Daily Archives: May 7, 2014

NATO begins military drills with 6,000 troops in Estonia
Amid the rising crisis in Ukraine, NATO has begun military drills in Estonia with a record high six thousand troops.

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NATO begins military drills with 6,000 troops in Estonia - Video

Russia Blinks As NATO Marches Toward WWIII
Alex Jones breaks down the current political climate between Russia, the Ukraine and the organized crime ring NATO. http://www.infowars.com/why-russia-will-not-meddle-in-eastern-ukraine/ http://ww...

By: TheAlexJonesChannel

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Russia Blinks As NATO Marches Toward WWIII - Video

NATO is prepared to counter non-conventional warfare used by Russia to annex Crimea, Estonian Defense Minister Sven Mikser said.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organizations 1949 founding treaty can be effectively used to counter new threats and doesnt need to be revised, Mikser said in an interview yesterday in the Estonian capital, Tallinn. The former Soviet republic, which shares a border with Russia and has a Russian-speaking minority, has full confidence in the accords article that commits members to collective defense.

There was an element of surprise that these little green men surfaced in Crimea, said Mikser, 40, referring to unidentified gunmen wearing military uniforms who seized key installations on the Black Sea peninsula before Russia annexed it from Ukraine. I think this kind of surprise can be effectively used only once. We, or anyone, will be prepared to respond to a scenario like this.

The U.S. and its allies accuse Russia of fomenting unrest in Ukraines easternmost regions. While President Vladimir Putin has refrained from direct military intervention, he has vowed to defend Russian speakers. NATO members with such minorities may not be prepared to counter new military threats from Russia based on events in Ukraine, according to Janis Berzins, head of the Center for Security and Strategic Research of the National Defence Academy of Latvia.

In the run-up to the March referendum that paved the way for Crimea switching hands, the Kremlin denied military involvement beyond its naval base on the peninsula. Even so, Putin last month said Russian troops had ensured the safety of the vote. NATO estimates that the country has 40,000 soldiers stationed near the Ukrainian border.

Estonias government is considering a package of measures to boost defense and security expenditures, Prime Minister Taavi Roivas said in parliament today. The country now spends about 2 percent of gross domestic product on its military.

The countrys military may lack rapid-reaction capabilities and needs to adjust to new threats based on evidence from the events in Crimea, Martin Hurt, deputy director of the International Center for Defense Studies in Tallinn, wrote in a report Apr. 17.

Russia has the ability to incite revolts and unrest on foreign soil while rapidly deploying military forces to aggravate and exploit the resultant political turmoil, Hurt wrote. This creates confusion in determining what countermeasures to resort to, leaving the country being attacked with minimal time to implement them.

Such new-generation warfare shows the need for a more comprehensive national-security strategy, Berzins of the Latvian defense academy wrote in a paper last month.

Estonia has already made such preparations, Riho Terras, the chief of the countrys armed forces, said at a conference in Tallinn on Apr. 26.

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NATO Is Ready for Russia Tactics, Estonia Minister Says

WARSAW, Poland, May 7 (UPI) -- NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen chastised Russia for its continued aggression toward Ukraine, labeling Russian rhetoric as drawing from Cold War "clichs."

Speaking in Warsaw, where Rasmussen was meeting with Polish officials regarding the upcoming NATO Summit in September, the secretary general defended his call to arms in the name of collective defense, stating that "NATO's greatest responsibility is to protect and defend our populations and territory."

NATO defensive actions in response to the crisis in Ukraine are intended, he said, to send "an unmistakable message to Russia: your behaviour does not belong in the 21st century and your rhetoric draws on obscure clichs of the Cold War."

In April, Rasmussen announced NATO was undertaking enhanced collective defense measures in response to Russian aggression. The measures included increased Air Policing in the Baltic States and the deployment of Airborne Early Warning and Control Aircraft surveillance flights over Poland and Romania.

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NATO secretary general: Russia perpetuating 'obscure clichs of the Cold War'

OTTAWA , May 7 (UPI) -- NATO will consider permanently stationing troops in Eastern Europe as a result of the crises in Crimea and Ukraine, its top military commander said.

Speaking in Ottawa, Canada, Tuesday, Gen. Philip Breedlove, a U.S. Army general and NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, said the issue would be discussed at a NATO summit in September.

Commanders, defense ministers and foreign ministers must consider if the 28-member military alliance has the correct footprint in Europe, Breedlove said, noting Russias annexations of Crimea changes that dynamic. The paradigm has changed in the current situation. Russia is not acting as a partner.

After Russias intervention in Ukraine, a number of short-term military rotations have been arranged in Eastern Europe, but they are scheduled to conclude by the end of 2014.

Breedlove stressed that NATOs recent steps have thus far supported eastern members of the alliance, and are "easily discerned as being defensive in nature. This is about assuring our allies, not provoking Russia.

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NATO troops in Eastern Europe could be permanent, U.S. general says

OTTAWA - NATO will have to consider permanently stationing troops in parts of Eastern Europe as a result of the increased tension between Russia and Ukraine, the alliance's top military commander said on Tuesday.

NATO has arranged a number of short-term army, air force and naval rotations in Eastern Europe, including the Baltic republics, Poland and Romania, but these are due to finish at the end of this year.

Asked whether NATO might have to look at permanently stationing troops in the alliance's member states in Eastern Europe, US Air Force General Philip Breedlove said: "I think this is something we have to consider and we will tee this up for discussion through the leaderships of our nations to see where that leads."

NATO leaders are due to hold a summit in Wales in early September.

In the run-up to the summit, NATO commanders, defence ministers and foreign ministers would look at "tougher questions" about whether the alliance had the right footprint in Europe, Breedlove told a news conference in Ottawa.

"We need to look at our responsiveness, our readiness and then our positioning of forces to be able to address this new paradigm that we have seen demonstrated in Crimea and now on the eastern border of Ukraine," he said.

Breedlove, who said on Monday he did not think Moscow would send troops into eastern Ukraine, stressed the steps that NATO had taken so far were designed to support eastern members of the alliance.

"We are taking measures that should be very easily discerned as being defensive in nature. This is about assuring our allies, not provoking Russia, and we are communicating that at every level," he said.

Breedlove insisted the so-called US strategic "pivot" toward Asia would have no effect on its commitment to NATO and collective defence, though he acknowledged that US troop levels in Europe have been reduced by about three-quarters from Cold War levels.

Asked if the US troop levels would be enough in light of the Russian moves, he said: "In our own country now, and I think in every other NATO nation, based on the paradigm that we see that Russia has presented in Crimea and on the border of Ukraine ... we are all going to have to reevaluate some of the decisions that have been made (after the end of the Cold War)."

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2-NATO commander says must consider permanent troops in Eastern Europe