Tag: nato

NATO Announces “Eastern Sentry” to “Bolster Eastern Flank” While Germany Adding 100,000 Additional Troops to Meet NATO “Targets” Against “Russian Aggression”

A “confidential paper” reviewed by Reuters in an exclusive report shows that  Germany “needs to add 100,000 active troops” to its current ranks, estimated at around 62,000.  The increase is attributed to a NATO target to bolster troops amidst “the growing threat of Russian aggression.”

According to Reuters, Army Chief Alfons Mais wrote to the Chief of the Defence Staff Carsten Breuer saying, “It is imperative for the army to become sufficiently ready for war by 2029 and provide the capabilities Germany pledged (to NATO) by 2035.”

Germany plans to add 45,000 troops by 2029 and then, again, add 45,000 more in 2035.  Additionally, it will add 10,000 troops for territorial defense, according to reporting from Modern Diplomacy.

Notably, Germany has not yet even met its 2018 goal of 203,000 troops, falling about 20,000 troops short of that number.

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Putin deploys his strategic nuclear bombers as UN warns world is ‘staring into the abyss of WW3’ and UK prepares to help Nato fortify its eastern front against Russian attack

Vladimir Putin has deployed strategic nuclear bombers as the UN warns the world is ‘staring into the abyss of a Third World War’ – and the UK prepares to help fortify Nato‘s eastern front against Russian attack. 

The Russian president has launched the Tu-22M3 aircrafts in a renewed show of aggression – which the UN security council warned could escalate into global conflict. 

Footage shows Kremlin long-range aviation forces carrying out an air strike on a ‘simulated’ enemy, with the aim of ‘disrupting the control system and destroying critical objects’. 

Bastion complexes from the Russian archipelago of Franz Josef Land, which lies in the Arctic Ocean, struck the target in the Arctic with Onyx missiles as part of a drill. 

And just today, Putin taunted the West again by deploying hulking nuclear-capable Iskander missile launchers close to Russia’s border with Poland.  

It comes after the Kremlin flew attack drones into Polish airspace earlier this week which it had to shoot down on Tuesday night with the help of its Nato allies. 

Poland closed its border with Belarus as the UN security council was warned of the dire risk of a new world war. 

Nato was forced to urgently strengthen its eastern defences – efforts the UK will join. 

Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte said on Friday military activity under ‘Eastern Sentry’ would start in the coming days and involve assets from the UK, as well as allies including France and Germany. 

‘In addition to more traditional military capabilities, this effort will also feature elements designed to address the particular challenges associated with the use of drones,’ Mr Rutte said.

The operation will bolster Nato’s posture and add flexibility to its approach, he said.

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: ‘The UK is fully committed to playing our part in Nato’s Eastern Sentry following the reckless and dangerous airspace violations by Russia.

‘We will provide further detail on the UK Armed Forces contribution soon.’

Putin’s deployment of nuclear bombers comes as part of its four-day Zapad-2025 exercises – annual drills in the Arctic, Belarus and Russia to test the defensive readiness of the Union State, the alliance between the latter two nations. 

They are seen as a challenge to Nato in all three locations. 

The war games will also see troops drill the use of nuclear missiles from the West’s doorstep in Belarus, Russia’s authoritarian neighbour. 

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Poland Triggers Article 4 After NATO Jets Engaged Russian Drones In Allied Airspace

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said his country would formally request the invocation of NATO’s Article 4 after an overnight Russian aerial attack on Ukraine saw the alleged violation of Poland’s airspace by multiple Russian drones. He called it an “act of aggression”.

Tusk cited that 19 drones breached the country’s airspace throughout the incident, resulting in some of them being shot down. NATO’s Article 4 states: “The Parties will consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the Parties is threatened.”

Article 4 consultations can lead to the alliance taking action if the consensus is reached. Notes from Poland says “It has previously been invoked seven times, including by Poland and seven other countries when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.”

“Triggering Article 4 launches a consultation process within NATO, which can then lead to the alliance taking action. In 2022, it resulted in NATO providing support to Ukraine and activating its own response force,” the analysis continues.

