Posted on 06/13/2015 12:46:05 PM PDT by drewh
In a significant move to deter possible Russian aggression in Europe, the Pentagon is poised to store battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and other heavy weapons for as many as 5,000 American troops in several Baltic and Eastern European countries, allied officials say.
The proposal, if approved, would represent the first time since the end of the Cold War that the United States has stationed heavy military equipment in the newer NATO member nations in Eastern Europe that had once been part of the Soviet sphere of influence. Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the war in eastern Ukraine have caused alarm and prompted new military planning in NATO capitals.
It would be the most prominent of a series of moves the United States and NATO have taken to bolster forces in the region and send a clear message of resolve to allies and to Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, that the United States would defend the alliance’s members closest to the Russian frontier.
After the expansion of NATO to include the Baltic nations in 2004, the United States and its allies avoided the permanent stationing of equipment or troops in the east as they sought varying forms of partnership with Russia.
“This is a very meaningful shift in policy,” said James G. Stavridis, the former supreme allied commander of NATO. “It provides a reasonable level of reassurance to jittery allies, although nothing is as good as troops stationed full-time on the ground, of course.”
The amount of equipment included in the planning is small compared with what Russia could bring to bear against the NATO nations on or near its borders, but it would serve as a credible sign of American commitment, acting as a deterrent the way that the Berlin Brigade did after the Berlin Wall crisis in 1961.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
You are an ignorant fool.
You are not the person to be evaluating the quality of our enemy, or of our military.
I hate the faggots Obama and the domestic commies have allowed to infiltrate the American military.
Russia doesn’t allow any, makes them morally superior to us.
And for your information I am not an ignorant fool but a pissed off misanthropic miserable prick.
You just want to express your emotions, your feelings, so you are incapable of making a factual evaluation.
Well, we saw what happened when that was in danger of happening in Cuba. I still remember a few nervous days back then before the Russian ships turned around.
It should be more like 100,000 troops. With full missile defense and forward air capabilities to boot.
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