OVERVIEW OF GREEK AND INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS No. 7 (20/03/2023) (13 – 19 Mar. 2023)
OVERVIEW
GREEK AND INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS
No. 7
(20/03/ 2023)
(13 - 19 Mar.. 2023)
International Criminal Court building in The Hague
Editorial team: Margarita Antoniou, Alexandros Katranis, Zoe Koukoula, Christos Nentas, Georgios Sideris[1]
- ISSUES OF GREEK INTEREST
Generally about Greece
The next day at the port of Alexandroupolis after the cancellation of the sale: Meeting and decisions with HRADF
17/03/2023
Greek foreign policy
Dendias to the UN: Dialogue, Diplomacy, Democracy, Greece's compass for the term on the Security Council
17/03/2023
Greek-Turkish
This is the cost of a Greek-Turkish war: What will NATO do in the event of a Turkish attack on Greece?
16/03/2023
Hellenism – Diaspora
- CYPRUS
Letter of protest from the Speaker of the House of Representatives regarding the hoisting of the pseudo-state flag at the Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly in Bahrain
15/03/2023
The Cyprus problem is not a bilateral issue: It is an International and European issue and can only be solved with full respect for International and European Law.
13/03/2023
- TURKEY
Generally about Turkey
Menendez is absolute about the F-16s, sets very tough conditions: The issue does not end with the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO...
13/03/2023
If Erdogan chases away the S-400s, he could buy both the F-16 and the F-35: The conditions remain, concerns about whether or not the Turkish elections will be held...
15/03/2023
Turkish foreign policy
Ankara's campaign in Central Asia for the eyes of a pseudo-state
17/03/2023
https://slpress.gr/ethnika/ekstrateia-tis-agkyras-stin-kentriki-asia-gia-ta-matia-pseydokratoys/
The US "welcomes" Turkey's "yes" to Finland's NATO membership: The same "soon" for Sweden
17/03/2023
- BALKANS
BULGARIA Sofia - Skopje in constant conflict: "It's ridiculous to blame Bulgaria for the deportation of Jews," says historian Dimitrov
13/03/2023
Russian wedge in European mediation between Serbia and Kosovo
14/03/2023
https://slpress.gr/diethni/rosiki-sfina-stin-eyropaiki-mesolavisi-metaxy-servias-kosovoy/
- WEST
USA
Article by K. Philis in "K": American anxieties (and embarrassments) about Turkey
(13 / 02 / 2023)
https://www.kathimerini.gr/politics/foreign-policy/562318024/arthro-toy-k-fili-stin-k-amerikanikes-agonies-kai-amichanies-gia-tin-toyrkia/
Washington rejects Chinese ceasefire proposal in Ukraine: "It is tantamount to ratification of Russian conquests"
17/03/2023
Europe
SWITZERLAND For the first time, the majority of Swiss people are in favor of rapprochement with NATO
16/03/2023
ITALY Meloni government under pressure after new shipwreck with many dead: It tries to balance criticism and its election commitments
13/03/2023
- EUROPEAN UNION
2023 brings a huge geopolitical earthquake: The first signs of NATO's dissolution and the EU's turn to the East
The EU wants equal competition rules with China: "We don't want dependence, like the one we had from Russia," says von der Leyen
14/03/2023
- FORMER SOVIET SPACE
Russia
Russian exports resisted sanctions
With the "sea routes" to the EU closed, Russia had to find alternative buyers, more specifically in Asia.
15/03/2023
https://www.ot.gr/2023/03/15/naytilia/oi-rosikes-eksagoges-antistathikan-stis-kyroseis/
US-Russia talks after the incident with the American drone
15/03/2023
Vucic didn't like Putin's arrest warrant: He says we are sliding into World War III
17/03/2023
Ukraine
Arms deliveries to Ukraine continue: Reznikov's contacts and the plans of Western countries
(15 / 03 / 2023)
https://hellasjournal.com/2023/03/sinechizonte-i-paradosis-oplon-stin-oukrania-i-epafes-reznikof-ke-ta-schedia-ton-choron-tis-disis/
I. Baltzois: "Russia will occupy Bakhmut and reach the Dnieper"
"I fear that China and the US have fallen into the "Thucydides Trap" and will end up in war"
14/03/2023
Disclosure: Russians hit PATRIOT and US Officers in Ukraine with hypersonic DAGGER missiles
Terrifying strike at 120 meters depth with Russian hypersonic KINZHAL Missile on NATO Command Center in Ukraine
Is the Ukrainian Counterattack on Bakhmut a Matter of Hours? Ten Kiev Armored Brigades Are in the Chasiv Yar Area, Which Is Besieged by the Russians[2]
Kiev to the West: "Guns, guns, guns - We are not giving any evacuation order to Bakhmut" - British Defense Minister: "The battle is being lost there"[3]
How the war in Ukraine has destabilized former Soviet allies
American drone crash in the Black Sea: A clear accident that shows "the stupidity of the Russian pilots," says a King's College professor
14/03/2023
"It is urgent to prepare for a peace process in Ukraine": What a German security expert suggests[4]
13/03/2023
Ukrainians cannot shoot down KINZHAL hypersonic missiles even with PATRIOT – Presentation of the Russian PENICILLIN Anti-Aircraft and Missile System[5]
Americans reveal that NATO will deliver to Zelensky a plan for the final dismemberment of Ukraine
Caucasus
A new Maidan is being built in Georgia – NGOs and hidden funding
16/03/2023
https://slpress.gr/diethni/stinetai-neo-maidan-sti-georgia-mko-kai-adili-chrimatodotisi/
- CHINA
China's rapid diplomacy a lever for changing the data in the Middle East? Saudi Arabia once again a protagonist in the region...
