Category Archives: NATO

PABRADE, Lithuania On a desolate plain where Soviet tanks once prepared for a possible invasion of Western Europe, American troops are training to deter Moscow from another invasion.

Through a dense smokescreen, soldiers of the Second Cavalry Regiment advance amid intense gunfire on the imaginary positions of a NATO enemy. On their flanks are fellow NATO soldiers from Lithuania where the war game is being held who just a quarter century ago would have been enemies, as Lithuania was one of the fifteen republics of the Soviet Union.

The U.S. and NATO are ramping up their deterrence capabilities against any Russian threat to Europe's borders and this joint exercise is aimed squarely at Russia. NATO is drawing a red line in the three Baltic states, all of them alliance members, with a message to Moscow: "Don't cause trouble here and don't try to invade!"

American Stryker armored vehicles speed across the churned ground; later this year they will be replaced in Lithuania by Abrams main battle tanks and another rotation of American troops will arrive.

U.S. Army Capt. Russell Moore, who is leading the troops involved in the current exercise, said the war games show not just that the "the U.S. is willing to stand with all of its NATO alliance partners It shows that we're strong, Europe is strong and there's a collective defense ready to defend against any foreign aggression."

Lieutenant Evaldas Milkintis, his Lithuanian comrade, agrees.

"We feel safer training together," he said. "We're trying to be ready to react to any threat from outside."

Lithuania has good reason to feel threatened. It was ruled by Moscow for decades until the end of the Cold War and doesn't want to be ruled by Vladimir Putin now. That's why the small nation has watched with growing alarm as Ukraine's borders were torn up by Moscow-backed fighters.

To its west is the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, home to Russia's Baltic warships. And in the skies above the Baltic Sea, it watches Russian warplanes test NATO's responses.

Lithuania has become one of Russia's main adversaries because it has sent military help to the Kiev government.

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Tanks and Tactics: NATO Exercises Send Message to Putin

Slovakia-NATO Meeting: War in Ukraine and Russian role in the conflict tops the agenda
Slovakian President Andrej Kiska has met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels, Belgium. Top of the agenda was the war in Ukraine and the role of Russia in the conflict....

By: UKRAINE TODAY

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Slovakia-NATO Meeting: War in Ukraine and Russian role in the conflict tops the agenda - Video

Doorstep by Mr Jens Stoltenberg, The Secretary General of NATO
Doorstep by Mr Jens Stoltenberg, The Secretary General of NATO prior the Informal meeting of Ministers for Defence in Riga on 18-19 February, 2015.

By: EU2015LV

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Doorstep by Mr Jens Stoltenberg, The Secretary General of NATO - Video

[NATO] My good deed for the day 🙂
Join us now at here Links: http://www.roblox.com/My/Groups.aspx?gid=1053758nLuneville-Chenevieres Air Base #39;s origins begin in 1950 when, with the Cold War, the North Atlantic Treaty Organizati...

By: CloneTheory RBX

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[NATO] My good deed for the day 🙂 - Video

KYIV, Ukraine Considering the situation, there was little Robert Pszczel could do to prevent the verbal assault.

For a while, he stood his ground in the state television studio and appealed to Russian viewers sense of reason.

Then a couple of guests as well as the host pounced.

Youre a Pole! one guest cried out lividly. Youre a Russophobe from the outset already.

Shouldering that sort of abuse has become more or less part of Pszczels job these days.

As director of the NATO Information Office in Moscow, hes the chief spokesman of the military alliance there. Amid the worst standoff between Russia and the West since the Cold War, stumping for NATO isnt the easiest of gigs.

Thanks to the crisis in Ukraine, which Russias powerful state media machine has exploited to shore up domestic support for the Kremlin, a wave of anti-Western hysteria has swept over Russia.

Criticizing the Russian government has had deadly consequences. Witness last weekends apparent political assassination of Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov, an opposition leader painted as an enemy for allegedly siding with the West against Russia.

Its an environment that leaves little room for open discussion.

Russia is a great country, and a great country needs a great debate, Pszczel said in a telephone interview from Moscow. But where is it?

