Baltics on war footing as NATO tries to deter Russia

[Independent voter]

The problem with Russia is all the power is in the hands of one person. Putin could wake up tomrrow get in a fight with his wife and angry, decides to invade Estonia. There's no checks and balances in Russia, just one man who can do anything on a whim.

The Duma needs to be restored to power and politicians need to leave office on a regular basis, not stay in office for life.








https://www.yahoo.com/news/nervous-b...35.html?ref=gs



Asked about the likelihood of Russian aggression in the Baltics, Lithuania's Defense Minister Juozas Olekas told Reuters: "We cannot exclude it ... They might exercise on the borders and then switch to invasion in hours."

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia see themselves on the front line in any potential conflict with Moscow and say they are putting their armies on a war footing, meaning they can be mobilized almost immediately.

NATO defense ministers are set to agree this week on a new multinational force of 4,000 troops for the Baltics and Poland.

The United States, Germany and Britain are set to lead battalions of about 1,000 troops each. Canada may lead a fourth.

While the Baltic nations welcome the deployments, they say the build-up must go further - pointing to Russia's efforts to develop an "anti-access" capability in the Kaliningrad exclave bordering Lithuania and Poland, using missiles and submarines to stop NATO moving reinforcements into the Baltics.

The Baltics want NATO fighters to protect their skies and are seeking medium-range missile interceptors from Norway's Kongsberg Gruppen and U.S. defense contractor Raytheon .

"We need to stop possible air aggression," said Olekas. "We are discussing creating a regional medium-range air defense system together with the Latvians, the Estonians and the Poles."

Olekas expects to raise the matter with NATO colleagues at the ministers' meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday in Brussels.

CREDIBILITY

The head of the Estonian defense force Lieutenant General Riho Terras said: "The first and foremost is the defense of our airspace. Air defense is the challenge that needs to solved together with the NATO alliance."

"We are not talking about defense of Lithuania, we are talking about the credibility of the whole alliance," said Lithuania's Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius.

But such calls would require stretched NATO governments to beef up the so-called air policing mission that regularly intercepts Russian jets flying over international waters close to the Baltic states.

The Baltic nations rely on their NATO allies' quick reaction aircraft to patrol their skies, with no mandate to confront hostile aircraft in a conflict.

Four British Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets and four Portuguese F-16 fighter jets are currently carrying out the air policing mission. Officials say a lot more would be needed for air defense.

And southern NATO nations, focused on uncontrolled migrant flows and the failing states on Europe's borders, may also be unwilling to grant more resources to the eastern flank.

Ben Hodges, the commander of the U.S. army in Europe, visited Vilnius last week. He echoed Baltic concerns about the strength of NATO's deterrence.

"It is a transition," Hodges said. "I hope that includes serious war fighting capabilities. Just putting garrisons of troops sitting in the countries ... will not deter."

Russia insists it poses no threat to the former Soviet states. Top NATO officials say talk of an impending attack is misleading, a view shared by Paris and Berlin.

Russia has held unannounced exercises on the borders of the Baltics, including one in 2014 which mustered 100,000 troops, according to Danish Colonel Jakob Sogard Larsen, who heads the new NATO command outpost in Lithuania.

"You see it differently when you live here," Larsen said.

"We need to learn to fight total war again," he said, in a sign of the return of a Cold War-style mood.

Lithuanian officials accuse Russia of trying to buy off Lithuanian soldiers and business people to become spies for the Kremlin, intimidating diplomats and spreading disinformation on the Internet and television.

Prosecutors are preparing to file criminal charges against someone they say is a high-ranking Russian intelligence officer arrested last year trying to recruit informants.

Russia denies any such activities.

SWITCH TO "CLASSIC WARFARE"

The NATO battalions are part of a deterrent to be approved by leaders at a summit in Warsaw in July. That will involve forces on rotation, warehoused equipment and a "spearhead" force backed by NATO's 40,000-strong rapid reaction force.

