Zephyr Net

Freedom of speech by CAG Hotshot...

Technically the Freedom of Speech only applies to the government's inability to restrict one's freedom of speech. If it were absolute people wouldn't lose their jobs and face boycotts over minor indiscretions in speeches. Even the USSC has upheld that while burning the flag is protected as "freedom of speech," your private company can fire you for something to write on Facebook. This very important limitation to the First Amendment is precisely what the left in our country enjoys whenever something offends their teensy, weensy feelings.

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- Expandable and always more expensive, NATO is spreading across Europe -

Working like machines programmed from their creation, the administrations of NATO and the EU are pursuing their project free from all political control. The military and civil bureaucracies born of the US occupation of Western Europe are bent on defending the interests of the transnational élite without paying any attention to the wish of the People.


The European Commission and the General Secretariat of NATO imposed the signature of a Joint Declaration before the opening of the summit of the heads of State and governments. Their intent was to lock down the system they manage in order to prevent the elected members from calling it to question.


The NATO summit for the heads of State and governments of the 29 member nations was held in Brussels on 11 and 12 July - in first place, US President Donald Trump, who, only a few days ago, asked the allies to increase the defence of the Atlantic, otherwise, he would « lose patience ». The summit confirms, at the very highest level, the rise in power of the command structure, mainly in its anti-Russian function. There is to be a new Joint Command for the Atlantic at Norfolk USA, to counter the « Russian submarines which are a threat to the lines of maritime communication between the United States and Europe », and a new Logistical Command, at Ulm in Germany, as an anti-Russian « dissuasion », with the mission of « moving troops more quickly across Europe in times of conflict ».

By 2020, NATO will have in Europe 30 mechanised battalions, 30 aerial squadrons and 30 combat ships, deployable in 30 days or less against Russia. President Trump will therefore have stronger cards in his hand at the Bilateral Summit with Russian President Putin, which will be held on 16 July in Helsinki. Whatever the US President presents at the negotiating table, it will profoundly affect the situation in Europe.

NATO – which was created in 1949, six years before the Warsaw Pact, formally on the basis of the principle established in Article 5 – has been transformed into an alliance which, on the basis of the « new strategic concept », engages its member nations to « carry out punitive responses to crises which are not provided for in Article 5, outside of the territory of the Alliance ». On the basis of the new geostrategic concept, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation has spread as far as the Afghan mountains, where NATO has been at war for 15 years.

What has not changed in the mutation of NATO is the hierarchy within the Alliance. It is always the US President who nominates the Supreme Allied Commander for Europe (« SACEUR »), who is always a US general, while the allies do nothing more than approve the choice. The same thing is true for the other key commands. US supremacy has been reinforced with the expansion of NATO, because the Eastern countries are more closely linked to Washington than to Brussels.

Even the Treaty of Maastricht, in 1992, established the subordination of the European Union to NATO, of which 22 of the 28 countries of the EU are members (with Great Britain on its way out of the Union). It stipulates, in Article 42, that “« the Union respects the obligations of certain member states, who are aware that their common defence is guaranteed by NATO, in the context of the North Atlantic Treaty ». And protocol n°10, concerning the cooperation instituted by Article 42, points out that NATO « remains the foundation of the defence » of the European Union.

The Joint Declaration on the cooperation between NATO and the EU, signed yesterday in Brussels on the eve of the Summit, confirms this subordination: « NATO will continue to play its unique and essential role as the cornerstone of the common defence for all the allies, and the efforts of the EU will also strengthen NATO » [1]. The Permanent Structured Cooperation (« PESCO ») and the European Defence Fund, noted Secretary General Stoltenberg, « are complementary, not alternative to NATO ». « Military mobility » is at the centre of the cooperation between NATO and the EU, guaranteed by the Joint Declaration. The « maritime cooperation between NATO and the EU in the Mediterranean is also important in order to fight the traffic of migrants and alleviate human suffering ».

NATO’s reach now extends well beyond Europe, which has a series of partners linked to the Alliance by several varied programmes of military cooperation. Amongst the twenty which enter into the Euro-Atlantic Partnership are Austria, Finland and Sweden. The Mediterranean partnership includes Israël and Jordan, which have official permanent missions at NATO headquarters in Brussels, as well as Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania. The Gulf partnership includes Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE, which have permanent missions in Brussels, plus Bahreïn. NATO also have nine « World Partners » in Asia, Oceania and Latin America - Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Mongolia, South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Colombia – some of whom « actively contribute to NATO’s military operations ».

