Reports say the Ecuador will allow US military to use the airport in the Galapagos Islands

Reports claim that the Lenin Moreno administration of Ecuador has agreed that US military planes can operate from an airport in the Galapagos Islands.

Ecuador's defence minister said to have made the announcement

A recent BBC article reports: "US aircraft will be able to use San Cristobal airport, Ecuador's defence minister Oswaldo Jarrin has been quoted as saying. They will "fight drug trafficking" under a deal with Ecuador's government, Mr Jarrin said.

The Galapagos Islands are 906 km (563 miles) west of the coast of Ecuador. They are a UNESCO heritage site renowned worldwide for its unique array of plants and wildlife made famous first by Charles Darwin. Tourists from around the world travel to the Galapagos to observe its biodiversity.

Deal concerns environmentalists

Environmentalists are concerned about the impact that the military activity might have on the sensitive environment. There are also concerns about Ecuador's sovereignty. The new Moreno government has been friendly to the US. It allowed the UK to have Julian Assange arrested by the police. Assange had taken refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in London for about seven years. He faces extradition to the US.

The aircraft involved include a Boeing 777 and a Lockheed P-3 Orion, Latin American media outlet Telesur reports.

Ecuadorean lawmakers also express concerns

Legislators in the Ecuadorean parliament have asked Jarrin and Marcelo Mata the environment minister to indicate the scope of co-operation with the US in the use of the islands. They also want information on the proposal to extend runways at the San Cristobal airport from which the US planes will operate. Marcela Cevallos a legislator said the US plans would alarm conservationists.

Carlos Viteri a member of the opposition claimed the agreement with the US was "unacceptable" and should be prohibited if it ceded an in inch of Ecuadorean territory.

Ecuadorean constitution prohibits foreign military bases

Article 5 of Ecuador's constitution says the country is a "territory of peace" and goes on "the establishment of foreign military bases or foreign facilities for military purposes shall not be allowed".

Rafael Correa, the former president, also tweeted an angry reaction to the effect that the Galapagos were not an aircraft carrier for the US. However, Mr. Jarrin assured his critics that there would be no permanence of anyone on the islands and noted that any modifications to the airfield would be paid for by the US. Jarrin said: "Galapagos is for Ecuador our aircraft carrier, it is our natural carrier, because it assures us permanence, replenishment, interception facilities and it is 1,000 kilometres from our coasts." The US Dept. of Defense has not commented as yet.

Previously published in the Digital Journal

Trump angry at NY Times article on US cyber attacks on Russia

(June 17) Last weekend, the New York Times broke a story about US cyberattacks on Russia particularly against their electrical grid. The report suggests the US has placed massive malware across vital Russian systems.

US could devastate Russian infrastructure if necessary

The malware would allow the US to launch devastating infrastructure attacks on Russia at a moment's notice if the US administration should wish to do so. The report is quite credible as the US officials have been openly discussing the need to go on the offensive in cyberspace for ages. It also comes after reports of offensive US cyberattacks against Russia during the mid-term election. US counter action during the midterms is described in a NY Post article.

The New York Times article noted: "The United States is stepping up digital incursions into Russia’s electric power grid in a warning to President Vladimir V. Putin and a demonstration of how the Trump administration is using new authorities to deploy cybertools more aggressively, current and former government officials said. In interviews over the past three months, the officials described the previously unreported deployment of American computer code inside Russia’s grid and other targets as a classified companion to more publicly discussed action directed at Moscow’s disinformation and hacking units around the 2018 midterm elections. Advocates of the more aggressive strategy said it was long overdue, after years of public warnings from the Department of Homeland Security and the F.B.I. that Russia has inserted malware that could sabotage American power plants, oil and gas pipelines, or water supplies in any future conflict with the United States."

Naturally advocates of the new policy include White House hawks such as John Bolton. The aggressive cyberattacks carry the risk of escalating the developing Cold War with Russia.

Trump's reaction to the New York Times report

Trump was outraged by the article even though the information it contains is actually available if not widely circulated. He goes beyond calling the New York Times, the "Enemy of the People" as he has done in the past. Now Trump claims that even publishing the story is "a virtual act of Treason". He accused the New York Times of being willing to publish any story "even if it is bad for our country".

Trump raged on over the weekend about the Times dishonesty. He then postulated within six years the Times and Trump's other media bête noire the Washington Post would both be gone forever at a time when he claims that his supporters will insist he remain in office beyond his two-term limit.

Trump often has flights of fancy in a series of tweets. However, the Times article which just makes clear what has been already revealed from other sources seems to have really set him going. The last thing that this supposedly transparent and populist president wants is to reveal obvious aggressive behavior on the part of the US. Of course the Russians already know what is happening. They are meant to so that they know if they attack the US then they will pay dearly.

Previously published in the Digital Journal