Europe needs united army, EU parliament committee head urges after Brexit (Source RT) The idea of a common European military headquarters has been revived by the head of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs, shortly after the UK’s citizens voted in favor of Brexit. “We need more cooperation in the European defense policy,” Elmar Brok told Die Welt. The new armed forces could be modeled after the Franco-German model, making European foreign policy much more effective, Brok believes. “We need a common (military) headquarters and a coalition (of EU countries) acting in accordance with the permanent structural cooperation of the EU Treaty. From such a group an EU army could eventually emerge,” said Brok. A united EU armed force would “strengthen the role of Europeans in [global] security and defense policy, make Europe fulfill better its responsibilities in the world and would also achieve more synergies in defense spending,” the MEP said. The head of the Foreign Affairs Committee acknowledged that at present an EU army is not possible due to legal restraints and restrictions, and creating one would imply making changes to the European constitution and international treaties. The European Parliament would also have to be given ancillary powers. Next week, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and vice-president of the European Commission, Federica Mogherini, is expected to present a new “global strategy” of European foreign and security policy. The draft document will be delivered at a meeting of EU heads of state or government. The new military concept is being called to replace the European Security Strategy (ESS) policy document enacted in 2003. European leaders regularly speak in favor of boosting military spending, citing looming “Russian aggression” against the NATO member states in Eastern Europe. On the eve of the 70th anniversary of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany should substantially increase its defense spending. The EU cannot rely on the transatlantic partnership with the US to deal with “external threats,” the chancellor said.

Monsanto Roundup Herbicide Disrupts Rats’ Uterine Development. “Glyphosate-based Herbicides Might be Endocrine Disruptors”. Study (Source gmwatch.org) Glyphosate herbicide disrupts the development of the uterus of female rats when they are exposed for 7 days after birth, a new study (abstract below) by Argentine researchers shows. The glyphosate herbicide caused cell proliferation and structural changes in the rats’ uterus. This was in spite of the fact that no signs of chronic or acute toxicity or differences in weight gain were seen in treated pups. Glyphosate herbicide also disrupted the expression of proteins involved in uterine development. The authors conclude that exposure to glyphosate herbicide may affect female fertility and/or promote the development of uterine cancer. They also state that their study is the first to show endocrine-disrupting effects of a glyphosate-based herbicide on the uterus of newborn and prepubertal rats, supporting the possibility that glyphosate-based herbicides might be endocrine disruptors. Miscarriages in GM soy-growing regions. Doctors and scientists have noted high rates of miscarriage – sometimes called “spontaneous abortion” – in women living in regions of Argentina where GM Roundup Ready soy is grown and sprayed with glyphosate herbicides. The new study may shed light on this phenomenon.

A Stock Market Crash Is Near When Hedge Fund Managers Do This…(Source moneymorning.com)

Where better to look for clues to the next stock market crash than to some of Wall Street’s most powerful and greedy players – hedge fund managers. Because hedge fund managers spend their days studying not just individual stocks but all the forces affecting the markets – from U.S. economic indicators to what the Chinese yuan is doing – they’re among the first to get wind of a possible crash. And their single-minded devotion to act in their own self-interest means they’ll start shifting their investing gears the second they smell trouble. That’s just what’s been happening. “The top 50 hedge funds sold off U.S. equities for the second consecutive quarter. Funds unloaded nearly $55 billion worth of shares in U.S. equities during the first quarter, which was more than triple the value removed in Q4,” FactSet analyst Andrew Birstingl wrote in a research note last month. Equally ominous is that institutional investors have also been selling stocks. At the end of April, activist investor Carl Icahn said in a CNBC interview that the stock market is nearing “a day of reckoning.” And he’s put his money where his mouth is. According to SEC filings, Icahn Enterprises has a net short position of a whopping 149%. Likewise, billionaire investor George Soros cut back his holdings in U.S. stocks by 37% in the first quarter of 2016.

