http://www.pravdareport.com

http://nato.einnews.com/

08.02.2016

Northern Storm: la NATO si esercita con i britannici in caso di guerra con la Russia

L'esercito britannico ha lo scopo di spostare truppe corazzate in Europa orientale in caso di conflitto tra la Russia e la NATO. Secondo il Daily Telegraph, la Giordania sarà il capolinea di questo percorso, dove verranno spediti 1.600 soldati britannici e 300 veicoli militari. L'esercitazione Shamal Storm può essere una prova generale per dover inviare, un giorno, una grande forza corazzata di truppe britanniche verso l'Europa orientale, se ci fosse un confronto tra Russia e Nato.

Mosca da parte sua ha interpretato le esercitazioni della NATO come un segnale evidente. “La più grande esercitazione della NATO Air Force dai tempi della seconda guerra mondiale, ha lo scopo di inviare al mondo un esplicito segnale sulla natura pacifica dell’Alleanza” ha affermato nel suo Twitter Aleksey Pushkov, capo della Commissione Affari Esteri della Duma.

Leonid Ivashov, presidente dell'Accademia per i Problemi Geopolitici, ritiene che le manovre della NATO siano provocatorie ed effettuate al fine di attivare azioni di ritorsione della Russia. “Se si parla di queste esercitazioni della NATO in Europa, che sono le più grandi dopo la guerra fredda, esse sono solo un esercitazione, all’interno di una serie di attività militari Usa e NATO di quest'anno, e non è l'ultimo. Ce ne saranno altre condotte in Ucraina. L'intero complesso di questi esercizi e attività sul potere militare costruisce un evidenza che la NATO, e prima di tutto gli Stati Uniti, si prepara a qualcosa di più serio e cerca di provocare la Russia”, ha spiegato Ivashov. Egli ha anche ricordato che gli Stati Uniti hanno già effettuato esercitazioni navali congiunte con la Georgia al confine con la Russia, nonché preso parte ad esercitazioni BALTOPS negli Stati baltici. Secondo l'esperto, sei basi NATO operative sono state già distribuite a nord-ovest della Russia.

Nonostante questo, la previsione di combattimento dell'operazione Bear Spear, condotta dal Comando Strategico degli Stati Uniti, ha finito in un modo molto triste. Il suo scopo era quello di simulare un attacco rapido e parzialmente nucleare contro la Russia. Ma il risultato ha rivelato, il mondo in rovina, mentre gli Stati Uniti venivano cancellati dalla faccia della terra, così come la Russia.

http://www.pravdareport.com

http://nato.einnews.com/

08.02.2016

Northern Storm: NATO drills British in case of war with Russia

The British Army aims to work through an armoured troops shift to the Eastern Europe in case of a conflict between Russia and the NATO.

According to the Daily Telegraph, Jordan will be the terminus of this route, where 1,600 British troops and 300 military vehicles will be dispatched. The Shamal Storm exercise can be 'a dry run for one day having to send a large armoured force of British troops to Eastern Europe if there was ever a Russian confrontation with Nato'.

Moscow from its part interpreted the NATO drills as an obvious signal. 'The largest NATO Air Force exercise since the World War II are aimed to send the world an expressive signal on the Alliance peaceableness,' Aleksey Pushkov, head of the foreign-affairs committee in the State Duma, claimed in his Twitter.

Leonid Ivashov, President of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems, believes that the NATO manoeuvres are provocative ones and are carried out in order to trigger retaliatory actions of Russia. 'If talking about these NATO drills in Europe, which are the most large-scale ones after the Cold War, that is only one exercise out of a series of the US and NATO military activities this year, and it's not the last one. There will be conducted more in Ukraine. The whole complex of these exercises and activities on the military power build up evidences that the NATO and first of all the US prepares to something more serious and tries to provoke Russia,' Ivashov explained.

He also reminded that the US has already carried out joint naval exercise with Georgia on the Russian border as well as taken part in the Baltops drills in the Baltic States. According the the expert, six operative NATO bases have been already deployed to the North-West of Russia.

Despite this, the fighting prediction of the Bear Spear operation conducted by the US Strategic Command, ended up quite sadly. Its aim was to simulate a quick and partially nuclear strike against Russia. In the result, the world turned out to be in ruins, while the US was wiped off the face of the earth, as well as Russia.

Also read:

US Generals disappointed: NATO preventive strike to split upon Kaliningrad

http://www.reuters.com

http://nato.einnews.com

Feb. 6, 2016

NATO is planning its largest military build-up in eastern Europe since the Cold War

By by Robin Emmott and Jeremy Bender

Backed by an increase in US military spending, NATO is planning its biggest build-up in eastern Europe since the Cold War to deter Russia but will reject Polish demands for permanent bases.

