NATO...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
plans a major exercise in eastern Europe in November to brush up its conventional warfare skills, but insists it is not practicing with Cold War foe Russia in mind. Exercise "Steadfast Jazz" in Latvia and Poland from November 2-9 shows the 28-nation alliance refocusing on its core task of defending its own territory as it winds down its long combat mission in Afghanistan.
The exercise calls for NATO forces to oust an invader. NATO's military commander, U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, denied it was aimed at repelling a hypothetical Russian invasion. The exercise will also involve a "sizeable cyber threat," said French Major-General Michel Yakovleff, deputy chief of staff for plans at Brunssum, with nations coming under a staged cyber attack.
Europe and Russia are vying for influence in eastern European countries such as Ukraine, which will send an amphibious company to take part in the NATO exercise. Russian President Vladimir Putin
...Second and fourth President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...stresses the importance of a strong military. Russia and Belarus plan a joint military exercise, known as Zapad, this month.
NATO commanders prefer to stress cooperation with Russia.
"In the interests of transparency and confidence-building, we have invited Russian military officers to visit 'Exercise Steadfast Jazz' as observers and I am pleased to say the Russians have ... invited NATO officials to observe 'Exercise Zapad' which starts later this week," Breedlove said.