NATO Preparing Four Battalions for Russia’s Western Border


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It is sometimes difficult to separate the pacifists on the Left who simply do not like or trust the U.S. (including many or most Democrats), and the Isolationists from the Ron Paul camp who don’t want the expense or responsibility that comes with being the worlds only (for now) super-power. The Isolationists would argue that we say we do not want engagement but our actions belie that claim.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that NATO is preparing to deploy four battalions — approximately 4,000 troops — to Russia’s western border. US Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work was in Brussels today to announce the Western military escalation on Russia’s border, which he claimed was in response to Russian military exercises near the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

The US deputy secretary of defense explained in Brussels that the US must send these thousands of troops thousands of miles from the US because Russia is conducting military exercises on its own soil and the US finds that intolerable.

Said Deputy Secretary Work:

The Russians have been doing a lot of snap exercises right up against the borders, with a lot of troops. From our perspective, we could argue this is extraordinarily provocative behavior.

What is not made clear in the article but should not be lost on readers is that “right up against the borders” is still Russian territory. But “right up against the borders” on the other side — where the US military is to be deployed and to conduct exercises — is most definitely not US territory. In other words, the US is traveling thousands of miles to place its troops on Russia’s border in response to Russian troops inside its border.
The author may disagree with U.S. preemptive positioning of troops, but Russia’s Vladimir Putin has made no secret of his designs to recreate the old U.S.S.R., and he has been saber rattling for the last couple of years in order to project power. Russian fighters had been regularly violating Turkish air space as they attacked insurgent forces in Syria, and Turkey ultimately shot down a Russian jet, which was roundly protested by Russia.
As a NATO partner, it could easily have escalated to a greater confrontation, including involvement from the U.S. The question is whether Turkey was justified or Russia deserved the response.
In recent weeks, Russia has been harassing U.S. ocean vessels and aircraft with their own fighter jets, and once again the question is, who is the aggressor and who is the patient victim. At this point it appears that Russia is the problem, but the author of the article might suggest that U.S. vessels and aircraft are operating in too close a proximity to Russia to be blameless.
The end result is that a mistake on the part of either country could lead to significant escalation and even to war. It seems a bad choice, however, to let Putin cow the United States in a global game of chicken.


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