By Gavin Mackintosh-
NATO has put up to 300,000 troops on high alert over Russia, as part of an aggressive or defensive build-up that could lead to a war.
Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, announced that NATO member nations are putting hundreds of thousands of troops in a state of high alert, in an effort to deter a serious threat from Russia. Nato has expressed a real concern that Russia are preparing to attack the West anytime, and are as a result preparing in every way to monitor or thwart the threat of attack from Russia.
In a statement, Stoltenberg said:
“We have seen Russia being much more active in many different ways.”
“We have seen a more assertive Russia implementing a substantial military build-up over many years; tripling defence spending since 2000 in real terms; developing new military capabilities; exercising their forces and using military force against neighbours.”
“We have also seen Russia using propaganda in Europe among NATO allies and that is exactly the reason why NATO is responding. We are responding with the biggest reinforcement of our collective defence since the end of the Cold War.”
The response is worrying, although the rhetoric and behaviour of the Russian government has been provocative to a large degree. Last month, Russian president, Vladimir Putin called for all Russia natives abroad to return to the motherland and pull their children out of school. This was shortly after the president announced that 40 million bunkers have been created to shield Russian citizens in the event of a full scale nuclear war.
That announcement sure sparks fears that Russia is preparing for war, but does this mean Russia is preparing to start the war? It depends who is assessing this complex and messy issue. Sure, if Nato feels it needs 300,000 on standby, one can’t knock this since it may actually be necessary. What we don’t know for sure is if the preparation of troops is aggravating an already tense situation.
Force Of 300,000 Troops
Adam Thomson, the permanent representative to Nato, estimates that at present, it would take the military alliance 180 days to deploy a force of 300,000, and that speeding up this rate is of top importance.
The drastic measures of the deployment of 300,000 troops, come amid Russia’s continuous nuclear drills war drills in Russia, and its alleged cyber attacks on Washington.
Last week, Moscow was believed to be provoking Nato by sending hundreds of paratroopers to a Serbian airbase, despite its knowledge that Nato was holding disaster relief exercises just 150 miles away in Montenegro.
Putin’s decision to hold military drills so close to Nato’s emergency exercises in Montenegro, was seen as a provocative move, designed to flex its millitary might and display an air of superiority and willingness to go to war. The 300,000 troops being put on high alert is a sign from Nato that they truly believe Russia is preparing to at least attack a NATO country, or the west as a whole.
The allegation against Nato that they are attempting to pervert the democratic process of the US presidential election by hacking into Democrat emails, has still not been proven. Using an allegation of cyber attacks without evidence may be just propaganda, or both the UK and Washington might genuinely believe Russia to have been behind the cyber attacks leaked by Wikileaks.
However, without concrete proof, Nato may be acting on false information, which makes the whole build up worrying. The other side to the coin is that Russia have long appeared to be a threat worth worrying about. It’s several drills at home, building of bunkers, and unrestrained attacks in Syria have raised serious concerns in the West.
There is always the possibility that Russia are only preparing for the possibility of being attacked, and not launching an attack as feared. Only Putin and his allies know exactly their motives. With the American elections on it’s last legs, the situation between Nato and Russia may well spiral out of control if some leader somewhere does not identify the real issue and repair it. Unless it is beyond repair as is always possible.