NATO Commander: Russia Meddling In U.S. Election Could Be 'Act Of War', EU To Create Joint Command Ctr For Military Missions

NATO Commander Declares Russia Meddling in US Election Could Be ‘Act of War’

NATO’s Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe has declared that alleged Russian meddling in the US election could be considered an “act of war” and prompt a military response.

General Sir Adrian Bradshaw, a citizen of the UK, has alleged that an “international disinformation campaign” through websites such as Sputnik News and Russia Today could also be included in NATO’s definition of an “attack.”

According to the NATO treaty, “an armed attack against one or more [members] shall be considered an attack against them all,” and allies may use any action necessary for defense. In recent years, this has been expanded to include cyberattacks and hacking.

Bradshaw added that the organization has “declared cyber as a domain in warfare, alongside air, maritime, special forces and land.”

“It’s not just the threat of overt military attack, but it’s a raft of other measures, including covert, paramilitary, and non-military activities, some of which will be coordinated by the intelligence arms of Russia,” Bradshaw said in January at a Council on Foreign Relations event.

“And we as NATO need to have our antenna tuned to the signs that this sort of hostile activity is going on,” he added.

Bradshaw’s statements come as Democrats, and a few anti-Trump neo-conservative Republicans, continue to scramble to link members of the Trump administration to Russia.
In January, Republican Senator John McCain declared that Russia was a bigger threat to the United States than ISIS, and repeatedly echoed former Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s calls for the use of military force against Moscow.

EU to create joint command center for military missions

The European Union is considering establishing a joint command center for the bloc's military missions, according to officials and diplomats cited by Reuters. The move is viewed as a step towards increased security and defense cooperation.

Foreign and defense ministers from the EU's 28 member states will formally decide during a Monday meeting in Brussels whether or not to create the so-called Military Planning and Conduct Capability (MPCC), the news agency reported.

The European Union is considering establishing a joint command center for the bloc's military missions, according to officials and diplomats cited by Reuters. The move is viewed as a step towards increased security and defense cooperation.

Foreign and defense ministers from the EU's 28 member states will formally decide during a Monday meeting in Brussels whether or not to create the so-called Military Planning and Conduct Capability (MPCC), the news agency reported.

Once established, the MPCC would command the bloc's "non-executive military missions," including the three military training missions currently underway in Mali, Somalia, and the Central African Republic.

5.5 quake hits southeastern Turkey, injuries reported

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.5 hit southeastern Turkey on Thursday, causing wide panic in one town, damaging buildings and injuring five people, officials and news reports said.

The earthquake was centered on the town of Samat in Adiyaman province. It was followed by four more tremors, the strongest measuring 4.4 magnitude, the government-run Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency, or AFAD, said.

Yusuf Firat, the mayor for Samsat, said at least five people were injured in the quake, which knocked down some buildings in Samsat and surrounding areas, including a school and the mayor and the local governor's residences. Firat said no one was hurt in those buildings but the quake panicked the town.

Four teams of 35 rescuers were sent to the area, the private Dogan news agency reported.

The U.S. Geological Survey put the magnitude at 5.6 and said the quake was very shallow, around 10 kilometers (6 miles) deep. The quake was also felt in the neighboring provinces of Gaziantep, Kilis, Batman and Sanliurfa.

California Floods To Trigger "The Big One"? - Geologists Warn Of Quake Risks From Snowpack, Rising Reservoirs 

For years geologists have warned that Southern California is overdue for "The Big One", a massive 8.0 or greater earthquake that would undoubtedly cause unprecedented death and destruction in several heavily populated urban centers sprinkled along the San Andreas Fault line.  

While predicting earthquakes remains an uncertain science, there has been concern in recent years among experts that the San Andreas fault may be close to a new, major ruction if only by virtue of the length of time since it happened last, when the southern portion of the fault was struck by a 7.9 shaker all the way back in 1857.

Since then the tectonic plates that meet at the fault have been continuously on the move at a rate of about 2 inches per year. That means that over 159 years there has been a shift of 26 feet as the Pacific plate moves in a northwesterly direction against the American continental plate.  Every additional inch creates additional pressures on the rocks beneath the earth’s surface that builds and builds until it eventually snaps.

Now, as the Los Angeles Times points out, the recent flooding in California has prompted some scientists to raise concerns over whether or not Californians are at a greater risk of being struck by an imminent quake.  According to geologists, flooding can cause earthquakes in one of two ways: i) the sheer weight of rising reservoirs and snowpack causes tectonic plates to shift and/or ii) increasing pressure created from the refilling of underground water basins pushes plates apart, therefore reducing friction and allowing the earth's crust to shift.

There are two ways a reservoir can cause an earthquake. A rapid filling or emptying of a lake can change the weight pushing on a fault, which can make an earthquake more likely, said Bill Leith, acting associate director on natural hazards at the USGS.

“Especially for a reservoir as large as Oroville, it’s a huge weight on the crust that’s basically being pulled up and down on an annual cycle. So it wouldn’t be surprising if there were earthquakes associated with that,” Leith said. “The rapid filling, I just think it increases the risk. … I would expect that a rapid rise or a rapid fall in the water level would be much more likely to trigger earthquakes.”

The second way a reservoir can cause an earthquake is from added pressure. Water trickling deep into the earth can increase pressure underground that makes it easier for faults to move, according to seismologist Lucy Jones.

“The pressure in the water sort of pushes the fault back apart,” Jones said. The added water pressure underground essentially unclamps a fault — like loosening a vice that keeps two blocks of rocks stuck together — in a way that makes it easier for the earth to move.

It can take years for water to filter down into the deep crevices of the earth and add fluid pressure around the fault, Leith said. The dramatic fluctuation in reservoir levels in 1975 may have been the trigger point for the earthquake that year.

As proof of the added risk from flooding, geologists point to a series of earthquakes that occurred around Lake Oroville in the mid-70s after an urgent dam repair required a rapid draining and subsequent refilling of the reservoir.

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