Under pressure from the USA, the European allies and Canada have increased their military spending by 87 billion dollars since 2014. Despite that, President Trump will bang on the table at the Summit, castigating the allies because, all counted together, they are spending less than the United States. « All the allies are in the process of increasing their military spending », assures NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

The countries which dedicate at least 2% of their GNP to military spending numbered three in 2014 and eight in 2018. We can therefore estimate that between today and 2024, the European allies and Canada will be increasing their military spending by 266 billion dollars, bringing NATO’s total military expenditure to more than 1,000 billion dollars annually. In 2019, Germany will increase its military spending to an average of 114 million Euros per day, and plans to increase it by 80% between today and 2024. Italy has already agreed to increase its spending from the current 70 million Euros per day to about 100 million Euros per day. As required by the organisation which, in the government programme « contract » between the 5 Star Movement and the Ligue, is defined as the « privileged ally of Italy ».
Manlio Dinucci

Translation
Pete Kimberley

Source
Il Manifesto (Italy)

[1] “Joint Declaration on EU-NATO Cooperation”, Voltaire Network, 10 July 2018 (http://www.voltairenet.org/article201945.html).

From : http://www.voltairenet.org/article202011.html

- “The Art of War”
The warmonger’s response to negotiation -

The conflict between transnational financial capitalism and productive national capitalism has entered into a paroxystic phase. On one side, Presidents Trump and Putin are negotiating the joint defence of their national interests. On the other, the major daily newspaper for the US and the world is accusing the US President of high treason, while the armed forces of the US and NATO are preparing for war with Russia and China.



You have attacked our democracy. Your well-worn gamblers’ denials do not interest us. If you continue with this attitude, we will consider it an act of war.» This is what Trump should have said to Putin at the Helsinki Summit, in the opinion of famous New York Times editorialist Thomas Friedman, published in La Repubblica. He went on to accuse the Russian President of having «attacked NATO, a fundamental pillar of international security, destabilised Europe, and bombed thousands of Syrian refugees, causing them to seek refuge in Europe.»

He then accused the President of the United States of having « repudiated his oath on the Constitution » and of being an « asset of Russian Intelligence » or at least playing at being one.

What Friedman expressed in these provocative terms corresponds to the position of a powerful internal and international front (of which the New York Times is an important mouthpiece) opposed to USA-Russia negotiations, which should continue with the invitation of Putin to the White House. But there is a substantial difference.

While the negotiations have not yet borne fruit, opposition to the negotiations has been expressed not only in words, but especially in facts.

Cancelling out the climate of détente at the Helsinki Summit, the planetary warmongering system of the United States is in the process of intensifying the preparations for a war reaching from the Atlantic to the Pacific:

- After the landing of an US armoured brigade in Anvers, totalling a hundred tanks and a thousand military vehicles, a US aerial brigade landed in Rotterdam with sixty attack helicopters. These forces and others, all of them USA/NATO, are deployed along the borders of Russian territory, in the framework of operation Atlantic Resolve, launched in 2014 against « Russian aggression. » In its anti-Russian function, Poland asked for the permanent presence of an armoured US unit on its own territory, offering to pay between 1.5 - 2 billion dollars per year.

- At the same time, NATO is intensifying the training and armament of troops in Georgia and Ukraine, candidates for entry into membership of the Alliance on the frontiers with Russia.

- Meanwhile, the US Congress received with all honours Adriy Parubiy, founder of the National-Social Party (on the model of Adolf Hitler’s National-Socialist Party), head of the neo-Nazi paramilitary formations employed by NATO in the Maïdan Square putsch.

- NATO command in Lago Patria (JFC Naples) – under the orders of US Admiral James Foggo, who also commands the US naval forces in Europe and those in Africa – is working busily to organise the grand-scale exercise Trident Juncture 18, in which will participate 40,000 military personnel, 130 aircraft and 70 ships from more than 30 countries including Sweden and Finland, which are NATO partners. The exercise, which will take place in October in Norway and the adjacent seas, will simulate a scenario of « collective defence » - naturally enough, against « Russian aggression. »

- In the Pacific, the major naval exercise RIMPAC 2018 (27 June to 2 August) is in full swing - organised and directed by USINDOPACOM, the US Command which covers the Indian and Pacific oceans – with the participation of 25,000 sailors and marines, more than 50 ships and 200 war-planes.