15/03/2023
China's Wedge in the Iran-Arab Conflict and the New Balances in the World Order
17/03/2023
- AFRICA
- ASIA - AUSTRALIA
AUKUS | Presentation of the plan to deliver nuclear submarines to Australia
14/03/2023
Nuclear danger in the Pacific
(15 / 03 / 2023)
https://www.kathimerini.gr/world/562323445/pyrinikos-kindynos-ston-eiriniko/
- MIDDLE EAST
IRAN Russia sends weapons to Iran that the US provided to Ukraine[6]
LIBYA Why the de facto partition of Libya benefits locals and foreigners
15/03/2023
https://slpress.gr/diethni/giati-symferei-ntopioys-kai-xenoys-i-de-facto-dichotomisi-tis-livyis/
SAUDI ARABIA Saudi Arabia once again a leading player in the Middle East
(14 / 03 / 2023)
https://www.naftemporiki.gr/kosmos/1450009/i-saoydiki-aravia-kai-pali-protagonistria-sti-mesi-anatoli/
SYRIA "Meeting with Erdogan only if he withdraws Turkish troops from Syria": Assad rejects the unconditional approach promoted by Putin
16/03/2023
- Latin America
- TOPICS
A Safe and Secure Haven
SIPRI | Increase in arms imports to Europe – US dominance in global arms trade
13/03/2023
Modernize your cyber recovery strategy with these 5 simple steps
Economy
Credit Suisse: How the global wealth management giant came to collapse
16/03/2023
Culture
Rishi Sunak rules out permanent return of Parthenon sculptures: "The law for the British Museum will not change"
13/03/2023
Oscars 2023: Scan "Everything Everywhere All at Once", won 7 statuettes - Full list of winners [videos]
13/03/2023
International Justice
Why the International Criminal Court ordered Putin's arrest: The massacring of young Ukrainians and the "reform camps" of post-Soviet patriotism
17/03/2023
Environment
The Arctic is melting and the planet is shivering: Temperatures will rise faster at the North Pole, Swedish scientists warn
13/03/2023
[1] The Weekly Update on Greek and International Developments (EEDE) is prepared under the responsibility of the Editorial Team and does not express the views of ELISME.
[2] The timing of the planned Ukrainian Offensive Action is of interest. For it to have any chance of success, it must be carried out within a short period of time from now, in order to retake Bakhmut, if possible, immediately, so that the Russian Forces are forced to retreat. However, if the Ukrainian Forces delay their attack, either to intercept the Russians at Chasiv Yar, or because the muddy ground will make their movements difficult, or because they will be attacked by the Russian Air Force, Artillery and Missiles, the Russian Forces will have time to capture Bakhmut and will continue their efforts to complete the capture of their remaining Objectives (Kharkov to the North, Zaporizhia and Kherson to the South). In this case, the Ukrainian Counteroffensive Forces will lose the initiative of the movements and will have to choose the Axis, or Axes, on which they wish to confront the Russians. (GA)
[3] When a match is being played within a residential area, and even more so when this area has been surrounded and controlled by the attacker who prohibits all access, the biggest problem faced by the defender is the smooth functioning of the Administrative Stream, which creates deficiencies in:
a. Ammunition, mainly light weapons and not artillery, which is stationed outside the residential area.
b. Food, Fuel, Spare Parts and Medical Supplies, especially blood and Surgical Supplies.
c. Evacuations. That is, the transportation of the wounded and the dead, unless a special agreement has been made between the belligerents to address these issues.
Based on the above and given that for quite some time now the Russians have been controlling all the roads leading to the city of Bakhmut, it is surprising that the Ukrainians officially state that the only problem they are facing is the lack of ammunition, mainly artillery. It is implied, therefore, that the remaining aforementioned problems have either been addressed or do not significantly affect the conduct of their own operations.
The most likely explanation is that the Ukrainians, applying the Defense Doctrine of the Soviet Union, have created, in the underground of Bakhmut, a large number of shelters and other military installations and fortifications, in which they have stored, since peacetime, all the supplies and materials required for the defense of the city. According to information, there is a large number of underground galleries, the total length of which amounts to approximately 2000 kilometers. Therefore, the significant shortage of the Ukrainians is, indeed, the Artillery Ammunition, which is transported via the roads controlled by the Russians, either by the physical presence of Units, or by Artillery fire.
