NATO member’s government collapses after Ukrainian drone incident

"Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina has announced her resignation amid a government crisis caused by an incident involving Ukrainian kamikaze drones hitting an oil depot near the Russian border.
Silina announced the decision at a press briefing on Thursday. Just hours earlier, Interior Minister Rihards Kozlovskis, a member of Silina’s liberal-conservative Unity party, stated that the prime minister has no intention of leaving office. Meanwhile, the opposition was planning a procedural maneuver to circumvent the five-day pause required under Latvian law before a request for a no-confidence vote is granted.

The crisis in the Baltic state was triggered by an incident last week in which two Ukrainian long-range kamikaze drones hit an empty oil depot near the town of Rezekne, around 40 km from the Russian border. No casualties were reported on the ground.

MP Andris Suvajevs, who leads the Progressives parliamentary faction, stated earlier in the day that the ruling coalition was certain to collapse if a no-confidence motion is put to a vote. The prime minister was expected to take part in a session of parliament, but instead invited the media to her office to announce her resignation. She blamed “political jealousy and narrow party interests” for the crisis.
Moscow has accused NATO nations of tacitly allowing Ukraine to use their airspace to conduct strikes on targets in northwestern Russia, particularly oil export terminals in Leningrad Region. Officials in several countries where incidents involving Ukrainian drones were reported since mid-March have expressed concerns with Kiev’s military planning.
Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said he told Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky that Helsinki regards Ukrainian aircraft entering its airspace as unacceptable. Estonian Defense Minster Hanno Pevkur said the Ukrainians should “keep their drones away from our territory [and] control their activities better.”

RT

Latvia to deliver military aid and 65 vehicles to Ukraine

"Latvia is set to deliver another batch of military aid and 65 vehicles donated by Latvenergo AS in cooperation with Sadales tīkls AS to Ukraine on Monday 3 November." NV

Baltic States Prepare Mass Evacuation Plans Amid Growing Fears Of Russian Attack

"Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are drawing up detailed plans to evacuate vast numbers of their citizens to the countries’ west in the event of a Russian invasion, with officials warning that Moscow could attempt to overrun all three Baltic states in less than a week.
While a conventional invasion remains the most serious scenario, governments are also preparing for a range of other destabilizing events, from sabotage of transportation networks and mass migration waves to civil unrest among Russian-speaking minorities and disinformation campaigns designed to trigger panic." ZH

EU Leaders Want 'Drone Wall' Protecting Eastern Flank From Russian Incursions

"European Union leaders are mulling a joint "drone wall" to boost Europe's defenses,

according to European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier from Brussels.
He previewed that EU Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius will participate in meeting representatives of seven frontline EU member states, listed as Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Latvia, Bulgaria, Romania - as cited in Bloomberg. The Ukrainian government is also expected to send representatives to the meeting." ZH

World War III will start with simultaneous Xi and Putin invasions, warns NATO chief Mark Rutte

"NATO chief Mark Rutte has chillingly warned that World War II will start with simultaneous invasions from Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.
Secretary-general Rutte suggested the combined attacks from the Chinese and Russian leaders could trigger a World War nightmare and bring the planet to the brink of Armageddon.

According to the NATO chief, China would start by seeking to grab Taiwan - while ensuring the Kremlin dictator simultaneously attacks NATO territory, amid fears Putin is anyway eyeing the Baltic republics Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, formerly part of the USSR.
Russia today hit back at ex-Netherlands premier Rutte, claiming he had 'gorged on too many of the magic mushrooms beloved by the Dutch', while warning he should look forward to a future in a hellish Siberian labor camp.
Stressing the urgent need to re-arm and boost military budgets, Rutte told the New York Times in a chilling vision of the future: "Let's not be naïve about this."
"If Xi Jinping would attack Taiwan, he would first make sure that he makes a call to his very junior partner in all of this, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, residing in Moscow, and telling him, "Hey, I'm going to do this, and I need you to to keep them busy in Europe by attacking NATO territory".
'That is most likely the way this will progress" he added." msn

Trump Effect: Poland to Increase Defense Spending to Five Per Cent, Build a Half Million Man Army, Says PM Tusk

"Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced a number of new initiatives to bolster defense in a speech in Warsaw, as European

powers appear set to comply with U.S. President Donald Trump’s demands that the continent pay for its own protection rather than relying on America.
This goal puts Poland in line with Estonia and Lithuania as the first countries in Europe to agree to U.S. President Donald Trump’s call for NATO allies to increase their defense spending to at least five per cent of GDP compared to the current baseline of two per cent, which is still unmet by many within the alliance.
Additionally, Prime Minister Tusk called for Poland to build an army of at least half a million people, including reservists, up from around 200,000 today. To help accomplish this aim, the Polish leader called for the return of military training for all adult men in the country." Breitbart

Swedish Troops Arrive in Latvia in Largest Deployment for NATO

"Hundreds of Swedish troops arrived in Latvia to join a Canadian-led multinational brigade along NATO’s eastern flank, a mission Sweden is calling its most significant operation so far as a member of the Western defense alliance." Breitbart

Baltic states, Poland criticize EU imports of Russian LNG

"Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Poland have called on other European Union countries to stop buying Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG), arguing that such imports help fund Moscow’s war against Ukraine.

This appeal was made in a letter from the heads of EU Affairs committees of the parliaments of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Poland, as reported by Estonian outlet Postimees." NV

These NATO States Are Embracing Conscription, Eyeing Future War With Russia

"Outgoing NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has insisted, “Today, we have 500,000 troops on high readiness, combat-ready battlegroups in the eastern part of the Alliance for the first time.” But the bloc is struggling to meet its goals of assembling 300,000 soldiers prepared to be activated within a month and another half a million in six months. There is also a

question of whether the bloc can filed a military fit for a protracted war akin to the Ukraine conflict.
This year, for the first time since it was abolished in 2006, Latvia reimplemented its draft. Male citizens are subject to conscription within a year of turning 18 years old. Additionally, Norway has unveiled a long-term plan to increase its ranks of mandatorily conscripted troops, employees, and reservists by 20,000 as well as double the military budget. In 2015, Lithuania brought back mandatory military service in 2015, each year drafting 3,500 to 4,000 men between the ages of 18-26 for a nine-month period. Although the Finnish Defense Forces employ only 13,000 people during peacetime, Helsinki claims it has the ability to activate over 900,000 reservists with 280,000 combat-ready troops. Sweden conscripts both men and women, Stockholm drafted 7,000 its citizens and the military expects to conscript 8,000 next year. The Swedes have had conscription since 1901." ZH

Baltic officials said they could send troops to Ukraine without waiting for NATO if Russia scores a breakthrough

"MPs for the Baltic States have been warning German officials that they might send troops to Ukraine.Their condition would be if Russia achieves a breakthrough in Ukraine, Der Spiegel reported.

They issued the warning as part of an argument for Germany to support Ukraine more aggressively, per the outlet." MS

Latvia to cut Russia's supply of military raw materials

"Kariņš specifically advocated for banning imports of Russian agricultural products and expanding the export and transit ban on raw materials essential for the Russian military industry to include manganese ore and aluminum oxide.

“It was getting clear that nothing would change in the nearest coming years and Russia would remain on the warpath,” Kariņš said." MS

UK to fund over 10,000 drones for Ukraine

"UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapps has announced the allocation of £325 million (about €380 million) to purchase over 10,000 drones for Ukraine’s Armed Forces during his visit to Kyiv. The UK and Latvia lead the international drone coalition, formed within the framework of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meetings." Pravada

