Arctic Leadership Model”

Other

• “Military exercise will have helicopters hovering in Windsor this week” – “Canadian Armed Forces bring urban flying exercise to Windsor”
• “Opération LENTUS: avec le grand nettoyage, les militaires auront apporté leur aide jusqu’au bout”

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