Posted on 08/04/2014 12:00:22 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said the transatlantic military alliance will draw up new defence plans following Russia's "aggression" in Ukraine.
In an interview with French regional newspaper Midi Libre, published Sunday (4 August), he said that “Russia's aggression was a warning and created a new security situation in Europe”.
"We will strengthen military exercises and prepare new defence plans," he said, reports AFP.
With an eye on what is turning out to be a key Nato meeting in Wales at the beginning of September, Rasmussen drew attention to the defence-spending discrepancies between Russia and Nato members.
He noted that while Russia had increased its defence spending by 50 percent over the past five years, Nato countries have, on average, reduced theirs by 20 percent.
"We must reverse this trend," he said.
He said that he regretted that Russia considered Nato a foe but "we have to adapt to this new situation".
Rasmussen's comments came on the back of a letter from British leader David Cameron to Nato leaders calling on them to "make clear to Russia that neither Nato nor its members will be intimidated”.
The Alliance's member states should “strengthen (their) ability to respond quickly to any threat" while the 4-5 September meeting should agree “a new exercise schedule adapted to the new security environment”.
The statements come after a raft of EU sanctions - the latest round hitting Putin's inner circle - have failed to de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine where Russia-backed separatists are fighting for control in eastern parts of the country.
The scale of the crisis increased after the Malaysia airplane was shot down on 17 July over separatist-held territory in Ukraine killing all passengers on board. Russia's failure to help secure the crashsite afterwards hardened attitudes further.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, for his part, used a speech on 1 August commemorating the outbreak of WW1 to remind Europe that "peace is fragile".
“Humankind should grasp one truth: violence generates violence."
At the same time the Russian defence ministry announced military exercises in all defence districts and that it would be calling up reserve forces in all areas. It later said that this had been planned for months and was not a reaction to events in Ukraine.
On Monday (4 August) Radio Free Europe reported that Russian military officials said they have launched four days of military exercises in central and western regions of Russia.
Interfax quoted Russian Air Force spokesman Igor Klimov as saying that exercises include the use of 100 military aircraft.
In comments before the weekend, Germany's chief of relations with Russia Gernot Erler warned against the crisis increasing to an extent that there is "direct" military intervention by Russia.
He said Putin is "under very strong pressure not to let Russian-speaking inhabitants of east Ukraine – who he has taken under protection – in the lurch.”
If the separatists were facing a defeat, no one could exclude an intervention by Moscow, he told the Neue Osnabrueker newspaper. “It would be a terrible escalation if it came to a direct intervention (by Moscow),” he said.
NATO isn’t even a Paper Tiger without the US.
It’s almost as laughable as the UN.
“He said that he regretted that Russia considered Nato a foe “
That’s what happens when you expand east right up to the Russian border. After the Warsaw pact ended, there was amazing chance to spread prosperity east. But the powers that be decided that it needed to be a NATO expansion. Not only that, but NATO has morphed into an aggressive power that is no longer defensive. It attacked Libya, Serbia, and was looking for ways to jump into Syria to help ISIS.
Lots of sane reasons to consider NATO an enemy. Americans should do likewise. NATO primarily serves to give Europeans access to American military power for European goals.
Sounds like a Mel Brooks movie character. Why can't they make movies like those anymore?
NATO is the enforcer arm of the Global Fascist Banker Mafia.
YouTube: “The Money Masters”
I don't think it's true that NATO wanted to attack Syria. In fact NATO wanted to cooperate with Russia when it came to disarming Assad: Russia, NATO plan joint operation on Syria's chemical weapons. They only suspended such plans because of Putin's illegal unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
It is true that NATO attacked Serbia and Libya primarily for reasons of European interests, but that's what an alliance is all about. We respect the interests of our allies and it is in our own interests to advance their interests. It is not in our interests to allow Russia, a power hostile to us and our allies, to advance their own interests at the expense of that of our allies.
NATO is not in any way America's enemy, it is our best friend in the world. NATO is the most powerful military alliance in human history and the USA is not going to give up that power. We would be stupid to do so.
Lots of sane reasons to consider NATO an enemy. Americans should do likewise. NATO primarily serves to give Europeans access to American military power for European goals.
Very well said. You make a point that I have argued here, and one that meets reflexive opposition based on the misbelief that Russia is still Soviet and that America still opposes Communism. NATO is a massive government program that has outlived its noble founding purpose, has morphed itself in search of a new role to justify its existence, and which might just plunge the world into a needless war that nobody but Satan wants to happen. The greatest new threat to world peace is in Brussels.
That sounds like the statist claim that "If you have nothing to hide, then you shouldn't mind if we search your vehicle / home / pockets / records." History shows that things always change, and that includes people and their fleeting circumstances, motives and alliances. Just as good fences make good neighbors, strategic borderlands help to prevent wars by shielding potential belligerents from each other's transient motives.
If Russia wanted an empire of compliant slaves as buffer states, then they should have won the Cold War, instead of losing it.
The enslaved Warsaw pact countries switched sides, as soon as Russia lost their brutal control over them.
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