Nato plans east European bases to counter Russian threat

[VolT]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/26/nato-east-european-bases-counter-russian-threat

 

 

Nato is to deploy its forces at new bases in eastern Europe for the first time, in response to the Ukraine crisis and in an attempt to deter Vladimir Putin from causing trouble in the former Soviet Baltic republics, according to its chief.

 

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former prime minister of Denmark, said that next week's Nato summit in Cardiff would overcome divisions within the alliance and agree to new deployments on Russia's borders – a move certain to trigger a strong reaction from Moscow.

 

He also outlined moves to boost Ukraine's security, "modernise" its armed forces, and help the country counter the threat from Russia.

 

Rasmussen said: "We will adopt what we call a readiness action plan with the aim to be able to act swiftly in this completely new security environment in Europe. We have something already called the Nato response force whose purpose is to be able to be deployed rapidly if needed. Now it's our intention to develop what I would call a spearhead within that response force at very, very, high readiness.

 

"In order to be able to provide such rapid reinforcements you also need some reception facilities in host nations. So it will involve the pre-positioning of supplies, of equipment, preparation of infrastructure, bases, headquarters. The bottom line is you will in the future see a more visible Nato presence in the east."

Poland and the three Baltic states have been alarmed at the perceived threat from Russia and have been clamouring for a stronger Nato presence in the region. They have criticised what they see as tokenism in the alliance's response so far.

 

But the issue of permanent Nato bases in east Europe is divisive. The French, Italians and Spanish are opposed while the Americans and British are supportive of the eastern European demands. The Germans, said a Nato official, were sitting on the fence, wary of provoking Russia.

The Cardiff summit is likely to come up with a formula, alliance sources said, which would avoid the term "permanent" for the new bases. But the impact will be to have constantly manned Nato facilities east of what used to be the iron curtain.

 

"It can be on a rotation basis, with a very high frequency. The point is that any potential aggressor should know that if they were to even think of an attack against a Nato ally they will meet not only soldiers from that specific country but they will meet Nato troops. This is what is important," said Rasmussen.

The only Nato headquarters east of the old cold war frontier is at Szczecin, on Poland's Baltic coast. Sources said this was likely to be the hub for the new deployments. Air and naval plans had been completed, but the issue of international land forces in the east was proving trickier to agree upon.

 

Asked whether there would be permanent international deployments under a Nato flag in east Europe, Rasmussen said: "The brief answer is yes. To prevent misunderstanding I use the phrase 'for as long as necessary'. Our eastern allies will be satisfied when they see what is actually in the readiness action plan."

Rasmussen said the forces could be deployed within hours.

 

Nato has clearly been caught napping by the Russian president's well prepared advances in Ukraine since February and is scrambling to come up with strategies for a new era in which Russia has gone from being a "strategic partner" of the alliance to a hostile actor perfecting what the alliance terms "hybrid warfare".

Rasmussen, whose term as Nato chief is coming to an end, said: "We have to face the reality that Russia does not consider Nato a partner. Russia is a nation that unfortunately for the first time since the second world war has grabbed land by force. Obviously we have to adapt to that."

 

In an interview with the Guardian and five other European newspapers, he said: "It is safe to say that nobody had expected Russia to grab land by force. We also saw a remarkable change in the Russian military approach and capability, since, for instance, the Georgian war in 2008.

 

"We have seen the Russians improve their ability to act swiftly. They can within a very, very, short time convert a major military exercise into an offensive military operation."

Rasmussen reiterated that the Russians had massed in their thousands on Ukraine's eastern borders, and had been firing artillery into Ukraine. His information was based on Nato's own intelligence and "multiple reports".

 

But Nato officials admitted that the intelligence was impaired by a lack of solid information from the ground. "We can only watch from 23 miles up," said an official.

Rasmussen added: "We have reports from multiple sources showing quite a lively Russian involvement in destabilising eastern Ukraine. We have seen artillery firing across the border and also inside Ukraine. We have seen a Russian military buildup along the border. Quite clearly, Russia is involved in destabilising eastern Ukraine … You see a sophisticated combination of traditional conventional warfare mixed up with information and primarily disinformation operations. It will take more than Nato to counter such hybrid warfare effectively."

 

If western leaders have been surprised and also impressed by the sudden display of Russian military prowess, Ukraine, by contrast, is in a pitiful condition militarily, according to Nato officials.

 

"If we are two steps behind the Russians, the Ukrainians are 16 steps behind," said a Nato source recently in Kiev. "Their generals just want to blow everything up. But it's not a shooting war, it's an information war."

 

In further moves also certain to rile Putin, Nato is to step up its aid to, and collaboration with, the Ukrainian military.

Ukraine's president, Petro Poroshenko, is to attend the Cardiff summit and will be the sole non-Nato head of state to negotiate with alliance leaders. Four "trust funds" are to be established to finance Ukraine's military logistics, command and control structures, and cyber defences, and to pay the armed forces' pensions.

 

"Ukraine follows its own path. That will be demonstrated at the summit because we will have a Nato-Ukraine summit meeting," said Rasmussen. "It is actually what we will decide to do at the summit, to help them build the capacity of their security sector, modernise it."

