{"id":878,"date":"2016-04-18T13:46:31","date_gmt":"2016-04-18T13:46:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/dcss\/?p=878"},"modified":"2016-04-18T13:46:31","modified_gmt":"2016-04-18T13:46:31","slug":"us-and-germany-say-no-to-poland-on-nato-base","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/dcss\/2016\/04\/18\/us-and-germany-say-no-to-poland-on-nato-base\/","title":{"rendered":"US AND GERMANY SAY NO TO POLAND ON NATO BASE"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NATO<\/a><\/p>\n

Sourced : Eurobserver<\/p>\n

By Andrew Rettman<\/p>\n

The US and Germany have unequivocally said that Nato will not build new bases in Poland, citing tactical and political reasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cNato\u2019s not talking about establishing bases \u2026 we support an enhanced presence, but we can do it without bases, bases, bases,\u201d James Townsend, a senior Pentagon official, said in Bratislava on Friday (15 April).<\/p>\n

His comment came at the Globsec conference in the Slovak capital after Poland\u2019s foreign minister, Witold Waszczykowski, said he wanted \u201cpresence, presence, presence and once again presence\u201d of Nato troops to act as a \u201csymbol of readiness to defend the eastern flank.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking also at Globsec earlier on Friday, German defence minister Ursula von der Leyen said Nato deterrence of Russia \u201cis not a question of permanent bases, it\u2019s a question of smart movement.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said that Nato\u2019s new rapid reaction force is enough to ensure that \u201cRussia should not even think about trying\u201d to destabilise Poland or one of the Baltic states.<\/p>\n

The Polish appeal comes ahead of a Nato summit in Warsaw in July.<\/p>\n

Nato defence ministers in February already decided in favour of \u201ccontinuous rotational\u201d presence instead of new bases.<\/p>\n

But Waszczykowski in Bratislava asked for more.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect decisions that change the security status of this region. Although we belong to the same institution [Nato] there are different statuses – a better one in the west and a different one on the so-called eastern flank. There are no troops deployed here permanently, no military facilities owned by Nato,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect the Nato summit to change the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Nato rapid reaction force is to include about 4,000 U.S troops that will \u201crotate\u201d in and out of the Baltic region – deploy in different areas in temporary facilities for a few months at a time.<\/p>\n

It will include warehouses full of US tanks near Russia\u2019s borders that can be quickly deployed.<\/p>\n

The Warsaw summit will also discuss giving Nato commanders the flexibility to react to hostile acts without first holding political talks in Brussels, Townsend said.<\/p>\n

It will send the message that Nato is ready to use its nuclear deterrent if need be in reaction to Russia\u2019s nuclear sabre-rattling, he added.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Modern warfare<\/p>\n

Petr Pavl, a Czech general who is in charge of Nato military planning, said new bases might act as a \u201cpolitical deterrent\u201d but have little value in tactical terms.<\/p>\n

\u201cModern warfare is not about static lines and huge banks of steel \u2026 it\u2019s about mobility and the ability to project power in different areas and at different levels,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo build a permanent new base \u2026 you\u2019re just adding one item to your adversary\u2019s target list.\u201d<\/p>\n

Townsend dismissed Russia\u2019s claim that there was a post-Cold War deal for Nato to stay away from its neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was never a promise made to them that I know of on the shape of Nato forces other than the Nato-Russia founding act,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The 1997 treaty commits Nato to avoid \u201cadditional permanent stationing of substantial combat forces” close to Russia, but only \u201cin the current \u2026 security environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Germany\u2019s Von der Leyen said that Russia unilaterally \u201cleft\u201d the treaty when it invaded Ukraine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Political effort<\/p>\n

But she said that Nato should \u201cstick to our commitments\u201d in order to keep the moral high ground.<\/p>\n

Pavl also said that Nato was making a \u201cpolitical effort not to escalate\u201d the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re keeping a very low profile. Our [rapid reaction] force is not there to threaten \u2026 We\u2019re not trying to bring a significant military force to the [Russian] border.\u201d<\/p>\n

Von der Leyen said that Germany was \u201cready for dialogue\u201d with Russia but only if Russia was willing to respect international law.<\/p>\n

She said its invasion of Ukraine was a \u201cbitter awakening\u201d for Germany. \u201cRussia is not our enemy, but it\u2019s no longer our partner,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She defended the West\u2019s decision not to give Ukraine military support \u201cbecause we would have had a bloody war on Ukraine\u2019s soil.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most vulnerable part of Russia is its economy \u2026 so we answered by targeting their most vulnerable point to make them understand,\u201d she said, referring to EU economic sanctions on Russia.<\/p>\n

Ian Brzezinski, a former Pentagon official who now works for the Atlantic Council, a think tank in Washington, told EUobserver that Von der Leyen\u2019s words would be \u201cdemoralising\u201d for Ukraine, which has lost over 9,000 people in the war.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Provocation<\/p>\n

He predicted that Russia will stage a military provocation ahead of the Warsaw summit.<\/p>\n

Unarmed Russian jets simulated attacks on a US warship, the USS Donald Cook, in the Baltic Sea over a three-day period earlier this week, the Pentagon’s Townsend said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were in international waters, where you\u2019d expect safe passage, not to be buzzed constantly,\u201d he said. \u201cWe do not buzz Russian ships,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Nato\u2019s Pavl said: \u201cI don\u2019t believe that, in the current circumstances, Russia will try to destabilise the [Nato] summit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re trying to be more open and to enter into a dialogue, so any bigger provocation wouldn\u2019t suit that purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nato and Russia will next week hold the first meeting of a joint Council since the Ukraine war.<\/p>\n

Alexander Vershbow, the Nato deputy head, said in Bratislava that Nato will urge Russia to avoid military manouevres that could cause an \u201caccidental conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s [the Coucil meeting] not meant in any way to signal a normalisation of relations with Russia,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sourced : Eurobserver By Andrew Rettman The US and Germany have unequivocally said that Nato will not build new bases in Poland, citing tactical and political reasons. \u201cNato\u2019s not talking about establishing bases \u2026 we support an enhanced presence, but we can do it without bases, bases, bases,\u201d James Townsend, a senior Pentagon official, said… Continue reading US AND GERMANY SAY NO TO POLAND ON NATO BASE<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":879,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[186,495,673,27,180,641,672],"class_list":["post-878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-security-and-strategy","tag-baltic-sea","tag-germany","tag-poland","tag-russia","tag-ukraine","tag-us","tag-uss-donald-cook","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/dcss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/dcss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/dcss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/dcss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/dcss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/dcss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":880,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/dcss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878\/revisions\/880"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/dcss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/dcss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/dcss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/dcss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}