PRESS RELEASE
U.S. European Command Wants More Troops To Target Russia
Jan. 27, 2016 (EIRNS)—U.S. European Command released a new theater strategy document, yesterday, that identifies Russia as the number-one threat to Europe and warns that the U.S. troop drawdowns of the past 25 years put the region’s stability at risk.
"Russia is presenting enduring challenges to our allies and partners in multiple regions; therefore, it is a global challenge that requires a global response,"
the report says. Tackling that challenge will require EUCOM to work carefully with other military components to ensure that
"collective DoD deterrence efforts are synchronized and achieve the desired effect without causing unwarranted escalation or provocation."
Defense News reports that despite this Russian "aggression," the United States has been reluctant to divert more troops to Europe because of new crises that keep cropping up in the Middle East and Asia. Yet EUCOM’s new strategy, the Defense News report continues, warns that "fully addressing" Europe’s security challenges "and their long-term implications requires a reformulation of the U.S. strategic calculus and corresponding resourcing levied towards Europe," the report said.
The Eucom report, which bears the signature of Gen. Philip Breedlove, the commander of both Eucom and NATO, unabashedly advocates the permanent stationing of troops in Eastern Europe in place of the current rotational presence.
"Reduced U.S. forward presence and degraded readiness across the services are inhibiting the United States’ ability to favorably shape the environment,"
it says.
"USEUCOM cannot fully mitigate the impact felt from a reduction in assigned military forces through the augmentation of rotational forces from the United States,"
it goes on.
"The temporary presence of rotational forces complements, but does not substitute for an enduring forward deployed presence that is tangible and real."
Since the bulk of U.S. forces present in Europe on a rotational basis are located in the Baltics, Poland, Hungary, and Romania, this would seem to be an outright call for the permanent stationing of U.S. troops in Eastern Europe. Not only would such a U.S. troop presence violate the NATO-Russia Founding Act of 1997—which some NATO member governments still regard as in effect; Russia would also find it a provocation.
