#BerlinBrigade in the News: The Eastern European Gambit

#BerlinBrigade in the News:
The Eastern European Gambit




There was a time when it looked like Russia and the United States were going to make something good happen. Something good for the entire planet. However, that was not to be. Just as the Berlin Wall fell over 25 years ago, the times have changed.

Sure, the Soviet Union has ceased to be but that does not mean the land grab is over. It was easy after the Second World War for the Soviet Union to take everything it acquired either through battle or through Allied agreements (Tehran, Yalta, & Potsdam) and create alliances such as the Warsaw Pact but that was a long time ago. Things have changed since the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The land grab continues with Russia acting like a vision of its former self. It took Crimea with little to no effort. Now it has its vision on the Ukraine and has done so since the annexation of Crimea. While, officially, there are no Russian forces in the Ukraine there are Pro-Russian forces doing their thing to destabilize the area that is of prime interest to Russia.

That is where the concern begins. See geographically Ukraine borders with Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania. That is a little too close for comfort for many people in the west. 

So what happens next? NATO has to act and react without actively getting involved. The “Pentagon is considering a plan to store heavy weapons and equipment in Eastern Europe to reassure allies that Washington has their backs in case of Russian aggression. The equipment, which would include battle tanks and other heavy weapons could supply as many as 5,000 American troops in several Baltic and Eastern European countries.” A recent article in the New York Time quoted James G. Stavridis, a retired admiral and the former supreme allied commander of NATO.

While the amount of equipment considered is nothing compared to anything that Russia can muster in the no time, should it to “officially” decide to make a move against the Ukraine. However, I agree that should the “balloon go up” in the Ukraine having something close by. As the New York Times mentioned about the pre-positioned equipment, “it would serve as a credible sign of American commitment, acting as a deterrent the way that the Berlin Brigade did after the Berlin Wall crisis in 1961.”

Now do not get me wrong, I am not for letting the situation in the Ukraine become a shooting. What I am for is if it does come to bullets flying then let us make certain that we have the back of those that need our back. Heck, we did not spend all that time, manpower, resources and money in Europe during the Cold War to let it all become a new Cold or Hot War all over again.

Reference: http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/06/14/u_s_plans_to_store_heavy_weapons_in_eastern_europe_for_first_time_since.html