Trump to withdraw US from world superpowers' 'Open Skies' treaty

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump said Thursday he was planning to withdraw the United States from the Open Skies Treaty with Russia, the third arms control pact Trump has abrogated since coming to office.

The US leader said Moscow had not stuck to its commitments under the 18-year-old pact, which was designed to improve military transparency and confidence between the superpowers.

"Russia did not adhere to the treaty," Trump told reporters at the White House.

"So until they adhere, we will pull out."

US, China, Russia making world more dangerous: German president
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Moscow quickly countered that the pullout would damage European security and harm the interests of US allies.

Ambassadors to NATO, whose members are also party to the treaty, called an urgent meeting Friday to assess the consequences of the move, which could impact European security.

Germany's Foreign Minister Heiko Maas urged Washington to reconsider, saying that Germany, France, Poland and Britain had repeatedly explained to the US that the problems with the Russians in recent years "did not justify" pulling out.

The treaty "contributes to security and peace in almost all of the northern hemisphere," Maas said.

"We will continue implementing the treaty and do everything to preserve it."

PULLOUT COUNTDOWN

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Trump would formally notify the parties to the treaty on Friday of US plans to withdraw, which will start a 6-month countdown to pullout.

"Effective six months from tomorrow, the United States will no longer be a party to the Treaty," Pompeo said in a statement.

"We may, however, reconsider our withdrawal should Russia return to full compliance with the Treaty."

The Open Skies agreement permits each signatory country's military to conduct a certain number of surveillance flights over another member country each year on short notice.

The aircraft can survey the territory below, collecting information and pictures of military installations and activities.

Including Russia and the United States, the treaty has 35 signatories, though one, Kyrgyzstan, has not yet ratified it.

The idea is that the more rival militaries know about each other, the smaller the chance of conflict.

But the flights are also used to examine vulnerabilities of the other side.

RUSSIAN VIOLATIONS 'FLAGRANT'

Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said Russia "flagrantly, continuously violates its obligations" under the pact.

Moscow "implements the treaty in ways that contribute to military threats against the United States and our allies and partners," he said.

He cited Russia's refusal to allow flights over areas where Washington believes Moscow is deploying medium-range nuclear weapons that threaten Europe, including the Baltic Sea city of Kaliningrad and near the Russia-Georgia border.

Last year Moscow also blocked flights meant to survey Russian military exercises, normally allowed under the pact.

The New York Times said Trump was also unhappy about a Russian flight over his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey 3 years ago.

"In this era of great power competition, we are looking to advocate for agreements that benefit all sides, and that include partners who comply responsibly with their obligations," Hoffman said.

NEW TREATY TALKS LOOM

It will be the third important arms control pact that Trump has withdrawn from since coming to office in January 2017.

He has also dropped the 2015 JCPOA agreement to prevent Iran from advancing its nuclear weapons program, and the 1988 Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia.

In both cases Trump accused the other side of violating treaty requirements.

It also added to the question marks over another pact, the New START which limits the number of nuclear missiles the United States and Russia can deploy, and needs to be renewed by early 2021.

US officials said the Trump administration had studied the issue for 8 months and canvassed allies' opinions before reaching the decision to withdraw from Open Skies.

By its actions, "Russia has systematically destroyed conventional arms control in Europe," said Marshall Billingslea, Trump's special envoy for arms control.

Benjamin Friedman of the liberal Defense Priorities think tank said the move would only accelerate competition between world powers.

"The Open Skies Treaty is not particularly important to US security, but it does build trust worth preserving," he said in a statement.

"Along with the US exit from other major arms control treaties, this move reveals a disconcerting pattern of pointless hostility to treaties which will make future accords more difficult to negotiate."

Agence France-Presse

Turkey is a 'target of economic war,' Erdogan says

ISTANBUL -- President Tayyip Erdogan denied on Saturday that Turkey was in a currency crisis, dismissing a plunge in the lira as "fluctuations" which have nothing to do with economic fundamentals.

