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US Sending 600 Troops, APCs And Tanks To Countries Bordering Russia To "Reassure Threatened Allies"
Escalation over the Ukraine conflict, a/k/a Cold War 2.0, just took another major step forward. Because here comes the cavalry... literally.
While the world is focused on the first deployment of US marines in Iraq in nearly a decade, as "humanitarian advisors" of course so as not to destroy the Nobel peace prize-winning aura of the US president who is rapidly becoming a warmonger on par with his predecessor, a far more dangerous development took place overnight with nobody noticing, when the Pentagon announced that approximately 600 soldiers from the Army’s 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division will deploy to Poland and the Baltic states to help reassure European allies who feel threatened by Russian military moves. And while most Americans may be geographically challenged, Russians know very well that all of these countries border on Russia. As such this very demonstrative military expansion by NATO powers to "pre-contain" Russian military agression will only lead to one thing: even more "defensive" escalation.
Some more detail on the latest US dispatch of troops in the area now defined by the second coming of the Cold War from Stripes.com:
The troops and their equipment — which include M-1 Abrams tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and armored personnel carriers — will go to Europe in October for a three-month series of training exercises.
The troops will originate out of Fort Hood, Texas (keep this in mind for a post later today) and will replace 600 paratroopers from the Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade. "These land training exercises … help foster interoperability through small unit and leader training," Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said.
In addition to ground forces, the U.S. has also sent F-16 combat aircraft to Poland and participated in NATO air policing missions over the Baltics.
So why is the US sending military reinforcements at a time when every troop movement is scrutinized with a microscope around the globe:
The exercises came at the request of host nations that fear a resurgent Russia, which annexed the Crimea region of Ukraine earlier this year and continues to support a pro-Russia separatist movement in eastern Ukraine.
So to summarize: the countries that are most worried about Russian military aggression, those which by definition border on Russia, have decided to preempt Russia and demand additional US military presence on their territory, believing that the Kremlin will not see this US military build up as one which threatens Russia with even further NATO expansion on its borders. .
Brilliant. Why? Because recall what happened in December 2013 long before the Ukraine semi-hot proxy civil war was raging:
It seems [Putin] had a Plan B in case things escalated out of control, one that fits with what we wrote a few days ago when we reported that "Russia casually announces it will use nukes if attacked." Namely, as Bloomberg reports citing Bild, Russia quietly stationed a double-digit number of SS-26 Stone, aka Iskander, tactical, nuclear-capable short-range missiles near the Polish border in a dramatic escalation to merely verbal threats issued as recently as a year ago.
This comes from an article titled "Russia Stations Tactical, Nuclear-Capable Missiles Along Polish Border", in which we explained how Russia has done precisely this when it stationed a "double-digit" of SS-26 nuclear missiles in Kaliningrad on the border with Poland, over "concerns" what NATO encorachment close to its territory could imply.
And now, NATO appears to have decided to find out just what Russia's response to such an incremental tactical arms build up will be.
One thing is certain: the US response to a fresh contingent of this...
... with a range of this:
Will hardly be wrapped in the tidy, media-friendly package of on ICBM build-up for "humanitarian advisory" purposes...
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Sorry you are behind the curve round here. This was the DSB release, I put it on ZH 8 days ago.
Published August 06, 2014 Associated PressAMSTERDAM – The Dutch Safety Board says its preliminary report into the cause of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 disaster will likely not be released until sometime in September.
Flight 17 was shot down in eastern Ukraine on July 17, killing all 298 people on board, most of them Dutch. The Netherlands is leading an international investigation into the cause of the crash.
Safety Board spokesman Wim van der Weegen said Wednesday that normally under International Civil Aviation Organization rules, a preliminary report is published one month after a crash date. But in this case the difficulty in accessing the crash site amid fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatist rebels has pushed the timeframe back.
"It's a very complicated situation," he said.
THis is more up to date, there is a lot of doubt as to just how much will be in the report.
MOSCOW, August 14 (RIA Novosti) - An initial report on Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash will be released during the first week of September, said Wim van der Weegen, spokesman for the Dutch Safety Board (DSB), cited by Kommersant newspaper Thursday.
