Headlines around the world from the last 4-5 weeks make interesting reading.
1- President Trump to pull US from Russia missile treaty.
2- Reinforcing Kaliningrad: Russia’s menacing move on Europe
3- Russia war games: Biggest since Cold War 'justified'
4- Prospective Strategy for Baltic Defense - The Russian Public and War Termination in the Baltic States
5- Dutch General Accuses Russia of Trying to 'Provoke' NATO Marines in Arctic
6- Russia launches biggest war games since Cold War
7- Interactive Missile Map Reveals How Messy a NATO-Russia War Would Be
1)
President Trump to pull US from Russia missile treaty.
The US will withdraw from a landmark nuclear weapons treaty with Russia, President Donald Trump has confirmed.
Speaking to reporters, Mr Trump said Russia had "violated" the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty.
The deal banned ground-launched medium-range missiles, with a range of between 500 and 5,500km (310-3,400 miles).
The US would not let Russia "go out and do weapons [while] we're not allowed to", Mr Trump said.
"I don't know why President [Barack] Obama didn't negotiate or pull out," the president said after a campaign rally in Nevada. "They've been violating it for many years."
In 2014, President Obama accused Russia of breaching the INF after it allegedly tested a ground-launched cruise missile. He reportedly chose not to withdraw from the treaty under pressure from European leaders, who said such a move could restart an arms race.
A Russian foreign ministry source said the US move was motivated by a "dream of a unipolar world" where it is the only global superpower, state news agency RIA Novosti reported.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45930206
2)
Reinforcing Kaliningrad: Russia’s menacing move on Europe
SATELLITE images reveal Moscow is massively reinforcing its strategic Kaliningrad outpost, positioned like a knife at the throat of NATO in the Baltic Sea.
Russian power: Look closely, and a Tochka U Soviet tactical ballistic missile is visibly displayed in the yard at a missile troop base. But much more modern firepower now is on the way here, say residents.
NEW bunkers. New missiles. Upgraded air bases. Expanded stocks of weapons. Moscow’s up to something at its Kaliningrad enclave — a heavily militarised outpost aimed at the heart of Europe.
CNN reports it has been given satellite imagery which reveals a rapid-paced expansion and renovation of at least four key military installations in the territory which sits like a thorn between Poland, the Baltic Sea and former Soviet Union states including Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
A US defence official has called the upgrade “the biggest move we’ve seen” by Russia towards militarising its Baltic enclave.
“If they want to challenge us, we will challenge them,” says Admiral James G. Foggo III, the commander of US Naval Forces Europe-Africa. “We’re not going to be intimidated by those systems that are out there.”
https://www.news.com.au/technology/...e/news-story/47efcd2f222e414b8f5ea1f25bb6316d
3)
Russia war games: Biggest since Cold War 'justified'
Russia plans to hold massive war games involving 300,000 personnel next month - its biggest military manoeuvres since a Cold War drill in 1981.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Vostok-2018 drills were justified given "aggressive and unfriendly" attitudes towards his country.
Units from China and Mongolia will also take part in the exercises at military ranges in central and eastern Russia.
The manoeuvres come at a time of rising tension between Nato and Russia.
What will take place in the drills?
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said 36,000 tanks, armoured personnel carriers and armoured infantry vehicles would take part in Vostok-2018, from 11 to 15 September, along with more than 1,000 aircraft. Vostok is Russian for east.
All of Russia's airborne units and two of its naval fleets will also take part in the drills across Siberia and the Russian Far East.
Mr Shoigu compared the Vostok-2018 exercises to Soviet manoeuvres in 1981, which involved a pretend attack on Nato. He said: "In some ways they will repeat aspects of Zapad-81, but in other ways the scale will be bigger."
Mr Peskov said the involvement of Chinese units showed Russia and Beijing were co-operating in all areas.
