And Portugal. And Italy. The whole "central Mediterranean" for that matter. Trident Juncture -- the heroic denomination of NATO's war games -- is supposed to last a very long five weeks, involving 36,000 troops, 230 military units, 140 fighter aircraft, more than 60 ships, and Humvees spectacularly bogged down on Portuguese beaches.
Reprinted from Sputnik
Fresh from its thunderous humiliation by the Taliban; its "liberation" of Libya for the benefit of militia hell; and while Russia was bombing the hell out of a Salafi-jihadi/"moderate rebel" constellation in Syria, NATO -- in search for a "360-degree" response to Russia -- resorted to invading" Spain.
Oh yes; it takes a lot of effort to find those elusive, evil tapas of mass destruction (TMDs).
NATO secretary-general, Norwegian figurehead Jens Stoltenberg, ceremonially landed in Zaragoza to "observe" Trident Juncture in person, spinning there were now "many threats to the South of the alliance." No, he was not talking about himself.
Stoltenberg was evidently oblivious to pan-European civil society protesting his weaponized Big Brother en masse. In Zaragoza. In Rome. In Sofia. In Montenegro.
Trident Juncture involves what NATO calls "spearhead force." So may the force be fit to invade not only PIGS but all points Africa as well.
Maybe we should copy DHL?
With Trident Juncture, we have a NATO invasion of some of the PIGS (Portugal, Italy and Spain) -- all nasty, pejorative connotations included -- essentially designed to reassure NATO's "eastern allies" that Russia will not be able to invade them.
After all, Admiral John Richardson, the new chief of US Navy operations, had already confirmed the Pentagon is sending extra ships and submarines to deter "Russian adventurism."
He was echoed by Gen. Adrian Bradshaw, NATO's deputy supreme allied commander, who invoked perennial "freedom of navigation" to justify an escalation; "As we observe the deployment of more sophisticated [Russian] capabilities with considerable reach it becomes more and more important that we refresh our deterrence."
So from now on expect a NATO "continuum of deterrence" all across southern Europe. That includes five Global Hawk surveillance drones based in Sicily that will allow non-stop spying across the Mediterranean to MENA.
Predictably, to justify Trident Juncture, Western corporate media turned up the excuse bullhorn to ear-splitting levels -- from "wrong-footed US-led alliance" to "tactical surprises" by Russia -- while praising NATO's "biggest modernization since the Cold War." Gen. Denis Mercier from France spun NATO's new, multi-layered "deterrence" effort as, "We need to develop a strategy for all kinds of crises, at 360 degrees." Well, a few extra degrees towards the Eastern Mediterranean would pit NATO against Russia -- but that's too risky. Better try to find those tapas.
Trident Juncture is just about -- well -- tapas. The full dinner takes place at a NATO summit in July 2016 in Russia-demonizing Poland. Europeans are advised to expect lots of brilliant ideas lifted from DHL and Amazon. As NATO's Mercier indelibly put it, "We should look at what the civilian world does, to DHL and Amazon. How do they improve their logistics?"
Oh, those mysterious Russians
NATO's cluelessness is a direct consequence of American military perplexity, as reflected in this priceless briefing by Dr. Strangelove, sorry, NATO supremo Gen. Philip Breedlove himself.
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