B.S. de jour from the western press .....

Leaders from the 28 Nato countries are expected to approve the plan at the alliance's summit in Wales when the Ukraine crisis tops the agenda on Friday. The Nato secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said the force, drawn on rotational basis from Nato allies, could be in action at "very, very short notice".

Rasmussen described it as a mixture of regular troops and special forces that could "travel light but strike hard". It would be supported by air and naval forces as needed. He declined to say how many troops would be engaged but Nato officials said it would number around 4,000 and would be expected to deploy to any alliance member country within 48 hours.. "It is so that we are ready should something nasty happen," a senior Nato official said. Russia is likely to view the creation of the high-readiness force as an aggressive move. Nato has struggled to find a response to Russia since the Ukraine crisis began in February, beyond increased military exercises in the Baltic states. One of the biggest criticisms of Nato's response to Russian actions has been its lack of speed and flexibility. The spearhead force does not help with the immediate crisis in Ukraine, which is facing Russian incursions in the east and south of the country. But the force might have a deterrent effect if Russia was considering destabilising the Baltic states. Since the annexation of the Crimean peninsula by Russia in March, Poland and other east European and Baltic state members of Nato have demanded the alliance take a more active and high-profile role in their defence. Other allies, however, have been wary of doing anything that might endanger a 1997 agreement with Moscow under which Nato pledged not to base substantial numbers of soldiers in eastern Europe on a permanent basis. Officials said that troops would be constantly rotated, in order not to violate the 1997 agreement. However, the constant rotation will in effect mean Nato will have a permanent presence in the Baltic states. Airfields and seaports in the region could also be upgraded to permit their use by the force, Rasmussen said. Officials said the creation of the force, formally named the high-readiness joint task force, had been triggered by the Ukrainian crisis and military planners have been working on it since. "Elements of the force should be in place by Christmas," an official said.

OECD: Advanced economies grew 0.4% in last quarter:  Growth has picked up in the world’s major developed economies, with the UK and US making up for the weakness of Japan and the eurozone.  That’s according to a new report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development reports. It says GDP across the 33 countries who make up the OECD area rose by 0.4% in April-June, up from 0.2% in January-March.  There was “a wide spectrum of patterns across countries”, though. Real quarterly growth in the US surged by 1%, followed by Britain with 0.8%.  Japan contracted by 1.7% as a new sales tax hit spending, Germany shrank by 0.2% and France was flat.  Over to Greece where the debt-stricken country’s central bank has devised a new “code of ethics” to deal with the ever worsening problem of non performing loans.  It’s a problem that has mirrored Greece’s seemingly never ending debt crisis: the issue of non performing loans. With some 35% of all lender loans no longer being serviced, the country’s central bank reckons that an estimated €75bn in total is currently owed to banks, among the largest amounts in global financial history and for a nation off just over 11 million proportionately by far the largest in the EU. “It’s the biggest headache for our banking system and a major drain on our ability to provide credit,” said one banker requesting anonymity. “The new code has been a priority over the summer.” Ahead of EU-wide stress tests in October, Greece’s central bank has now devised a new code (yet to be fine-tuned) that reportedly allows ‘compromise solutions’ to be found for lenders and debtors.   Rubber-stamped by the Committee of Credit and Insurance Matters on Monday the code, say insiders, foresees “haircuts” being extended to loans, revisions on interest repayments, the conversion of mortgages into rental contracts and the voluntary return of properties to banks (a way for lenders not to be seen to be forcibly requisitioning assets). Foreclosures will be activated if mortgage borrowers are seen to be deliberately uncooperative - with the collapse of property prices many Greeks, hit by austerity measures, simply gave up on repayments as the crisis intensified.   “Such steps have been taken in other [EU] countries to handle non performing loans. Frankly we’ve dragged our feet. It’s in no one’s interest to have this hanging,” said the banker. “All round this should be a relief.”   Former finance minister Yannis Stournaras who assumed the post of governor of the bank of Greece earlier this summer, is believed to be pushing hard for the code of ethics to be applied before the stress tests later this year.   Bankers have not hidden their concerns that Greek lenders may need big capital injections to survive (despite huge injections received so far) following the tests.

The overall eurozone PMI, tracking activity across the single currency region, fell to just 50.7 from 51.8 in July, closer to the 50-point of stagnation.

