US and NATO Engage in Unprecedented Military Exercises in Europe
By Niles Williamson
Global Research
July 24, 2015
The United States and its European and NATO allies are currently engaged in or preparing to undertake the largest military exercises ever to take place in the host countries involved. These operations include the deployment of American and NATO soldiers and heavy military equipment across the breadth of the European continent, with a focus on Russia’s western border.
Annual military exercises in Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine have grown significantly in size and scope in the wake of the 2014 coup in Ukraine and ensuing civil war. The United States and its allies have used claims of Russian aggression in Ukraine to ramp up its military presence throughout Eastern Europe and the Baltic countries.
The United States announced last month that it will station heavy equipment, including artillery and tanks, on a rotating basis in a number of Eastern European NATO countries. Additionally, NATO announced that it would triple the size of its Response Force which is aimed at Russia.
In addition to ongoing exercises in Eastern Europe, Trident Juncture 2015, the largest NATO military exercise since 2002, is scheduled to begin in late September and will involve 36,000 troops form more than 30 countries. The exercises will take place in Spain, Italy and Portugal, with all 28 NATO countries plus five allies participating.
In a scenario that clearly stands in for the ongoing Ukraine conflict, forces from the participating countries’ armies, navies, air forces and Special Forces will engage in an extended operation to assist the fictitious country of Sorotan, a non-NATO country that is wracked by internal armed conflict and faces a military threat from a powerful neighbor.
A review of the ongoing exercises in the run-up to Trident Juncture gives a sense of the size and scope of the war preparations being developed by the United States and its NATO allies.
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