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
US Saber Rattling Continues With Plans to Beef Up Troops in Eastern Europe
Russian official decries NATO's 'policy of confrontation'
Mar 30, 2016
U.S. military officials announced Wednesday plans to beef up numbers of American troops and equipment in Eastern Europe to counter what the Pentagon described as "an aggressive Russia."
It comes just weeks after Russia's foreign minister warned that NATO's military build-up near Russia's borders is "counterproductive and dangerous," and that the military alliance's members "are whipping up 'Russia's threat' myth."
Part of the plan was already revealed by the Obama administration last month.
U.S. European Command said in a statement Wednesday that starting in February 2017, there will be continuous rotations of three Army combat teams and upgraded equipment in Europe. "That equipment would allow for the rapid deployment of ground forces," Military Times reports.
The Guardian notes that the plan marks a reversal of
Barack Obama's reduction of forces after concluding that Russian aggression poses an enduring threat to continental stability.
The shift in course is the latest in a series of small restorations of the military status quo before Obama, suggesting that senior officers have already begun to look past his presidency.
"This is a big step in enhancing the Army's rotational presence and increasing their combat equipment in Europe," U.S. European Command head Gen. Philip Breedlove stated. "This Army implementation plan continues to demonstrate our strong and balanced approach to reassuring our NATO allies and partners in the wake of an aggressive Russia in Eastern Europe and elsewhere. This means our allies and partners will see more capability--they will see a more frequent presence of an armored brigade with more modernized equipment in their countries."
The Wall Street Journal described it as "the first such deployment since the end of the Cold War."
From the Journal's reporting on Wednesday:
The U.S. has been intermittently rotating about 4,200 troops in and out of Europe since 2014, on top of the roughly 62,000 U.S. military personnel assigned permanently on the continent.
The Pentagon now aims to rotate in an Army armored brigade each year and divide the rotational force of 4,200 among six eastern members--Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria.
The New York Times reported last month:
Under a 1997 agreement known as the NATO-Russia Founding Act, both sides pledged not to station large numbers of troops along their respective borders.
Administration officials said they were confident that the new deployments would not be seen as breaching that agreement. In any event, Poland and the Baltic States argue that Russia's incursion in Ukraine was a clear violation of the act, and that NATO should no longer abide by it.
Russia's Permanent Representative to NATO Alexander Grushko addressed the new development on Rossiya 24 TV on Wednesday, according to Russian news agency Tass, saying, "Cooperation will be possible only when NATO countries start realizing that the policy of confrontation contradicts their own national interests."
The plan still needs approval from U.S. Congress.
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.
U.S. military officials announced Wednesday plans to beef up numbers of American troops and equipment in Eastern Europe to counter what the Pentagon described as "an aggressive Russia."
It comes just weeks after Russia's foreign minister warned that NATO's military build-up near Russia's borders is "counterproductive and dangerous," and that the military alliance's members "are whipping up 'Russia's threat' myth."
Part of the plan was already revealed by the Obama administration last month.
U.S. European Command said in a statement Wednesday that starting in February 2017, there will be continuous rotations of three Army combat teams and upgraded equipment in Europe. "That equipment would allow for the rapid deployment of ground forces," Military Times reports.
The Guardian notes that the plan marks a reversal of
Barack Obama's reduction of forces after concluding that Russian aggression poses an enduring threat to continental stability.
The shift in course is the latest in a series of small restorations of the military status quo before Obama, suggesting that senior officers have already begun to look past his presidency.
"This is a big step in enhancing the Army's rotational presence and increasing their combat equipment in Europe," U.S. European Command head Gen. Philip Breedlove stated. "This Army implementation plan continues to demonstrate our strong and balanced approach to reassuring our NATO allies and partners in the wake of an aggressive Russia in Eastern Europe and elsewhere. This means our allies and partners will see more capability--they will see a more frequent presence of an armored brigade with more modernized equipment in their countries."
The Wall Street Journal described it as "the first such deployment since the end of the Cold War."
From the Journal's reporting on Wednesday:
The U.S. has been intermittently rotating about 4,200 troops in and out of Europe since 2014, on top of the roughly 62,000 U.S. military personnel assigned permanently on the continent.
The Pentagon now aims to rotate in an Army armored brigade each year and divide the rotational force of 4,200 among six eastern members--Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria.
The New York Times reported last month:
Under a 1997 agreement known as the NATO-Russia Founding Act, both sides pledged not to station large numbers of troops along their respective borders.
Administration officials said they were confident that the new deployments would not be seen as breaching that agreement. In any event, Poland and the Baltic States argue that Russia's incursion in Ukraine was a clear violation of the act, and that NATO should no longer abide by it.
Russia's Permanent Representative to NATO Alexander Grushko addressed the new development on Rossiya 24 TV on Wednesday, according to Russian news agency Tass, saying, "Cooperation will be possible only when NATO countries start realizing that the policy of confrontation contradicts their own national interests."
The plan still needs approval from U.S. Congress.
U.S. military officials announced Wednesday plans to beef up numbers of American troops and equipment in Eastern Europe to counter what the Pentagon described as "an aggressive Russia."
It comes just weeks after Russia's foreign minister warned that NATO's military build-up near Russia's borders is "counterproductive and dangerous," and that the military alliance's members "are whipping up 'Russia's threat' myth."
Part of the plan was already revealed by the Obama administration last month.
U.S. European Command said in a statement Wednesday that starting in February 2017, there will be continuous rotations of three Army combat teams and upgraded equipment in Europe. "That equipment would allow for the rapid deployment of ground forces," Military Times reports.
The Guardian notes that the plan marks a reversal of
Barack Obama's reduction of forces after concluding that Russian aggression poses an enduring threat to continental stability.
The shift in course is the latest in a series of small restorations of the military status quo before Obama, suggesting that senior officers have already begun to look past his presidency.
"This is a big step in enhancing the Army's rotational presence and increasing their combat equipment in Europe," U.S. European Command head Gen. Philip Breedlove stated. "This Army implementation plan continues to demonstrate our strong and balanced approach to reassuring our NATO allies and partners in the wake of an aggressive Russia in Eastern Europe and elsewhere. This means our allies and partners will see more capability--they will see a more frequent presence of an armored brigade with more modernized equipment in their countries."
The Wall Street Journal described it as "the first such deployment since the end of the Cold War."
From the Journal's reporting on Wednesday:
The U.S. has been intermittently rotating about 4,200 troops in and out of Europe since 2014, on top of the roughly 62,000 U.S. military personnel assigned permanently on the continent.
The Pentagon now aims to rotate in an Army armored brigade each year and divide the rotational force of 4,200 among six eastern members--Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria.
The New York Times reported last month:
Under a 1997 agreement known as the NATO-Russia Founding Act, both sides pledged not to station large numbers of troops along their respective borders.
Administration officials said they were confident that the new deployments would not be seen as breaching that agreement. In any event, Poland and the Baltic States argue that Russia's incursion in Ukraine was a clear violation of the act, and that NATO should no longer abide by it.
Russia's Permanent Representative to NATO Alexander Grushko addressed the new development on Rossiya 24 TV on Wednesday, according to Russian news agency Tass, saying, "Cooperation will be possible only when NATO countries start realizing that the policy of confrontation contradicts their own national interests."
The plan still needs approval from U.S. Congress.
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.