 

The summit will also grapple with the perennial question of reduced European defence spending at a time of intense instability on the continent's eastern and southern borders as well as the growing US exasperation with Europe's reluctance to fund its own security properly.

 

"Since the end of the cold war we have lived in relatively good weather. Now we are faced with a profound climate change. That requires more investment," said Rasmussen. "Politicians have tried to harvest the peace dividend after the end of the cold war. That's understandable. But now we are in a completely new security situation."

 

 

 

 

[Pendrokar]

I can comment the view of the situation from my homeland of Latvia, which is one of the Baltic states is a member of NATO with a direct border with Russia. Poland, a NATO member, also has a border with Russia, but only through the isolated Kaliningrad Oblast region.

When the Russian uprising started and Crimea got annexed in Ukraine, notable amount Latvian citizens feared the same might happen within our Russian population. There were also worries that even if Russia made an invasion into Latvia under the pretext of "protecting Russian citizens" like in country of Georgia, NATO would not declare war on Russia. I still think that is a silly thought, since most smaller members of NATO would leave the military alliance if NATO would not act even in that scenario.

I don't much care about the sides fighting in Ukraine. Their actions are appalling.

Yet, the NATO General-Secretary recently said something very worrisome and raised my suspicions on the West. The General-Secretary wants to push forward the inclusion of Ukraine as a NATO member state, which it currently is not. Now? Of all times... now? The timing couldn't be worse when there is an active war.

I do realize Russia is trying to expand Geopolitical influence against just the same kind of influence of the USA, the latter of which are driven to do so by their insurmountable debts. Just like Nazi Germany did.

[J-William]

 

They've been demonizing Putin in all the right places. lefties hate him cuz he's a conservative gay homophobe. neo-cons hate him because he's Russian and they think the cold war didn't end or at least shouldn't have ended. 

 

So why not build bases to counter this tremendous threat to peace justice and the american way? One must also drop the context of the biggest threats to peace and justice in the US being easy to locate in Washington DC... but the media wouldn't be doing its job if it helped us remember these small details.

[John CEFD]

What Putin really stands for is his grip on power and the potential expand of Russia. His ideological background is the Fourth Political Theory; and its founder, Aleksandr Dugin, is also the cofounder of the National-Bolchevism party of Russia; its all in all a grotesque mixture of Fascism, geopolitical Russia-loving and environmental doctrine called Eurasianism. In his debate with brazilian philosopher Olavo de Carvalho, which was turned into a book, he says that the free-market (in his conception embodied in the West, USA, Nato, UN etc.) is destroying religious and conservative beliefs. And says that to, in  sense, save this good old religious morale, its necessary to create a counter-part to American Empire who, according to him, wants to stablish a world-market (lol); that counterpart would be an union of Russia, middle-east and China, the Eurasian union.Even though he openly says in the debate to be a Christian, he despises the classical authors who pretty much were forerunners and founders of Christian thinking (Plato and Aristotle, Aquinas, St. Paul etc.), and apllaud authors historically known to be, directly or indirectly, against Christianity/religion at all. And he actually rewrote world's history to be an eternal battle bettween the ocean powers and the earth powers, for instance, Rome x Carthage; and that now is represented by the USA and its allies and Russia and its allies.The funny thing is that, suddenly both, Putin and Dugin, have become paramount defenders of conservative morale and beliefs; Putin who said that the breakup of the Soviet Union (the most anti-religious State ever) was the greatest geopolitical tragedy of the 20th century; and Dugin, a former Communist himself and cofounder National-Bolchvism.It's all bullshit, Putin is still an Atheist, and so is Dugin; they're just power-hungry warmongers clothed in this massive ideological soup.

[RandR10]

Politicians misrepresenting their true belief system?  What's that you say?!

[John CEFD]

Politicians misrepresenting their true belief system?  What's that you say?!

Yes,  that's obvious; but its amazing how cynical they are. Coming from hardcore communist-atheism to suddenly holding up the flag of "good old religious morale and against western immorality" (even though were the Soviets themselves who butchered their own people like pigs).

[TheAuger]

John CEFD, thanks for the post about Dugin's "Fourth Political Theory" -- I wasn't previously familiar with him or his ideas (manifesto: http://www.4pt.su/en/sections/programs).

 

From just a cursory reading, the "Fourth Theory" is purely/merely neo-fascism (fascism), and I can see why this ideology is popular currently amongst Russia's ruling political elite (KGB and GRU oligarchs who mostly have supplanted the old oligarchic structure).

[John CEFD]

John CEFD, thanks for the post about Dugin's "Fourth Political Theory" -- I wasn't previously familiar with him or his ideas (manifesto: http://www.4pt.su/en/sections/programs).

 

From just a cursory reading, the "Fourth Theory" is purely/merely neo-fascism (fascism), and I can see why this ideology is popular currently amongst Russia's ruling political elite (KGB and GRU oligarchs who mostly have supplanted the old oligarchic structure).

