NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, Gen. Philip Breedlove, wants to light a torch under the rapidly reconstituting Cold War with Russia. According to the Times (UK), NATO’s top military commander has plans to transform an old military base in Poland into a tip of the spear pointed at Russia.
At a briefing in Naples this week, Breedlove outlined his plan to supply the Multinational Corps Northeast, in Szczecin, Poland, with “pre-positioned supplies, pre-positioned capabilities and a basing area ready to rapidly accept follow-on forces,” that would support a rapid deployment force of thousands of NATO troops into Russia.
Gen. Breedlove has been pushing an increased NATO presence on Russia’s borders to counter what he claims are Russia’s “aggressive” actions in the region, stating last month that “we may need to add additional rotational forces to cover the sustained, persistent presence that we are now envisioning.”
Although Ukraine is not a NATO member and therefore would not be subject to NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense provisions, the Baltics are in NATO and have taken a very hard line against Russia. These countries, along with Poland, have faced a long and steady economic decline and dream of a NATO base on their soil to funnel western funds into their economies.
Breedlove has been among the most vociferous of those warning that Russia was on the brink of invading Ukraine, and has pointedly asked Congress to quickly approve President Obama’s request for a billion dollars to help deploy more US troops into Europe to counter the “Russian threat.” He said, “For the last 12 to 14 years, we’ve been looking at Russia as a partner. …We’ve been making decisions about force structure, basing investments, et cetera, et cetera, looking to Russia as a partner. Now what we see is a very different situation.”
In Breedlove’s view, this new crisis is brought about by Russian military support for the federalists in the eastern part of Ukraine who seek to secede from Kiev’s rule.
He claims, “[w]e see in training on the (Russian) side of the border is big equipment, tanks, (armored personnel carriers), anti-aircraft capability, and now we see those capabilities being used on the (Ukrainian) side of the border.”
This ginning up of a new Cold War is based on supposed Russian military actions inside its own borders and, it is claimed, Russian government support for the rebels in the east.
Russia’s meddling in Ukraine’s internal affairs is the problem, claims the US government and its allies.
The US forces would help train the Ukrainian military to put down the revolt in the east.
According to the Washington Times:
Within the next few weeks, a group of Defense Department representatives who specialize in strategy and policy will head to Kiev to evaluate specific programs that the United States may want to help bolster, said Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman.
This likely means US special forces will soon be working side-by-side with their Ukrainian counterparts and it also likely means more bloodshed in the deeply-divided country.
Somehow for Breedlove and his superiors it is not meddling when the US openly sends in its military advisors to intervene in one side of the conflict, but even unproven claims of Russian support for the other side is justification for preparations for a NATO invasion of Russia…