Worried since Russia's seizure of Crimea that Moscow could rapidly invade Poland or the Baltic states, the Western military alliance wants to bolster defenses on its eastern flank without provoking the Kremlin by stationing large forces permanently.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) defense ministers will next week begin outlining plans for a complex web of small eastern outposts, forces on rotation, regular war games, and warehoused equipment ready for a rapid-response force. That force includes air, maritime, and special operations units of up to 40,000 personnel.

The concern over NATO's eastern flank has only intensified following the outcome of simulations by think tank RAND Corp. showing that, in the most dire scenarios, Moscow would be able to conquer all the way to Estonia's capital, Tallinn, in 36 hours.

As current NATO force structures stand in Europe, the military organization "cannot successfully defend the territory of its most exposed members," RAND found. In the best-case scenarios for NATO, Russia was prevented from reaching the outskirts of the Latvian or Estonian capitals for 60 hours.

This report from RAND echoes similar concerns held by Gen. Petr Pavel, current chairman of the NATO Military Committee. On May 27, 2015, Pavel warned that Moscow would be able to conquer the three Baltic States of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia within two days despite their NATO membership. Pavel believed this would be largely possible because of NATO's relatively slow-moving command structure. 

Beyond increasing forces in Europe, NATO is also expected to offer Moscow a renewed dialogue in the NATO-Russia Council, which has not met since 2014, about improved military transparency to avoid surprise events and misunderstandings, a senior NATO diplomat said.

US plans for a fourfold increase in military spending in Europe to $3.4 billion in 2017 are central to the strategy, which has been shaped in response to Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

The plans are welcomed by NATO, whose chief, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, says it will mean "more troops in the eastern part of the alliance ... the pre-positioning of equipment, tanks, armored vehicles ... more exercises and more investment in infrastructure."

Such moves will reinforce the message from US President Barack Obama, in a speech he delivered in Estonia in 2014, that NATO will help ensure the independence of the three Baltic states, which for decades were part of the Soviet Union.

Lithuanian Defense Minister Juozas Olekas openly described Russia as a threat in comments to Reuters last June, but many European countries in the NATO are wary of upsetting the continent's biggest energy supplier.

With such concerns paramount, diplomats and officials say NATO will not back requests for permanent bases by Poland, which has a history of fraught relations with Russia.

"I am a great proponent of strong deterrents and to improve our resilience, but I do think that the best way to do it is to do it on a rotational basis," Dutch Defense Minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert told Reuters.

Stoltenberg has also said he will not be "dragged into an arms race."

Russia has made clear it would regard any moves to bring NATO infrastructure closer to its borders a threat and the Kremlin has warned it would take "reciprocal steps."

Western powers' relations with Russia have deteriorated over the almost two-year-old conflict in Ukraine, but the West also needs Russia's help in dealing with terrorism and the battle against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. 

Persistent, not permanent

If approved by Congress, Washington says one US armored brigade combat team's vehicles and equipment will be stored in warehouses in Germany and the east, from Bulgaria to Estonia.

Moving equipment nearer a potential front is seen as crucial to be able to combat quickly Russia's surface-to-air missile batteries and antiship missiles in its Kaliningrad exclave that can prevent forces from entering or moving across air, land, and sea.

The RAND Corp study found that Russia could overrun Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania within three days, leaving NATO and the US no good options to respond.

While avoiding a return to the Cold War when 300,000 US service personnel were stationed in Europe, NATO generals describe it as a "persistent" but not a "permanent" presence, and want to adhere to a 1997 agreement with Moscow not to station substantial combat forces on the NATO-Russia border.

Some diplomats say NATO's plans recall allied support for West Berlin in the 1950s, when British, French, and US forces ensured the Soviet Union could not control all Berlin, although this time many more countries would rotate through.

"You will have small contingents in the east as a symbolic presence. It means you are not just attacking Estonia, but Britain, France or the United States," said one NATO diplomat.

That drives home the commitment enshrined in NATO's founding treaty that an attack on one ally is an attack on all, meaning all 28 NATO nations would be required to respond in the case of any potential Russian aggression. 

'No Ramstein in Poland'

Details of the plan are far from finalised and the defense ministers meeting next week in Brussels will seek political agreement among all allies before mapping out the strategy. Issues such as how NATO nuclear weapons in Western Europe could play into any potential conflict are extremely sensitive.

Allies say there will not be permanent NATO bases in Poland or the Baltics despite strong campaigning by the new conservative Polish government. Warsaw will host the next summit of NATO leaders in July and sees offers of British and French troops for exercises as signaling a permanent presence, though diplomats deny this is the case.

"There will not be another Ramstein in Poland," said one NATO diplomat, referring to a large US Air Force base in southwestern Germany.

Poland will, however, be expected to host NATO allies at its bases temporarily and share some costs.