Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/375559
THEASSOCIATEDPRESS The French-built warship BPC Vladivostock, designed to strengthen Russia's ability to deploy troops, tanks and helicopter gunships, leaves Saint Nazaire's harbor in March. ByJameyKeaten TheAssociatedPress PARIS Responding to international pressure, France suspended the de- livery of a warship to Rus- sia at least until Novem- ber amid security concerns over Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis, officials said Wednesday. The Vladivostok, the first of two Mistral-class helicop- ter carriers ordered by Rus- sia, was due to be delivered next month as part of a 1.2 billion euro ($1.6 billion) contract — the biggest-ever sale of NATO weaponry to Moscow. The second ship, named Sevastopol, ironically, af- ter a port in the Russia-an- nexed Crimean Peninsula, has been slated for delivery next year. In an announcement on the eve of a NATO summit in Wales, French President Francois Hollande's office called the fighting in east- ern Ukraine "grave," and said Russia's recent actions harm "the foundations of security in Europe." It also came after months of pressure on France from allies to suspend the sale because of tensions be- tween Russia and Ukraine. The U.S. State Depart- ment welcomed the move Wednesday. "We certainly support their decision," spokes- woman Jen Psaki told re- porters in Washington. A French diplomatic offi- cial said a delivery wouldn't go through before Novem- ber. The official spoke on condition of anonymity. Hollande said talk of a possible cease-fire in Ukraine wasn't enough to al- low France to authorize the delivery of the Vladivostok. His office made no mention of the second warship. France stopped short of cancelling the deal, sug- gesting that a change in Russia's behavior and han- dling of the Ukraine crisis could pave the way for the delivery at a later date. The Vladivostok can carry 700 troops, 16 heli- copter gunships, and up to 50 armored vehicles. Analysts have said the warships would give Russia enhanced ability to move large numbers of troops and equipment, but were not game-changers for Moscow's already powerful military. Months of resistance to suspending the deal tes- tified in part to Paris' un- willingness to give up a contract worth more than 1 billion euros and thousands of jobs at a time of France's economic slump. Francedelaysship delivery to Russia UKRAINE CRISIS By Julie Pace The Associated Press TALLINN, ESTONIA Lash- ing out at Russia, President Barack Obama on Wednes- day cast Moscow's aggres- sion in Ukraine as a threat to peace in Europe. He vig- orously vowed to come to the defense of NATO allies that fear they could be Vlad- imir Putin's next target. "You lost your indepen- dence once before," Obama said following meetings with Baltic leaders in the Estonian capital of Tallinn. "With NATO, you'll never lose it again." Obama, who faces crit- icism in the U.S. for being too cautious in confront- ing Russian President Pu- tin, sharply condemned Moscow's actions. He de- clared in blunt terms that Russian forces that have moved into Ukraine in re- cent weeks are not on a hu- manitarian or peacekeep- ing mission, as the Krem- lin has insisted. "They are Russian com- bat forces with Russian weapons in Russian tanks," he said during a speech at a packed concert hall. Obama also rejected one of Russia's main rationales for its actions in Ukraine: the protection of Russian speakers living outside its borders. Like Ukraine, Es- tonia and other Baltic na- tions have sizeable Russian- speaking populations, com- pounding their fears that Moscow could seek to inter- vene inside their borders. "We reject the lie that people cannot live and thrive together just because they have different back- grounds or speak a differ- ent language," Obama said. Despite the president's tough talk, the U.S. and Europe have been unable to shift Putin's approach in the months-long crisis in east- ern Ukraine. While multi- ple rounds of Western sanc- tions have damaged Rus- sia's economy, the penalties have not pushed Putin to end what the White House says is unchecked support for pro-Moscow separatists who have stirred upheaval in key cities. Obama offered no new options for penalizing Rus- sia beyond more sanctions, and reiterated his opposi- tion to the U.S. becoming involved in the conflict militarily. The Pentagon said Wednesday that 200 U.S. soldiers will participate in an exercise in west- ern Ukraine starting next week. Though distant from the conflict with Russian- backed separatists, they would be the first presence of American ground troops in Ukraine since the crisis began. The annual exer- cise, called Rapid Trident, involves forces from 15 na- tions and will not involve live firing of weapons. The Pentagon also an- nounced it has delivered more non-lethal