SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
White House Confirms Plans to Bring Tanks, Heavy Weaponry to Russia's Door
First reported earlier this month, Pentagon confirms plan to pre-position military arsenal in NATO border states
Jun 23, 2015
The U.S. Department of Defense announced on Tuesday that it is indeed planning to bring tanks and other heavy weaponry to Russia's doorstep, in a move observers say is likely to further stoke Cold War tensions as NATO regional war games commence.
Speaking in Tallinn, Estonia, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said the Pentagon would fortify the Baltic states—Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia—as well as Bulgaria, Romania, and Poland, each with a military arsenal large enough to support 150 to 750 troops.
"The U.S. decision to stage heavy equipment closer to Russia's borders aims to speed deployment of rotating U.S. forces," Reuters reports.
Rumors of the pending mobilization were first reported earlier this month when anonymous military officials revealed the plan to pre-position 250 tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and self-propelled howitzers in a bid to "reassure" NATO countries and likely intimidate Russia amidst growing regional tensions.
Russian defense ministry official General Yuri Yakubov said last week that such a move would be interpreted as a clear provocation from the U.S. "If heavy U.S. military equipment, including tanks, artillery batteries, and other equipment really does turn up in countries in Eastern Europe and the Baltics, that will be the most aggressive step by the Pentagon and NATO since the Cold War," he said, according to the Interfax news agency.
During his European trip this week, Carter also announced that the U.S. would provide NATO's new "rapid reaction force" with "intelligence and surveillance capabilities, special operations forces, logistics, transport aircraft, and a range of weapons support that could include bombers, fighters, and ship-based missiles."
According to anonymous officials, the force, which would be activated in the event of a regional "crisis," may also include mobilizing U.S. troops.
AP reports:
No final decisions have been made on the number of troops that could participate, or where they could come from.
The officials said many of the forces could come from among the 65,000 U.S. military personnel already stationed in Europe.
But the plan could result in a temporary increase in U.S. forces in Europe in the event of a crisis, said U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss details of the agreement publicly.
No U.S. troops or equipment will move immediately, but instead they would be made available within 48-72 hours if requested, and approved by American leaders, in response to a crisis.
The announcements come as Eastern European NATO countries began a series of months-long military exercises designed to "demonstrate their readiness to confront Russia." Later this week, Carter is expected to meet with European defense ministers in Brussels to discuss the military escalation.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Lauren McCauley
Lauren McCauley is a former senior editor for Common Dreams covering national and international politics and progressive news. She is now the Editor of Maine Morning Star. Lauren also helped produce a number of documentary films, including the award-winning Soundtrack for a Revolution and The Hollywood Complex, as well as one currently in production about civil rights icon James Meredith. Her writing has been featured on Newsweek, BillMoyers.com, TruthDig, Truthout, In These Times, and Extra! the newsletter of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. She currently lives in Kennebunk, Maine with her husband, two children, a dog, and several chickens.
The U.S. Department of Defense announced on Tuesday that it is indeed planning to bring tanks and other heavy weaponry to Russia's doorstep, in a move observers say is likely to further stoke Cold War tensions as NATO regional war games commence.
Speaking in Tallinn, Estonia, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said the Pentagon would fortify the Baltic states—Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia—as well as Bulgaria, Romania, and Poland, each with a military arsenal large enough to support 150 to 750 troops.
"The U.S. decision to stage heavy equipment closer to Russia's borders aims to speed deployment of rotating U.S. forces," Reuters reports.
Rumors of the pending mobilization were first reported earlier this month when anonymous military officials revealed the plan to pre-position 250 tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and self-propelled howitzers in a bid to "reassure" NATO countries and likely intimidate Russia amidst growing regional tensions.
Russian defense ministry official General Yuri Yakubov said last week that such a move would be interpreted as a clear provocation from the U.S. "If heavy U.S. military equipment, including tanks, artillery batteries, and other equipment really does turn up in countries in Eastern Europe and the Baltics, that will be the most aggressive step by the Pentagon and NATO since the Cold War," he said, according to the Interfax news agency.
