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U.S. ground troops going to Poland, defense minister says

In a meeting with The Post, Poland's defense minister calls for a 're-pivot' toward Europe

WASHINGTON POST

U.S. ground troops going to Poland, defense minister says

By Fred Hiatt Updated: April 18 at 3:53 pm

Poland and the United States will announce next week the deployment of U.S. ground forces to Poland as part of an expansion of NATO presence in Central and Eastern Europe in response to events in Ukraine. That was the word from Poland’s defense minister, Tomasz Siemoniak, who visited The Post Friday after meeting with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel at the Pentagon on Thursday.
Siemoniak said the decision has been made on a political level and that military planners are working out details. There will also be intensified cooperation in air defense, special forces, cyberdefense and other areas. Poland will play a leading regional role, “under U.S. patronage,” he said.
But the defense minister also said that any immediate NATO response to Russian aggression in Ukraine, while important, matter less than a long-term shift in the defense postures of Europe and America. The United States, having announced a “pivot” to Asia, needs to “re-pivot” to Europe, he said, and European countries that have cut back on defense spending need to reverse the trends.
“The idea until recently was that there were no more threats in Europe and no need for a U.S. presence in Europe any more,” Siemoniak said, speaking through an interpreter. “Events show that what is needed is a re-pivot, and that Europe was safe and secure because America was in Europe.”
How likely is such a reversal on defense spending? Siemoniak said there was widespread support at a recent meeting of European defense ministers. “Now they’ll go back to their presidents, prime ministers and ministers of finance, and this will stop being easy,” he admitted. “But the impetus is very strong.”
The strongest impetus, he said, is not even Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, but President Vladimir Putin’s bald lies about Russian actions there and his exposition of a new doctrine allowing Russia to intervene in any country where Russian-speaking populations are, in Russia’s judgment, under threat. This poses a potential danger to the Baltic nations, which are members of NATO, and even more to Moldova, Belarus and central Asian nations that are not, he said.
Like President Obama, Siemoniak said it’s too soon to judge the agreement reached Thursday in Geneva to defuse tensions. He said he believes that Russia’s “special operation in eastern Ukraine didn’t go as planned” and that Putin may have decided to play a longer game.
“He holds different instruments that he can use to influence events in Ukraine,” Siemoniak said. Putin will keep in reserve the option of an outright military incursion, “but the political, military and financial costs would be gigantic.” The 46-year-old minister mused that until recently NATO was wondering what mission it would have, if any, once its troops came home from Afghanistan.
“Now we have an answer to that question,” he said.

© The Washington Post Company

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...says//?print=1

Pentagon mulls deployment as Poland asks for 10,000 troops

Published time: April 19, 2014 06:57

US soldiers stand in front of a Patriot missile battery at an army base in the northern Polish town of Morag (AFP Photo)

Tags Conflict, Europe, Military, NATO, Security,USA

The Pentagon may deploy more ground troops in Poland, although the number may be much smaller than what the eastern European NATO member wants to see. Washington is seeking to reassure allies amid fears of a Russian aggression.
Warsaw and Washington may announce the deployment of additional American troops in Poland next week, Polish Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said following a meeting with his US counterpart, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel at the Pentagon on Thursday.
He added that Poland would play a leading role in the NATO build-up of troops in Eastern Europe, “under US patronage,” the Washington Post reported. He added that the US needs to “re-pivot” back to Europe from Asia to counter “Russian aggression” in Ukraine.
Siemoniak earlier called on the Pentagon to deploy as many as 10,000 American troops in his country. Poland already hosts some 100 to 150 US military servicing a battery of surface-to-air Patriot missiles, which was deployed in 2010 to give Warsaw more confidence for hosting elements of the NATO anti-ballistic missile shield in Europe.
The Polish minister’s calls were mirrored by NATO’s top military commander, Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, who said in an interview this month that one of the options the alliance has on the table is to move a 4,500-member combat brigade from Fort Hood, Texas, to Europe.