Speaking after US President Donald Trump doubled tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminium imports, Erdogan described Friday's 18 percent fall in the lira to a record low as the "missiles" of an economic war waged against Turkey.

Erdogan said those who plotted against Turkey in a failed coup attempt in July 2016 were now trying to target the country through its economy, and pledged to fight back. He did not name any countries.

"Those who can't compete with us on the ground have brought online fictional currency plots that have nothing to with the realities of our country, production and real economy," Erdogan told a provincial meeting of his AK Party in the Black Sea coastal town of Rize.

"The country is neither crumbling, nor being destroyed or bankrupt or in a crisis," he said, and added that the way out of the "currency plot" was to boost production and "minimize interest rates."

The Turkish lira has lost about 40 percent this year alone, largely over worries about Erdogan's influence over the economy, his repeated calls for lower interest rates in the face of high inflation and deteriorating ties with the United States.

The two governments have been at odds over a wide range of topics - from diverging interests in Syria, to Turkey's ambition to buy Russian defense systems, and the case of evangelical pastor Andrew Brunson, who is on trial in Turkey on terrorism charges.

Erdogan also appeared to allude to a "deadline" for handing over Brunson, although he did not name the United States as having set any such deadline or say precisely when it might have expired. "(They are) threatening, saying you will send (him) until 6 p.m. ... This is not some random country. This is Turkey," he said.

A Turkish delegation visited Washington for talks this week but left with no signs of a breakthrough.

After almost 20 months in a Turkish jail, Brunson was moved to house arrest in July by a court. Since then Trump and his vice president Mike Pence have repeatedly called for his release while Ankara said the decision was up to the courts.

Washington in response sanctioned two Turkish ministers and Trump on Friday announced it was doubling the tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from Turkey, saying relations with Ankara were "not good at this time".

LANGUAGE OF THREATS

An important emerging market, Turkey borders Iran, Iraq and Syria and has been mostly pro-Western for decades. Financial upheaval risks further destabilising an already volatile region.

A meeting on Friday unveiling a new economic approach by Turkey's finance minister Berat Albayrak, Erdogan's son-in-law, did little to offer support for the free-falling lira as investors sought concrete steps such as an interest rate increase to restore confidence.

"I am asking you. What possible reason could there be behind the lira which was at 2.8 against dollar in July 15, 2016 to slide below 6 yesterday? During this period, Turkey has set records in its exports, production and employment," Erdogan said.

He repeated a long-standing plan to shift to trading in national currencies and said Turkey was preparing for such a step with Russia, China and Ukraine.

He also repeated his call to Turks to sell their dollar and euro savings to shore up the lira. "If there are dollars under your pillow, take these out... Immediately give these to the banks and convert to Turkish lira and by doing this, we fight this war of independence and the future," he said.

He also said it was a pity that Washington chose Brunson over Turkey, its partner in NATO, and in an opinion piece in the New York Times, he warned the United States that Ankara had other alternatives as allies.

Washington "must give up the misguided notion that our relationship can be asymmetrical", he said in the opinion piece.

Turkey, home to the Incirlik air base which is used by US forces in the Middle East, has been a NATO member since the 1950s. It is host to a critical part of the Western alliance's missile defense system against Iran.

In a separate opinion piece in the pro-government newspaper Daily Sabah, Erdogan's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said Turkey's efforts to solve the crisis with diplomatic methods had been dismissed by the Trump administration, warning that "the US runs the risk of losing Turkey" as an ally.

"The entire Turkish public is against US policies that disregard Turkey's legitimate security demands. Threats, sanctions and bullying against Turkey will not work," he said.

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US general says allies worry Russian war game may be 'Trojan horse'

BERLIN - US allies in eastern Europe and Ukraine are worried that Russia's planned war games in September could be a "Trojan horse" aimed at leaving behind military equipment brought into Belarus, the US Army's top general in Europe said on Thursday.

