Latest news with #deterrence
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Russia says NATO threatens WWIII in latest deterrence plan that could take down Kaliningrad ‘faster than ever'
Russian officials on Friday clapped back at a recently announced Nato deterrence plan that to looks to unite the alliance's ground response capabilities, and has Moscow particularly worried about the vulnerabilities posed by its highly militarized exclave – Kaliningrad. Warnings rang out from the halls of the Kremlin as one official warned that a deterrence strategy announced this week by U.S. Army Europe and Africa commander Gen. Christopher Donahue amounted to "a plan to unleash World War III with a subsequent global standoff [and] no winners." "An attack on the Kaliningrad region will mean an attack on Russia, with all due retaliatory measures stipulated, among other things, by its nuclear doctrine," chairman of the Russian Parliamentary Committee on International Affairs Leonid Slutsky told the East 2 West media outlet. Russia Threatens West With 'Preemptive Strikes' As Nato Looks To Deliver Patriots 'As Quickly As Possible' Slutsky further claimed that NATO poses a "threat to global security and stability" after Donahue, in explaining the new capabilities being rolled out by the U.S. and NATO militaries, said the alliance has the ability to "take down" Kaliningrad using ground-based operations "in a timeframe that is unheard of and faster than we've ever been able to do." The strategy, dubbed the "Eastern Flank Deterrence Line" and announced by the U.S. general on Wednesday at the Association of the U.S. Army's inaugural LandEuro conference in Wiesbaden, Germany, illustrates how NATO is rethinking its defensive strategy against the region's chief threat – Russia. Read On The Fox News App The plan looks to enhance ground-based capabilities and utilize military-industrial interoperability, specifically in the Baltic region, to effectively counter and eliminate the threat posed by Russia based on lessons learned from the war in Ukraine. While Donahue was not directly threatening Kaliningrad, his comments highlight the vulnerability that the territory – which is situated between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea and completely cut off from mainland Russia – poses to Moscow. Putin Mum On Trump's 50-Day Ultimatum, Kremlin Officials Claim Russia 'Didn't Care' Renewed focus has been brought to a sparsely populated strip of land known as the Suwalki Corridor, also known as the Suwalki Gap, which runs less than 60 miles in length and marks the Lithuanian-Polish border. But the strip of land is also the only possible direct route between the Russian territory of Kaliningrad and that of ally to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Belarus. "It's Putin's gap. It's our corridor," Russia expert and adjunct senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Peter Doran, told Fox News Digital. "Putin wants to close it. We must keep it open. "All eyes in the Baltic States are focused on a potential military threat in the next few years, whereby Russia would reconnect the land corridor to Kaliningrad," Doran highlighted. "That's what has got a lot of people paying attention to Russia's military force posture in the Baltic region." Donahue's comments regarding NATO's increased capabilities in the Baltic region not only didn't go unnoticed by Russian leadership, but they highlighted the significant focus there is on the small Russian territory. "Kaliningrad is Russian territory, and such threats are essentially a declaration of war," Sergei Muratov, who serves on the Russian parliamentary committee on defense and security, told the East 2 West outlet. Muratov said a full-scale war with NATO would be a very "different conversation" from the current war in Ukraine. "None of them are ready for this," he added. Fox News Digital could not immediately reach U.S. European Command for article source: Russia says NATO threatens WWIII in latest deterrence plan that could take down Kaliningrad 'faster than ever' Solve the daily Crossword
Fox News
3 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Russia says NATO threatens WWIII in latest deterrence plan that could take down Kaliningrad ‘faster than ever'
Russian officials on Friday clapped back at a recently announced NATO deterrence plan that to looks to unite the alliance's ground response capabilities, and has Moscow particularly worried about the vulnerabilities posed by its highly militarized exclave – Kaliningrad. Warnings rang out from the halls of the Kremlin as one official warned that a deterrence strategy announced this week by U.S. Army Europe and Africa commander Gen. Christopher Donahue amounted to "a plan to unleash World War III with a subsequent global standoff [and] no winners." "An attack on the Kaliningrad region will mean an attack on Russia, with all due retaliatory measures stipulated, among other things, by its nuclear doctrine," chairman of the Russian Parliamentary Committee on International Affairs Leonid Slutsky told the East 2 West media outlet. Slutsky further claimed that NATO poses a "threat to global security and stability" after Donahue, in explaining the new capabilities being rolled out by the U.S. and NATO militaries, said the alliance has the ability to "take down" Kaliningrad using ground-based operations "in a timeframe that is unheard of and faster than we've ever been able to do." The strategy, dubbed the "Eastern Flank Deterrence Line" and announced by the U.S. general on Wednesday at the Association of the U.S. Army's inaugural LandEuro conference in Wiesbaden, Germany, illustrates how NATO is rethinking its defensive strategy against the region's chief threat – Russia. The plan looks to enhance ground-based capabilities and utilize military-industrial interoperability, specifically in the Baltic region, to effectively counter and eliminate the threat posed by Russia based on lessons learned from the war in Ukraine. While Donahue was not directly threatening Kaliningrad, his comments highlight the vulnerability that the territory – which is situated between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea and completely cut off from mainland Russia – poses to Moscow. Renewed focus has been brought to a sparsely populated strip of land known as the Suwalki Corridor, also known as the Suwalki Gap, which runs less than 60 miles in length and marks the Lithuanian-Polish border. But the strip of land is also the only possible direct route between the Russian territory of Kaliningrad and that of ally to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Belarus. "It's Putin's gap. It's our corridor," Russia expert and adjunct senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Peter Doran, told Fox News Digital. "Putin wants to close it. We must keep it open. "All eyes in the Baltic States are focused on a potential military threat in the next few years, whereby Russia would reconnect the land corridor to Kaliningrad," Doran highlighted. "That's what has got a lot of people paying attention to Russia's military force posture in the Baltic region." Donahue's comments regarding NATO's increased capabilities in the Baltic region not only didn't go unnoticed by Russian leadership, but they highlighted the significant focus there is on the small Russian territory. "Kaliningrad is Russian territory, and such threats are essentially a declaration of war," Sergei Muratov, who serves on the Russian parliamentary committee on defense and security, told the East 2 West outlet. Muratov said a full-scale war with NATO would be a very "different conversation" from the current war in Ukraine. "None of them are ready for this," he added. Fox News Digital could not immediately reach U.S. European Command for comment.