The existence of the underground facilities and their proper use by the Ukrainians is perhaps the main reason why the capture of Bakhmut is delayed. The Ukrainians are not abandoning it so much for its strategic value as for morale reasons. They seek to create the impression that as long as they still hold Bakhmut, they are in a position to carry out their Counterattack. Therefore, because Bakhmut has symbolic significance for them and for the West, they can put pressure on the West to continue to strengthen them, so that they can acquire the ability to counterattack.
For their part, the Russians, although they want the battle of Bakhmut to end as soon as possible, because they control the situation and have the initiative of the movements, may simply wait for the expected to happen. That is, either to capture it or to force the Ukrainians to abandon it. At the same time, they continue to advance north towards the Kharkov region, having reached the Kupyansk and are 24 kilometers away from Slavyansk. To the West, they surround the Chasiv Yar, forbidding the Ukrainians from reinforcing Bakhmut. After the capture of Krasnogorovka, (North of Antviyivka) will also move south, to Zaporizhia. Once this happens and the capture of Bakhmut is completed, Donbas will be captured. (GS)
[4] Ambassador Wolfganf Ischinger is an old "fox" of German diplomacy (Permanent Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador to Washington and Lodz, President of the (not strictly scientific, but strongly political) "Munich Security Conference" with a say in German foreign policy and a well-documented view on international and European security issues. The view he expresses is still vague and general since there is a deep division in both the US and Europe regarding the need for a diplomatic solution to the war in Ukraine. The West's goal is now to avoid at all costs an outcome that could be presented as a "victory" for Russia given the enormous economic cost of supporting Ukraine and the "blood price". A "victory" for Ukraine à la Nuland does not seem possible, if we take into account the West's poverty of ammunition and weapons systems in contrast to the bloody advances that the Russian armed forces seem to be achieving. A diplomatic solution would mean for Ukraine the permanent loss of Crimea – President Zelensky is unlikely to commit to it, no matter how much pressure he is put under. In any case, Ischinger's proposal is in the same spirit as a proposal that we had published a year ago (March 2022) by our colleagues Mr. Leonidas Chrysanthopoulos, Nikos Kanellos and the signatory. (AKK)
[5] The supersonic air-to-surface missile KH-47M2 KINZHAL (Manual, Stileto) has a range of 2.000 kilometers, a speed ten times the speed of sound (10 MACH) and the ability to maneuver and change direction in flight, making it impossible to detect and intercept by the currently existing Air Defense Systems of Western countries because the interceptor missiles they have have a much lower speed. It is only detected when it attacks the target. It is used when the requirement arises to attack a high-priority target which, due to the protection it had and its distance from the battlefields, cannot be attacked by other means.
This is the second time the Russians have used KINZHAL missiles. The first time was on March 19, 2022, when they attacked an underground Missile and Aircraft Ammunition Depot in the village of Delyatin, Ivano-Frankivsk region of western Ukraine. The KINZHAL missile was launched, at that time, from a MIG-31 aircraft, which was flying in the Kherson region, that is, at a relatively short distance from the target. Consequently, even if the not so powerful Air Defense of Ukraine had the ability to detect and intercept it, the probability of this happening was almost zero due to the minimum flight time of the missile, from the moment of its launch from the aircraft, until it hit the target (10 seconds). President Joe Biden had even commented that the Kh-47M2 KINZHAL missile is “almost impossible to intercept”.
In conclusion, we could claim that, based on the current capabilities of the Western Air Defense, no target that is decided to be attacked with a KINZHAL Missile can feel safe.
In addition, since 2019, Russia has had the Supersonic Surface-to-Surface Missile System. AVANGARD (the name means "unstoppable") which has a range of over 6.000 kilometers. It belongs to one of two categories of hypersonic missiles, the hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV)), which leaves the Earth's atmosphere and then re-enters it. The other category is the hypersonic cruise missile (HCM) which, while not as fast, flies low and at extremely high speeds, giving the enemy minimal reaction time. Such a type is the CRUISE missile CALIBR with a range of up to 2.500 kilometers, launched from Surface Ships and Submarines. Both types have the ability to carry a nuclear warhead. Sarmat .
It also has the hypersonic missile 3K22 ZIRCON which is launched from Surface Ships and Submarines. It has a maximum range of 1000 kilometers and a speed of 8.000 kilometers/hour. Western Air Defense Systems have only 20 seconds to detect and shoot down this supersonic missile.
Russia also has the Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs)) RS-24 YEARS with range approximately 11.000 kilometers, RS-28 SARMAT, with a range of 6.340-9.940 miles and SATAN-2, with a range of 6.200-11.180 miles, which is an evolution of the SARMAT. (GS)
[6] The weapons that have been sent to Iran are JAVELIN ATGM Anti-Tank Guided Missiles and STINGER Anti-Aircraft Systems. American officials believe that the supply of these weapons is not widespread and that it is not done systematically. At present UAV)success in the process of reverse engineering.
It is worth noting, however, that the TOOPHAN Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM), which Iran has in its arsenal, was reverse-engineered from the American BGM-71 TOW missile in the 1970s. Also, in 2011, the Iranians intercepted an American-made Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), a Lockheed Martin RQ-170 SENTINEL, and reverse-engineered it to create a new DRONE that crossed into Israeli airspace in 2018 before being shot down. (GS)