aid to the Ukrainian military. On Wednesday evening, Obama flew from Estonia to Wales, where a high- stakes NATO summit will get underway Thursday. The alliance is expected to approve plans to station more troops and equipment in Eastern Europe, with the aim of building a rapid re- sponse force that could de- ploy within 48 hours. He addressed U.S. and Estonian troops at the air- port before leaving. "You're sending a power- ful message that, as NATO allies, we stand together," Obama said. "We stand as one." He earlier had an- nounced that he was send- ing more Air Force units and aircraft to the Baltics, and called Estonia's Amari Air Base an ideal location to base those forces. Shortly after the pres- ident arrived in Estonia Wednesday morning, there was a brief flicker of hope for a resolution to the con- flict. The Ukrainian pres- ident's office announced that it had reached a cease- fire agreement with Putin. But the statement was am- biguous, and a top rebel fig- ure quickly said no cease- fire was possible without Ukraine withdrawing its forces. NATO SUMMIT Ob am a ca st s Ru ss ia a s threat to peace in Europe MINDAUGAS KULBIS - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS President Barack Obama greets Estonian school children waving U.S. and Estonian national flags Wednesday during a ceremony at the Kadriorg Palace in Tallinn, Estonia. By Lori Hinnant The Associated Press PARIS New laws make it easier to seize passports. Suspected fighters are plucked from planes. Au- thorities block finances and shut down radical mosques. In cyberspace, Silicon Valley firms are wiping extremist content from websites, such as video of the recent beheading of two American journal- ists. And Western intel- ligence agencies are ex- ploring new technologies to identify returning fight- ers at the border. Governments from France to Indonesia have launched urgent drives to cut off one of the Is- lamic State group's biggest sources of strength: foreign fighters. At the heart of the drive is mounting concern that the organization is training the next genera- tion of international ter- rorists. Those fears have gained urgency from the group's horrific methods: A Brit- ish militant is suspected of beheading two American journalists, and a French- man who fought with the Islamic State group is ac- cused in a deadly attack on a Jewish museum in Bel- gium. With each video that ric- ochets around social net- works, the militants gain new recruits. "If neglected, I am cer- tain that after a month they will reach Europe and, af- ter another month, Amer- ica," Saudi King Abdul- lah said Friday, calling for a strong international re- sponse to the onslaught in Syria and Iraq. After video emerged on- line of the killing of an American journalist last month, tech companies drafted plans to scrub the web of such content, and implemented them this week after a second be- heading, a Silicon Valley in- sider said Wednesday. You- Tube and Twitter accounts are among those shut down unusually quickly. Accord- ing to terms of service, vi- olent content is cause for suspension. Islamic State militants who have migrated to Di- aspora, a decentralized so- cial network, are in many cases greeted with banners saying they are unwelcome. But they will find newly sophisticated ways to get a message out, according to Jamie Bartlett of the Demos think tank. Britain has taken a par- ticularly active role in cen- soring content deemed to break the country's strict rules against extremist pro- paganda. U.K. officials re- cently revealed they have been granted "super flag- ger" status on sites such as YouTube, meaning their requests to remove videos with grisly content or that encourage terrorism are fast-tracked. Over the past four years, an Internet-focused coun- ter-terror unit of Lon- don's Metropolitan Police instigated the removal of 45,000 pieces of content, the force said last week. Is- lamic State militants, how- ever, have just as quickly found other, more decen- tralized platforms. In the United States, of- ficials are trying to iden- tify potential jihadis by comparing travel patterns with those of people who have already joined the fight, a counterterrorism official said, speaking only on condition of anonym- ity because he was not au- thorized to discuss intelli- gence matters. A French law to seize passports is being fast- tracked through parlia- ment, and the government is ramping up arrests of increasingly young teen- agers making plans for ji- had. That can mean last-min- ute arrests at the airport, as happened to a 16-year- old girl and her alleged recruiter trying to pass through security in Nice on Saturday, and to a man at Australia's Melbourne Airport who was pulled off a flight last week car- rying tens of thousands of dollars in cash and the Is- lamic State group's black- and-white flag in his