There are a lot of things going on in the Eastern Mediterranean lately. First: The Russians are here. The long, west bound voyage of the Russian Pacific Fleet task force has ended. The ships have arrived in the Med and are in Cyprus for a well deserved rest.The Udaloy class destroyer Admiral Panteleyev, the Dubna class tanker Pechenga and the Baklazhan... Continue Reading →
The Situation In The Eastern Mediterranean (Part 9)
The Russian Defence Ministry announced that the large landing ship 154 Azov will be the first ship ever to visit Israel. The ship will be in Haifa, Israel between 1 and 3 May 2013. A Russian naval ship will visit Israel for the first time in the country’s history, the Defense Ministry said on Tuesday. The Azov,... Continue Reading →
The Situation In The Eastern Mediterranean (Part 8)
The Russian ship movements have stolen the show from the actions in Eastern Mediterranean. So it is time again to focus to that region.Today between 9.00 and 13:00 the French Navy conducted a search and rescue exercise with Cyprus. The Cassard class, destroyer D-615 FS Jean Bart took part in the exercise. From Cyprus two AW -139 helicopters... Continue Reading →
Regular Shipping Service Between Turkey And Israel Has Started
The Turkish shipping company Sisa Shipping started a regular Ro/Ro service between İskenderun Turkey and -wait for it- Haifa Israel this week. The first voyage of the Ro/Ro Nissos Rodos started on 20th November. According to the Sisa Shipping the voyage will last only 12 hours. This is the first regular shipping service between to the two... Continue Reading →
Noble Dina 2012
Between 1998 and 2009 Turkish, US and Israeli navies conducted an annual naval exercise called Reliant Mermaid. This exercise is discontinued now in accordance with the deteriorating bilateral relations between Turkey and Israel in the last couple years. Last year Greece has replaced Turkey and these there nations held to naval exercise Noble Dina 2011. While the Reliant Mermaid was marketed as a trilateral humanitarian search and rescue (SAR)... Continue Reading →
Active Endeavor With Or Without Israeli Participation?
Operation Active Endeavor (OAE) is one of the NATO's oldest still running operations. It started as support to the United States immediately after 9/11. The aim is to demonstrate NATO's solidarity and resolve in the fight against terrorism and to help detect and deter terrorist activity in the Mediterranean. OAE started as a NATO members... Continue Reading →
The Situation In The Eastern Mediterranean (Part 7)
It is time again for another installment for a updates of the situation in Eastern Mediterranean: In September Israel signed a security cooperation agreement with Greece, amid declining relations with Turkey. This was followed by the approval of a Greek Parliament committee to the purchase Rafael-made Spice 1000 and 2000 bomb precision upgrade kits at... Continue Reading →
The Situation In The Eastern Mediterranean (Part 5)
The Eastern Mediterranean is no longer in the spot light of the public opinion. More important and pressing events such as the death of Gaddafi in Libya, the earthquake in Van, Turkey left the guess for oil in the Eastern Mediterranean in the shadows. I think all actors of this quest are happy from this... Continue Reading →
The Situation In The Eastern Mediterranean (Part 4)
Last weeks events especially the death of Mr. Jobs, turned the attention of the public's focus away from the Eastern Mediterranean. The number of articles published, the war mongering and empty threads diminished with the public general interest. May be it is good so. Now is the era of back office diplomacy. It is time... Continue Reading →
The Situation In The Eastern Mediterranean (Part 3)
While Eastern Mediterranean continues to be hotspot new players are trying to enter the game. One of them is France. According to Greek Daily Kathimerini: French energy companies 'Total’ and ‘Gaze de France’ bought three-dimensional seismic data for gas deposits in Cyprus' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The cost of seismic data was over the 2... Continue Reading →
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