Once the decision is made, Germany could deploy to Lithuania before September. Britain is expected to deploy to Estonia, the United States to Latvia and Canada possibly to Poland.

German and Danish soldiers fanned out across swamps and woodland in Lithuania this week in war games to learn the unfamiliar Baltic terrain and test their ability to move equipment and personnel quickly to a possible front.

Their tanks and armored vehicles were recently brought back from Afghanistan, desert-yellow camouflage painted over with the green-and-black colors of Baltic woodlands.

"We are changing our focus from counter-insurgency tactics back to classic warfare," said German Lieutenant Colonel Marc-Ulrich Cropp from his camouflaged command tent at a Lithuanian military base. "Everyone has to be prepared."

[Deleted]

Well, I hope you Americans come to save us once again since we hardly have any military strength left these days in Europe.

[wooters]

that's not true though.. there are plenty of military strength in Europe, its just not thrown out willy nilly

[Kuntantee]

In both Georgie and Ukreine, it was West who played to the hands of Russia. In both cases, a (civil) war tried to be invoked over the proxies and in both cases, Russia roflstomped them, ending the conflict with bunch of gains. So long as Baltics, trusting their Western allies, does not try to mess with Russia, I doubt Russia will decide to "invade them out of sudden while drilling on the border". Don't play at to the hand of Russia, you'll be fine.

And the last thing you would want is "total war" against Russia.

[Deleted]

Baltics are in Europe. Nothings going to happen. NATO is only trying to justify its existence.

[Macaquerie]

Well, I hope you Americans come to save us once again since we hardly have any military strength left these days in Europe.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that Russia is probably not going to invade the Netherlands.

[Decebalus]

Baltics are in Europe. Nothings going to happen. NATO is only trying to justify its existence.

Russia continues to justify NATO's existence with their trespassing and saber rattling.

[Keeponrage]

Putin could wake up tomrrow get in a fight with his wife and angry, decides to invade Estonia.

Don't worry, Putin had divorced a couple of years ago.

[Deleted]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that Russia is probably not going to invade the Netherlands.

Well, I've seen the Russian maps with war plans from the (late) cold war Era in a newspaper once and I have to say that I think you're right.

They panned to completely nuke the Netherlands of the map, so no one can use our ports or airports.

[Deleted]

Maybe one day western people will realize that we are the threat. We are the warmongerers and risk to world peace. But that doesn't work with the constant lies people are fed and firmly believe.

People don't even realize how ridiciolous -we- as the west are. It's actually laughable.

We kill 20 people in a drone attack somewhere in middle east because we deem one of these people in the mass a terroist. Just try to reverse roles here. Imagine Syria lets a drone cruise over our city and then kills 20 people walking trough a shopping mile.

It's okay if we do it. If someone else does it to us you realize how fucked up it actually is.


We are constantly expanding NATO, reinforcing arms, pushing russia into a corner. Despite the agreement after german reunion that NATO will never have an east expansion.

Another example; We hold military drills directly infront of the russian border. 'Defensive measures'. We are the good guys. We do it for good things. Russia holds military drills in their own country. OHMYGODTHISAGGRESSORPUTINDICTATOR.


USA has like 200+ military bases around the world and has been at war with at least one country trough almost it's entire existance as a state.

Who is the real aggressor and danger here?

Signed,
angry german

[Deleted]

Lithuanian here - stop spreading this bullshit.

No, war's not going to happen, the thought of it has been deescalating since 2014, however, these type of propaganda spreading posts are the reason why there are still some think that it is.

As long as this topic remains closed, all will be fine.

[Dentelan]

The problem with Russia is all the power is in the hands of one person. Putin could wake up tomrrow get in a fight with his wife and angry, decides to invade Estonia. There's no checks and balances in Russia, just one man who can do anything on a whim.

The Duma needs to be restored to power and politicians need to leave office on a regular basis, not stay in office for life.








https://www.yahoo.com/news/nervous-b...35.html?ref=gs



Asked about the likelihood of Russian aggression in the Baltics, Lithuania's Defense Minister Juozas Olekas told Reuters: "We cannot exclude it ... They might exercise on the borders and then switch to invasion in hours."