Carlson Interview of Putin

"Last week, Tucker Carlson traveled to Rusia to interview President Vladimir Putin. This sent the left into hysterics - some of whom have called for the journalist to face sanctions, or worse.
Tucker starts the interview by asking Putin why he invaded Ukraine, "and the answer we got shocked us."
Putin proceeded to delve into the history of Ukraine, going back to the middle-ages. Tucker pushed back, saying "I'm not sure why it's relevant to what happened two years ago," to which Putin continued with the history lesson.
"But why didn't you make this case for the first 22 years as president, that Ukraine wasn't a real country?" Tucker asked.
"The Soviet Union was given a great deal of territory that had never belonged to it,

including the Black Sea region. At some point when Russia received them as an outcome of the Russo Turkish wars, they were called New Russia or another Russia. But that does not matter. What matters is that Lenin, the founder of the Soviet state, established Ukraine that way," Putin replied. "For decades, the Ukrainian Soviet Republic developed as part of the USSR. And for unknown reasons, again, the Bolsheviks were engaged in Ukrainization."
The trigger for the Ukraine war: "Initially, it was the coup in Ukraine that provoked the conflict... They launched the war in Donbas in 2014 with the use of aircraft and artillery against civilians. This is when it all started."
Getting to the meat of the Ukraine war, Putin told Carlson that "The former Russian leadership assumed that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist and therefore there were no longer any ideological dividing lines. Russia even agreed voluntarily and proactively to the collapse of the Soviet Union, and believed that this would be understood by the so-called civilized West as an invitation for cooperation and association."
"We were promised no NATO to the east, not an inch to the east, as we were told. And then what? They said, well, it's not enshrined on paper, so we'll expand."
Vladimir Putin: I already said that we did not refuse to talk. We're willing to negotiate. It is the western side, and Ukraine is obviously a satellite state of the US. It is evident. I do not want you to take it as if I am looking for a strong word or an insult. But we both understand what is happening. The financial support. 72 billion U.S. dollars was provided. Germany ranks second, then other European countries come. Dozens of billions of U.S. dollars are going to Ukraine. There's a huge influx of weapons. In this case, you should tell the current Ukrainian leadership to stop and come to a negotiating table, rescind this absurd decree. We did not refuse.
Tucker: Sure, but you already said it. I didn't think you meant it is an insult because you already said correctly, it's been reported that Ukraine was prevented from negotiating a peace settlement by the former British Prime Minister acting on behalf of the Biden administration. So, of course they're a satellite. Big countries control small countries. That's not new. And that's why I asked about dealing directly with the Biden administration, which is making these decisions, not President Zelensky of Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin: Well if the Zelensky administration in Ukraine refused to negotiate, I assume they did it under the instruction from Washington. If Washington believes it to be the wrong decision, let it abandon it. Let it find the delicate excuse so that no one is insulted. Let it come up with a way out. It was not us who made this decision. It was them. So let them go back on it. That is it. However, they made the wrong decision. And now we have to look for a way out of this situation to correct their mistakes. They did it, so let them correct it themselves. We support this.
Tucker: So I just want to make sure I'm not misunderstanding what you're saying. I don't think that I am. I think you're saying you want a negotiated settlement to what's happening in Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin: Right. And we made it. We prepared the huge document in Istanbul that was initialed by the head of the Ukrainian delegation. He had fixed his signature to some of the provisions, not to all of it. He put his signature and then he himself said, we were ready to sign it, and the war would have been over long ago. 18 months ago. However, Prime Minister Johnson came, talk to us out of it and we missed that chance. Well, you missed it. You made a mistake. Let them get back to that. That is all. Why do we have to bother ourselves and correct somebody else's mistakes?
On his last conversation with Joe Biden: "Well, yes, he funds, but I talked to him before the special military operation, of course... I believe that you are making a huge mistake of historic proportions by supporting everything that is happening there, in Ukraine, by pushing Russia away."
On the possibility of global conflict: "It goes against common sense to get involved in some kind of a global war and a global war will bring all humanity to the brink of destruction."
On the concept of de-nazification: "De-nazification... means the prohibition of all kinds of neo-Nazi movements... We have to get rid of those people who maintain this concept and support this practice and try to preserve it."
On Russia's territorial ambitions: "We simply don't have any interest [in Poland, Latvia, or anywhere else]. It's just threat mongering."
Tucker: "Who blew up Nord Stream?" 

Putin: "You for sure." 

Tucker: "I was busy that day. I did not blow up Nord Stream." 

