NATO chief eyes more bases in E. Europe to confront Russia

NATO chief eyes more bases in E. Europe to confront Russia

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NATO chief eyes more bases in Eastern Europe to confront Russia

… from  Russia Today,  Moscow

 

NATO is going “cowboy” all the way, and endangering us all.

[ Editor's note:  NATO continues its psychological operation of inventing a non-existent Russian threat as a smokescreen for hustling the funding from hard-pressed economies to expand its basing system eastward to Russia.

This is a blatant aggression move in peace time, designed to encourage the likelihood of hostilities to prove itself right. But we live in the era of the false flag, including nuclear ones, which can create any needed event to justify a major military response.

The past year of Iran nuclear negotiations has confirmed the full decade we were hoaxed on the Iran nuclear threat. Our military was onboard this all the way. The Israelis rode for two decades claiming endlessly that the Mullahs were two years away from "da bomb".

But the IAEA and the Sandia Labs post-911 report confirmed that our major national security threat emanated right here, with a huge breach of nuclear security where the old Davy Crockett tactical nuclear warhead inventory was removed from storage, partially due to an inventory accountability system that was designed for just that purpose, and passed out like party favors. Gordon Duff's  Press TV Viewpoints article today tells the whole sad story.

The political blowback that is bubbling up now due to the sanctions wars, which were all orchestrated to create a dangerous climate and lots of  Westerners angry at Russia, is having some effect. Over the past week, we have seen many top European politicians and businessmen speaking out on the recklessness of that policy. But we will have to see if that anger crosses over to NATO, who also has been a driving engine in the anti-Russian propaganda, and one with no direct accountability to the people it claims to protect.

The public is basically along for the ride, because when it comes to footing the NATO bill, there is one country that mainly pays the bill -- the US. The Libyan War showed NATO running out of ammo during a "No fly zone" mission, and US stores making up the difference.

Europeans, with their long history of war and destruction at the hands of their elites, engaged in commercial wars to benefit their upper classes. We have to get real about the danger of an expanding NATO on trumped-up threat charges.

After the Kiev coupmeisters, NATO comes in second in the race for the most unsubstantiated bogus claims made, and also number two in being guilty of violating the Nuremberg precedent of waging an aggressive war, which is what we see it doing, clear as day. If we don't rein the NATO-meisters in, we are going to pay for it dearly... Jim W. Dean ]

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-  First published  …  August 27,  2014  -

 

NATO becomes a national security risk to everybody

Under the pretext of an ‘overt’ Russian threat, NATO is pushing for a ‘readiness action plan’ that will bring the Cold War military bloc closer to Russian borders than ever – even despite objections from some NATO members.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the 28-nation  military bloc, which meets next week in Cardiff, Wales, would  attempt to overcome internal opposition and agree to the  deployment of military bases near the Russian border.

Amid the ongoing Ukrainian conflict, which is fracturing the  country along east-west ideological lines, NATO is preparing to  install for the first time military “reception  facilities” in Eastern European countries, including Poland  and the three Baltic countries: Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia.

“We have something already called the NATO response force,  whose purpose is to be able to be deployed rapidly if  needed,” Rasmussen said in an interview with several  European newspapers. “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, according to the NATO chief, is that there will  be “a more visible NATO presence in the east.”

Asked whether there would be permanent NATO presence in Eastern  Europe, he 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, whose term expires on September 30, said the new NATO  forces in Eastern Europe could be “deployed within  hours.”

Needless to say, NATO’s militarization of the region will not sit  well with Moscow, which has watched with increasing alarm since  the collapse of the Soviet Union – despite pledges from the  Western military bloc not to expand further east – as NATO  continues its march towards Russia’s western border.

Currently, the Polish port city of Szczecin, which military  experts anticipate will serve as one of NATO’s new“reception  facilities,” represents NATO’s easternmost military  presence. Ironically, NATO’s latest enlargement plans are being opposed not  just by Russia, but by its very members, some of whom do not see  the point in aggravating tensions with Moscow.

It should come as no surprise that the United States and the  United Kingdom, distant as they are from any potential fireworks  on the European-Russian border, favor a military escalation in  Eastern Europe. Other major NATO members, however, including  France, Spain and Italy, have expressed serious reservations to  the plans.

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Rasmussen is despised in the Intel community as a political hack

Meanwhile, Germany, NATO’s second strongest member, remains  uncommitted to the expansion plans.This should come as no surprise considering the recent  deterioration in relations between Washington and Berlin.

Germany was forced to take a critical new look at its powerful  American partner following Edward Snowden’s shocking NSA  revelations, which showed massive US and UK spying on German  citizens. Even Chancellor Angela Merkel’s personal mobile phone  was caught up in the international surveillance net.

Remarkably, Rasmussen asserted that Russia “does not consider  NATO a partner,” when it was NATO that flat-out refused  Russian participation in the controversial US missile defense  system, also planned for Eastern Europe. Such cooperation, had it  been given the green light, would have sealed the so-called reset  between the two Cold War-era foes, bringing to end years of  mutual suspicion and antagonism. Instead, the US and NATO opted  to keep Russia on the sidelines, ensuring nothing less than  another full-blown arms race.

Speaking on the subject of Crimea’s decision to hold a referendum  to join the Russian Federation under the threat of military  attack by pro-Kiev forces, Rasmussen commented that “nobody  had expected Russia to grab land by force.”

At the same time, the outgoing NATO chief reiterated claims –   surprisingly without providing any sort of unassailable proof, in  this age of advanced surveillance equipment – that Russia is  actively participating in the Ukrainian upheaval.

“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 destabilizing  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,” Rasmussen was  quoted as saying.

NATO officials, however, have admitted their intelligence is not  perfect.  “We can only watch from 23 miles (37km) up,” one  official told the Guardian.

Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko is to attend the NATO  summit, where the 28-member bloc has prepared four ‘trust funds’   to finance Ukraine’s military logistics, command structures, and  cyber defense forces, and to pay overdue military pensions.

Yet somehow Rasmussen was able to say of Russia’s embattled  neighbor.

“Ukraine follows its own path…It is actually what we will decide to do at the summit, to help them build the capacity of their security sector, modernize it,” he said.

Meanwhile, it looks as if Rasmussen will be passing around the  proverbial hat during next week’s summit, looking to collect more  money from NATO members, even as their own countries are facing  economic turmoil amid IMF-enforced austerity measures.

“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 the NATO chief.

It will be interesting to see how many member states take up this  latest challenge, which threatens to ratchet up European-Russian  tensions to levels not seen since the Cold War.

Meanwhile, there is no question as to how Russia views NATO’s  relentless eastward encroachment.

“No matter what our Western counterparts tell us, we can see  what’s going on,” President Putin said in July at an  emergency Security Council meeting in Moscow. “As it stands,  NATO is blatantly building up its forces in Eastern Europe,  including the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea areas. Its operational  and combat training activities are gaining in scale.”

Putin stated that NATO’s military build-up near Russia’s border,  which includes the US-built missile defense system, is not just  for defensive purposes, but is an “offensive weapon” and  an “element of the US offensive system deployed outside the  mainland.”

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2014/08/27/nato-chief-eyes-more-bases-in-e-europe-to-confront-russia/