About 4,000 members of the US Army’s 101st Airborne Division are still deployed in Romania as part of a military buildup in Eastern Europe that President Biden ordered last year, as the Pentagon is still deciding whether to maintain current troop levels.
The New York Times reported Tuesday that some 101st soldiers are stationed at a base near the Romanian city of Constanta on the Black Sea while others are further north, just a few miles from the Ukrainian border, and are simulating fighting Russia in Ukraine.
In exercises with Romanian troops, the Times report said the 101st soldiers are firing artillery, launching helicopter assaults, and digging trenches similar to those on the front lines in Ukraine’s Kherson Oblast.
The deployment marks the first time the 101st has been sent to Europe since World War II.
CBS News reported in October that the 101st was conducting drills within just four miles of the Ukrainian border and that the unit was prepared to “fight tonight.” Commanders told CBS that they were in Romania to protect NATO territory but said they were ready to enter Ukraine if the war escalated.
The Times report stressed that the 101st Airborne deployment was about deterrence. If the US were preparing to enter the war directly, it would likely send significantly more troops. While in Romania, the soldiers are also participating in coastal defense drills, and Romanian troops are practicing firing HIMARS rocket launch systems into the Black Sea.
The military buildup in Eastern Europe has brought US troop levels on the continent to over 100,000 for the first time since 2005. The Pentagon is expected to decide soon if it will maintain the current levels for the long term or reduce or increase them.
The over $100 billion that has been authorized to spend on the war in Ukraine includes money to fund troop deployments in Europe. The latest Ukraine aid bill that was passed by Congress includes $6.98 billion for US European Command, which will likely fund the training of Ukrainian troops, other types of support for Kyiv, and US deployments in the region.
Practice makes perfect….
Forgive my dry cynicism, but for that kind of money you should be able to buy PEACE.
peace sells, but who’s buying?
“They make a wasteland and call it peace.” – Tacitus
That’s why peace is very expensive, Donna.
Peace costs nothing. They can’t take out from budget 800 billions for peace. So, they are not interested n peace.
I appreciate your thoughts Mikhailovich. From my own perspective, human beings have a tendency to tempt the fates… We seem to be on that precipice again and that is what concerns me…
“Simulating War With Russia in Rumania” — In the words of Wanda (of A Fish Called…) to dufus Otto: “was that smart? was it shrewd? was it good tactics? or was it stupid?” Just change “was” to “is.”
Calling them stupid is an insult to stupid people.
Nice. You made me laugh!
In case anybody doesn’t know, just quoting Jamie Lee Curtis there.
I didn’t know and looked her up. Can’t imagine being born in fame but she seems smart. Thanks.
Don’t know if she came up with the line but she definitely owns it.
The MIC is spending our money at a breathtaking level. What is their return on investment? Hmmm?
Complete madness. The USA pretends this is “defense” and cares NOT AT ALL about the people in the USA or anywhere else by trying to destroy Russia while succeeding in ruining the “allies” in the EU. Fix your own “homeland” and become part of the world wanting peace and cooperation.
Deep state will never allow for peace, it is bad for business
I agree and well said.
I can’t think of anybody who has served in the Army who thinks of the 101st or 82 Airbourne divisions as defensive measures. If there they will see combat as Ukraines losses become to great.The time is at hand to end the slaughter and forge peace. Peace is a word that is anathema to the US. Too much money and death are being foistered in Ukraine. The US only cares about money.
The key to understanding the 101st (air assault) or 82nd (airborne) is not “offensive” versus “defensive.”
Their key characteristic is: Mobility for quick deployment across a significant distance.
So the key to whether they see combat is not whether “Ukraine’s losses become too great.” It’s whether US response to any particular situation is a slow buildup or a sudden move of some type. That sudden move could be an actual strike of some kind, or a quick forward deployment as a “tripwire,” such as was done with Rapid Deployment Force units in 1990 — RDF elements got into place quickly and met the Iraqi army as it began its invasion of Saudi Arabia with a “turn back now or it’s your ass” greeting.