Xi Jinping has called Vladimir Putin his "best, most intimate friend"
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45330161
4)
Prospective Strategy for Baltic Defense
The Russian Public and War Termination in the Baltic States
A crowd protests against high-level government corruption 12 June 2017 at an antigovernment rally organized by supporters of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Russian military leaders frequently express concern that such antigovernment mass rallies could easily lead to a so-called “color revolution” with the aid of foreign influence. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
Ever since early 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea, the defense of the Baltic States has been a concern for NATO and the United States. This focused interest stems from the possibility that Article 5, NATO’s collective defense clause, might be triggered. Other than a general belief in deterrence, public discussion of Baltic defense has been pessimistic. Russia’s ability to overwhelm the forces currently stationed in the Baltic States is emphasized in the discussion, as well as Russia’s anti-access and area denial capabilities, which would make any return to the Baltic States after an initial Russian invasion a strenuous endeavor for NATO. (A commonly assumed Russian invasion route is depicted in figure 1.) These are not the only critical strategic conundrums that NATO could face in the Baltic.
https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Jou...lic-and-War-Termination-in-the-Baltic-States/
5)
Dutch General Accuses Russia of Trying to 'Provoke' NATO Marines in Arctic
Earlier, NATO's supreme allied commander said that the US military was putting Russia "on notice" by deploying a carrier battle group to Norway for massive alliance drills later this month.
Dutch Marine Corps director of operations Gen Jeff Mac Mootry has accused the Russian military of trying to provoke NATO marines operating in the Arctic Circle.
"What we see is there is an increasing interest of Russian naval vessels when we exercise," he said, speaking to the Telegraph at a briefing in Rotterdam.
"For example, when we do launching exercises as part of our ballistic missile defense program, we see more Russian ships than normally and they come closer to us than in past decades. They clearly want to make their presence visible," Mac Mootry explained.
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201810141068882224-russia-provoking-nato-in-norway-general-says/
6)
Russia launches biggest war games since Cold War
Russia has launched its biggest military exercise since the Cold War, involving about 300,000 service personnel, in eastern Siberia.
China is sending 3,200 troops to take part in "Vostok-2018", with many Chinese armoured vehicles and aircraft. Mongolia is also sending some units.
The last Russian exercise of similar scale was in 1981, during the Cold War, but Vostok-2018 involves more troops.
The week-long manoeuvres come at a time of heightened Nato-Russia tensions.
As the exercises began, Russian President Vladimir Putin met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at a forum in the eastern city of Vladivostok and told him "we have a trusting relationship in the sphere of politics, security and defence".
Relations between Russia and Nato - a 29-member defence alliance dominated by the US - have worsened since Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45470460
7)
Interactive Missile Map Reveals How Messy a NATO-Russia War Would Be
Russia, Poland and the Baltic States get the worst of it.
he first of 3,500 American troops began rolling into Poland for a nine-month-long mission starting on Jan. 8, 2017. It’s an unprecedented length of time for a U.S. armored unit to stay in Eastern Europe. The U.S. Army’s 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division were heading to Zagan and Pomorskie, with the unit’s 87 M-1 Abrams tanks following on trains.
It’s the beginning of a bulked-up and continuous NATO troop rotation to counter a resurgent Russia. In addition to the tanks, the unit is bringing with it 18 self-propelled Paladin howitzers, hundreds of Humvees and 144 Bradley fighting vehicles which will spread out across Eastern Europe.
There hasn’t been a U.S. military deployment in Europe this big since the Cold War.
But as the troops move beyond Zagan, they will fall under the shadow of Russia’s land-based strike missiles in Kaliningrad, the Connecticut-sized enclave squeezed between Poland, Lithuania and the Baltic Sea. Russia has invested heavily in building up its military presence there in recent years.
In the event of a military conflict over the Baltic States, Russian missiles in Kaliningrad could target NATO troops heading from Poland. That could slow reinforcements were Russia to invade Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
The Baltics would need those NATO reinforcements to have a chance, slim as it would be, to stop a vastly more numerous Russian army. Indeed, Russia’s army is smaller than it once was, but it is “more than adequate … to overwhelm whatever defense the Baltic armies might be able to present,” a RAND Corporation study noted in 2016.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/t...e-map-reveals-how-messy-nato-russia-war-19071
1- President Trump to pull US from Russia missile treaty.