A Spokesperson for the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe has described of the overnight border breach of NATO’s ‘eastern flank’ member Poland that this was “the first time NATO aircraft had engaged potential threats in allied airspace.”

He further confirmed that German Patriots in Poland were “placed on alert and that an Italian airborne early warning aircraft and an aerial refueler from NATO’s Multinational Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) fleet were also launched,” as cited in Newsweek.

As for Tusk, he said in his address, “We are dealing with a large-scale provocation” and that “the situation is serious, and no one doubts that we must prepare for various scenarios.”

However, this certainly isn’t the first time errant drones have crossed into Poland, but in this instance they were reported to have ‘threatened’ a Polish city some 40 miles away from the border with Ukraine. The NY Times notes:

But the apparent scale of the incursion and the joint NATO response in the early hours of Wednesday was a startling reminder of the risk that the war in Ukraine could escalate into direct confrontation between Russia and NATO. It was not yet clear whether Russia intentionally sent its drones into Poland, which would represent a clear expansion of the conflict.

Kiev has been trying to hype this threat, and it is in its interest to do so, as it has long sought to get NATO more directly involved in the war with Russia.

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Trump Ready To Place More US Troops In Poland Amid Russia Threat

  • Trump told President Karol Nawrocki the U.S. is prepared to expand its 8,000-strong military presence in Poland.
  • The meeting underscores Warsaw’s push for stronger U.S. security guarantees amid Russia’s war on Ukraine.
  • Nawrocki, a conservative close to Trump’s movement, won the election narrowly on a “Poland first” platform while pledging support for Ukraine but opposing NATO membership.

US President Donald Trump told his Polish counterpart the United States was ready to increase its military presence in the Central European nation, one of the countries on NATO’s so-called “eastern flank” warily watching Russia’s actions.

Trump welcomed conservative President Karol Nawrocki to Washington in an event highlighted by a flyover of US F-16 fighter jets honoring a Polish military pilot who had died last month in a crash.

Asked if he planned to keep US forces deployed to Poland, Trump replied in the affirmative.

“We’ll put more there if they want,” he added, while citing the United States’ “tremendous relationship” with Poland, one of the more important military and political allies of Ukraine during its war with Russia.

“We never even thought in terms of removing soldiers from Poland.”

“We’re with Poland all the way, and we’ll help Poland protect itself,” Trump added.

Warsaw has long sought an increased US military presence in Poland. The United States has based troops in Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and other European nations since the end of World War II, initially to serve as a deterrence to Soviet aggression on the Continent.

The first permanently stationed US troops arrived in Poland in March 2023. There are an estimated 8,000 US troops now garrisoned in Poland, some on a rotational basis.

Nawrocki added that it is “the first time in history” that Poland has been happy to host foreign troops.

Nawrocki, a vocal admirer of the US leader, said after the talks with Trump that the two presidents had discussed bolstering troop levels, adding that Trump had strongly guaranteed Poland’s security.

“The success of his [Nawrocki’s] special relationship with the MAGA movement and with President Trump would be if the United States increased its presence in Poland,” Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told reporters a day earlier — a reference to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement.

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Swastikas remain on some flags in Finland’s air force but are on the way out

Finland’s air force, now part of NATO, still flies swastikas on a handful of unit flags — but is preparing to phase them out, largely to avoid awkwardness with its Western allies.

The history of the Finnish air force’s use of the swastika, which since the 20th century has largely been associated with Nazi tyranny and hate groups, is more complex than at first appearance. It is an ancient symbol and Finland’s air force began using it many years before the birth of Nazi Germany.

Change has been underway for years. A swastika logo was quietly pulled off the Air Force Command’s unit emblem a few years ago. But swastikas have remained on some Finnish air force flags, raising eyebrows among NATO allies, tourists and other foreigners who spot them at military events.

“We could have continued with this flag, but sometimes awkward situations can arise with foreign visitors. It may be wise to live with the times, Col. Tomi Böhm, the new head of Karelia Air Wing air defense force, was quoted as saying in a report Thursday by the public broadcaster YLE.