The obvious purpose of putting the 101st in Romania is to allow it to be deployed into Ukraine on a moment’s notice. But such a deployment could be anything from trying to seize a Russian position as part of direct US entry in the war, or choppering in to a position along a road to meet advancing Russian troops with “do you really want direct war with the US? If so, slaughter us.”
This move may not have been a negotiating pawn initially but it now is. Like our nukes all over Europe.
Do you think Biden would put boots on the ground in Ukraine?
Do you think that Russia would hesitate to engage them in Ukraine if he did so?
“Do you think Biden would put boots on the ground in Ukraine?”
I’m not sure it’s possible to over-estimate the US regime’s hubris, so I won’t venture a guess.
“Do you think that Russia would hesitate to engage them in Ukraine if he did so?”
I’m not sure it’s possible to over-estimate the Russian regime’s hubris, so I won’t venture a guess.
I wouldn’t put a cap on US empty headed hubris but I would pin Russian resolve at approximately 100%. The danger is that Biden and the neocons may not be capable of grasping such a concept.
Yes, Russian resolve is a factor. But the only thing it likely affects is how many Russian troops die or are maimed, and how much Russian wealth disappears, before Putin declares “victory” with only the LPR/DPR/a land corridor to Crimea — if even that much — to show for his fiasco.
I think as Americans we have to be careful not to project.
I’m a realist, not a projectionist.
I’m a high functioning ne’er do well, but absent nuclear escalation Russia is going to take and hold their demographic.
The realist position is that Russians are screaming for Moscow to take US blood. A lot of it. The Russian people understand that US declared war on them and US will pay the price for its corruption and despicable actions.
The reality is that Washington and the US people deserve what is coming. You started a war in Europe the supreme international crime according to the Hague. The American people are no better than Nazi’s. History will not treat you well.
The realist position is that Russian forces have been trying for ten months to secure the LPR, DPR, and a land corridor to Crimea and thus far have failed to do so.
That doesn’t mean they can’t do it, with great exertion.
But it does mean they’re unlikely to be able to do much else.
As for the Russians screaming for Moscow to take US blood, that screaming would continue for a hot minute after it was heeded, after which much of it would turn into different kinds of screaming. Including, quite possibly, the kind of screaming that Putin would hear as he raced for Sheremetyevo and his plane out of the country.
No the reality is that Putin has been pushing for peace for 8 years. What exactly do you think the Minsk agreements were? Its time to pay the piper…….like Nazi Germany, Nazi America will be destroyed. You collectively made your bed, lie in it. Moscow knows who Washington is and they are not mucking around.
Moscow supported the Minsk agreements as the path to peace, while Merkel, Poroshenko and Hollande have all admitted that the Minsk agreements was a lie that gave them time to militarise Ukraine to attack Russia.
Your comment about the land bridge is complete nonsense just the typical nasty racist bigoted ignorance that spews from you.
How you are a mod at Antiwar is beyond me.
I don’t hate the Russian people at all — let alone as much as you, or as much as Vladimir Putin, hates them. I’m neither ordering them to murder and be murdered, nor cheering on the murder.
I’m not sure what’s “racist” about pointing out that a land corridor connecting LPR/DPR to Crimea is a plausible objective in what so far has proven a massive failure of Russian military might.
Because its a myth. but you state it as fact. As all bigotry and racism is based on myth. True hatred is a religion, facts do not matter.
OK don’t make me defend TK but I think he’s just sincerely underestimating Russian combat potential. Which isn’t to say he couldn’t be nasty, racist, bigoted, and ignorant about something else. I on the other hand think all Russians should be shoved into death camps.
Just stop it with the continual racist hatred. Sunhumans right?
Ah, you’re German.
“What exactly do you think the Minsk agreements were?”
The Minsk agreements were worthless pieces of paper that none of the parties adhered to and that all of the parties used as time-buyers to reinforce their positions.
Again just nonsense, for Moscow this was the path to peace. For 8 years NATO murdered the people of the Donbass, tens of thousands have died. Moscow now accepts that NATO now needs to be disarmed and denazified. The racist bigotry of Nazism is a western construct, one you advance with ignorant hatred for the people of Russia.