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Meet NATOs man in Moscow

Will The Kurds Join In Freeing Turkey From NATO - Sheikh Imran Hosein HQ 2015
LINK : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imran_N._Hosein Imran Hosein was born on the Caribbean island of Trinidad in 1942 from parents whose ancestors had migrated as indentured labourers from...

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Will The Kurds Join In Freeing Turkey From NATO - Sheikh Imran Hosein HQ 2015 - Video

Nato, Zionists the Obama Victory- Sheikh Imran Hosein #39;s (Full) Interview By Morris HQ 2015
LINK : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imran_N._Hosein Imran Hosein was born on the Caribbean island of Trinidad in 1942 from parents whose ancestors had migrated as indentured labourers from...

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Nato, Zionists & the Obama Victory- Sheikh Imran Hosein's (Full) Interview By Morris HQ 2015 - Video

TALLINN: Estonia's governing pro-NATO Reform party came top in parliamentary elections on Sunday (Mar 1), fought amid concerns over a militarily resurgent Russia, but analysts warned that forging a coalition would be challenging.

President Toomas Hendrik Ilves is expected to ask Reform chief, outgoing Prime Minister Taavi Roivas, to build a coalition on the basis of the 30 seats his party won in the 101-member parliament.

The centrist Reform party lost three seats, according to the official results. Meanwhile the opposition pro-Kremlin Centre party was up one seat to 27 and the outgoing Social Democrat junior coalition partners down four to 15.

"Reform will be able to form a government ... (but) coalition talks might be complicated," leading Estonian political commentator Ahto Lobjakas told AFP, noting increased volatility with six parties now in parliament, up from the previous four.

The parliamentary newcomers are a free-market liberal party and an anti-immigration conservative party, who secured 15 seats between them.

"In terms of Estonia's pro-Western orientation, commitment to EU, NATO, all this will remain and possibly become more pronounced," he added, describing the entry of the two newcomers as a swing to the right.

Moscow's annexation of Crimea last year and its meddling in eastern Ukraine have galvanised the European Union, including eurozone member Estonia where a quarter of the 1.3 million population are ethnic Russian.

Military manoeuvres by Moscow on Estonia's border just days ahead of the vote further stoked deep concerns in Europe that the Kremlin could attempt to destabilise countries that were in its orbit during Soviet times.

NATO is countering the moves by boosting defences on Europe's eastern flank with a spearhead force of 5,000 troops and command centres in six formerly communist members of the alliance, including one in Estonia.

"If they (the Russians) come in here, Estonia can't do anything ... I'm not sure NATO will help us out," Pyotr Sirotkin, a 25-year-old student at Tallinn University, told AFP as he cast his ballot in the capital.

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Estonia's pro-NATO Reform party wins vote

Thursday, 26 February 2015 18:49

BRUSSELS: Many NATO member countries are spending less on defence despite promises to boost their budgets in the face of growing tensions with Russia, a think-tank said Thursday.

The European Leadership Network looked at figures for 2015 from 14 NATO members to see if they meet pledges made at a summit of the US-led military alliance last September.

All 28 NATO nations vowed to reverse a steady decline in defence spending and increase expenditure levels to two percent of annual economic output within 10 years.

"Despite concerns over Russian aggression in Ukraine and political commitments made at the NATO Wales Summit in September 2014... many are failing to live up to the commitments made," the think-tank said.

The tiny Baltic state of Estonia was the only country expected to spend 2.0 percent of gross domestic product on defence this year, London-based ELN said.

Six countries -- Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, the Netherlands and Romania -- are due to increase military expenditure but will not meet the target, while France is on course for a flat defence budget between 2014 and 2015.

Britain, Germany, Canada, Italy, Hungary and Bulgaria are all set to cut defence spending, the think-tank said.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has repeatedly urged cash-strapped member nations to boost funding to meet increases in defence spending by Russia.

Russia's alleged involvement in Ukraine -- which the Kremlin has denied -- has sparked fears in NATO that Moscow could target the alliance's eastern European members.

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NATO spending down despite Russia tensions: think-tank

CCM Small Speaks on the NATO Enlisted Leader
2015 - CCM Richard Small, Command Senior Enlisted Leader of NATO, speaks about the role of the NCO in the enlisted ranks.

By: DoD News

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CCM Small Speaks on the NATO Enlisted Leader - Video