Joseph R. Biden is working hard to leave a legacy of being the 21st Century President to cut back American troop ‘boots on the ground’ around the world….
This is an idea that is NOT gonna make NATO and European officials happy….
We have a report that the American President maybe trying to cut a deal that would weaken American military support to countries that left the old Soviet Union, but that Russian President IS try to take back…
Counting on Putin to pull back his military from the border of East Europe sounds like a wishful thinking….
NATO’s enhanced “forward presence” and exercises have angered Russia, which says the alliance’s activities pose a threat to Russia.
Merely considering any changes to U.S. military exercises or the American military presence in Eastern Europe could alarm NATO allies in the region, particularly Poland and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Those countries were once dominated by Russia and the former Soviet Union and fear renewed aggression without protection from the U.S. and NATO.
Any negotiations on troop deployments in Central and Eastern Europe would have to include all the countries affected, including NATO members on the alliance’s eastern flank, said William Taylor, who served as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine during the Bush administration and as acting ambassador during the Trump administration.
“They should be at the table,” said Taylor, now with the U.S. Institute of Peace.
But he said it was worth pursuing possible talks that could reduce tensions along the border separating Russia and NATO allies.
“Our overall goal is to increase security and I would argue there are ways to do that by limiting in a smart way . . . what the Russians could do and reciprocal limits on what the NATO alliance could do,” said Taylor. “We’re talking about steps that would build confidence that neither side is preparing to invade the other.”
The possible measures could include sharing information about military drills in sensitive areas and stationing observers to monitor the exercises, Taylor said.
If successful, such talks could revive the spirit of the now-moribund 1990 treaty between the West and the Soviet bloc on conventional forces, which required Washington and Moscow to share information about movement of forces and weapons. Experts say the treaty helped prevent conflict during the end of the Cold War.
But it’s uncertain if Russia is prepared to engage in genuine arms control negotiations and any meaningful progress will be impossible until Russia pulls back the massive force it has deployed on Ukraine’s borders, former officials said….
Note…
This story in the media probably is NOT without purpose against the President’s deal list….