During his European trip this week, Carter also announced that the U.S. would provide NATO's new "rapid reaction force" with "intelligence and surveillance capabilities, special operations forces, logistics, transport aircraft, and a range of weapons support that could include bombers, fighters, and ship-based missiles."
According to anonymous officials, the force, which would be activated in the event of a regional "crisis," may also include mobilizing U.S. troops.
AP reports:
No final decisions have been made on the number of troops that could participate, or where they could come from.
The officials said many of the forces could come from among the 65,000 U.S. military personnel already stationed in Europe.
But the plan could result in a temporary increase in U.S. forces in Europe in the event of a crisis, said U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss details of the agreement publicly.
No U.S. troops or equipment will move immediately, but instead they would be made available within 48-72 hours if requested, and approved by American leaders, in response to a crisis.
The announcements come as Eastern European NATO countries began a series of months-long military exercises designed to "demonstrate their readiness to confront Russia." Later this week, Carter is expected to meet with European defense ministers in Brussels to discuss the military escalation.
Lauren McCauley
Lauren McCauley is a former senior editor for Common Dreams covering national and international politics and progressive news. She is now the Editor of Maine Morning Star. Lauren also helped produce a number of documentary films, including the award-winning Soundtrack for a Revolution and The Hollywood Complex, as well as one currently in production about civil rights icon James Meredith. Her writing has been featured on Newsweek, BillMoyers.com, TruthDig, Truthout, In These Times, and Extra! the newsletter of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. She currently lives in Kennebunk, Maine with her husband, two children, a dog, and several chickens.
The U.S. Department of Defense announced on Tuesday that it is indeed planning to bring tanks and other heavy weaponry to Russia's doorstep, in a move observers say is likely to further stoke Cold War tensions as NATO regional war games commence.
Speaking in Tallinn, Estonia, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said the Pentagon would fortify the Baltic states—Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia—as well as Bulgaria, Romania, and Poland, each with a military arsenal large enough to support 150 to 750 troops.
"The U.S. decision to stage heavy equipment closer to Russia's borders aims to speed deployment of rotating U.S. forces," Reuters reports.
Rumors of the pending mobilization were first reported earlier this month when anonymous military officials revealed the plan to pre-position 250 tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and self-propelled howitzers in a bid to "reassure" NATO countries and likely intimidate Russia amidst growing regional tensions.
Russian defense ministry official General Yuri Yakubov said last week that such a move would be interpreted as a clear provocation from the U.S. "If heavy U.S. military equipment, including tanks, artillery batteries, and other equipment really does turn up in countries in Eastern Europe and the Baltics, that will be the most aggressive step by the Pentagon and NATO since the Cold War," he said, according to the Interfax news agency.
During his European trip this week, Carter also announced that the U.S. would provide NATO's new "rapid reaction force" with "intelligence and surveillance capabilities, special operations forces, logistics, transport aircraft, and a range of weapons support that could include bombers, fighters, and ship-based missiles."
According to anonymous officials, the force, which would be activated in the event of a regional "crisis," may also include mobilizing U.S. troops.
AP reports:
No final decisions have been made on the number of troops that could participate, or where they could come from.
The officials said many of the forces could come from among the 65,000 U.S. military personnel already stationed in Europe.
But the plan could result in a temporary increase in U.S. forces in Europe in the event of a crisis, said U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss details of the agreement publicly.
No U.S. troops or equipment will move immediately, but instead they would be made available within 48-72 hours if requested, and approved by American leaders, in response to a crisis.
The announcements come as Eastern European NATO countries began a series of months-long military exercises designed to "demonstrate their readiness to confront Russia." Later this week, Carter is expected to meet with European defense ministers in Brussels to discuss the military escalation.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.