A bad look for a new NATO member

The Defense Forces, in an email to The Associated Press on Friday, said a plan to renew the air force unit flags was launched in 2023, the year Finland joined NATO, but said it was not linked to joining the alliance. The aim, it said, was “to update the symbolism and emblems of the flags to better reflect the current identity of the Air Force.”

It referred to an article in daily Helsingin Sanomat on Friday, which said the reason for the removal was a perception that the swastika has been an “embarrassing symbol in international contexts.”

Finland, which shares a long border with Russia, joined NATO in April 2023 over concerns related to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Teivo Teivainen, a professor of world politics at the University of Helsinki, said the flags in question were introduced in the 1950s and today are flown by four Air Force units.

The Air Force and the Finnish public generally had for years insisted the swastikas used in Finland’s air force “have nothing to do with the Nazi swastika,” said Teivainen, who this month had a book published whose Finnish title translates as “History of the Swastika.”

But now, following Finland’s integration with NATO, policymakers have decided “there’s now a need to get more integrated with the forces of countries like Germany, the Netherlands, and France — countries where the swastika is clearly a negative symbol,” he said.

Teivainen said that in 2021, German air force units bowed out of a final ceremony following exercises at a military base in Finland’s Lapland region after learning that the Finnish swastikas would be on display.

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How Ukraine Lost Its Future

As the endgame looms over the proxy war in Ukraine, the catastrophic costs of the unwarranted conflict continue to soar. There was an alternative future for Ukraine, based on development. But it was purposely denied.

Since the onset of hostilities in Ukraine three years ago, I have argued that, whatever its stated rationales, the war would “penalize severely Ukraine, Russia, the US and the NATO, Europe, developing economies and the global economy.”

The war in Ukraine was not only avoidable but there was an alternative and more peaceful future. It was purposely collapsed because it did not fit the neoconservatives’ plans for Ukraine. 

Zelensky’s Dream of Ukraine as China’s Bridge to Europe          

Even as Ukraine-Russian tensions began to escalate a decade ago, trade ties between Ukraine and China expanded after President Viktor Yanukovych’s state visit to Beijing in 2013. Four years later, Ukraine, now under President Poroshenko, joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). And in 2019, China bypassed Russia as Ukraine’s biggest single trading partner.Together, China, Ukraine’s new economic partner, and Russia, its historical trade partner, absorbed a fourth of Ukraine’s exports. That figure was over six times the share of the US.

In June 2021, China and Ukraine signed a deal to strengthen cooperation in multiple areas, particularly in infrastructure financing and construction. In 2021, overall trade boomed to $19 billion, having soared 80% since 2013. To Ukraine’s President Zelensky, the BRI meant an alternative future that would be more stable and prosperous. And so, in a phone conversation with President Xi Jinping, he called China “Ukraine’s No. 1 trade and economic partner in the world.” expressing hope that Ukraine could become “a bridge to Europe for Chinese business.”

In just a year, major Chinese companies started operations in construction, food and telecoms. New contracts signed by Chinese companies in the Ukrainian engineering market exceeded $2 billion for two consecutive years.

But this was not the future that was planned for Ukraine in the White House. 

Hammering Ukraine Into a Military-Industrial Hub              

From 1991 to 2014, the US flooded Ukraine with $4 billion in military assistance , even though it wasn’t a NATO member. By 2021, over $2.7 billion was added to the figure, plus over a billion provided by the NATO Trust Fund.

To Erik Prince, it heralded a great money-making opportunity, Iraq déjà vu. As the founder of the private US military contractor, then known as Blackwater, Prince had long supplied mercenaries to the CIA, Pentagon and State Department for covert operations, including torture and assassinations. In early 2020, Prince outlined a roadmap for the creation of a “vertically integrated aviation defense consortium” that could bring $10 billion in revenues.