US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel(L) and Poland’s Minister of National Defense Tomasz Siemoniak(R) conduct a press conference April 17, 2014 (AFP Photo / Paul J. Richards)

The Pentagon so far has not given any details about the planned deployment, saying it has multiple options under consideration. But a senior US official told Fox news on Friday that around 130 soldiers may be sent to Poland on a rotational basis.
The US military also announced on Friday the dispatch of a US Army company of about 150 soldiers to Poland to take part in a two-week land-forces exercise.
NATO’s military response to the Ukrainian crisis was to deploy additional aircraft for patrols in European airspace and to send American warships into the Black Sea.
Relations between Russia and the West became strained after an armed coup in February deposed President Viktor Yanukovich following months of protests. Moscow considers the events to have been orchestrated by the EU and the US and does not recognize the post-coup authorities as legitimate.
Moscow reserved the right to use its military force in Ukraine, should massive violence occur there targeting ethnic Russians. It also accepted Crimea, when it voted to break up from Ukraine and become part of Russia. Russia is eyeing the ongoing turmoil in eastern Ukraine cautiously, where Kiev istrying to suppress anti-government protests with the use of military force.
NATO members in Eastern Europe are concerned that the Russian military is strong enough to defeat their national militaries and have been calling on the US to ensure their protection from possible aggression. Moscow believes that the alliance is seeking justification for its existence by blowing the tension over Ukraine out of proportion.

http://rt.com/news/pentagon-poland-ground-troops-556/

De-Escalation Off: US Deploys Troops To Poland

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/18/2014 17:59 -0400

So what part of "All sides must refrain from any violence, intimidation or provocative actions," did the US not understand when they decided that deploying troops to Poland was in keeping with the four-party deal? As WaPo reports, Poland and the United States will announce next week the deployment of U.S. ground forces to Poland as part of an expansion of NATO presence in Central and Eastern Europe in response to events in Ukraine.

Washington Post ✔ @washingtonpost
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Polish minister: U.S. troops are being deployed to Poland. http://wapo.st/QlkiDw
5:42 PM - 18 Apr 2014
U.S. ground troops going to Poland, defense minister says

In a meeting with The Post, Poland's defense minister calls for a 're-pivot' toward Europe

Washington Post @washingtonpost


Via The Washington Post,

Poland and the United States will announce next week the deployment of U.S. ground forces to Poland as part of an expansion of NATO presence in Central and Eastern Europe in response to events in Ukraine.

That was the word from Poland’s defense minister, Tomasz Siemoniak, who visited The Post Friday after meeting with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel at the Pentagon on Thursday.

Siemoniak said the decision has been made on a political level and that military planners are working out details.

There will also be intensified cooperation in air defense, special forces, cyberdefense and other areas. Poland will play a leading regional role, “under U.S. patronage,” he said.

So is that an escalation? or a de-escalation? or is it different when the US moves troops towards another nation's borders?

As a reminder, we noted in December, Russia's placement of tactical nuclear-capable weapons near the Polish border which at the time sent a very clear message of escalation (despite the, at the time, lack of New Cold War headlines). We wrote at the time,
Russia quietly has come through on its threat issued in April 2012, when it warned it would deploy Iskander missiles that could target US missile defense systems in Poland. From RIA at the time:

Moscow reiterated on Tuesday it may deploy Iskander theater ballistic missiles in the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad that will be capable of effectively engaging elements of the U.S. missile defense system in Poland.

NATO members agreed to create a missile shield over Europe to protect it against ballistic missiles launched by so-called rogue states, for example Iran and North Korea, at a summit in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2010.

The missile defense system in Poland does not jeopardize Russia’s nuclear forces, Army General Nikolai Makarov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, said.

“However, if it is modernized…it could affect our nuclear capability and in that case a political decision may be made to deploy Iskander systems in the Kaliningrad region,” he said in an interview with RT television.

“But that will be a political decision,” he stressed. “So far there is no such need.”

