Jackal Stone 10 had among other purposes that of preparing Poland to become a "framework nation," which will "enable it to assume command of multinational special forces within NATO by 2014." [11]
The launching of the war games at the Swidwin air base included an address by Polish Defense Minister Bogdan Klich, who said "Special operations in the world today are becoming increasingly important in the conduct of combat operations. And exercises like this check the ability of allied and international cooperation, which is essential for the success of the Allies." [12]
On the closing day of Jackal Stone 10 Klich left for Washington, D.C. to meet with Pentagon Chief Robert Gates and "hold talks...on Afghanistan and the future of NATO" as well as U.S. missile shield plans. He also participated in the swearing-in ceremony of Polish General Mieczyslaw Bieniek as NATO's Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Transformation in Norfolk, Virginia. "This is the highest post that a Polish officer has ever taken in NATO," Klich said. He was reported as "adding that his presence at the ceremony is necessary to show how important NATO is for Poland and how important it is for the country to have its representative in high NATO structures." [13]
On the same day the Polish defense minister arrived in Washington, Polish Radio announced that former prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski wrote to 738 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and "dozens of ambassadors worldwide, urging them to help block an expansion of Russia's influence abroad."
In what was described as "an unprecedented move for a leader of an opposition party," the twin brother of recently deceased President Lech Kaczynski demanded that "Washington and Brussels should...give greater assistance to countries that want to free themselves from the Russian sphere of influence." [14]
The ambassadors Kaczynski sent his letter to were those of the other 26 European Union member states, plus the U.S., Canada, Israel, Switzerland, Norway, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia.
The last six nations are targeted by the Eastern Partnership initiative of the EU, first promoted by Poland in 2008, which is designed to recruit the former Soviet republics away from the Commonwealth of Independent States and thus complete the isolation, the effective quarantine, of Russia in Europe. [15]
The U.S. and NATO are expanding the use of the Alliance's Baltic Sea member states to train for wars outside the region and for moving American and NATO military forces into it.
On September 27 the PRT-12 Challenge training exercise started at a military base in Lithuania. PRT is short for Provincial Reconstruction Team, a joint military-civilian counterinsurgency pacification project. 27 PRTs operate in Afghanistan under the command of several NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troop contributing countries.
Lithuania's KÃ ¦stutis Battalion, the majority of whose troops "have been deployed to multinational missions in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan previously," is being prepared for a new rotation to Afghanistan. "Representatives of Denmark, Georgia, Japan, the USA, Poland, Finland and Ukraine serve together with Lithuanian military and civilian personnel in the Ghor PRT camp in Chaghcharan." Japan is not officially acknowledged as an ISAF contributor.
The training involves 200 troops, including Ukrainian forces. "A camp was installed for the purpose of the exercise in the Kazlu Ruda Military Area; it parallels the camp of the Lithuanian-led PRT in Ghor....Soldiers will demonstrate their ability to respond to fictitious situations, such as demonstrations of the local population, insurgent attacks with IEDs on provincial roads, firing at the camp, etc. The exercise is organised by the leadership of the Lithuanian Land Force." [16]
On September 28 it was reported that 50 advance troops from other NATO nations had arrived in Latvia for the Sabre Strike 2011 military exercise to be conducted at the Adazi Training Area from October 18 to 31. "The aim of Sabre Strike 2011 is to tune [up] interoperability procedures and improve the integration of the land and air operational ability of three Baltic States and the U.S with prospects of participation in the ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) operation in Afghanistan and other multinational operations in the future." [17]
One of the purposes of the exercises is the implementation of Latvia's role as part of the NATO Host Nation Support system - whose "requirements include the deployment of NATO HQs, multinational HQs and forces for exercises or for operations during peace, crisis, or conflict" [18] - which "is one of the main tasks to ensure Latvia's successful integration in NATO." [19]
NATO's new members on the Baltic Sea are delivering on the demands imposed upon them by accession to the Alliance.
They host NATO - particularly U.S. - troops, bases, warplanes, warships and missiles. They provide troops for wars far abroad. They supply training opportunities on the ground and in the air for the war in Afghanistan and for future conflicts with none of the restrictions that exist in North America and Western Europe. And they render those multiple services near Russia's western border.
1) BBC News, December 6, 2005
2) Headquarters Allied Command Ramstein, September 1, 2010
3) Estonian Public Broadcasting, September 15, 2010
4) Office of the President, September 15, 2010
5) The Times, June 6, 2010
6) Warsaw Business Journal, September 28, 2010
7) United States European Command, September 28, 2010
8) Warsaw Business Journal, September 28, 2010
9) United States European Command, September 24, 2010
10) United States Air Forces in Europe, September 29, 2010
11) Warsaw Business Journal, September 28, 2010
12) U.S. Consolidates New Military Outposts In Eastern Europe
Stop NATO, September 23, 2010
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2010/09/23/u-s-consolidates-new-military-outposts-in-eastern-europe
13) Polish Radio, September 28, 2010
14) Polish Radio, September 29, 2010
15) Eastern Partnership: The West's Final Assault On the Former Soviet Union
Stop NATO, February 13, 2009
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2009/08/26/eastern-partnership-the-wests-final-assault-on-the-former-soviet-union
16) Baltic Course, September 28, 2010
17) Defence Professionals, September 28, 2010
18) North Atlantic Treaty Organization
http://www.nato.int/docu/logi-en/1997/lo-1207.htm
19) Defence Professionals, September 28, 2010
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