Putin: "You personally may have an alibi, but the CIA has no such alibi."
Tucker: I just gotta ask you one last question. And that's about someone who is very famous in the United States. Probably not here. Evan Gershkovich who's the Wall Street Journal reporter. He's 32. And he's been in prison for almost a year. This is a huge story in the United States. And I just want to ask you directly, without getting into the details of it or your version of what happened, if, as a sign of your decency, you would be willing to release
him to us and we'll bring him back to the United States.
Vladimir Putin: We have done so many gestures of goodwill out of decency that I think we have run out of them. We have never seen anyone reciprocate to us in a similar manner. However, in theory, we can say that we do not rule out that we can do that if our partners take reciprocal steps." 

ZeroHedge

Latvia to transfer another batch of confiscated vehicles from drunk drivers to Ukraine

"The Latvian government today, November 21, made a decision to transfer eight more vehicles confiscated from drunk drivers to Ukraine, according to Delfi.

The vehicles are intended for the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, specifically for army units, a military unit of the National Guard, the Special Operations Center, and the Matiivka village council." MS

French jets join NATO drills in Romania to bolster defence

"French fighter jets taxied alongside the Romanian Air Force after thundering through the sky

above the Fetesti air base, as NATO bolsters its military presence in member country Romania, bordering Ukraine. NATO has also intensified its joint drills along the defense bloc's wider eastern flank -- which encompasses eight member countries -- spanning from Estonia and Latvia bordering Russia in the east to Romania and Bulgaria on the Black Sea." MS

EU states issue Wagner ultimatum to Belarus

"A group of EU nations bordering Belarus has demanded that Minsk expels the Russian
Wagner private military company and repatriate illegal migrants allegedly massing in the country at their borders. Speaking on Monday during a joint press conference with his Latvian, Estonian, and Lithuanian counterparts, Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski warned that the countries could shut their borders with Belarus." RT

Latvia sends soldiers to boost security on border with Belarus

"Latvia’s defence minister has ordered the army to help guard the country’s border with
Belarus amid what was described as “hybrid threats” facing the country and as a reported 96 attempts were made by people to cross the border in 24 hours." AlJazeera

Explosion Rocks Natural Gas Pipeline Connecting Lithuania, Latvia; Village Evacuated

"Lithuania natural gas transmission operator Amber Grid told Reuters its pipeline that connects Lithuania to Latvia was rocked by an explosion. Baltic news agency BNS said police evacuated the entire town of Pasvalys, located in northern Lithuania, due to the situation." ZH

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia call for the creation of a special tribunal to try the leadership of the Russian Federation

"The foreign ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have issued a joint statement calling
on the EU, together with international partners, to help Ukraine create a special tribunal that will judge the top leadership of the Russian Federation." UAP

In Latvia, Putin’s War on Russian Media Plays Out on the Big Screen

"Viewers in Latvia’s capital of Riga came out last week to see a screening of "F@ck This Job," a documentary about independent Russian broadcaster TV Rain (Dozhd) and its struggle to survive Vladimir Putin's war on the independent media.

It was directed and narrated by Vera Krichevskaya, a co-founder of TV Rain with Sindeeva, who arrived in Riga just after a tour of U.S. universities. TV Rain now has a broadcast license in Latvia and has moved some of its staff to an office in Riga.

The screening in Riga raised some uncomfortable questions about the role of a Russian media company in an EU and NATO country with a large Russian population.

The film itself thoroughly engaged the audience. “F@ck This Job” tells the story of a smart, lively, privileged woman who is married to a wealthy prince (a banker) and decides to start a TV channel. The year is 2010. Dmitry Medvedev is president, sharing burgers with Barack Obama and promising change; money is flowing; Moscow is getting cool and anything is possible. Sindeeva drives her bright pink car into Moscow from her suburban mansion to renovate studio space in a former candy factory, hire talented young hipsters and put her bright pink “optimistic channel” on air. As political life starts to break bad — Medvedev hands the presidency back to Putin, protest after protest is held in Moscow over falsified elections and breaches of the constitutional right to assembly, Russia annexes Crimea and starts a proxy war in Donbas — the TV Rain team turns out to be filled with brave, tough journalists reporting live from all over, including paddy wagons on the way to another detention." MT