Wim van der Weegen told the news outlet that the report would take into account information from various sources, including flight data recorders, information from air traffic controllers, radar and satellite data, as well as the conclusion of international investigators that visited the crash site.
The Dutch Safety Board, which is in charge of victim identification and probing the cause of the disaster, has finished its work in Ukraine, the spokesman said, adding that the analysis of the gathered data will be conducted in the DSB headquarters in The Hague.
http://en.ria.ru/world/20140814/191989219/Dutch-Investigators-to-Release...
Apologies for being behind the curve here. I didn't pick up that the Dutch report wouldn't be released until September till yesterday.
Do some here actually read every post at ZH. And keep up with every important news story?
An astonishing crowd.
My best shot for a reason for the delay was that Kiev and Nuland were trying to provoke Putin into some explosive reaction before the release of the DSB report, which, if realized, would nullify the report if it went against Ukraine.
Obviously the longer the report is delayed, the more time Poroshenko/Nuland have to provoke Putin.
If you put a better explanation than that up on ZH a while ago, I missed that too.
Tell me about it or where to find it, I'd appreciate the education.
Inthemix96: Thank you Chief.
Lets all round down the bullshit. As one we are nothing, as a whole, and I say this again and again.
We are fucking monsterous, we are unstopable, we are fucking legion.
Given enough leverage, we cannot be stopped.
Thats the laws of average, indeed the laws of physics. Ask him, he knows.
Best your ways anyhow mate.
96
Been sayin' this for 3-4 years now. No need to bang pots and pans. No need to drive to DC and march....No need to buy an AR and "stock up" on lead. So much silliness.
All that is bullshit.
Hit 'em where it hurts.
Take a month off from work. Hump yer 'ole lady until her toes curl up. Play ball with your kids, have a block party or three.
Shit will grind to a halt. The DC crowd and the neo-con men will be beggin' u to "just go shopping"
Remember, they make their money off of the skim.
After 3 days, TPTB will offer a 5% discount, and the shopping malls will be flooded with sheeple again.
While I do not claim to be an authority on such matters....
A) Swiss Banks,full of cash,or borrowed cash make numerous mortgages in Poland,
BUT REPAYMENT MUST BE IN SWISS FRANCS.
B) The Polish economy craters and the currency,Zloty,goes down the gurgler. Homeowners have become instantly underwater. Defaults rise as well as 90 days behind (does anyone ever catch up that is three months overdue?). Any MBS written on this is now junk.Any loans using this MBS as collateral are margin called.
This sounds like Euro Subprime to me.
Now we want to saddle the Polish nation with huge arms expenditures?
Taxes,all taxes,will have to go thru the roof to pay for this stuff.Defense equipment sits and rusts when not at the airshow doing loops.
Poland should take a good look at USA's cities before being sucked into Cold War 2.0.
"YOU CAN DO ANYTHING WITH BAYONETS EXCEPT SIT ON THEM".
What this amounts to is someone is panicking (Shitting themselves) over the collapse of the dollar.
It will be interesting to see if the UBER-wealthy actually make it to their moored yachts or hangared learjets in time.
So, how many military bases, soldier training facilities and embassies will the US be building?
'Advisers'.....not Soldiers.
and,... as the Turkey sits and waits?
Obama thinks “modern warfare” involves covert support for proxy armies comprised of Neo Nazis and Islamic extremists. Also thinks that its friends may need a little financila or military 'backbone' to keep them on side.
Putin thinks modern warfare means undermining the enemy’s ability to wage war through sustained attacks on it’s currency, its institutions, its bond market, and its ability to convince its allies that it is a responsible steward of the global economic system.
Wow! Finally a way to tighten up our southern border! Phone the White House and tell them a half dozen or so Russians are trying to get in!
God, now is the time to play the ace of Hearts-not the ace of spades.
We are counting on you. Please.
Didn't the Poles say that they felt they were like granting sexual favors to the US with no signs of appreciation. Well, now they've got the instrument and some vaseline to go with it!!!
