Politic?

This is a blog dedicated to a personal interpretation of political news of the day. I attempt to be as knowledgeable as possible before commenting and committing my thoughts to a day's communication.

Tuesday, April 07, 2015

Living In Dangerous Times

"There's a real feeling of threat in our society. [Military training for students represents a] way we can increase our own defence capabilities."
Latvian Defence Ministry spokeswoman Aija Jakubovska

"The times are dangerous and we must do all we can to raise Poland's ability to defend its territory."
President Bronislaw Komorowski, Poland

"I cannot imagine that the Czech ambassador to Washington would advise the U.S. president where he should travel."
"And I will not allow any ambassador to have a say in my foreign travel plans."
Czech President Milos Zeman
  • Poland Eastern Europe Defense Call-1.jpg
    March 11, 2015 - Members of paramilitary National Guard muster near Szczecin, Poland, as they ready to counter threats and contain crisis situations in their area. Across many eastern European nations, ordinary people are heeding a call to receive military training in case of war, backed by NATO forces on a mission to reassure citizens they’re safe from Russian aggression. (The Associated Press)
NATO is doing its utmost to convince its European partners that their trust in its capacity to protect them is well placed. Despite which, eastern European countries are understandably nervous with Russian threats to their sovereign entitlements hovering on the horizon. Even American armoured vehicles stationed on the border with Russia haven't quite reassured them that any aggression aimed at them will be countered by their NATO partners.

Doctors, shopkeepers, lawmakers and other civilian streams are well represented by volunteers responding to the government of Poland's call that they receive military training ... just in case an invasion does occur. Lithuania is restoring the draft, teaching citizens what they must expect should war erupt. And Latvia plans to give military training next year to university students.

There is a palpable sense of excited urgency, a need to reach out to ordinary people to teach them how to use weapons and to take cover under fire, in reflection of the feverish anxiety that wafts in the very air eastern Europe breathes of late. Many among them, certainly the older demographic, vividly recall what it was like, living under the heel of Russian domination.

Recent events in Ukraine with Russia aggressively mentoring ethnic Russian Ukrainians in the art of civil war has reminded its neighbours that they might conceivably be next in line for Moscow to turn its concern over the welfare of Russian-speakers within their own geographic boundaries. Which might not be as tight as they assumed them to be, in witness of Mr. Putin's annexation of Crimea.

Moscow has stated its intention to place state-of-the-art Iskander missiles in its Kaliningrad enclave which borders Poland and Lithuania in anticipation of a major muscle-flexing exercise. Poland summoned over 550 young reservists on an hour's notice to a mobilization drill taking place on a military base in Tarnowskie Gory, southern Poland, for shooting practise.

NATO's military canopy may represent its members' main security guarantor but eastern European countries remain nonetheless acutely aware that their stability and security also revolves around their capacity to mobilize and prepare and dig in to protect their own security. Poland, a 17-hour drive from the battle zone in Ukraine, has ramped up efforts to upgrade its weapons arsenal, and is contemplating the purchase of U.S.-made Tomahawk missiles.
Marines stand outside, on the Polish submarine ORP SEP, during NATO Submarine Rescue Exercise Dynamic Monarch on Gdansk Bay, near Hel in the Baltic Sea (Reuters / Kacper Pempel)
Marines stand outside, on the Polish submarine ORP SEP, during NATO Submarine Rescue Exercise Dynamic Monarch on Gdansk Bay, near Hel in the Baltic Sea (Reuters / Kacper Pempel)
Ten thousand NATO and other allied troops are scheduled for exercises in Poland this year. Poland's own professional army is 100,000-strong, augmented by 20,000 reservists, slated for test-range training. The government has invited 120 paramilitary groups with tens of thousands of members busy with their own drills, to join them to streamline themselves into army exercises.

Polish Defence Minister Tomasz Siemoniak hailed men and women between 18 and 50 with no military experience to sign up for test-range exercises. Uppermost in the minds of those in authority is that Russian President Vladimir Putin has fixed his eye on Poland, an ally of he United States, accusing Poland of training "Ukrainian nationalists", instigating unrest.

As for the Czech Republic, its president, Milos Zeman, along with top Cypriot and Greek representatives plan to attend a Russian military parade, in defiance of a European Union boycott over the Crimean annexation. When American ambassador to Prague Andrew Shapiro pointed out that President Zeman will represent the single head of state from the EU to attend the May 9 parade, his perceived impudence enraged Mr. Zeman.

Who obviously doesn't much care what his counterpart EU members think of his signature allegiance to Russia.

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