2- Reinforcing Kaliningrad: Russia’s menacing move on Europe
3- Russia war games: Biggest since Cold War 'justified'
4- Prospective Strategy for Baltic Defense - The Russian Public and War Termination in the Baltic States
5- Dutch General Accuses Russia of Trying to 'Provoke' NATO Marines in Arctic
6- Russia launches biggest war games since Cold War
7- Interactive Missile Map Reveals How Messy a NATO-Russia War Would Be
1)
President Trump to pull US from Russia missile treaty.
The US will withdraw from a landmark nuclear weapons treaty with Russia, President Donald Trump has confirmed.
Speaking to reporters, Mr Trump said Russia had "violated" the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty.
The deal banned ground-launched medium-range missiles, with a range of between 500 and 5,500km (310-3,400 miles).
The US would not let Russia "go out and do weapons [while] we're not allowed to", Mr Trump said.
"I don't know why President [Barack] Obama didn't negotiate or pull out," the president said after a campaign rally in Nevada. "They've been violating it for many years."
In 2014, President Obama accused Russia of breaching the INF after it allegedly tested a ground-launched cruise missile. He reportedly chose not to withdraw from the treaty under pressure from European leaders, who said such a move could restart an arms race.
A Russian foreign ministry source said the US move was motivated by a "dream of a unipolar world" where it is the only global superpower, state news agency RIA Novosti reported.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45930206
2)
Reinforcing Kaliningrad: Russia’s menacing move on Europe
SATELLITE images reveal Moscow is massively reinforcing its strategic Kaliningrad outpost, positioned like a knife at the throat of NATO in the Baltic Sea.
Russian power: Look closely, and a Tochka U Soviet tactical ballistic missile is visibly displayed in the yard at a missile troop base. But much more modern firepower now is on the way here, say residents.
NEW bunkers. New missiles. Upgraded air bases. Expanded stocks of weapons. Moscow’s up to something at its Kaliningrad enclave — a heavily militarised outpost aimed at the heart of Europe.
CNN reports it has been given satellite imagery which reveals a rapid-paced expansion and renovation of at least four key military installations in the territory which sits like a thorn between Poland, the Baltic Sea and former Soviet Union states including Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
A US defence official has called the upgrade “the biggest move we’ve seen” by Russia towards militarising its Baltic enclave.
“If they want to challenge us, we will challenge them,” says Admiral James G. Foggo III, the commander of US Naval Forces Europe-Africa. “We’re not going to be intimidated by those systems that are out there.”
https://www.news.com.au/technology/...e/news-story/47efcd2f222e414b8f5ea1f25bb6316d
3)
Russia war games: Biggest since Cold War 'justified'
Russia plans to hold massive war games involving 300,000 personnel next month - its biggest military manoeuvres since a Cold War drill in 1981.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Vostok-2018 drills were justified given "aggressive and unfriendly" attitudes towards his country.
Units from China and Mongolia will also take part in the exercises at military ranges in central and eastern Russia.
The manoeuvres come at a time of rising tension between Nato and Russia.
What will take place in the drills?
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said 36,000 tanks, armoured personnel carriers and armoured infantry vehicles would take part in Vostok-2018, from 11 to 15 September, along with more than 1,000 aircraft. Vostok is Russian for east.
All of Russia's airborne units and two of its naval fleets will also take part in the drills across Siberia and the Russian Far East.
Mr Shoigu compared the Vostok-2018 exercises to Soviet manoeuvres in 1981, which involved a pretend attack on Nato. He said: "In some ways they will repeat aspects of Zapad-81, but in other ways the scale will be bigger."
Mr Peskov said the involvement of Chinese units showed Russia and Beijing were co-operating in all areas.