Well let's see, doesn't China share a border wiith Russia. Wondering if they are looking for some of that USAA love to keep them warm and fuzzy?
All of those Balkan assholes better ask good ole A-murica to send in plenty of those mummy style army sleeping bags. When it's 20 below in Sophia and the Ruskie gas has been turned off, the natives will pay a high price or freeze.
Yeah, zerohedge knows all.
Obama to the rescue
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF9F5DmRn0I
The idea of America getting involved or jumping into a war in Ukraine would have been hard to imagine a few years ago. As I write this we are funding and encouraging Ukraine to wage war on its own people. This has the potential to escalate. Allowing events to deteriorate into a major war or possibly into what some see as World War III is becoming a reality.
As insane as it appears this could become the final outcome. The location of this as a military confrontation is right in Putin's backyard and this is a strong advantage for Russia. It is silly to think Putin and Russia will back down. This means poking the bear is not a smart move. More on this subject in the article below.
http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2014/04/war-in-ukraine-bad-idea_26.html
How can the USA be so stupid as to push this conflict like this? They take on the Russians in their own back yard and they're going to get their asses KICKED! It might not start out like that but that is sure as shit going to be the end result. Ask Napoleon and Hitler how attacking Russia in their territory went . . .
"I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church. All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit"
- Thomas Paine, that founding father who the good religious folks of the USA want you to not know about.
The USA does not even have diplomats who understand what lays the foundation of the enlightenment. American citizens have no clue as to the ideas that formed the USA.
America's efforts in the middle east certainly have no chance at success if all they are are hollow platitudes praising "democracy" devoid of pluralism and "freedom" without reference to universal human rights.
why would putin do anything rash, america, and the eu are destoying themselves just as fast as anything putin can do.
seems as the line to join the brics is growing also.
all this bs cold war 2.0, there is only 2-3 countries that would pull the trigger with nukes, and america, and russia aren't one of them.
though from past polls there seems to be 250,000,000, more or less islamist, (muslums), that think it's okay to kill as many americans as possible in america, and i'm guessing the eu is in the same category, and there are smaller limited nukes around.
These 600 serve as Handholders and Bait.
It'll be very embarrassing if ISIL nails some of them.
1st cav swtiching out Airborne, with some Tanks - in Poland?
This is a readiness and force projection downgrade.
Anyway, expect shit to be kicked up in Belarus and Azerbaijan and/or Georgia fairly soon. Winter is coming and all that - but not everywhere.
Stupid....how we would whine and squeal like a little girl if Russia sent troops to Cuba, Mexico and Canada
If the Poles are reassured by this, they are dumber than a basket of apples.
In the last several years the United States with all its military power has been unable to defeat even bands of roving diaper heads driving Toyotas.
If Poland needs help they probably should get ahold of ISIS.
While I am getting negative votes I may as well go for gold.
Look at the exercise announcements from before Yanukovich fled.
RUSSIA WAS PART OF THE EXERCISE.
RUSSIA HELPED PLAN IT.
ON WHAT PLANET DOES AN EXERCISE RUSSIA HELPED PLAN CONSTITUTE A THREAT TO RUSSIA????
Go see for yourself.
When you downvote the truth you are voting for rule by tooth and claw.
Unfortunately, those who think themselves tough are usually more bark than bite.
It is the mark of a fool.
The guy who is both willing and able to kill you won't bragg about it first.
You might also want to check your assumptions about this being an exercise 'on Russia's border'.
Poland shares no borders with continental Russia.
They say it is 'on the border of Russia' because Kaliningrad (a.k.a. Konigsberg) borders Poland.
To compare apples to apple is to say that Crimea is Russian much less legitimately than Konigsberg is German.
But the Russian Trolls here are disinterested in using the same yardstick. No. It is one yardstick for Russia, and a different yardstick for everyone else.
That was fast. How tilted will that yardstick be after 60 or 70 years?
Lithuania needs to annex that little bit of "Russia" on the coast.
It was theirs far longer than it's been part of the Russian Empire.