NATO - Empire Building, Escalating the Drama with Russia

NATO Plans to Add Two New Commands to Counter

Imaginary Russian Threat

BY: Jack Heretik   

NATO is set to approve the creation of two new commands to strengthen alliance weaknesses in a potential conflict with Russia, according to allied officials.

NATO defense ministers will review a new command structure—meant to improve allied logistics and protect supply lines—at their quarterly meeting next month, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

The recommendations include one new command to manage NATO logistics, which would focus on moving people and materiel more quickly, and one new command for the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, which would focus on protecting sea lanes, critical for supplying Europe, from submarine threats.

The potential command changes come amid rising tensions between NATO and Russia. Alliance leaders have warned that member countries must be able to move quicker to effectively deter and counter Russian forces.

Rising tensions are entirely caused by the spectacular build-up of NATO troops and weapons on Russia's European borders this year. Yes, I have complained in recent years of Putin's ambition to rebuild the Russian Federation to at least equal the Soviet empire, but the situation in Ukraine was brought about by the western sponsored coup of a Russia-friendly government. I don't believe it is an example of Russian aggression as much as cutting their losses against western aggression.

My fear is that NATO is now moving that theatre of aggression from Ukraine into the entirety of northeast Europe. However, other than Belarus, there are no Russia-friendly countries in northeast Europe, and Belarus is very stable with a strong dictator maintaining ties with both Russia and the west. Alexander Lukashenko has been running Belarus since 1994 although he is still just in his early 60s.

One potential source of conflict is the Kaliningrad Oblast, on the southern Baltic. It belongs to Russia but is not attached to it. As Russia's only seaport on the southern Baltic, Russia will protect it from aggression as they did Sevastopol in the Crimea, their western-most Naval base in the south. 

"The alliance has to move as quick or quicker than Russian Federation forces for our deterrent to be effective," Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, the top Army commander in Europe, said earlier this month. "Speed is what will give our civilian leaders options other than a liberation campaign."

NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said the command structure review is meant to focus on military mobility so the alliance can "deploy forces quickly across the alliance." She added that NATO members are "adapting national legislation to allow military equipment to transit faster across borders and are working on improving national infrastructure."

The potential changes are partly in response to calls from some Eastern European alliance members to better prepare for crises.

"We have to revise how fast we make decisions and prepare better," Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė told the Journal.

The new commands' headquarters would be at the same level as NATO's Joint Forces Commands, located in Brunssom, Netherlands and Naples, Italy.

Plans for a new NATO command structure review come as the United States places more military resources in Europe to deter Russian aggression. This week alone, the 1st Air Cavalry Brigade arrived in Belgium with 89 helicopters that will go to Germany, Latvia, Romania, and Poland. Congress is evaluating whether to permanently station a tank brigade along with other units in Europe permanently.

This is great business for the companies who make military helicopters and tanks. What a brilliant idea - NATO has a reason for its existence and the military industrial establishment continues to suck up astonishing amounts of international resources that could be used for useful purposes.

NATO is reviewing a new logistics command partly because of the difficulties NATO faces with moving personnel and equipment across borders. Often a country has to give approval ahead of time for certain weapons and equipment to cross its borders, and many European roads and bridges cannot handle the weight of an American battle tank, the U.S. Army's five-axle tank transport trailers, or heavy air-defense batteries, further complicating movements.

At sea, Russia has recently invested in newer submarines with more advanced technology, triggering calls for a new Arctic and Atlantic command.