Russia has sought to reassure NATO that the military exercises will respect international limits on size, but NATO and US official remain wary about their scale and scope.


US Army Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, who heads US Army forces in Europe, told Reuters in an interview that allied officials would keep a close eye on military equipment brought in to Belarus for the Zapad 2017 exercise, and whether it was removed later.

"People are worried, this is a Trojan horse. They say, 'We're just doing an exercise,' and then all of a sudden they've moved all these people and capabilities somewhere," he said.

Hodges said he had no indications that Russia had any such plans, but said greater openness by Moscow about the extent of its war games would help reassure countries in eastern Europe.

NATO allies are nervous because previous large-scale Russian exercises employed special forces training, longer-range missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles.

Such tactics were later used in Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine and in its intervention in Syria, NATO diplomats say.

Hodges said the United States and its allies had been very open about a number of military exercises taking place across eastern Europe this summer involving up to 40,000 troops, but it remained unclear if Moscow would adhere to a Cold War-era treaty known as the Vienna document, which requires observers for large-scale exercises involving more than 13,000 troops.

Some NATO allies believe the Russian exercise could number more than 100,000 troops and involve nuclear weapons training, the biggest such exercise since 2013.

Russia has said it would invite observers if the exercise exceeded 13,000 forces.

Hodges said NATO would maintain normal rotations during the Russian war game, while carrying out previously scheduled exercises in Sweden, Poland and Ukraine.

The only additional action planned during that period was a six-week deployment of three companies of 120 paratroopers each to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania for "low-level" exercises, Hodges said.

"We want to avoid anything that looks like a provocation. This is not going to be the 'Sharks' and the 'Jets' out on the streets," Hodges said in a reference to the gang fights shown in the 1961 film "West Side Story" set in New York City.

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US condemns 'heinous' Istanbul attack, pledges support for Turkey

WASHINGTON - The United States on Tuesday condemned what it called the "heinous" bombing and gun attack at Istanbul's Ataturk airport that left at least 32 people dead, pledging "steadfast" support for Turkey.

"Ataturk International Airport, like Brussels Airport which was attacked earlier this year, is a symbol of international connections and the ties that bind us together," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in a statement.

"We remain steadfast in our support for Turkey, our NATO ally and partner, along with all of our friends and allies around the world, as we continue to confront the threat of terrorism."

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the attack was "only the latest in a series of attacks aimed at killing and maiming innocent civilians."

"Such attacks will only reinforce our determination to work with the government of Turkey to counter the scourge of terrorism and support all those across the region who are working to promote peace and reconciliation," he said in a statement.

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Belgium identifies Brussels bomb suspect, suicide bombers

#TERRORISME A rechercher - Najim LAACHRAOUI https://t.co/8WCyCZdJP9 pic.twitter.com/S4UZnG3XYf

— Avis de recherche (@police_temoin) March 21, 2016

BRUSSELS - Belgian police have identified a prime suspect in Tuesday's Brussels blasts and two suspected suicide bombers, linking them directly to Islamic State militants behind last November's Paris attacks, Belgian media reported on Wednesday.

Najim Laachraoui, 25, is believed to be the man seen on CCTV pushing a baggage trolley alongside the bombers and then running out of the Brussels airport terminal.

Earlier some media reported that he had been captured in the Brussels borough of Anderlecht, but they later said the person detained was not Laachraoui.

Police and prosecutors refused immediate comment but the federal prosecutor was due to hold a news conference at 1200 GMT.

The death toll in the attacks on the Belgian capital, home to the European Union and NATO, rose to at least 31 with some 260 wounded, Health Minister Maggie De Block said on VRT television. It could rise further because some of the bomb victims at Maelbeek metro station were blown to pieces and victims are hard to identify.

One of the suspects seen on CCTV pushing baggage trolleys at Brussels airport just before the explosions was identified as Brahim El Bakraoui, public broadcaster RTBF reported. It said his brother, Khalid, blew himself up on the metro train.

