NATO continually claims to be a force for stability and defense — whenever any sane-minded observer can see that the opposite is true, inciting tensions in Europe and Russia to levels not seen since the heyday of the Cold War.
"Our deployments are defensive and measured. We will not march Russia soldier-for-soldier, tank-for-tank or plane-for-plane. Our aim is to prevent conflict, not to provoke it," Stoltenberg told a press conference.
NATO expects that its four rotational battalions in eastern Europe will become fully functional by June, Stoltenberg added.
"We also received an update on the deployment of our new deterrent force in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Troops have started to arrive and we expect the four multinational battle groups to be fully operational by June," Stoltenberg told a press conference.
Following the NATO summit in July 2016, Stoltenberg said that the alliance had agreed to deploy four multinational battalions to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova commenting on the decision said that a proportionate response to the increasing military activities of NATO, which had been persistently moving its infrastructure toward Russia's borders, would take place.
Over a dozen of countries will contribute to four NATO battalions in the region. Albania, Italy, Poland, Slovenia and Spain will contribute to the Canadian-led battalion in Latvia, according to NATO. Belgium, Croatia, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Norway will join the German-led battalion in Lithuania. Denmark and France will contribute to the UK-led battalion in Estonia. Finally, Romania and United Kingdom will join US-led battalion in Poland.
US President Donald Trump got elected largely because of his vague intentions to curb American overseas militarism and to restore friendlier relations with foreign states, including Russia.
How fiendish then that Trump appears to be sliding towards belligerence at an alarming rate.
