US carrier strike group heading for Europe – gracing us with anchoring at Plymouth
Tue 12:42 pm +01:00, 1 Nov 2022 4
Samizdat – October 31, 2022
A US carrier strike group, led by new supercarrier USS Gerald Ford, is expected to anchor near Portsmouth in southern England in mid-November, the UK Defense Journal reported on Sunday.
The exact date of the flotilla’s arrival, which includes seven other warships, has not been announced publicly, the outlet noted. Releasing such data now “might not be the best idea from a security point of view,” it added.
Some of the American vessels will dock at the Royal Navy’s Portsmouth naval base, while the USS Gerald Ford will have to anchor outside, at the roadstead in the Spithead area, due to its size, according to the outlet.
The 333-meter carrier reportedly hosts some 90 planes and helicopters, including the fifth-generation F-35C fighter-bombers.
The USS Gerald Ford, commissioned by the US Navy in 2017, is the first ship of the similarly named Ford class, and is the largest aircraft carrier in the world.
It began its maiden ‘service-retained’ deployment on October 4, departing from Norfolk, Virginia. The vessel visited its first international port on Friday, arriving in Halifax, Canada.
According to the US Navy, the USS Gerald Ford has been conducting multinational maritime exercises in the Atlantic Ocean with such NATO allies as Canada, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany.
After leaving Halifax, the supercarrier is set to continue “conducting training and operations alongside NATO Allies and partners to enhance integration for future operations and demonstrate the US Navy’s commitment to a peaceful, stable and conflict-free Atlantic region,” it added.
The commander of the carrier strike group, Rear Admiral Greg Huffman, described the deployment as “an opportunity to further advance the operational capabilities of the Ford and demonstrate the advantages that Ford and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 8 bring to the future of naval aviation, to the region and to our allies and partners.”
If reports of the US flotilla heading to British shores are confirmed, it will become the second American carrier strike group in European waters.
The USS George Bush and its supporting vessels are currently in the Adriatic Sea after taking part in NATO’s Neptune Strike defense and deterrence exercise in the Mediterranean between October 14 and 28.
When asked by Sky News if the USS George Bush strike group was prepared to fight Russia if such an order were given by Washington, its commander Rear Admiral Dennis Velez said: “this ship, this strike group, our allies: we are ready for anything. We demonstrate that every day.”
https://alethonews.com/2022/10/31/us-carrier-strike-group-heading-for-europe/
Moscow Wants Answers Over Truss’ Alleged ‘It’s Done’ SMS to Blinken Moments After Nord Stream Blasts
Europe lost access to up to 110 billion cubic meters worth of natural gas on September 26, when a series of explosions rocked the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines carrying Russian gas to Germany via the Baltic Sea. After a comprehensive, month-long investigation, the Russian military concluded that the Royal Navy was behind the sabotage.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wants answers regarding the mysterious “It’s done” iPhone message allegedly sent by then-Prime Minister Liz Truss to the US secretary of state moments after the sabotage attacks against the Nord Stream network in late September.
“To be honest, I don’t care who got this information and how. I’m interested in London’s answer to the following question: Did Prime Minister Liz Truss of Britain send a message to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken immediately after the Nord Stream gas pipeline was blown up with the words ‘It’s done’?” Zakharova asked in a Telegram post Tuesday.
The spokeswoman suggested that “millions of people around the world” were waiting for answers to the question of how the planet’s energy security was undermined, “and what role the Anglo-Saxons played in this terrorist attack.”
On Monday, a US defense and national security news outlet reported that among the information suspected to have been leaked from Truss’s “hacked cell phone” was the aforementioned text message between the now former UK leader and the US top diplomat.
Internet entrepreneur and free speech activist Kim Dotcom mentioned the “It’s Done” message in a Twitter thread Sunday, shortly after British media ran a piece on Truss’s hacked phone.
How do the Russians know that the UK blew up the North Stream pipelines in partnership with the US?
Because @trussliz used her iPhone to send a message to @SecBlinken saying “It’s done” a minute after the pipeline blew up and before anybody else knew?
iCloud admin access rocks!
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) October 30, 2022
“iCloud admin access rocks,” sarcastically Dotcom wrote, referring to the Apple service allowing for iPhone text messages, files, photos and other information to be saved ‘to the cloud’ and accessed by authorized computers (thus making user files vulnerable to hacking). “It’s not just the Five Eyes that have backdoor admin access to all Big Tech databases,” Dotcom added, referencing the intelligence alliance of Anglosphere nations including the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. “Russia and China have sophisticated cyber units too.”
“The funny thing is Govt officials with top security clearance still prefer using iPhones over their NSA & GCHQ issued encrypted shit-phones,” Dotcom wrote.
A series of explosions knocked out three of the four strings of the Nord Stream network on September 26. Western officials and media immediately began singing in unison that Russia blew up its own $20 billion pipeline infrastructure for reasons unknown. The Kremlin accused the West of an “unprecedented act of state terrorism” involving Nord Stream, but did not name any specific states, with President Vladimir Putin only hinting involvement by the “Anglo-Saxons” (typically a reference to Brits and Americans in Russian usage).
After a month-long investigation, the Russian Ministry of Defense revealed Saturday that Britain’s Royal Navy took part in the planning, organization and carrying out of the Nord Stream attack.
https://sputniknews.com/20221101/moscow-wants-answers-over-truss-alleged-its-done-sms-to-blinken-moments-after-nord-stream-blasts-1102909463.html
Thank you, sovereigntea.
I would post this separately, but do not have much luck when posting articles from sputnik in that they cover the entire page of The Tap. Perhaps someone else may have more success than I do/?
Yesterday on UKColumn news, when discussing this, Mike expressed disbelief that the UK gov’e ministers would use their iPhones instead of the phones issued by GCHQ!
A passing thought for feather brain Liz as she drew short straw to play the role of Dunce in that ghastly prank gone wrong ,set up by self-appointed Schwab University Clown, Boris .
Though perhaps it was old man Stanley who funnelled her a few million to play the part of ace twerp and silly girl — no great casting talent required there.
The Schwabies could not afford to let slimy Richi be besmirched with such a jape, though for the life of me I cannot see why as I re-read his CV, convulsed with laughter and tears.