Both had criminal records for armed robbery but had not previously been linked by investigators to Islamist militants.

Laachraoui is wanted in connection with the Paris attacks. His DNA was found on at least two explosives belts used in those attacks and at a Brussels hideout used last week by prime Paris suspect Salah Abdeslam, who was arrested last Friday after a shoot-out with police.

RTBF said Khalid El Bakraoui had rented under a false name the apartment in the city's Forest borough, where police hunting Abdeslam killed a gunman in a raid last week. He is also believed to have rented a safe house in the southern Belgian city of Charleroi used to mount last November's Paris attacks.

The Syrian-based Islamist group claimed responsibility for Tuesday's attacks, four days after Abdeslam's arrest in Brussels, warning of "black days" for those fighting it in Syria and Iraq. Belgian warplanes have joined the coalition in the Middle East, but Brussels has long been a centre of Islamist militancy.

SECURITY REVIEW

The attacks sent shockwaves across Europe and around the world, with authorities racing to review security at airports and on public transport, and rekindled debate about European security cooperation and police methods.

Prime Minister Charles Michel cancelled a trip to China and convened his inner cabinet to discuss security. Belgium observed a nationwide minute's silence at noon (1100 GMT). King Philippe, the premier and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker attended a memorial event at Commission headquarters.

More than 1,000 people gathered around an improvised shrine with candles and street paintings outside the Brussels bourse.

The Brussels blasts fuelled political debate across the globe about how to combat militants.

"We can and we will defeat those who threaten the safety and security of people all around the world," said U.S. President Barack Obama.

Donald Trump, the front-runner for the Republican nomination to succeed Obama in November's U.S. election, suggested suspects could be tortured to avert such attacks.

Police searched an apartment in the northern Brussels borough of Schaerbeek late into the night, finding another bomb, an Islamic State flag and bomb-making chemicals.

Local media said authorities had followed a tip from a taxi driver who may have driven the bombers to the airport.

An unused explosive device was later found at the airport and a man wearing a light-coloured jacket and a hat, believed to be Laachraoui, was seen running away from the terminal after the explosions.

CLOSING IN

Security experts believed the blasts, which killed about 20 people on a metro train running through the area that houses EU institutions, were probably in preparation before Friday's arrest of locally based French national Abdeslam, 26, whom prosecutors accuse of a key role in the Nov. 13 Paris attacks.

He was caught and has been speaking to investigators after a shootout at an apartment in the south of the city a week ago, after which another Islamic State flag and explosives were found. It was unclear whether he had knowledge of the new attack or whether accomplices may have feared police were closing in.

Islamic State said in a statement that "caliphate soldiers, strapped with suicide vests and carrying explosive devices and machineguns" struck Zaventem airport and Maelbeek metro station.

It was not clear, however, that the attackers used vests. The suspects were photographed pushing bags on trolleys, and witnesses said many of the airport dead and wounded were hit mostly in the legs, possibly indicating blasts at floor level.

The two men in dark clothes wore gloves on their left hands only. One security expert speculated they might have concealed detonators. The man in the hat was not wearing gloves.

About 300 Belgians are estimated to have fought with Islamists in Syria, making the country of 11 million the leading European exporter of foreign fighters and a focus of concern in France and other neighbours over its security capabilities.

Reviving arguments over Belgian policies following the Paris attacks, in which 130 people were killed in an operation apparently organised from Brussels, French Finance Minister Michel Sapin spoke of "naiveté" on the part of "certain leaders" in holding back from security crackdowns on Muslim communities.

Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders retorted that each country should look to its own social problems, saying France too had rough high-rise suburbs in which militants had become radicalised.

Life began to return to normal in Brussels on Wednesday, with some public transport working and cars returning to the European district, but the metro system remained closed and the airport was still shut to travellers.

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Brussels stays at top security alert over fears of Paris-style attack

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Brussels will remain at the highest possible alert level Monday, with schools, universities and metros closed over a "serious and imminent" threat of attacks similar to those that struck Paris, the Belgian prime minister said.