Prince desperately needed the Motor Sich factory, which already had a deal with Beijing Skyrizon Aviation. The Chinese company had bought its 41% stake already in 2017. However, Biden’s election win undermined Prince’s plan. Moreover, his Ukrainian partners got under criminal investigation for alleged efforts to sway the 2020 presidential election and the investigation included President Biden’s son and his stakes in Ukraine. Washington blacklisted the Chinese firms involved, then Ukrainian court froze their holdings for reasons of “national security” and Chinese companies and dealmakers were sanctioned.

Nonetheless, the idea of a Ukrainian military-industrial complex remained attractive to the US and Ukraine, where the state-controlled defense sector employed more than 1 million people and had been moving, with rising US influence, toward military procurement since 2014. To the Biden administration, it offered a massive military-logistical hub that could serve both the US and NATO.

Yet, by late fall 2022, even European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen acknowledged Ukraine’s losses in the war with Russia amounted to 100,000 soldiers and 20,000 civilians.

Today, three years later, the total cost of reconstruction and recovery in Ukraine is estimated at $524 billion over the next decade – almost three times Ukraine’s GDP 2024.

The military aid has brought neither peace nor security. But it has prolonged Ukrainians’ suffering. To date, the US alone has provided $67 billion in military assistance since February 2022 and $70 billion in military assistance since 2014. These have been coupled with military assistance via the presidential emergency authority by up to $32 billion from Pentagon’s stockpiles.

That’s a total of $167 billion – in wasted lives, economic prospects and global prospects.

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Putin Says Curbing NATO Enlargement Crucial to Ukraine Peace Deal

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sept. 1 that the issue of NATO’s eastward enlargement has to be tackled for there to be a sustainable peace deal in Ukraine.

Putin was speaking after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting in Tianjin, China.

Putin said the crisis in Ukraine was partly due to “the West’s constant attempts to drag Ukraine into NATO,” which he said “poses a direct threat to Russia’s security.”

He said that the 2014 revolution in Ukraine was a “coup” in which “the country’s political leadership that opposed NATO membership was removed from power.”

“In order for a Ukrainian settlement to be sustainable and long-term, the root causes of the crisis, which I have just mentioned and which I have repeatedly mentioned before, must be eliminated,” he said.

Putin Calls for ‘Fair Balance’

Putin also called for “a fair balance in the security sphere” to be restored.

In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine—which has expressed interest in joining NATO—and its forces now control a fifth of the country, including Crimea and large swathes of the south and east of Ukraine.

Just days before the invasion, Putin delivered a speech describing the potential accession of Ukraine to NATO as “a direct threat to the security of Russia.”

In the wake of the Russian invasion, Finland and Sweden both waived policies of neutrality they had held for decades and joined NATO in 2023 and 2024, respectively.

NATO now has 32 members, including a string of countries that were once part of the Soviet Union—such as Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia—or were part of the Moscow-dominated Warsaw Pact alliance during the Cold War—such as Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria.

Apart from Ukraine, two other countries—Georgia and Bosnia-Herzegovina—have applied for NATO membership.

The alliance’s website states, “NATO’s door remains open to any European country in a position to undertake the commitments and obligations of membership, and contribute to security in the Euro-Atlantic area.”

During NATO’s 2008 summit in Bucharest, alliance leaders said in a declaration: “NATO welcomes Ukraine’s and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership in NATO. We agreed today that these countries will become members of NATO.”

But after NATO’s summit in The Hague in June, there was no mention of Ukrainian membership in the declaration issued, which stated simply, “Allies reaffirm their enduring sovereign commitments to provide support to Ukraine, whose security contributes to ours.”

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Zelensky Wants $1 Billion Per Month From NATO Countries To Buy US Weapons

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that he wants $1 billion per month from NATO countries to purchase US weapons, comments that come as a peace deal seems increasingly unlikely following the summit between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

NATO recently announced a new scheme under which member states commit to spending on US weapons to ship to Ukraine, known as the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative. So far, about $2 billion has been committed to the effort in pledges from the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, and Canada.