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia see themselves on the front line in any potential conflict with Moscow and say they are putting their armies on a war footing, meaning they can be mobilized almost immediately.

NATO defense ministers are set to agree this week on a new multinational force of 4,000 troops for the Baltics and Poland.

The United States, Germany and Britain are set to lead battalions of about 1,000 troops each. Canada may lead a fourth.

While the Baltic nations welcome the deployments, they say the build-up must go further - pointing to Russia's efforts to develop an "anti-access" capability in the Kaliningrad exclave bordering Lithuania and Poland, using missiles and submarines to stop NATO moving reinforcements into the Baltics.

The Baltics want NATO fighters to protect their skies and are seeking medium-range missile interceptors from Norway's Kongsberg Gruppen and U.S. defense contractor Raytheon .

"We need to stop possible air aggression," said Olekas. "We are discussing creating a regional medium-range air defense system together with the Latvians, the Estonians and the Poles."

Olekas expects to raise the matter with NATO colleagues at the ministers' meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday in Brussels.

CREDIBILITY

The head of the Estonian defense force Lieutenant General Riho Terras said: "The first and foremost is the defense of our airspace. Air defense is the challenge that needs to solved together with the NATO alliance."

"We are not talking about defense of Lithuania, we are talking about the credibility of the whole alliance," said Lithuania's Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius.

But such calls would require stretched NATO governments to beef up the so-called air policing mission that regularly intercepts Russian jets flying over international waters close to the Baltic states.

The Baltic nations rely on their NATO allies' quick reaction aircraft to patrol their skies, with no mandate to confront hostile aircraft in a conflict.

Four British Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets and four Portuguese F-16 fighter jets are currently carrying out the air policing mission. Officials say a lot more would be needed for air defense.

And southern NATO nations, focused on uncontrolled migrant flows and the failing states on Europe's borders, may also be unwilling to grant more resources to the eastern flank.

Ben Hodges, the commander of the U.S. army in Europe, visited Vilnius last week. He echoed Baltic concerns about the strength of NATO's deterrence.

"It is a transition," Hodges said. "I hope that includes serious war fighting capabilities. Just putting garrisons of troops sitting in the countries ... will not deter."

Russia insists it poses no threat to the former Soviet states. Top NATO officials say talk of an impending attack is misleading, a view shared by Paris and Berlin.

Russia has held unannounced exercises on the borders of the Baltics, including one in 2014 which mustered 100,000 troops, according to Danish Colonel Jakob Sogard Larsen, who heads the new NATO command outpost in Lithuania.

"You see it differently when you live here," Larsen said.

"We need to learn to fight total war again," he said, in a sign of the return of a Cold War-style mood.

Lithuanian officials accuse Russia of trying to buy off Lithuanian soldiers and business people to become spies for the Kremlin, intimidating diplomats and spreading disinformation on the Internet and television.

Prosecutors are preparing to file criminal charges against someone they say is a high-ranking Russian intelligence officer arrested last year trying to recruit informants.

Russia denies any such activities.

SWITCH TO "CLASSIC WARFARE"

The NATO battalions are part of a deterrent to be approved by leaders at a summit in Warsaw in July. That will involve forces on rotation, warehoused equipment and a "spearhead" force backed by NATO's 40,000-strong rapid reaction force.

Once the decision is made, Germany could deploy to Lithuania before September. Britain is expected to deploy to Estonia, the United States to Latvia and Canada possibly to Poland.

German and Danish soldiers fanned out across swamps and woodland in Lithuania this week in war games to learn the unfamiliar Baltic terrain and test their ability to move equipment and personnel quickly to a possible front.

Their tanks and armored vehicles were recently brought back from Afghanistan, desert-yellow camouflage painted over with the green-and-black colors of Baltic woodlands.

