Nuclear Stand-off in Cold War 2.0

Nicholas Burns was let go when John Kerry needed to deploy a diplomatic effort. HRC is more hawkish yet …

Eastern Europe needs permanent Nato troops, say ex-US policymakers | The Guardian – June 2016 |

In a report for the Atlantic Council thinktank, the two former senior US policymakers argue for this Nato force to become permanent “as long as Russia maintains its aggressive posture”.

Nicholas Burns, an adviser to the US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, said a “small but symbolic” permanent troop presence would show the Russian president that Nato is serious about collective defence. “We are not talking about massing troops on the border, but sufficient strength so that [Vladimir] Putin and the Russian leadership will understand we are going to protect the Baltic states and Poland.”

Any such move would be bound to be seen by the Kremlin as a hostile act. Moscow argues that the plan to set up rotating battalions in Poland and the Baltic States would violate a 1997 agreement that Nato would not mass “substantial combat forces” in Europe. The agreement also states that reinforcement “may take place … in the event of defence against a threat of aggression”.

Nato maintains that it respects the 1997 agreement as it does not deploy “substantial” numbers of troops. Successive Polish governments have argued that Russia’s annexation of Crimea and assault on eastern Ukraine changed the strategic situation.

Burns rejected claims that the permanent stationing of troops could be seen as an aggressive step, or substantial combat forces. “We are a collective defence organisation. By putting a small number of troops into Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland we are simply asserting our legal right to protect those countries in a defensive way.”

NATO strategy outlined by the Atlantic Council: “Make Russia a pariah state”.

Russia confirms deployment of nuclear-capable missiles to Kaliningrad enclave

Russia has moved nuclear-capable Iskander-M missiles into the Kaliningrad enclave bordering Poland and Lithuania, the Russian defence ministry said on Saturday, adding it was part of routine drills.

“These missile units have been deployed more than once (in the Kaliningrad region) … and will be deployed as part of military training of the Russian armed forces,” ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.

A US intelligence official said on Friday that Russia had started moving the Iskander-Ms into the enclave on the Baltic in what he said could be a gesture to express displeasure with Nato.

« click for more info Russian move as a reply to a U.S.-backed missile shield