Looks like a little over a year later, the "political decision" was taken as the need is there. But why does Russia need to send a very clear message of escalation at a time when the Cold War is long over, when globalization and free trade, promote game theoretic world peace (or "piece" as the Obama administration wouldsay), oh, and when Russia quietly has decided to reestablish the former USSR starting with the Ukraine.
We'll leave the rhetorical question logically unanswered.



http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-0...-troops-poland

Russia Confirms Troop Build-Up Near Ukraine; Warns West, More Sanctions "Absolutely Unacceptable"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/18/2014 16:25 -0400

For the first time, Russia has confirmed that it has built up its military presence on the Ukrainian border (according to Agence France Presse). On the heels of the de-escalation and the West's threat of tougher sanctions (if Russia failed to abide by the new 'deal'), Kremlin spokesman Dmirty Peskov told Rossiya TV that "we have troops in different regions, and there are troops close to the Ukrainian border. Some are based there, others have been sent as reinforcements due to the situation in Ukraine." Reuters also reports that Washington statements "are unlikely to help dialogue," and further sanctions would be "absolutely unacceptable." It seems the 'deal' has done little to calm anything but the US equity market as Peskov blasted "You can't treat Russia like a guilty schoolboy."

The Daily Mail's latest update on suspected (now confirmed) Russian troop build-up



As Al Arabiya reports, a Kremlin spokesman confirmed Friday that Russia has built up its military presence on the Ukrainian border, Agence France Presse reported, as the United States warned that Moscow would face tougher sanctions if it failed to abide by a new international deal on Ukraine.

"We have troops in different regions, and there are troops close to the Ukrainian border. Some are based there, others have been sent as reinforcements due to the situation in Ukraine," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Rossiya 1 television, AFP reported.

...

Peskov said Russia would not be the only party held responsible for implementing the agreement on easing tensions in Ukraine, according to AFP.

He added that threats of further sanctions by Washington were "absolutely unacceptable.”

"Our Western colleagues are trying to push responsibility [for implementing the deal] toward our side. But it must be underlined: it is a collective responsibility," Peskov said.

Reuters adds that President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said, "Statements like those made at a high level in Washington that the United States will follow in detail how Russia fulfils its obligations ... are unlikely to help dialogue,"

"You can't treat Russia like a guilty schoolboy who has to put a cross on a piece of paper to show he has done his homework," Peskov said in an interview with Russia's First Channel. "That kind of language is unacceptable."

Russia's Foreign Ministry accused U.S. officials of seeking to whitewash what it said was the use of force by the Ukrainian government against protesters in the country's mainly Russian-speaking eastern provinces.

"The blame for the Ukrainian crisis and its current aggravation is unreasonably being placed on Russia," the ministry said in a statement.
"The American side is once again stubbornly trying to whitewash the current actions of Kiev's authorities, who have embarked on a course for the violent suppression of protesters in the southeast who are expressing their legitimate indignation over the infringements of their rights."

De-Escalation off...

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-0...olutely-unacce

Japan expands army footprint for first time in 40 years, risks angering China

By Nobuhiro Kubo 4 hours ago


.View photo

Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF)'s Type 89 Assault Rifle is seen as JGSDF 1st Airborne …

• Japan to arm remote western island, risking more China tension Reuters
• US defence chief warns China, drawing parallel with Crimea AFP
• China's booming military spending belies caution AFP
• South Korea, China condemn Japan over textbooks in latest fight Reuters
• Hagel, in Tokyo, moves to reassure Japan on security ties Reuters

YONAGUNI, Japan (Reuters) - Japan began its first military expansion at the western end of its island chain in more than 40 years on Saturday, breaking ground on a radar station on a tropical island off Taiwan.
The move risks angering China, locked in a dispute with Japan over nearby islands which they both claim.
Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera, who attended a ceremony on Yonaguni island to mark the start of construction, suggested the military presence could be enlarged to other islands in the seas southwest of Japan's main islands.

"This is the first deployment since the U.S. returned Okinawa (1972) and calls for us to be more on guard are growing," Onodera told reporters. "I want to build an operation able to properly defend islands that are part of Japan's territory."

