Posted on 06/14/2018 4:48:10 PM PDT by Mariner
OSLO (Reuters) - Russia vowed on Thursday to retaliate for a plan by Norway to more than double the number of U.S. Marines stationed there.
Oslo announced on Tuesday that it would ask the United States, its NATO ally, to send 700 Marines to train in Norway from 2019, against 330 at present, and said the additional troops would be based closer to the Russian border.
"This makes Norway less predictable and could cause growing tensions, triggering an arms race and destabilizing the situation in northern Europe," the Russian Embassy said in a statement on its Facebook page.
"We see it as clearly unfriendly, and it will not remain free of consequence."
Oslo has grown increasingly concerned about Russia since Moscow annexed of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, while adding that it does not regard its much larger neighbor as a direct threat.
The U.S. Marines were scheduled to leave at the end of this year after an initial contingent arrived in January 2017 to train for winter conditions. They are the first foreign troops to be stationed in Norway since World War Two.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Roger that. I hate to burst bubbles, but I was stationed in Oslo from 85-89. We had an Air Base Squadron located there which supported HQ AFNORTH, a NATO base at Kolsaas. We provided all base services. But, of course, we weren’t permitted to show the flag, and we weren’t permitted to have any signs, to maintain the fiction of Norway’s no-basing policy. The funny thing was, when you climbed into a cab and asked to go to the US Element, all the cabbies knew where we were.
The Marines exercised in Norway during my time there. We have bilateral agreements with a lot of our NATO allies. In Norway’s case, they’ve allowed the pre-positioning of war materiel at various points throughout the country. The concept is we fly our Marines in and marry them to the war materiel if the balloon goes up.
There has not been a permanent deployment of any troops to Norway since WWII.
As for guarding the Sea Lanes of Communication...specifically the exit from Russia’s Murmansk...that is a task for naval and air forces and Marines and/or Army forces would have no role in that.
As for the mutual defense treaty (NATO), Norway does not honor it.
>As for the mutual defense treaty (NATO), Norway does not honor it.
Norway was in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
“Norway was in both Afghanistan and Iraq.”
Running the mess hall and cleaning toilets.
Norway is bound to spend 2% of GDP on defense, as a minimum.
They spend 1.2 - 1.4%.
They are in violation and therefore do not honor their treaty commitments.
Agree that this is a problem. They’ve managed to get it to 1.6% last year though and are keen to meet 2% by 2024 as agreed in the Wales summit 4 years ago. Norway also has conscription so some things they do for military won’t appear as lines in budget.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.