US NATO envoy: ‘I get most info on Ukraine conflict from social networks’

Published time: May 08, 2015 00:04
Edited time: May 08, 2015 07:02 US Permanent Representative to NATO, Douglas Lute (Image from wikipedia.org)

The US Permanent Representative to NATO, Douglas Lute, has admitted that his knowledge about the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine comes mostly from social networks rather than intelligence reports.

“We should all ask ourselves: why is it that we know so little really about what is going on in Donbass,” the US ambassador to NATO told “Friends of Europe” forum in Brussels.

“I mean, frankly, I read more on social media about what is going on in the Donbass than I get from formal intelligence networks. This is because the networks don’t exist today,” Lute said.

READ MORE: Busted: Kiev MPs try to fool US senator with ‘proof’ of Russian tanks in Ukraine

The US envoy to NATO then backtracked, reacting to a comment made by Elena Donova, a member of the Russian delegation to NATO.

“I didn’t say that we ignored our intelligence sources. I just said that compared to the Cold War the systems that we once had twenty years ago have atrophied,” he said, adding that the “things have fundamentally changed.”

READ MORE: ‘Most convincing evidence’: Russian embassy trolls NATO with toy tanks

The reliability of social media as a source of information has been questioned throughout the conflict in Ukraine.
The latest example is an April tweet by US ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt claiming that Russia’s military were continuing to expand their presence in eastern Ukraine. As for proof, Pyatt posted a two-year-old picture of an air defense system from an air show near Moscow.

Last July, Russia’s Defense Ministry questioned the authenticity of the satellite images of alleged shelling of Ukraine from Russian territory. It said the images were “created by US counselors” and posted by Pyatt on his Twitter microblog in an “informational merry-go-round” of fake pictures.

In August, Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov ridiculed another so-called NATO proof, saying: “If earlier, someone would at least put their names on those images, be it Breedlove, Rasmussen, or even Lungescu, now, they are hesitant. It makes no sense to seriously comment on this,” he said.

Yet, this February, Ukrainian MPs followed the line, presenting a US senator with photos of what they said were Russian military hardware columns on Ukrainian territory. However, it turned out that the photos had been taken during Russia’s conflict with Georgia in South Ossetia back in 2008.

READ MORE: Russia shrugs off US envoy’s ‘evidence’ of Russian troops in Ukraine

The Ukrainian conflict erupted in April 2014 after Kiev sent troops to the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions after civilians there refused to recognize the new coup-imposed authorities in the capital. The Minsk accords, brokered by Russia, Germany and France in February of this year, brought several weeks of calm to the region, but ceasefire violations by both sides have been growing, hampering the peace process.

According to the UN human rights office, at least 6,116 people have been killed and 15,474 have been wounded during a year of fighting. Many fear that the true numbers could be much higher, however.

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Libya against EU migrant plan, ‘won’t accept any boots on the ground’ – country’s UN envoy

Illegal migrants who attempted to sail to Europe, sit in a boat carrying them back to Libya, after their boat was intercepted at sea by the Libyan coast guard, at Khoms, Libya May 6, 2015. (Reuters/Aymen Elsahli)

EU has failed to get a green light from Libya’s government about its migrant crisis plan, the nation’s envoy to the UN, Ibrahim Dabbashi, told AP. Libya is against the destruction of illegal migrant boats and the union’s ground troops on its territory.

"They never asked anything of us. Why should we send them this letter?

" Dabbashi asked, referring to Libya’s approval to the request for EU ground forces to get involved.

“We will not accept any boots on the ground,

” he added.

Libya has been largely lawless since the toppling of longtime strongman Muammar Gaddafi four years ago, with which the EU and US assisted the opposition forces. Since then a wave of migrants fleeing the internal conflict has increased and the EU has been facing a growing wave of criticism for not doing enough to save those fleeing to Europe.

The problem of illegal migration has been a growing concern in Europe, as more and more people are choosing the dangerous path of crossing the Mediterranean to escape conflict in the Middle East. This year alone, around 1,800 migrants have been killed while trying to cross the Mediterranean, the UN refugee agency said. About 51,000 succeeded in coming to Europe.

EU officials have been putting together a draft Security Council resolution, which would authorize EU forces to seize suspected boats believed to be used for smuggling illegal migrants. The EU wants the have the authority to confiscate the boats in international and Libya’s territorial waters as well as the country’s coast.

However, before any of that can happen, the western-backed Libyan government must send a request, especially if the EU troops are to be involved.

READ MORE: 6,800 migrants recovered from Mediterranean in 48 hours

Dabbashi clarified on Friday that Libya is against the destruction of the migrant smuggling boats because it would be too easy to mistake an illegal boat with other kinds of vessels.

In terms of sending more boats near Libya to improve migrants rescue operations, Dabbashi said that it is a "completely stupid decision

" since it would only inspire more migrants to make their way down to the Libyan coast.

The best solution to this problem is to supply the "legitimate" government with weapons, the UN envoy argued. Libya’s government is fighting with rival groups led by Islamist-allied militias, who have gained control of the capital, Tripoli.

“Once the government retakes the capital, Tripoli, and controls the whole western area of Libya, I think it would be very easy to stop this flow of illegal immigrants to Europe because we know everyone who is involved in this business

,” he said.

Russia has also spoken out against the EU plan to destroy the illegal boats carrying migrants, stating the move goes “too far

.”

“We think that we should stay within the scope of what we have, roughly what we have for the piracy situation off the coast of Somalia. We have a good precedent, so why not use it,

” Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin told reporters on Thursday.

Physically destroying the boats could lead to legal problems, Churkin added. “For instance, if you lease a boat to somebody and then that somebody is using it to transport migrants illegally and then the boat is destroyed, what about the owner of the boat?

” he said.

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