Nato General europe
General Curtis Scaparrotti, leder af USA’s Europæiske Komando.
Som forberedelse til Præsidents Trumps besøg til Europa (24. maj: Rom; 25. maj: NATO topmøde i Brussele; 26-27. maj: G7 topmøde i Taomina), præsenterede Pentagon sin strategiske plan for det "Europæiske område" ["European theatre"]. Dets talsmand? General Curtis Scaparotti, der som leder af USA's Europæiske Komando automatisk bliver leder af NATO i sin egenskab af den øverste allierede militærleder for Europa. Den 2. maj mindede han i det amerikanske senat om, at "det europæiske område er kritisk for vores nationale interesser" og "NATO alliancen giver os en enestående fordel over vores modstandere". Alligevel er denne fordel nu blevet bragt i fare af "et genopblomstrende Rusland, [som] søger at underminere den vestligt ledte internationale orden og igen hæver sig som en global magt".

Den øverste leder anmoder sine europæiske allierede om at slutte op om USA for at forsvare med alle mulige midler den "internationale orden" - den som er baseret på vestens økonomiske, politiske og militære overmagt - der er bragt i fare af nye staters og sociale enheders fremkomst.


Its focus is transfixed on Russia, accusing it of "malign activities and military actions against Ukraine" (precisely at the time of the third anniversary of the massacre of dozens of Russians, that took place at Odessa on 2 May 2014, at the hands of Neo Nazi Ukrainians under USA/Nato command. However, the "threat" is not coming from Russia alone: the United States - declared Admiral Harris, Head of the Pacific Command - is challenged in that region at the same time by "an aggressive China and a revanchist Russia".

In response to these challenges, announces Scaparrotti, the US European Command, "we are returning to our historic role as a war-fighting command, adjusting our plans to the threats that we have in front of us". This is why he is imploring Congress to increase the funds for the "European Reassurance Initiative", an operation launched by the USA officially to "reassure" its Nato allies and European partners and for which 3.4 billion dollars has been earmarked in 2017. "These are necessary, significant investments - emphasizes the General - to increase throughout Europe our advanced presence, the pre-positioning of military materials, the drills in preparation for conflicts".

The plan is clear and is already underway: to transform Europe into the firing line for yet another confrontation with Russia. The announcement made on 4 May, confirms this: that the US Army in Europe had built a new headquarters at Poznan, Poland, to command more than 6,000 US soldiers that have been lined up in Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Germany, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria in order to "strengthen Nato's Eastern flank, serving as a deterrence to Russia".

In this lining up on the Eastern flank, which includes armoured forces, fighter bombers, war ships and missile units (including nuclear ones) - are participating Nato European powers. This is demonstrated by France sending her troops and Britain her tanks, to Estonia.

And what about the European army? At the meeting of the EU Defense Ministers, on 27 April at Malta, the Nato Secretary General, Stoltenberg left no room for doubt: "it was clearly agreed by the European Union that its objective is not to build a new European army or structures of command in competition with Nato's, but something that may complement what Nato is doing".

The sceptre of command thus remains squarely in the hands of the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, a US general appointed by the US President.

Via Il Manifesto (Italy)