John Van Diver — Stars and Stripes Jan 29, 2021
The U.S. Navy has three warships operating in the Black Sea, stepping up its presence in the region after a drop in overall NATO maritime activity there last year.
The destroyer USS Porter began its transit into the sea Thursday in support of NATO efforts, joining two other Navy vessels conducting operations in the strategic waterway, the Naples, Italy-based 6th Fleet said.
On Sunday, the replenishment oiler USNS Laramie entered the Black Sea to refuel the USS Donald Cook, enabling the destroyer to continue operations without pulling into port, the Navy said.
“Presence matters most when it is persistent, and refueling at sea makes that reality,” Capt. Joseph Gagliano, commander of Task Force 65, which has operational control of ships in Europe, said in a statement.
For the past couple of years, NATO has said it wants a robust military presence in the Black Sea region, which includes the Crimean Peninsula, annexed by force by Russia in 2014. But in 2020, the number of days key allies operated there declined.
The U.S. Navy spent 82 days in the Black Sea, down 19 days from the previous year, Luke Coffey, an expert on NATO activities and security analyst with the Washington-based Heritage Foundation, said in a recent Twitter post.
Retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, who led the Army in Europe until 2018, said more allies should step up to help the U.S. in the region.
“We clearly have to increase the priority of the Black Sea,” said Hodges, who is now the Pershing chair of strategic studies at the Center for European Policy Analysis, in reply to Coffey’s tweet. “US Navy has too many (requirements) and not enough resources. President Biden will expect Allies to do more.”
Russia has taken note of the recent push into the Black Sea. On Thursday, Russian state media reported that a mobile coastal defense anti-ship system was activated in Crimea for drills to coincide with the USS Donald Cook’s visit.
More propaganda bollox and THE ONLY REASON for this article is this line which is a pack of lies: “Crimean Peninsula, annexed by force by Russia in 2014”. It is widely accepted by thinking individuals that Russia actually protected the mostly Russian people of Crimea from the Nazi regime installed in Kiev (Grammarly spyware wants me to spell it ‘Kyiv’. lol) who would have committed war crimes against the sheeple in Crimea & the Dombas. The sheeple of Crimea overwhelmingly voted for Russian rule & I am sure they all feel better for it.
Jews Media hype about Russia, China, Iran, et al is a Divide and Conquer tactic to incite goy nations against each other with propaganda, with puppet politicians, with deep state jews, with movies that portray western nations as villains in eastern nations and movies that portray eastern nations as villains in western nations.
In Europe and the USA, the jews media incites contempt, fear, and hate of Russia, China, Iran, and the eastern nations. In eastern nations the jews media incites contempt, fear, and hate of the USA and the west.
The Global Jewish Banking Cartel (JBC) uses its control of mass media to portray jews as victims of the holohoax, bigotry, racism, and uses such sympathy scams to make it appear that Jews are victims instead of aggressors, terrorists, and children of the devil that they really are.
Its not Russia, China, Iran, et al who incited WW1, WW2, and so many other wars. No, the JBC did that. The jews media is largely a misdirection operation to make people think Russia, China, et al are enemies we need to worry about and hide who the real enemy is – the enemy within, the JBC and their many minions.
If I see military hardware I think “But do you run the media?” If not, they are off to kill some goyim for the Grabbler.
The return of Crimea to Russia was voted by plebiscite with the Crimean people voting about 90% in favour. It wasn’t by force as this usual piece of U.S. B.S. tries to tell us.