Belgian police said several operations were under way late Sunday as security forces continued to hunt for Salah Abdeslam, a key suspect in last week's atrocities in the French capital.

Armed officers and troops have been patrolling the near deserted streets of the tense Belgian capital all weekend after the government raised the terror alert to the highest level of four in the city of more than a million that is also home to the NATO and European Union headquarters.

Premier Charles Michel said the metro system would remain shut and schools and universities would be closed over concerns that jihadists were planning a repeat of the Paris gun and suicide bombing attacks that claimed 130 lives on November 13.

"What we fear are similar attacks, with several individuals in several places," he told reporters.

"The threat is considered serious and imminent," he said, adding that the rest of the country would remain on security alert level three, meaning an attack is considered possible and the threat credible.

Officials will review the situation again on Monday.

The historic Grand Place in central Brussels, usually bustling, was virtually empty at the weekend, with business badly hit in the run-up to Christmas as anxious residents heeded warnings to stay home.

With a massive manhunt on for several suspects linked to the carnage in Paris, Belgian police urged the media not to show live footage of the police operations taking place Sunday evening.

The public prosecutor will hold a news conference "when it is all over", a spokesman told AFP.

Interior Minister Jan Jambon earlier said the authorities were looking for "several suspects" and not just for Abdeslam, who is thought to have slipped past French security forces after taking part in the Paris attacks, which were claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group.

French police meanwhile released a photo of the third of three men who blew themselves up outside France's national stadium during the rampage, which also targeted the Bataclan concert hall as well as a string of bars and restaurants.

The man in the picture passed through Greece with one of the other suicide bombers, carrying a Syrian passport in the name of Mohammad al-Mahmod, a source close to the investigation said.

- Obama: 'We're not afraid' -With the world on edge over the jihadist threat, US President Barack Obama said the most powerful tool in the fight against IS was to say "that we're not afraid".

He added that he would go ahead with a December visit to Paris for UN climate talks and called on other countries to show similar resolve.

French President Francois Hollande will embark on a diplomatic offensive in the coming days in a bid to forge a broad anti-IS coalition.

He will host Britain's David Cameron Monday before meeting Obama in Washington on Tuesday, holding talks with Germany's Angela Merkel in Paris Wednesday and Russia's Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday.

The UN Security Council on Friday authorised "all necessary measures" to fight jihadist violence after a wave of deadly attacks, including the downing of a Russian aircraft in Egypt with the loss of 224 lives and the storming of a luxury hotel in Mali that left 19 dead.

- Hollande 'shocked but focused' -German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who was at the stadium along with Hollande attending a France-Germany football friendly when the bombers blew themselves up outside, told the daily Bild he had thought the first blast was fireworks, but soon realised it was a terror attack.

Hollande "was shocked, but at the same time very focused and determined," he added.

The French leader was evacuated, but Steinmeier and his team were asked to stay in the hope of avoiding panic among the some 80,000 fans, he said.

Meanwhile, Eagles of Death Metal, the Californian band that was playing at the Bataclan where 89 people were massacred, spoke for the first time since the attacks, with singer Jesse Hughes saying that many fans died tyring to protect their friends.

"So many people put themselves in front of people," he said in an excerpt of an interview with Vice.com.

- The Belgian connection -The suspected ringleader of the November 13 attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, died in a massive police raid in Paris on Wednesday.

He was a notorious Belgian jihadist thought to be fighting in Syria, and his presence in Europe has raised troubling questions about a Europe-wide breakdown in intelligence and border security.

Questions remain too over the role played by Belgian-born Abdeslam -- who used to run a bar with his brother Brahim in Brussels.

Brahim blew himself up outside a Paris bar on November 13.

A third brother, Mohamed Abdeslam, told Belgian TV he believed Salah had at the last moment decided not go through with the attack.

He said the family wanted him to give himself up.

"That way he can give us the answers we seek, our family and the families of the victims," he said.

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