lug- gage. Britain proposed laws Monday to let police seize the passports of those sus- pected of having traveled abroad to fight, while the Netherlands is making it easier to strip people of Dutch nationality and go after Internet providers that spread propaganda. In Bosnia, authorities carried out a major anti- terror sweep on Wednes- day. They detained 16 peo- ple suspected of fighting in Syria and Iraq and recruit- ing Balkan men to join Is- lamic militants there. ISLAMIC STATE Global efforts aim to weaken jihadis THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Shiite militiamen hold a flag of the Islamic State group they captured during an operation outside Amirli, some 105miles north of Baghdad, Iraq.. By Sinan Salaheddin The Associated Press BAGHDAD Militants from the Islamic State group carried out a mass killing of hundreds of Iraqi sol- diers captured when the extremists overran a mil- itary base north of Bagh- dad in June, a leading in- ternational watchdog said Wednesday. The incident at Camp Speicher, an air base that previously served as a U.S. military facility, was one of the worst atrocities perpe- trated by the Islamic State group as it seized large swaths of northern and western Iraq. According to Human Rights Watch, new evi- dence indicates Islamic State fighters killed be- tween 560 and 770 men captured at Camp Speicher, near the city of Tikrit — a figure several times higher than what was initially re- ported. "These are horrific and massive abuses, atrocities by the Islamic State, and on a scale that clearly rises to the crimes against human- ity," Fred Abrahams, special adviser to group, told jour- nalists in the northern city of Irbil. The al-Qaida-breakaway claimed in mid-June that it "executed" about 1,700 sol- diers and military person- nel from Camp Speicher. The group also posted graphic photos that ap- peared to show its gunmen massacring scores of Iraqi soldiers after loading the captives onto flatbed trucks and then forcing them to lie face-down in a shallow ditch, their arms tied be- hind their backs. ATROCITY Gr ou p: I sl am ic m il it an ts killed 770 Iraqi troops C & C PROPERTIES An Independently owned and operated Member of Coldwell Banker Residential Affiliates. 741 Main Street, Suite #2 Red Bluff, CA 96080 1-800-287-2187 (530) 527-2187 FOR 24/7 PROPERTY INFO CALL 1-888-902-7253 TEHAMA COUNTY REAL ESTATE TEAM • OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK www.redbluffcoldwellbanker.com See All Tehama County Listings at $45,000 3BD 1BA 1,080SqFt 0.17AC PropCode4229 $75,000 0 BD 1 BA 720 Sq Ft 0.35 AC Prop Code 4549 $84,900 2 BD 1 BA 840 Sq Ft 0 AC Prop Code 4219 $87,900 2 BD 1 BA 1,000 Sq Ft 0 AC Prop Code 4949 $120,000 3 BD 2 BA 1,488 Sq Ft 0 AC Prop Code 4109 $129,900 3 BD 2 BA 1,180 Sq Ft 0.15 AC Prop Code 4669 $136,000 1 BD 2 BA 1,200 Sq Ft 0.64 AC Prop Code 4729 $149,500 3 BD 2 BA 1,102 Sq Ft 0.3 AC Prop Code 4709 $159,000 3 BD 2 BA 1,425 Sq Ft 0.27 AC Prop Code 4009 $159,500 3 BD 2 BA 1,242 Sq Ft 0.16 AC Prop Code 4319 $160,000 3 BD 2 BA 1,161 Sq Ft 0.16 AC Prop Code 4079 $169,900 3 BD 2 BA 1,490 Sq Ft 0.95 AC Prop Code 4629 $174,000 2 BD 2 BA 1,669 Sq Ft 10.6 AC Prop Code 4759 $180,000 3 BD 2 BA 1,680 Sq Ft 2.15 AC Prop Code 4349 $185,000 3 BD 2 BA 1,589 Sq Ft 0.88 AC Prop Code 4139 $189,500 3 BD 2 BA 1,518 Sq Ft 1.29 AC Prop Code 4419 $199,000 3 BD 2 BA 1,314 Sq Ft 5 AC Prop Code 4329 $199,000 3 BD 2 BA 1,769 Sq Ft 10.19 AC Prop Code 4849 $199,900 3 BD 2 BA 1,800 Sq Ft 0.6 AC Prop Code 4569 $205,000 3 BD 2 BA 1,400 Sq Ft 12.33 AC Prop Code 4869 $219,000 3 BD 2 BA 1,783 Sq Ft 1.08 AC Prop Code 4179 $219,000 3 BD 2 BA 1,172 Sq Ft 1.54 AC Prop Code 4509 $224,800 2 BD 2 BA 1,548 Sq Ft 0.14 AC Prop Code 4959 $226,900 3 BD 2 BA 2,041 Sq Ft 8.69 AC Prop Code 4879 $255,000 2 BD 2 BA 1,821 Sq Ft 2.03 AC Prop Code 4099 $259,000 3 BD 2 BA 1,831 Sq Ft 4.91 AC Prop Code 4119 $285,900 3 BD 2 BA 1,788 Sq Ft 2.87 AC Prop Code 4929 $299,000 3 BD 1 BA 1,268 Sq Ft 10 AC Prop Code 4269 $299,900 4 BD 4 BA 2,918 Sq Ft 0.33 AC Prop Code 4399 $314,950 3 BD 2 BA 1,484 Sq Ft 5 AC Prop Code 4039 $324,000 3 BD 2 BA 1,944 Sq Ft 0 AC Prop Code 4749 $379,900 3 BD 2 BA 1,990 Sq Ft 4.04 AC Prop Code 4019 $389,500 3 BD 3 BA 1,790 Sq Ft 1.14 AC Prop Code 4259 $399,000 3 BD 2 BA 1,968 Sq Ft 8.72 AC Prop Code 24449 $585,000 4 BD 2 BA 3,700 Sq Ft 8.85 AC Prop Code 4249 $599,000 4 BD 3 BA 6,500 Sq Ft 0.76 AC Prop Code 4199 $599,000 3 BD 2 BA 1,719 Sq Ft 106 AC Prop Code 4889 Smog Check (MOST CARS & PICK-UPS) 527-9841 • 195 S. Main St. starting at $ 29 95 + $ 8 25 certificate SERVICESATLOWERPRICES All makes and models. We perform dealer recommened 30K, 60K, 90K MembersWelcome Take 15% off your entire food purchase dine in only Open Tues-Sat www. palominoroom .com 723 Main St. 527.5470 | NEWS | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2014 8 A