Xi Jinping has called Vladimir Putin his "best, most intimate friend"
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45330161
4)
Prospective Strategy for Baltic Defense
The Russian Public and War Termination in the Baltic States
A crowd protests against high-level government corruption 12 June 2017 at an antigovernment rally organized by supporters of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Russian military leaders frequently express concern that such antigovernment mass rallies could easily lead to a so-called “color revolution” with the aid of foreign influence. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
Ever since early 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea, the defense of the Baltic States has been a concern for NATO and the United States. This focused interest stems from the possibility that Article 5, NATO’s collective defense clause, might be triggered. Other than a general belief in deterrence, public discussion of Baltic defense has been pessimistic. Russia’s ability to overwhelm the forces currently stationed in the Baltic States is emphasized in the discussion, as well as Russia’s anti-access and area denial capabilities, which would make any return to the Baltic States after an initial Russian invasion a strenuous endeavor for NATO. (A commonly assumed Russian invasion route is depicted in figure 1.) These are not the only critical strategic conundrums that NATO could face in the Baltic.
https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Jou...lic-and-War-Termination-in-the-Baltic-States/
5)
Dutch General Accuses Russia of Trying to 'Provoke' NATO Marines in Arctic
Earlier, NATO's supreme allied commander said that the US military was putting Russia "on notice" by deploying a carrier battle group to Norway for massive alliance drills later this month.
Dutch Marine Corps director of operations Gen Jeff Mac Mootry has accused the Russian military of trying to provoke NATO marines operating in the Arctic Circle.
"What we see is there is an increasing interest of Russian naval vessels when we exercise," he said, speaking to the Telegraph at a briefing in Rotterdam.
"For example, when we do launching exercises as part of our ballistic missile defense program, we see more Russian ships than normally and they come closer to us than in past decades. They clearly want to make their presence visible," Mac Mootry explained.
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201810141068882224-russia-provoking-nato-in-norway-general-says/
6)
Russia launches biggest war games since Cold War
Russia has launched its biggest military exercise since the Cold War, involving about 300,000 service personnel, in eastern Siberia.
China is sending 3,200 troops to take part in "Vostok-2018", with many Chinese armoured vehicles and aircraft. Mongolia is also sending some units.
The last Russian exercise of similar scale was in 1981, during the Cold War, but Vostok-2018 involves more troops.
The week-long manoeuvres come at a time of heightened Nato-Russia tensions.
As the exercises began, Russian President Vladimir Putin met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at a forum in the eastern city of Vladivostok and told him "we have a trusting relationship in the sphere of politics, security and defence".
Relations between Russia and Nato - a 29-member defence alliance dominated by the US - have worsened since Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45470460
7)
Interactive Missile Map Reveals How Messy a NATO-Russia War Would Be
Russia, Poland and the Baltic States get the worst of it.
he first of 3,500 American troops began rolling into Poland for a nine-month-long mission starting on Jan. 8, 2017. It’s an unprecedented length of time for a U.S. armored unit to stay in Eastern Europe. The U.S. Army’s 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division were heading to Zagan and Pomorskie, with the unit’s 87 M-1 Abrams tanks following on trains.
It’s the beginning of a bulked-up and continuous NATO troop rotation to counter a resurgent Russia. In addition to the tanks, the unit is bringing with it 18 self-propelled Paladin howitzers, hundreds of Humvees and 144 Bradley fighting vehicles which will spread out across Eastern Europe.
There hasn’t been a U.S. military deployment in Europe this big since the Cold War.
But as the troops move beyond Zagan, they will fall under the shadow of Russia’s land-based strike missiles in Kaliningrad, the Connecticut-sized enclave squeezed between Poland, Lithuania and the Baltic Sea. Russia has invested heavily in building up its military presence there in recent years.
In the event of a military conflict over the Baltic States, Russian missiles in Kaliningrad could target NATO troops heading from Poland. That could slow reinforcements were Russia to invade Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
The Baltics would need those NATO reinforcements to have a chance, slim as it would be, to stop a vastly more numerous Russian army. Indeed, Russia’s army is smaller than it once was, but it is “more than adequate … to overwhelm whatever defense the Baltic armies might be able to present,” a RAND Corporation study noted in 2016.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/t...e-map-reveals-how-messy-nato-russia-war-19071