“Our goal is to fill this program with no less than $1 billion every month,” Zelensky said during a joint press conference with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store in Ukraine. “We also discussed our domestic drone production and joint opportunities with partners. Investments now can help not only physically but also force Russia to end this war.”

During his visit to Ukraine, Store pledged that Norway would provide Ukraine with $8.4 billion in aid for 2026, the same amount Norway provided this year. The Norwegian leader said the $8.4 billion will go toward “military and civilian support.”

Zelensky and Store also discussed the idea of security guarantees for Ukraine, an issue that could sink the peace process as Ukraine and its European backers are insisting on some type of arrangement that would involve Western troops deploying to Ukraine, an idea Moscow has made clear is unacceptable and a non-starter for negotiations.

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Direct NATO Intervention In Ukraine Might Soon Dangerously Turn Into A Fait Accompli

Trump’s negotiating strategy is to “escalate to-de-escalate” in a very risky attempt to coerce concessions, which he might soon apply against Putin after being emboldened by its success with Iran.

The White House Summit between Trump, Zelensky, and a handful of European leaders officially concerned “security guarantees” for Ukraine, which is an ultra-sensitive issue for Russia. It was therefore alarming from its perspective that Trump subsequently said that the proposed deployment of French and British troops to Ukraine “will not create problems for Russia.” To make it even worse, he also spoke about helping them “by air”, while another report claimed that 10 countries are willing to send troops.

While it hasn’t been confirmed, this sequence of events suggests that Trump’s envisaged endgame in Ukraine is the deployment of NATO troops (even if not under the bloc’s banner), which may include a US-enforced (partial?) no-fly zone and/or promises of US air support if they’re attacked. All three – NATO troops in Ukraine, a no-fly zone, and the de facto extension of Article 5 mutual defense commitments to allies’ troops there (contrary to Hegseth’s declaration in February) – go against Russia’s security interests.

Nevertheless, it’s hypothetically possible that Putin might agree to at least some of the above, but only in exchange for far-reaching Ukrainian and/or Western concessions elsewhere. To be clear, neither he nor any officials below him have even hinted at anything of the sort, instead always opposing these plans and threatening that they might even use force to stop them. Having said that, “diplomacy is the art of the possible” as some have said, and these three briefings would contextualize any such quid pro quo:

* 7 August: “What’s Responsible For The Upcoming Putin-Trump Summit?”

* 16 August: “What’s Standing In The Way Of A Grand Compromise On Ukraine?”

* 21 August: “Which Western Security Guarantees For Ukraine Might Be Acceptable To Putin?”

In sum, Trump’s carrots and sticks might convince Putin that it’s better to accept this scenario than oppose it, but it might also be presented as a fait accompli for pressuring him into accepting it as part of a peace deal if he still opposes it instead of risking an escalation if it unfolds during active hostilities. After all, the US, UK, and the EU are all actively coordinating on the “security guarantees” that they’ll soon present to Russia, and this could dangerously include plans to directly intervene in the conflict.

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Ukraine, NATO, & Europe Will NEVER Accept Peace with Russia – You Will See

I have to admit that what I have seen from the Western Press is nothing but absurd propaganda and complete ignorance of the concept of strategy. They love to say Trump failed after previously pushing for a ceasefire and threatening severe consequences for Russia if Putin did not stop the war. President Trump appeared to back off that demand. WHY? If I were Putin, there would be no way I would agree to a ceasefire because the last time that only opens a window to rearm Ukraine. These morons are complete idiots at best, may be able to play checkers, but certainly never chess. I do not see any intelligence commenting on any network with the slightest concept of strategy.

Trump offered a security guarantee, and Steve Witkoff had told CNN that Russia agreed to “Article 5-like” protections for Ukraine during Friday’s summit. This is precisely what I have been saying. Putin has been there since 1999, and he has shown ZERO interest in taking all of Europe. That is the NATO/NEOCON Bullshit that was true with Khruschev when it was a war of Communism vs Capitalism.

Every source I have says the same thing that Putin may be the most intelligent man on the world table. Even the declassified document from Bill Clinton, dated November 19, 1999, said the same thing.

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