Russia currently has approx. 1.2 million reserves currently under arms and building. NATO is now having to send Western tanks etc as all other sources of hardware have been exhausted. You might want to understand that Russia is achieving all its goals.
Crikey DS, on the whole I agree with you but I am a peace activist and I don’t look forward to getting my a– nuked.
The die was cast in 2014, for 8 years Nazi’s shelled the Donbas killing tens of thousands……..The curtain has gone up and the show must go on.
The off ramp was the Minsk agreements, NATO chose war instead. Moscow has stated many times that the US runs NATO and the US is NOT agreement capable.
It is now a slaughter until NATO surrenders.
Yes, Biden or his successor. We’ve seen it all before -“Waist deep in the big muddy …”, “wolf by the ears”, “events in the saddle”, the intrinsic dynamic of escalation, …. Otherwise it would signify the defeat of the Lords of the Earth and their “rules-based liberal world order”, the Washington/Wall st. military/dollar imperium. Both combatants are locked in an existential conflict, the UAF is only one army. As with WWI & II it may have an interbellum but manifest destiny is hard-wired.
Basically a Rapid Deployment Speed Bump with posthumous medals all around. Should’ve read the fine print when they enlisted.
“The military buildup in Eastern Europe has brought US troop levels on the continent to over 100,000 for the first time since 2005. The Pentagon is expected to decide soon if it will maintain the current levels for the long term or reduce or increase them.”
I’m going to go out on a limb here and take a wild guess. Long term and increase.
What about the wars against Iran and China? Can Israel and Japan aligned with Germany pull this off?
Poland and Romania are the next cabs on the rank to fight Russia, Ukraine wont last much longer. Ukraine is winning so hard that more countries need to be pulled in.
The Russian MOD is fighting a very successful war of attrition disarming NATO (Ukraine was disarmed in March), tank by tank, artillery by artillery, air defense by air defense. Poland has called up 200,000 reserves, Ukraine is collapsing and Poland/Romania are now being called up to die for empire. What the empire looses in the Ukraine, they loose for the final NATO war against Russia.
NATO overall has accumulated the following equipment losses;
355 Aircraft, 199 helicopters, 2807 UAV’s, 399 Anti Aircraft systems, 7382 tanks inc. APC’s, 967 multiple rocket launchers, 3768 rocket launchers and 7900 military automotive equipment.
In the past year we have seen the Rules Based Order act in a state of criminal insanity. They blew up the Nord Stream Pipeline which will deindustrialise Europe. The shelling the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Station in an effort to cause a nuclear accident. The planning of a false flag nuclear weapon detonation on their own soil!!! This is the actions of criminally insane psychopaths.
“101st Airborne Still Deployed in Romania Simulating War With Russia Members of the division told CBS in October that they were prepared to enter Ukraine if given the order”
Hyperbolic chest thumping does nothing to defuse this march to Armageddon. If the US army enters Ukraine on the fascist side then tactical nukes just might start to fly on hypersonic missiles which cannot be shot down.
The Second Coming
By William Butler Yeats
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
The threat to put NATO into Ukraine is what started the war.
Actually doing it, even after fighting has started? That is incendiary. The Russians would react with some extreme, given how they have reacted to even the threat.
We can’t pretend it is not really a threat to them, so they won’t see it as a threat. They did and do see it that way. Face it. This move would be like nukes in Cuba, or Russian airborne placed on our Mexican border.
There was no threat of Ukraine entering NATO while they had a border conflict with Russia, so no this could not be the reasoning behind the timing of the SMO. And it was never a question of putting Ukraine in NATO – they could apply but they might still face having their application veto’ed by any current member.
There is no plan for having Ukraine enter NATO while at war with Russia – none.
If we were to allow Ukraine to join NATO while at war with Russia it would be a declaration of war – so not just a threat – at least if article 5 (the justification for NATO) is extended to cover Ukraine.
One minute you are ‘simulating’ war and the next minute you are in it….
illegal.
101st Airborne Still Deployed in Romania Simulating Dirt Nap
Simulating or stimulating?