“Great Danger”: US-NATO Missiles Threatening Russia. Putin: “We Know and they Know that we Know…People do not Understand how Dangerous the Situation Really Is” (Source RT) The US anti-missile defense systems being installed near Russia’s borders can be “inconspicuously” transformed into offensive weapons, Vladimir Putin has said, adding that he knows “year by year” how Washington will develop its missile program. Talking about NATO’s ballistic missile defense systems in Eastern Europe, Russia’s president said that the Americans are now deploying their missiles at these military complexes. “The missiles are put into a capsule used for launches of sea-based Tomahawk missiles. Now they are placing their antimissiles there, which are capable of engaging a target at a distance of up to 310 miles. But technologies are developing, and we know around what year the Americans will get a new missile, which will have a range not of 310 miles, but 620 miles, and then even more – and from that moment they will start threatening our nuclear capability,” Putin said at a meeting with the heads of international news agencies at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). “We know year by year what will happen, and they know that we know,” he said, adding that Western officials “pull the wool over [their news outlets] eyes,” who in turn misinform their audiences. The main problem, according to the Russian president, is that people do not understand how potentially dangerous the situation really is. “The world is being pulled into a completely new dimension, while [Washington] pretends that nothing’s happening,” Putin said, adding that he has been trying to reach out to his counterparts, but in vain. “They say [the missile systems] are part of their defense capability, and are not offensive, that these systems are aimed at protecting them from aggression. It’s not true,” Putin told the journalists, adding that “strategic ballistic missile defense is part of an offensive strategic capability, [and] functions in conjunction with an aggressive missile strike system.” The “great danger” is that the same launchers that are used for defense missiles can be used to fire Tomahawks that can be installed “in a matter of hours,” Putin noted. “How do we know what’s inside those launchers? All one needs to do is reprogram [the system], which is an absolutely inconspicuous task,” he said, adding that the governments of the nations on whose territories these NATO complexes are based would have no way of knowing if this had happened.

US TO RUSSIA: We’re staying in the Black Sea (Source businessinsider.com) The US will maintain its presence in the Black Sea despite a Russian warning that a US destroyer patrolling there undermined regional security, the US Navy secretary said. The USS Porter entered the Black Sea this month, drawing heavy criticism from Moscow. Turkey and Romania are expected to push for a bigger NATO presence in the Black Sea at the NATO summit in Warsaw next month. Aboard the USS Mason, another US destroyer, in the Mediterranean on Thursday, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told Reuters it was the US Navy’s job to deter aggression and keep sea lanes open. “We’re going to be there,” Mabus said of the Black Sea. “We’re going to deter. That’s the main reason we’re there – to deter potential aggression.” Mabus spoke days after Russia criticized NATO discussions about a creating a permanent force in the Black Sea. “If a decision is made to create a permanent force, of course, it would be destabilizing, because this is not a NATO sea,” Russian news agencies quoted senior Foreign Ministry official Andrei Kelin as saying. Russia, which annexed Ukraine’s Crimea in 2014, has its own Black Sea Fleet based at Sevastopol. The NATO summit takes place as relations between Russia and the alliance are severely strained over Moscow’s role in the Ukraine crisis and in Syria. While Russia says it poses no threat to alliance, NATO is considering what to do to counter what it sees as growing Russian aggression. Mabus said the US follows the rules of the Montreux Convention, which says countries without a Black Sea coastline cannot keep their warships there for more than 21 days. The NATO members Turkey, Romania, and Bulgaria are all Black Sea Basin countries. Bulgaria appeared to buckle to Russian pressure on Thursday. Prime Minister Boiko Borisov said he would not join a proposed NATO fleet in the Black Sea because it should be a place for vacations and tourists, not war. Also increasing tensions with Moscow is the US Navy’s deployment of two aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean ahead the NATO summit as Washington seeks to balance an increase in Russian military activities in the Mediterranean

German minister warns NATO against ‘warmongering’ (Source BBC) German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has warned NATO against “warmongering”, after it conducted military exercises in Eastern Europe. Mr Steinmeier said that extensive NATO maneuver launched this month were counterproductive to regional security and could inflame tensions with Russia. He urged the NATO military alliance to replace the exercises with more dialogue and co-operation with Russia. NATO has carried out a 10-day exercise simulating a Russian attack on Poland. The drill, which ended on Friday, involved about 31,000 troops, as well as fighter jets, ships and 3,000 vehicles. Russia has been strengthening its military presence near its borders. In February it held a combat-readiness exercise involving 8,500 troops in a southern region near areas of eastern Ukraine held by pro-Russian rebels. “What we shouldn’t do now is inflame the situation further through sabre-rattling and warmongering,” Mr Steinmeier said in an interview to be published in Germany’s Bild am Sontag newspaper. “Whoever believes that a symbolic tank parade on the alliance’s eastern border will bring security is mistaken. “We are well-advised to not create pretexts to renew an old confrontation,” he said, adding that it would be “fatal to search only for military solutions and a policy of deterrence”. The exercise in Poland, which takes place every two years, was intended to test NATO’s ability to respond to threats, and to allay fears in eastern Europe since Russia’s annexation of Crimea. NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu said the alliance’s actions were “defensive, proportionate, and in line with our international commitments”. She said the alliance had maintained dialogue with Russia through the NATO-Russia Council, although practical co-operation had been suspended, following the annexation of Crimea in 2014. In an interview with the Bild newspaper, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Russia was seeking to create “a zone of influence through military means”, with “massive militarisation” at Nato borders. Russia has repeatedly said that the presence of NATO troops near its borders is a threat to its security.