And the number of people employed across the manufacturing sector fell, although it was a mixed picture. The big-three nations of Germany, France and Italy all reported job losses, as did Greece. Staffing rose in Spain, the Netherlands, Austria and Ireland, but Ireland was the only nation to report a faster pace of hiring than in July.

Eurozone manufacturing PMI,to August 2014 Photograph: Markit

STUTTGART, Germany — Air Force Maj. Gen. Gregory J. Lengyel assumed command of Europe-based special operations troops on Tuesday, taking over leadership of a force that, after years of focus on Afghanistan, is turning its attention to NATO’s borders.

“When many thought Europe would solely be a producer of world security, events of the past year have validated that this theater of operations still has an appetite to, at times, consume world security,” Lengyel said during a change-of-command ceremony in Stuttgart. Lengyel, who replaced Air Force Maj. Gen. Marshall Webb as head of Special Operations Command Europe, arrives as Europe confronts an array of security challenges that are threatening the post-Cold War order. In Ukraine, Russia’s annexation of the Crimea Peninsula and its continued support of pro-Russian separatists have prompted the U.S. and NATO to re-evaluate their assumptions about security in Europe. NATO members in the eastern Europe are especially worried that an unpredictable Russia could destabilize the broader region. In response, SOCEUR troops have increased missions in the east during the past year, training and exercising with allied special operations forces.  At the same time, along NATO’s southern flank there is heightened concern over the Islamic State, a militant group that has seized territory in Iraq and Syria. The fact that many of the group’s fighters come from Europe is raising fear that returning jihadists could carry out attacks at home. Army Lt. Gen. William Garrett III, deputy commander at EUCOM, credited Webb with leading the command’s troops through a period of flux.  “During this time he has transformed SOCEUR from a command focused on supporting operations in Afghanistan to a command that can operate in the face of a challenge in dealing with the complex issues across Europe,” Garrett said. While at EUCOM, Webb oversaw the March Navy SEAL operation in the Mediterranean that resulted in the recapture of a hijacked Libyan oil tanker.  “One only has to turn on the news to look at what is happening on the borders of EUCOM, in Syria, the eastern flank of Europe, the continuing trouble in north Africa,” Webb said. “This is an uncertain world and we’ve got to be ready. And we are.” Webb will soon assume command of special operations forces at NATO. Lengyel previously served as commandant of cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

About the European no-union...

BRUSSELS, August 31 /ITAR-TASS/. Slovakia said it might veto new EU sanctions against Russia, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said after the EU summit on Sunday.

“I believe that the sanctions will become senseless and counter-productive. Slovakia may use its right of veto,” Fico said, explaining Slovakia would use its right of veto if it decided that the new anti-Russian sanctions would undermine its economic growth.

The Slovak prime minister said there was no point in imposing new sanctions until the EU knew the results of the previously adopted penalties. In July, the European Union imposed economic sanctions against Russia over it policy in eastern Ukraine. They include a ban on conclusion of military contracts; restrictions on acquisition of some new technologies, equipment and materials for its oil sector as well as some restrictions on banking services.

Maja Kocijanic, a spokeswoman for the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, said last Friday that the EU Commission was still to analyze the consequences of the EU-imposed anti-Russian sanctions.

The EU summit has given the EU Commission one week to prepare proposals on tougher sanctions against Russia, European Commission President Herman Van Rompuy told a news conference after the EU summit in Brussels. He said the further steps on sanctions would depend on the situation in Ukraine, which was getting worse every day. The EU summit noted the recent escalation of military conflict in Ukraine of which it had been informed by Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko.  The European Council voiced its concern with the Russian military presence in Ukrainian territory.

A large earthquake hit Iceland’s Bardarbunga volcano system early today, but there was no sign of a fresh eruption, the country’s Meteorological Office said.

Authorities have been on alert since a surge of small quakes there this month triggered memories of the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which spewed out ash and shut down much of Europe’s airspace.

A magnitude 5.4 quake was recorded under Bardarbunga’s main volcano at 0703 GMT, said Icelandic Met Office seismologist Martin Hensch.

It came a day after a small eruption in a fissure in a glacier about 40km from the main crater in Iceland’s largest volcano system.

The Met office initially raised its aviation warning to red, its highest level, on Friday, then reduced it to orange and removed all airspace restrictions after the eruption stopped.

Mr Hensch said there were currently no signs of magma heading back to the surface, though it was impossible to predict how the situation would develop.

“There are so many parameters in this system,” he said. “We cannot make a forecast for the next hours or the next few days. So we have to continue to monitor and react to events when they happen.”