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MAY 9, 1945-2010 — LEST WE FORGET, AND HAVEN’T WE HEARD THAT NATO TUNE PLAYED BEFORE?

By John Helmer in Moscow

On April 12 NATO launched four large-scale war games in northern Europe.

A report by Rick Rozoff for the Media Monitors Network, “Relentless Global Drive: NATO on Six Continents in Seven Days”, published on April 22, documented the official announcements from several US and NATO command sources, and the British Broadcasting Command: http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/73658 [1]

The eleven-day Brilliant Ardent 2010 NATO Response Force live air force exercises started in Germany with the participation of military aircraft from the U.S., the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Turkey. “Participation by U.S. Air Forces in Europe units directly aligns with the command key mission areas of providing forces for global operations and building partnership.” [1]

The major war games include “Sixty aircraft ranging from fighters, attack aircraft, helicopters, tanker and airborne early warning aircraft…operating from air bases located in Germany, the Czech Republic, France, Poland, and UK,” which will also test theater missile defense and ground-based air defense components.
Occurring during the same eleven days, April 12-22, the NATO Response Force is also drilling its maritime forces in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea with 31 warships, four submarines and 28 aircraft.

The Brilliant Mariner maneuvers also include 6,500 troops from the United States, Britain, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Spain. “A large fleet of warships, submarines and auxiliary vessels from NATO’s Response Force (NRF) sailed from ports across Europe on 12 April to take part….The ships and submarines will take part in integration training that will enable them to respond to operations or crisis situations anywhere in the world if required.” [2]

Also on April 12 NATO began the Joint Warrior 10-1 “multiwarfare exercise designed to improve interoperability between allied navies and prepare participating crews to conduct combined operations during deployment.” [3]

Held off the coast of Scotland and elsewhere in the United Kingdom, the biennial Joint Warrior is “Europe’s largest military exercise,” [4] and this month twenty-one warships, five submarines and fifty warplanes are involved. On the British side, “The exercise will involve 16 Air Assault Brigade and the Royal Navy’s Carrier Strike Group headed by HMS Ark Royal.” [5] The other participating nations are the U.S., with seven ships, and Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and NATO Contact County and Afghan war partner New Zealand.

The fourth military exercise begun on April 12 is Frisian Flag 2010 in the Netherlands with warplanes from the U.S., Britain and several other NATO allies, including U.S. F-15C Eagle, Dutch F-16 Fighting Falcon, Swedish JAS-39 Gripen, Finnish F-18 Hornet, Norwegian F-16 Fighting Falcon, German F-4 and Polish F-16 Fighting Falcon multirole jet fighters. [6]

“The multi-nation exercise will last until April 22 and is meant to train pilots on offensive and defensive roles through realistic scenarios….” [7]
 

The Russian Ambassador Dmitri Rogozin has repeatedly chided the NATO management for scripting exercises intended against Russia. The latest script, Rogozin said early last month, “reminds us of certain events and causes unpleasant associations. However, there is no evidence that they actually had in mind the conflict[with Georgia in South Ossetia of August 2008]. Rogozin added that the presence of Ukrainian troops in the exercises was “just two or three thousand people, but, nevertheless, the fact of their existence in Europe suggests that there is still someone exuding malevolence towards the East and that the inertia of the cold war persists.”
[1]. U.S. Air Forces in Europe, April 14, 2010
[2]. North Atlantic Treaty Organization, April 14, 2010
[3]. United States Navy, April 13, 2010
[4]. BBC News, April 11, 2010
[5]. United States Navy, April 13, 2010
[6]. United States European Command, April 14, 2010
[7]. Ibid.