The military radar station on Yonaguni, part of a longstanding plan to improve defense and surveillance, gives Japan a lookout just 150 km (93 miles) from the Japanese-held islands claimed by China.
Building the base could extend Japanese monitoring to the Chinese mainland and track Chinese ships and aircraft circling the disputed crags, called the Senkaku by Japan and the Diaoyu by China.

CHINA THREAT

The 30 sq km (11 sq mile) Yonanguni is home to 1,500 people and known for strong rice liquor, cattle, sugar cane and scuba diving. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's decision to put troops there shows Japan's concerns about the vulnerability of its thousands of islands and the perceived threat from China.

The new base "should give Japan the ability to expand surveillance to near the Chinese mainland," said Heigo Sato, a professor at Takushoku University and a former researcher at the Defense Ministry's National Institute for Defense Studies.

"It will allow early warning of missiles and supplement the monitoring of Chinese military movements."
Japan does not specify an exact enemy when discussing its defense strategy but it makes no secret it perceives China generally as a threat as it becomes an Asian power that could one day rival Japan's ally in the region, the United States.

Japan, in its National Defense Programme Guidelines issued in December, expressed "great concern" over China's military buildup and "attempts to change the status quo by coercion" in the sea and air.
China's decision last year to establish an air-defence identification zone in the East China Sea, including the skies above the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu islets, further rattled Tokyo.

Japanese and Chinese navy and coastguard ships have played cat-and-mouse around the uninhabited islands since Japan nationalized the territory in 2012. Japanese warplanes scrambled against Chinese planes a record 415 times in the year through to March, the Defence Ministry said last week.

Tapping concern about China, Abe raised military spending last fiscal year for the first time in 11 years to help bolster Japan's capability to fight for islands with a new marine unit, more longer-range aircraft, amphibious assault vehicles and helicopter carriers. Japan's thousands of islands give it nearly 30,000 km (18,600 miles) of coastline to defend.

MIXED FEELINGS

Onodera's groundbreaking ceremony on Yonaguni took place s four days before President Barack Obama lands in Tokyo for a summit with Abe, the first state visit by a U.S. president in 18 years.
The United States, which under its security pact with Tokyo has pledged to defend Japanese territory, has warned China about taking any action over the disputed islets, but has not formally recognized Japan's claim of sovereignty over the territory.

Many of the islanders on nearby Yonaguni are looking forward to hosting the radar base and the 100 troops who will man it because of the economic boost it will bring.

Others on the island, however, fear becoming a target should Japan end up in a fight.
"Opinion is split down the middle," Tetsuo Funamichi, the head of the Japan Agricultural Association's local branch, told Reuters. "It's good for the economy if they come, but some people worry that we could be attacked in an emergency."

Onodera was also greeted on Saturday by about 50 protesters who tried to block him from entering the construction site.

"Becoming a target is frightening, they won't talk to us about it, we haven't discussed it," a protestor, who declined to be identified said.

Takenori Komine, who works in an island government office, said it was a risk worth taking if it meant reviving an outpost of Japan that has been in decline since a brief postwar boom.

At that time, U.S.-occupied Yonaguni's proximity to Taiwan made it an entry point into Japan for smuggled food and clothing from Hong Kong. Since the end of World War Two, the island's population has withered by some 90 percent. Average income of about $22,500 a year is a fifth below the national average.

"We are hopeful that the arrival of the young troops will bolster local consumption," Komine said.
(Writing by Tim Kelly; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

http://news.yahoo.com/japan-expands-...2--sector.html

Over 1000 US, NATO Troops Begin Military Exercises In Ukraine

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 09/16/2014 - 07:59 Russia could care less whether Ukraine signs meaningless accession agreements with Europe (as it just did) because at the end of the day, Ukraine needs Russia's gas (if only for the next 4-6 years until Hunter Biden develops Ukraine's shale deposits and the Qatar gas pipeline finally crosses Syria). Russia, however, is very angry when NATO gets ever closer to its borders, which it just did when earlier today, more than 1,000 troops from 15 NATO and non-NATO countries, including the US of course, are taking part in a military exercise in Ukraine.

