Posted on 11/13/2014 8:50:28 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
As military tensions with Russia continue to run high, northern European nations pledged to boost cooperation against Moscow. Defense ministers from 8 countries met in Oslo for talks. Norwegen Russland Kampfflugzeug Su-34
Eight northern European nations have pledged closer cooperation in an effort to counter a recent increase in Russian military activity in the region.
The defense ministers from the Baltic and Nordic states, as well as Britain are holding military talks in the Norwegian capital of Oslo Thursday and Friday. They agreed to improve intelligence sharing and broaden cross-border air force training in the Nordic territories.
The meeting comes amid fresh NATO accusations of Russia sending troops into embattled eastern Ukraine, a spike in provocative Russian military maneuvers in Europe, and Moscow announcing plans to send bombers patrolling as far as the gulf of Mexico.
Norwegian defense minister Inger Eriksen said all the ministers present at the conference were in agreement that "Russia's actions (in Ukraine) are totally unacceptable and violate fundamental principles of international law."
British defense secretary Michael Fallon accused Russia of "regularly flouting the rules of international aviation" and sending jets on patrols as far west as Portugal and Ireland.
"NATO has recorded over 100 intercepts so far this year, three times as many as in 2013 and the year is not yet finished," Fallon said at a news conference. "We will not allow Russia to continue to invade our air space."
According to Eriksen, air force training cooperation between Finland, Sweden, and Norway will be extended to include Denmark in order to cover the entirety of Nordic airspace. NATO will also help the Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania improve their militaries.
Warning time 'reduced to virtually zero'
After Russia annexed Crimea in March, Baltic countries feel particularly threatened by a resurgent Russia. "Military aggression against Ukraine was foreseen by very few policymakers. The warning time has been reduced to virtually zero," Estonian defense minister Sven Mikser said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin recently boasted that Russian troops could invade eastern European capitals within two days if ordered.
"If I wanted, Russian troops could not only be in Kyiv in two days, but in Riga, Vilnius, Tallinn, Warsaw or Bucharest, too," Putin reportedly told Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in September.
On Monday, the London-based European Leadership network issued a report finding a sharp rise in NATO-Russian military encounters since the Crimea annexation, and former Soviet leader Mikhael Gorbachev warned recently in Berlin of a new Cold War.
"We are in a new stage of our relationship with Russia, that is very clear," Fallon said. "Russia has stepped outside the framework of international law."
Pingsky
Western Europe had better rediscover its inner manhood, because the Russians never lost theirs.
RESET_BUTTON_PING!
The civilized men of the world are banding together to face the savage stupid evil of KGB Putin and his Neo-Soviet tyranny.
Each man must make his choice upon which side he stands.
With civilization and freedom, or with the evil psychotic mass murderer Putin and his reprehensible hordes of Chekist churls.
NATO is vastly superior to Russia militarily.
The French were the main instigators behind this policy and got into the war (along with some other NATO allies including America). Guess who handled the logistics? The Americans and not NATO. Guess who flew the lion's share of the air strikes? America and not NATO. Guess who ran out of air ordnance and had to use U.S. stock piles? France!
Tell me again how NATO will stand up against Russia with Obama as CinC? If it ever came to a Putin vs. Obama confrontation involving NATO, look for Obama to sellout to Putin and throw the victory to Russia.
“Despite the smaller number of U.S. troops in Europe, the military balance there is far more favorable to NATO today than it was when nearly 10 times as many American soldiers, sailors and airmen were stationed on the continent.”
“Consider the situation today. East Germany no longer exists, while Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and every one of Russia’s other erstwhile Warsaw Pact partners are now members of NATO. So are Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which in 1989 were parts of the Soviet Union itself. In 1989, the Red Army had almost a half-million troops and 27 maneuver divisions (plus enormous quantities of artillery and other units) on the territory of its three main allies. Today, it has a total of seven divisions in its entire Western Military District, all of which are based on its own territory. Indeed, the entire Russian army today boasts about 25 divisions, fewer than it had forward deployed in its Eastern European allies during the waning days of the Cold War.
Today, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Germany alone field more divisions than Russia has in its Western Military District. These countries are backstopped by the rest of NATO, including, of course, the United States.”
The Europeans could defeat Russia on their own, but why would they?
Do you think that Obama is going to withdraw our troops and our NATO membership in the next 2 years? Instead he has moved troops forward and we have been doing military exercises in Ukraine itself, and of course Poland.
Our NATO alliance goes beyond Obama and especially in these last 2 years of his time.
Where does this idea that Russia and it’s 140 million people are a match for the combined forces of the West come from?
To get it out of the way first, I would want the American war machine and the NATO war machine on my side over Russia’s inadequate forces that still depend largely on 12 month draftees with little training, little Air Force, and an almost nonexistent Navy.
The question is not about invading Russia, but is the same question it always is, will Russia force NATO/America to defend itself.
You have posted a lot of nonsense about stuff that you need to look into more.
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