Yes, its pretty much blunt old fascism dressed up in a messed up ideological soup, that serves the old Communist elite, and now the ruling FSB elite, pretty well. It would be really awesome if Stefan makes one "Truth about Aleksandr Dugin" or something related; the only problem is that his political and philosophical thinking is so messed up that it would require some real time and dedication (who better than Stefan, right?). Dugin contradicts himself every 5 pages or so, but it isn't an idea for people who want to grasp how reality works, its a mere ideological propaganda to recruit militants.

 

Wikipedia states this: Dugin is Head of the Department of Sociology of International Relations of Moscow State University. Although he claims to have been fired from this post in early July of 2014, the university claims the offer of a department chairmanship resulted from a technical error but that he remains a professor under contract until September 2014.

 

From what i heard, he was actually fired because he openly said in a web-debate to be in favor of mass-killing of Ukrainian people (probably learned from his old hero Stalin); wheter he's back at Moscow State University or not, i don't know. So we can pretty much see who funds his ideas.

[SFroTS]

Has anyone floated the idea of a "Truth about Aleksandr Dugin" to the FDR-team?

[Flying]

What Putin really stands for is his grip on power and the potential expand of Russia. His ideological background is the Fourth Political Theory; and its founder, Aleksandr Dugin, is also the cofounder of the National-Bolchevism party of Russia; its all in all a grotesque mixture of Fascism, geopolitical Russia-loving and environmental doctrine called Eurasianism. In his debate with brazilian philosopher Olavo de Carvalho, which was turned into a book, he says that the free-market (in his conception embodied in the West, USA, Nato, UN etc.) is destroying religious and conservative beliefs. And says that to, in  sense, save this good old religious morale, its necessary to create a counter-part to American Empire who, according to him, wants to stablish a world-market (lol); that counterpart would be an union of Russia, middle-east and China, the Eurasian union. Even though he openly says in the debate to be a Christian, he despises the classical authors who pretty much were forerunners and founders of Christian thinking (Plato and Aristotle, Aquinas, St. Paul etc.), and apllaud authors historically known to be, directly or indirectly, against Christianity/religion at all. And he actually rewrote world's history to be an eternal battle bettween the ocean powers and the earth powers, for instance, Rome x Carthage; and that now is represented by the USA and its allies and Russia and its allies. The funny thing is that, suddenly both, Putin and Dugin, have become paramount defenders of conservative morale and beliefs; Putin who said that the breakup of the Soviet Union (the most anti-religious State ever) was the greatest geopolitical tragedy of the 20th century; and Dugin, a former Communist himself and cofounder National-Bolchvism. It's all bullshit, Putin is still an Atheist, and so is Dugin; they're just power-hungry warmongers clothed in this massive ideological soup.

 

 

What Putin really stands for is his grip on power and the potential expand of Russia.

 

Obama spends most of his time raising money and campaigning. Is that "standing for his grip on power" too ? That statement makes no sense. And the expanse of Russia.. I am guessing you are taking about Crimea and Syria. Well Russia has always had army bases and internationally recognized treaties in those 2 places. So that is not expansion at all. It is protecting your own interests. Which every country does.

 

says that the free-market (in his conception embodied in the West, USA, Nato, UN etc.) is destroying religious and conservative beliefs.

 

Do you have any evidence that Putin himself said this ? Because he probably said the opposite. He thinks that the west, nato and the US is destroying conservative beliefs. And he is right. You are trying to tie this to something about the "free market when he was saying something about politics. Not markets. Russia has lower taxes then the US. And no net debt. Which makes it more capitalist then most western states and for sure the US.

[Flying]

Yes, its pretty much blunt old fascism dressed up in a messed up ideological soup, that serves the old Communist elite, and now the ruling FSB elite, pretty well. It would be really awesome if Stefan makes one "Truth about Aleksandr Dugin" or something related; the only problem is that his political and philosophical thinking is so messed up that it would require some real time and dedication (who better than Stefan, right?). Dugin contradicts himself every 5 pages or so, but it isn't an idea for people who want to grasp how reality works, its a mere ideological propaganda to recruit militants.

 

Wikipedia states this: Dugin is Head of the Department of Sociology of International Relations of Moscow State University. Although he claims to have been fired from this post in early July of 2014, the university claims the offer of a department chairmanship resulted from a technical error but that he remains a professor under contract until September 2014.

 

From what i heard, he was actually fired because he openly said in a web-debate to be in favor of mass-killing of Ukrainian people (probably learned from his old hero Stalin); wheter he's back at Moscow State University or not, i don't know. So we can pretty much see who funds his ideas.

 

If anything, your post about this Dugin character sure puts to rest the claim that Russian troops are in eastern Ukraine. It even calls into question the claim that Russia is supporting the rebel forces.

 

From Dugin's Wikipedia page:

Dugin stated he was disappointed in Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying that Putin did not aid the pro-Russian insurgents in Ukraine after the Ukrainian Army's early July 2014 offensive.

 

According to Alexander Nevzorov, Dugin and Kurginyan do not have the slightest impact on what is going on in the Kremlin and do not even get coaching there.^[42]

 

He is the Bill kristol of Russian politics.