Meanwhile In Ukraine, The Parliament Is Being Stormed, Again - Live Webcast

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 09/16/2014 11:22 -0400

Yesterday, in the aftermath of the popular anger aimed at Ukraine's president Porohsneko following his "Bohnering" on Ukraine's demands for a free trade agreement with Europe, we said the new president's days are likely numbered. Less than 24 hours later, this has started to play out, and as the live feeds below show, the Kiev parliament is being stormed by what appears to be discontent from the right wing "Right Sector" political group, despite today's ratification of the meaningless EU pact, whose purpose was to offset popular anger at the delay of the trade agreeement. Moments ago from Bloomberg:

• UKRAINE PROTESTERS ATTEMPT TO ENTER PARLIAMENT BUILDING: UNIAN

Below is a live feed of what may soon be the second political coup in Ukraine in under 1 year.



Live view below

Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream

Some stills:







http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-0...n-live-webcast

Over 1000 US, NATO Troops Begin Military Exercises In Ukraine

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 09/16/2014 07:59 -0400

Russia could care less whether Ukraine signs meaningless accession agreements with Europe (as it just did) because at the end of the day, Ukraine needs Russia's gas (if only for the next 4-6 years until Hunter Biden develops Ukraine's shale deposits and the Qatar gas pipeline finally crosses Syria). Russia, however, is very angry when NATO gets ever closer to its borders, which it just did when earlier today, more than 1,000 troops from 15 NATO and non-NATO countries, including the US of course, are taking part in a military exercise in Ukraine.
The good news: The “Rapid Trident” exercise is happening near Lviv on the Polish-Ukrainian border, around 1,000 miles from the conflict in east Ukraine.

The bad news: 1,000 miles will hardly be considered enough by the Kremlin which will see this latest incursion by NATO ever closer to its border as another direct threat and a hint of what will happen if Ukraine is allowed to progress on its path of demanding entry into the military alliance.

From EuroNews:

Ukrainian army colonel, Oleksandr Syvak, said: “This year’s military exercise will concentrate on the particular aspects of the undeclared or “hybrid” war, which is happening in the east of Ukraine. This will be be taken into consideration during the military drill. The Ukrainian militaries will also share their experiences gained during the anti-terrorist operation”

Moscow has previously condemned what it calls NATO’s expansion in eastern Europe close to Russia’s borders.

In August, Ukraine’s prime minister said he would ask parliament to put the country on a path towards NATO membership.

At the weekend, the Ukrainian Defence Minister admitted NATO countries had begun arming his nation in the fight against the rebels – something NATO members had previously denied.

Euronews correspondent Mykhaylo Dubyak in Ukraine says: “In the Rapid Trident exercises, NATO and Ukrainian troops will train in how to react to an ambush and convoy operations, amongst other things. It will raise the combat capability of the Ukrainian army and may be used in operations in Donbas.”

Well, at least nobody is even hiding any more that NATO is both implicitly and explicitly involved in the Ukraine war, which has now surpassed simple proxy status and is in effect one between Russia and the West, quite directly.

And now we await as the Kremlin reveals yet another, massive "surprise" military drill just off the Ukraine border to make it quite clear how all this will end unless the warmongering puppetmasters operating behind the scenes are put in their place.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-0...rcises-ukraine

A Simple Primer On "War Propaganda" From An Unexpected Source

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 09/15/2014 19:41 -0400

Stop us when this becomes familiar:

The receptivity of the great masses is very limited, their intelligence is small, but their power of forgetting is enormous. In consequence of these facts, all effective propaganda must be limited to a very few points and must harp on these in slogans until the last member of the public understands what you want him to understand by your slogan. As soon as you sacrifice this slogan and try to be many-sided, the effect will piddle away, for the crowd can neither digest nor retain the material offered. In this way the result is weakened and in the end entirely cancelled out.

Source: Chapter 6, "War Propaganda" of Adolf Hilter's 1926 "Mein Kampf"



h/t @George_Chen


http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-0...xpected-source