Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is demanding NATO formally explain its plans for a dramatic military build-up in Eastern Europe, saying the moves are cause for alarm.
NATO nations have announced several major buildups in the region over the past week, citing the Russian annexation of Crimea, and Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen insists the alliance will continue to reinforce in the region as part of its “collective defense,” citing Russia’s military exercises near the Ukraine border.
Russian officials insisted the exercises were just training operations, and Russia is free to move troops around inside of its own borders, adding this wasn’t a good pretext for the move.
Several NATO member nations in Eastern Europe have hyped the Russian training as a sign they are planning a full-scale invasion of Europe. Poland in particular is demanding a minimum of 10,000 armored infantry from Western members to shore up its defenses.
Send a couple of trained Dolphin to sort them and blame the disaster on the new Western installed Kiev government.
Just keep poking the bear, geniuses……
"…demanding a minimum of 10,000 armored infantry from Western members…"
Meanwhile, when NATO (US) command requested that NATO members increase their defense budgets, they all pretty much passed. So, it's clear they don't see NATO as a mutual defense league but a US funded/manned substitute for them spending to defend themselves.
Newsflash…we're tired of wars and we're broke though many in the government and the warmonger political parties refuse to understand.
The usual back and forth banter. Putin is playing the innocent. He just can't imagine why any country would want to move troops near to Russia! You'd think Russia had just invaded another country and grabbed a piece of its territory or something terrible like that!
Or that Russia was reacting to a bunch of unelected Naz! thugs backed by the US and EU who took power in a violent coup in the country next door!
You can't make this stuff up, that pours out of the mouth of this moron Michael Kenny, the hateful resident Russophobe of antiwar.com!
He's just an overpaid FedGov bureaucrat who gets his blood pressure into the danger zone thinking about how his country can't get a war started soon enough. Watching him wanker himself at Antiwar.com is funny, though.
I have come to the conclusion that we must inhabit alternative universes, perhaps we should compare notes. This was the sequence of events in my universe:-
1) The US spends $5,000,000,000 dollars subverting the government of Ukraine.
2) The US and NATO openly encourage and help to orchestrate violent demonstrations, while threatening the government with 'consequences' if it uses enough force to disperse them.
3) The Ukrainian government gives in and agrees to May elections and, crucially, to disband the riot police leaving their parliament helpless against what is essentially a right-wing militia.
4) Rather unsurprisingly a violent putsch then takes place and the predominantly self appointed government is immediately 'recognised' by the US/NATO (this is contrary even to US law)
5) One of the very first acts by the self proclaimed Russian-hating 'government' was to ban Russian and other regional languages from official use.
6) Crimea – decidely unenthusiastic about being part of Ukraine in the first place – being predominantly composed of people whose first language is Russian, quite understandably decided that enough was enough. Crimea first declared themselves an independent state then held a referendum to decide whether they should rejoin Ukraine or to apply to become part of the Russian Federation. In my universe they overwhelmingly voted to join the Russian Federation.
Perhaps we should also compare the backcloth in our alternative realities. In my universe:-
1) The US government is strongly influenced by individuals who have openly proclaimed that they mean to militarily dominate the world (Project for the New American Century – Rebuilding Americas Defences)
2) Using a variety of phoney pretexts, the US and NATO have attacked and essentially destroyed several countries whose only crime was essentially having a government they (US/NATO) did not approve of.
3) Contrary to agreements US/NATO have expanded their influence in Eastern Europe and are currently building up the components of a 'disarming nuclear first strike' against both Russia and China.
Presumably in your universe many things have unfolded differently.
Come on Kenny stop the lies you do know better
Apart from a move by any NATO member Turkey I doubt any proactive aggression against Russia’s borders would amount to zilch
Its amusing Poland is essentially asking for a US military build up only NATO member Turkey could bring any worth out of NATO