Russia Forming Rival to Nato

Meanwhile, we're cutting defense spending by 25%.

A new Russian security strategy includes an intense rivalry with Washington, the possible use of military force as the nation competes for energy resources in the Middle East, Barents Sea, the Arctic, Caspian Sea and Central Asia, and the assembly of a coalition that it hopes will rival NATO, according to a report in Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

While Russia intends to develop relations with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, it will only do so if the alliance takes into account Russia's "legitimate interests in its military-political planning."

But because of Moscow's continuing concern over NATO's eastward migration into regions such as the Caucasus and Central Asia – regions which it regards as being in its sphere of influence – Russia will bolster a collective security arrangement with post-Soviet countries.

Russian Spy in NATO Could Have Passed on Secrets

This is probably going to cost him his "jelly of the month club" Christmas bonus.

A spy at the heart of Nato may have passed secrets on the US missile shield and cyber-defence to Russian Intelligence, it has emerged.

Herman Simm, 61, an Estonian defence ministry official who was arrested in September, was responsible for handling all of his country's classified information at Nato, giving him access to every top-secret graded document from other alliance countries.

He was recruited by the Russians in the late 1980s and has been charged in Estonia with supplying information to a foreign power.

Several investigation teams from both the EU and Nato, under the supervision of a US officer, have flown to the Estonian capital Tallinn to assess the scope of what is being seen as the most serious case of espionage against Nato since the end of the Cold War.

“The longer they work on the case, the more obvious it becomes how big the impact of the suspected treachery really is,” according to Der Spiegel magazine. A German official described the Russian penetration of Nato as a "catastrophe".

Comparisons are being drawn with the case of Aldrich Ames, the former head of the CIA counter-intelligence department who was in effect Russia's top agent in the US.

NATO WARNS RUSSIA OVER ABKHAZIA

Get your licks in while you can NATO. Hope and change is coming. And with that, well you know...

Nato's secretary general has demanded that Russia withdraw troops it sent to the disputed breakaway Georgian province of Abkhazia last week.

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer accused Russia of breaching Georgia's sovereignty by sending in military railway personnel.

Mr de Hoop Scheffer said the Russian move was "contributing to instability in what is already a volatile area".

Russia announced on Saturday that it was sending 300 members of an unarmed unit from the army's railway force to the province to help carry out repairs on the network, labelling the move a humanitarian effort.

Georgia responded that Russia is planning a military intervention in the province.

"These forces should be withdrawn, and both Russia and Georgia should engage quickly in a high-level and open dialogue to de-escalate tensions," Mr de Hoop Scheffer said.

The Abkhaz minority demanded independence from Georgia after the collapse of the USSR in 1991. Several thousand people were killed before Georgian forces were driven out in 1993. About 250,000 Georgians were displaced by the fighting.

There are around 2,000 Russians posted in Abkhazia, and about 1,000 in South Ossetia.

Russia and China. It's the new jihad people!

NATO ALLIES AGREE TO CYBER DEFENSE UNIT

If this will stop me from getting 25 emails a day trying to sell Megadik, I'm all for it.

Seven Nato members signed a deal today to provide staff and funds for a new research centre designed to boost the alliance's defences against cyber-terrorism.

Defence ministers from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, Italy, Spain and Slovakia met in Brussels today where they signed an agreement to finance the cyber defence facility, to be based in Estonia.

The facility will begin operatiing in August. A staff of 30 specialists — recruited from Nato member states — will conduct research and training on cyber warfare.