The exercise – in which France, Germany and the United Kingdom are also participating – is clearly directed against China, which Admiral Phil Davidson, commander of USINDOPACOM, defines as a «major rival power which is eroding the international order in order to reduce the access of the USA to the region and thus become hegemonic.»

When Trump meets Chinese President Xi Jinping, Friedman will no doubt accuse him of connivance not only with the Russian enemy, but also with the Chinese enemy.
Manlio Dinucci

Translation
Pete Kimberley

Source
Il Manifesto (Italy)

From : http://www.voltairenet.org/article202168.html

Real source... mlad's ass...

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- Who Is Instigating Hot War Between NATO And Russia? -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsMrdd0I9S8


Over the past few months NATO member states have sharply increased their pressure on Russia. The Euro-Atlantic establishment is strengthening the image of Russia as a fierce enemy. It is very useful to have such a foe to justify your own reckless foreign and domestic policy.

The situation has already led to a recognizable deterioration of the relations between the two sides undermining problem-solving mechanisms, like the UN Security Council or the OPCW.

The most alarming result of these actions is a growing military escalation between NATO and Russia in the Black Sea region and in Eastern Europe overall. NATO member states have increased their airspace activity and the number of ground military exercises near Russia’s border.

A notable development of this escalation happened on August 23 when British jets launched from the Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base near the Romanian city of Constanta aiming to intercept a Russian Be-12 maritime patrol aircraft heading over the Black Sea from Crimea. Earlier, on August 21, two British Typhoon jets from the same Romanian air base scrambled to intercept two alleged Russian Su-30 flanker aircraft launched from Crimea. On August 13, British jets intercepted Russian Su-24 warplanes over the Black Sea.

According to the British side, these interceptions were carried out “to deter Russian aggression” in the framework of “the NATO Enhanced Air Policing (EAP) mission”. In all these cases, the Russian jets were far away from any part of what could be described as NATO airspace. On August 25, the Russian embassy in the UK described these actions as “reckless and provocative”.

Meanwhile, multiple NATO exercises took place in Poland and the Baltic States in close proximity to the Russian border. During summer 2018, the most notable of these were:

* Saber Strike 18 took place in Poland and the Baltic States and involved 18,000 troops from 19 countries.
* Swift Response 2018 was staged across Germany, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia and involved thousands of soldiers from 10 different states.
* The naval drill Baltic Operations 2018 involved about 5,000 personnel, 60 aircraft and 42 ships and a submarine from 22 nations.

Additionally, NATO member states, led by the US and the UK, are carrying out a large-scale anti-Russian propaganda campaign accusing Russia of provocations – for example patrols in neutral airspace over the Black Sea, employing “chemical weapons” in Europe – the Salisbury and Amesbury cases, and intervening into European and US internal politics by various means. In the framework of this narrative, Russian military drills, which it carries out within its own territory, are described as signs of aggressive and obstructive behavior. All attempts by the Russian side to appeal to the voice of reason are denounced by the Euro-Atlantic diplomats and the MSM as propaganda.

Furthermore, the MSM and the NATO leadership are consistently fueling military hysteria among servicemen of the military bloc’s member states. According to experts, the current level of anti-Russian propaganda has reached that of the hottest days of the Cold War and in some cases even exceeded it.

The current tense situation as well as continued attempts by NATO member states to pressure Russia by military means contribute to the increased probability of incidents involving the two sides. In a worst-case scenario, these military incidents could lead to deaths on both sides, local hostilities and, if a de-escalation mechanism is not developed, to an open conflict.

This approach poses a direct security threat to Eastern Europe nations unwittingly involved in this dangerous game.

Another important fact is that recently Russia has changed its military doctrine. Earlier, the Russian military doctrine, as well as the Soviet one, was to allow the use of nuclear weapons only in response to an aggressive attack by nuclear strike carried out by the enemy. The modern Russian military doctrine allows the use of nuclear weapons as a defensive measure in case of a conventional attack on its territory.

Russia has the world’s second most powerful military, but its ground forces are still outmatched by the combined ground forces of NATO. This factor also contributes to the possibility of a nuclear response by Russia if a fully-fledged war starts. The question appears to be what do the US and British elites hope to achieve by fueling anti-Russian militarism?