BBC News
3 days ago
- General
- BBC News
British forces tests readiness to support NATO allies
Hundreds of paratroopers have been mobilising to practise the UK armed forces' response to an emergency war-like Totemic is a week-long operation testing the country's readiness if called upon to support a NATO ally threatened with operation draws from barracks in Woodbridge in Suffolk, Catterick in North Yorkshire, Larkhill in Wiltshire, Thorney Island in West Sussex, and Cawdor Barracks in Merville Barracks in Colchester provides the largest proportion of troops with more than 750 soldiers and 350 vehicles. This is the first time the Essex base has given media access to the operation, despite it being an annual drill. The 16 Air Assault Brigade is the British Army's instant response commander, Brig Ed Cartwright, 46, was at the barracks overseeing the exercise, which he said applied to both combat and humanitarian missions."In this instance... we're deploying elements of the brigade to Estonia to reinforce the first Estonian Brigade in a deterrent role against Russia, so stopping Russia conducting an act of aggression against Estonia."In a real scenario, the brigade would travel to South Cerney, Gloucestershire, from where it would fly to its destination and Cartwright said being "ready" was both a physical and mental thing."It's about having your bags packed, your documentation in order. You've had your your jabs, your inoculations, you've had your dental tests in your medical, you're medically fit to deploy." Maj Aaron Nunkoosing, 37, said: "(The) guys will drop everything, drop what they're doing, wherever they may be."He said the brigade's speed and efficiency was on display during Operation Pitting in 2021, the evacuation from Nunkoosing said he was looking after his son at the time of the call to join the operation."We had to drop everything... put him in a cab with my parents and his stepmother and then that was me on the way to the airport," he said."Twenty-four hours later I was in Afghanistan." L/Cpl Kierin Clark, 28, is in charge of personnel administration."With my job, everybody thinks I'm used to sitting by a computer - I'm not," she said."We are also known as combat clerks as well, so we operate in the field, whether that's by someone's side or sitting in a command post doing who knows what."My step count is around 18,000 a day, so that just shows I'm not just sitting at a computer desk." Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Wall Street Journal
5 days ago
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
Staying the Course Means a War With China
Regarding 'Trump Isn't Rebuilding the U.S. Military' (Review & Outlook, July 12): The U.S. can still execute missions like the Iran strike successfully—for now—but deterrence of China is slipping. Our aging, shrinking force can't confront the growing, modern Chinese military with assurance of victory. Unless Washington changes course, there will be dire consequences. Taken together, the reconciliation bill and what has been made public about President Trump's defense budget are heartening—especially after the Biden years, when identity mattered more than military professionalism. That said, refocusing the military on lethality requires more than a few ceremonial firings or a single year of increased resources.
South China Morning Post
6 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
US to build Philippines boat hub for South China Sea edge, ‘low-footprint' deterrence
A discreet but strategically significant US-funded boat maintenance hub in the western Philippines is poised to strengthen Manila's maritime presence in the contested South China Sea while avoiding raising the risk of political escalation. The new facility in Quezon, a coastal town on Palawan Island less than 260km (162 miles) from the flashpoint Second Thomas Shoal, could enable the Philippine Navy to maintain a more persistent and responsive posture amid rising tensions with China, in what analysts say is part of Washington's broader push for 'low-footprint' deterrence in the region. Designed to service and deploy small Philippine naval craft, the hub's proximity to disputed waters is seen as an advantage. 'That proximity matters operationally – it reduces transit time and enhances the credibility of Manila's maritime presence,' said Sylwia Monika Gorska, a political analyst and doctoral candidate at the University of Central Lancashire. The project, first reported by the United States Naval Institute on Monday, is part of a larger shift in US regional strategy that prioritises smaller, dual-use infrastructure over permanent military bases. It will support rigid-hulled inflatable boats and 'assault boats' built by Oregon-based Reconcraft, which specialises in vessels used by military and law-enforcement agencies. The US embassy in Manila confirmed that the initiative would enhance repair capabilities for Philippine vessels at the nearby Naval Detachment Oyster Bay – improving readiness without overtly expanding America's military footprint. Philippine navy vessels anchored at Oyster Bay naval facility in Palawan province. A new US-funded boat maintenance hub is expected to enhance repair capabilities for Philippine vessels at the facility. Photo: AFP From Washington's perspective, the investment supported 'partner-led deterrence' by enabling allies to operate more independently, without requiring forward-deployed US assets, Gorska said.