"We are changing our focus from counter-insurgency tactics back to classic warfare," said German Lieutenant Colonel Marc-Ulrich Cropp from his camouflaged command tent at a Lithuanian military base. "Everyone has to be prepared."

Relax, Putin have no wife anymore. Everything will be okay.

- - - Updated - - -

Maybe one day western people will realize that we are the threat. We are the warmongerers and risk to world peace. But that doesn't work with the constant lies people are fed and firmly believe.

People don't even realize how ridiciolous -we- as the west are. It's actually laughable.

We kill 20 people in a drone attack somewhere in middle east because we deem one of these people in the mass a terroist. Just try to reverse roles here. Imagine Syria lets a drone cruise over our city and then kills 20 people walking trough a shopping mile.

It's okay if we do it. If someone else does it to us you realize how fucked up it actually is.


We are constantly expanding NATO, reinforcing arms, pushing russia into a corner. Despite the agreement after german reunion that NATO will never have an east expansion.

Another example; We hold military drills directly infront of the russian border. 'Defensive measures'. We are the good guys. We do it for good things. Russia holds military drills in their own country. OHMYGODTHISAGGRESSORPUTINDICTATOR.


USA has like 200+ military bases around the world and has been at war with at least one country trough almost it's entire existance as a state.

Who is the real aggressor and danger here?

Signed,
angry german

This. Always loved germans

[Zoibert the Bear]

Well guys, time to start learning Russian! We'll have to please our Soviet overlords in no time!

[Deleted]

Lithuanian here - stop spreading this bullshit.

No, war's not going to happen, the thought of it has been deescalating since 2014, however, these type of propaganda spreading posts are the reason why there are still some think that it is.

As long as this topic remains closed, all will be fine.

It's not important, what we the Lithuanian people, think and want. We are now a pawn in this USA driven political game and we can only hope, that they don't use us for a sacrificial - chess - move.

[zorkuus]

Well guys, time to start learning Russian! We'll have to please our Soviet overlords in no time!

How do I say Putin is a closet homo in russian?

[Deleted]

I pretty much agree with the below. As much as I love OP's shade at the Putin, he seems very emotional and emotional people do not always have the most sense.

*btw Latvian here, overall mood here is, we are fine for now, just living on between the East and the West.

Maybe one day western people will realize that we are the threat. We are the warmongerers and risk to world peace. But that doesn't work with the constant lies people are fed and firmly believe.

People don't even realize how ridiciolous -we- as the west are. It's actually laughable.

We kill 20 people in a drone attack somewhere in middle east because we deem one of these people in the mass a terroist. Just try to reverse roles here. Imagine Syria lets a drone cruise over our city and then kills 20 people walking trough a shopping mile.

It's okay if we do it. If someone else does it to us you realize how fucked up it actually is.


We are constantly expanding NATO, reinforcing arms, pushing russia into a corner. Despite the agreement after german reunion that NATO will never have an east expansion.

Another example; We hold military drills directly infront of the russian border. 'Defensive measures'. We are the good guys. We do it for good things. Russia holds military drills in their own country. OHMYGODTHISAGGRESSORPUTINDICTATOR.


USA has like 200+ military bases around the world and has been at war with at least one country trough almost it's entire existance as a state.

Who is the real aggressor and danger here?

Signed,
angry german

[Ulmita]

This Russian hysteria is started by the USA in order to sell guns. It is getting quite sad that Russophobia is raging so hard in some European countries.

[zorkuus]

This Russian hysteria is started by the USA in order to sell guns. It is getting quite sad that Russophobia is raging so hard in some European countries.

I don't think it was US who told the russians to annex Crimea, but whatever makes you sleep at night...

[Ulmita]

I don't think it was US who told the russians to annex Crimea, but whatever makes you sleep at night...

I don't think holding a referendum and then asking to join Russia is called "Russia annexing Crimea", but whatever makes you sleep at night...

[Independent voter]

Cult of personality has to stop. Putin needs to step down and hold elections.