Could it be that their goal is to provoke a big regional conflict in continental Europe? Indeed, this would allow them to achieve several goals. On the one hand, they would draw Moscow into a large-scale conflict far away from their own borders and put Russia in a situation where it could suffer irreparable damage. On the other hand, the same kind of irreversible damage would be caused to the continental industrial complex and the European economy in general.

From : https://southfront.org/who-instigating-hot-war-between-nato-and-russia/

- Eight NATO Air Forces to Fly to Ukraine for Massive Drill - 03:51 20.09.2018





Soldiers from eight foreign militaries, including the US, will converge on Ukraine next month for the country’s largest aviation exercise yet.

Starokostiantyniv Air Base, about 150 miles southwest of the capital of Kiev, will play host to some 950 personnel from the United States, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and the United Kingdom as they engage in the Clear Sky multinational exercise, Stars and Stripes reported Wednesday.

The Clear Sky exercises will train soldiers in air sovereignty, air interdiction, air-to-ground integration, air mobility operations, aeromedical evaluation, cyberdefense and personnel recovery, Stars and Stripes reported.

The announcement comes on the heels of the Ukrainian government announcing it would open a new military base on the Sea of Azov, a shallow body of water straddled by Russia's Rostov, Krasnodar and Crimea regions, but most of the north coast of which belongs to Ukraine.

US President Donald Trump's special envoy to Ukraine, Kurt Volker, told the media Tuesday that "wherever" gaps in the Ukrainian military's capabilities exist, the US is "prepared to sit down and talk with Ukraine about what their needs are. They can buy things through our foreign military sales," Sputnik reported.

Ukraine isn't a NATO member but has expressed interest in joining the alliance, which has slowly pushed eastward in the decades since the end of socialism in Eastern Europe. Ukraine's interest has grown in NATO since 2014, when a right-wing, pro-Western government was brought to power after pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych walked away from a trade proposal with the European Union in favor of a Russian alternative agreement.

Late last month, US National Security Adviser John Bolton, returning from a trip to Kiev, told Reuters that Ukraine had made progress in its efforts to join NATO, but it still had work to do.

Bolton told reporters that it was dangerous not to resolve the Ukraine crisis, referring to the Crimean Republic's 2014 vote to join Russia and the continued independence of cities in the Donets Basin.

From : https://sputniknews.com/military/201809201068183728-Eight-NATO-Air-Forces-Ukraine-Drill/

This is what I really love about this site... I dont have to see mlad's trash posts!

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US Air Force F-15C filmed over Ukraine (video) 16:53 10.10.2018 (updated 16:57 10.10.2018)



The Ukrainian Air Force has released a video showing the flight of an American F-15C over the country as part of international maneuvers.

Since October 8, Ukraine has been hosting the 2018 Clear Sky multinational air exercises involving the US Air Force 's fourth - generation fighter, F - 15C.

The Ukrainian Air Force has published images of the fly of an F-15C on its Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/kpszsu/videos/174414830109893/

"Ukrainian and American pilots make spots in the sky over the Khmelnytsky region," says the caption that accompanies the video.

On the recording, we see F-15C, Su-27, MiG-29, Su-25, Su-24 and L-39 cameras.

Maneuvers involving several NATO nations, including the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Estonia, Belgium and Romania, will continue until 19 October in the Ukrainian regions of Khmelnytsky. and Vinnytsia.

At the same time, large-scale exercises are planned in the Azov Sea, some of which must be closed during the period from 9 to 12 October.

US Mk-41 system deployment in Romania, Poland violates INF Treaty

By Jim W. Dean, Managing Editor -
October 10, 2018



…from Sputnik News, Moscow

[ Editor’s Note: Veterans Today has consistently reported that the US has been doing exactly what it has been accusing Russia of, violating agreements, which then justifies the US giving itself retroactive approval for having done so, pretending it is a reaction to “Russian aggression”.

When you are up against a 12 to 1 military superiority adversary, aggression is never in your game book, but defense and mutually assured destruction is, as that is all you are capable of doing.

This obvious fact is never mentioned in US corporate media, or in any think tank analysis we have seen. So we have to ask what is driving the phony war hype; and all we can come up with is it is an organized crime act to make huge amounts of money on top of what the hoodlums already have.

When the US put these Aegis system launchers into Romania with their powerful radars that can see deep into Russia, the Pentagon rolled out the cover story that they were only armed with kinetic energy missile warheads and hence were “defensive”. The lie was not to fool Russia but the American people. We have trouble watching the US military command lie to the American people.

Putin countered, correctly, that those missiles could be swapped out for cruise missiles in a matter of a few hours. VT added at the time that they also could be armed with mini-nuke war heads to be used in a preemptive strike. Eventually we will see hypersonic missiles, where the term “hair trigger” will no longer be an exaggeration.

It will create a situation where once such missiles were fired at Russia, it would have to make a quick decision to fire everything it had at all NATO bases and any other threatening bases within range while it still had the missiles in place to do so, before they were destroyed.

We got the usual zero response at the time, and also no one attacking us, as that would have given us more attention. The US and NATO game plan has been to get as close to the borders of Russia and China with as much military power as possible, a gun pointed right at their heads.

This is not defense. It is aggression. The American people are asleep at the wheel in terms of doing anything about it, and hence will deserve to have the debt piled up on them for their oversight. We sadly will not be innocent victims, I am sorry to say… Jim W. Dean ]



– First published … October 10, 2018 –

The United States started deploying Aegis Ashore missile defense systems, as well as MK-41 Vertical Launching Systems tubes that could be used to launch intermediate-range cruise missiles in Europe in June, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Deployment of the US Mk-41 launching systems in Romania and Poland contradicts the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, Vladimir Ermakov, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department for Nonproliferation and Arms Control, stated.

“There are also serious questions regarding the actions of our American colleagues that are contrary to the INF Treaty, including the ground-based deployment of universal Mk-41 launchers in Romania and Poland,” said Head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department for Nonproliferation and Arms Control Vladimir Ermakov during a general debate in the First Committee of the UN General Assembly.

He noted that Russia as a responsible and consistent supporter of the nuclear disarmament process for over 50 years has made a large-scale contribution to the reduction of strategic offensive weapons, and on February 5, 2018, Russia reached the maximum levels of carriers and warheads under the Russian-American START Treaty, as a result of which Russia’s nuclear arsenal has been reduced by more than 85% compared to the peak of the Cold War.

In May, US President Donald Trump accused Russia of allegedly violating the INF Treaty and ordered US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to propose new sanctions against Russia in connection with these breaches. The Kremlin responded by saying that Russia had never violated the agreement.

The INF Treaty, which the Soviet Union and the United States signed in December 1987, requires the parties to eliminate all of their nuclear and conventional missiles and their launchers with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometers (311 to 3,417 miles). Russia and the United States have repeatedly accused each other of violating the INF Treaty.

From : https://www.veteranstoday.com/2018/10/10/us-mk-41-system-deployment-in-romania-poland-violates-inf-treaty/

More Bullshit from the Bullshit artist... mlad go blow yourself. You are such an asshole.

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As says a famous proverb of the Middle East:

"The dogs bark, the caravan passes."

Trident Juncture 2018 Is About to Kick Off: NATO’s Big War Games Near Russia’s Borders Never End


The NATO-led Trident Juncture 2018 (TRJE18) exercise that is to be held in October and November is the largest massive and coordinated show of force since the Cold War. It will primarily be hosted by Norway. The training event will largely take place in the central and eastern parts of this Nordic country that neighbors Russia, as well as over the skies and in the seas of Sweden and Finland. The maritime component will be conducted in the surrounding areas of the North Atlantic and in the Baltic Sea. TRJE18-related activities will take place as far away as Iceland. Russia has been invited to send observers to watch the exercise.

Actually, TRJE18 consists of three parts. The deployment phase has been underway since August. A live field exercise will be held from October 25 to November 7 with six brigades fighting each other right in the heart of Norway. A command post training event will be conducted from November 13 to November 24.

The drill will involve 45,000 participants from over 30 nations, including 10,000 rolling or tracked vehicles, 150 aircraft, and 60 ships. The main goal is to test the ability of NATO’s new Response Force to rapidly deploy. Norway will evaluate its ability to receive and handle reinforcements sent by its allies.

There are 700 US Marines stationed in Norway. That’s not a huge force, but as Adm. James Foggo, who heads all US naval forces in Europe and Africa and commands the Allied Joint Force Command in Naples put it, “that’s 300 Marines today. 3,000 Marines tomorrow.” The American pre-positioned forward storage sites in Norway, a complex of caves, have been upgraded to store weapons and equipment for roughly 15,000 Marines. That Scandinavian country has become the source of a threat to Russia’s national security.

The Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group is also taking part. The aircraft carrier returned to its home base in Norfolk in July following a three-month deployment. It was back in Europe in mid-September. Normally, US carrier groups operate according to a standard seven-month cycle. Now they are being shifted to “dynamic force employment” in order to improve flexibility.

Finland will contribute significantly to this exercise that is based on a simulated Article 5 scenario, with its troops operating in their home region, in Sweden and Norway. It will also lead and host the naval exercise Northern Coasts 18 (NOCO18) in the Baltic Sea, which is linked to Trident Juncture. Finland is sending about 2,000 troops to TRJE18. The size of that force is comparable to the contributions made by leading NATO members. For example, Germany is sending 4,000 troops, the UK — 3,500 troops, France – 3,000, Canada — 2,000, Denmark — 1,000, Italy — 1,500, Spain — 1,000, and the Netherlands — 1,500. The US contribution will be 12,000 soldiers, and the primary host is sending 6,500 servicemen. There were only about 160 Finnish troops participating in the last Trident Juncture held in 2015. Three years ago, the drill was held in southern, not northern Europe.

Sweden, another non-NATO active participant, is sending about 2,200 troops, along with four Gripen fighters that will be based in Norway. Before the TRJE kicks off, US, Swedish, and Finnish forces will conduct their own exercises in Sweden. Both Finland and Sweden participate in NATO’s Response Force.

Until now, both Scandinavian nations have shied away from holding Article 5 exercises. The Trident Juncture 2018 is a drastic shift in that policy, which is being carefully evaluated by Russia.

At an unofficial level, Sweden and Finland have already joined NATO through other groups and agreements, such as their trilateral cooperation with the US. The militarization of Norway, as well as all of the Scandinavian Peninsula and the Baltic states is being perceived by Russia as a provocation and a threat that demands a response. The Baltic states continue to request an increased military presence on their soil. NATO is stockpiling weapons, military equipment, and ammunition in the Baltic region and Poland.

There is a backstory to the Trident Juncture 2018 exercise. In early October, US Envoy to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchinson said Russia had been put on “short notice,” due to its alleged violations of the 1987 Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty. She warned that the US might "take out the missiles" before they could be deployed if Russia did not back down.

This year, NATO has already coordinated approximately 100 exercises, 20% more than during the same period in 2017. Poland will invite NATO members and partners for another large-scale, officially “national” exercise, Anaconda 2018, which will be held at roughly the same time as some smaller NATO drills, such as Citadel Bonus-18, Iron Wolf-18, and Baltic Host-18. The hidden aim of the exercises is to keep those forces ready to close in on Russia’s borders. That’s why the alliance is creating this “military Schengen zone,” in an effort to minimize the time needed for troop deployment. Anaconda 18 will be a cover for the deployment of a US Army brigade in Europe, in addition to the deployment of the US 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team. Next month, we’ll see an entire US mechanized division in operation in the Old World. Four NATO multinational battalion-size groups are already stationed in the Baltic states and Poland.

These never-ending exercises adjacent to Russia’s borders show that the terrorist threat has been forgotten. The North Atlantic alliance is too busy preparing for a large-scale invasion by Russia to even think about it. American strategists appear to have a short memory. It was not Russia who attacked the United States on 9/11. A different type of exercise would be needed to fend off a terrorist threat, but time, money, and efforts are being spent on war preparations against Moscow, which is fighting against the very same Islamic fundamentalists who threaten the West. Last month, Russia held a very large-scale training event dubbed Vostok 2018, but it was held in Russia’s Far East region so as not to provoke NATO, although that alliance did not seem to appreciate this thoughtful gesture.

It is true that the terrorist threat is no big prize for the defense industry. Opposing such big potential foes as Russia or China promises huge financial benefits for companies involved in military production. These never-ending and provocative exercises are needed to keep tensions high and justify the allocations of funds. This state of constant confrontation with Russia and China rakes in profits. The ends justify the means.

More details in : https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2018/10/11/trident-juncture-2018-about-kick-off-nato-big-war-games-near-russia-borders-never-end.html

Mlad,

You should use this scenario to build a campaign. Start the storyline off with this being an exercise, some event happens, and then a war breaks out between NATO and Russia/China.

You can decide which side the player is on and the outcome of the campaign.