Eastern Europe relies on NATO

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NATO

Eastern Europe relies on NATO

At the NATO summit in Warsaw in direction to be expected at the end of decisions for the security of Eastern allies. Also, the British opposition to the EU is likely to be a Central theme.

NATO maneuvers in the Baltic States (2015)

To circulated times of the Communist dictatorship and the Warsaw Pact a popular joke in Romania: Of all the neighbors of the country only a loyal – the Black sea. Now even that seems to have changed. The annexation of Crimea by Moscow and the war in the East of Ukraine have caused a considerable stir in South-East Europe. Romania, in particular, feels threatened and wants to plead at the NATO summit in Warsaw, binding Commitments for a strengthening of the South-Eastern flank, similar to that in Poland and the Baltic States. The Black sea is already a “Russian lake”, you hear again and again from Bucharest.

NATO takes the additional security needs of its Eastern European member States very seriously. This shows not only the announced presence of around 4,000 soldiers in the Baltic States and Poland.

Against the fear in the East: NATO military exercises ‘Anaconda’ in Poland

A “tailor-made decision for the South-Eastern Region” shall be approved according to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Warsaw. At the Alliance’s summit meeting of the US anti-missile shield in southern Romania, the NATO is and the establishment of a multi-to be decided national Brigade in Romania.

No Signal the militarization

In an interview with DW, the German General Heinrich Brauss, assistant Secretary General of NATO for defense policy and force planning in the International staff of the Alliance, the actions of the Alliance on its Eastern flank to the point: “Our deterrence strategy is aligned, as we call it in the NATO Jargon, to 360 degrees. So, to the East, the South, but also on the South-East”. It was not clear, so Brauss that the Baltic sea region is of great importance, but equally it was clear that the Black sea could be a Russian-dominated sea, and should.

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Katarzyna Kubiak and Wolfgang Richter, a security expert at the German Think-tank “Stiftung Wissenschaft und politik”, in the DW-Interview explains the strategy of the Alliance in Eastern Europe: “We can not exclude that the preparations for missile defence deployments in Romania and Poland in the context of the reinsurance, actions by NATO will be perceived for the Eastern Alliance partner – especially in Russia and the stationing countries”. Conceptual have to do with the other, however, nothing to do, although the timing is something else to suggest and certificates of experts.

If, of Warsaw, only a Signal of the upgrade and the Troop buildup comes in the Baltics, so a slow action is to be feared the end of the re-militarization of the borders between NATO and Russia, or white Russia, believe the two SWP security expert: “Then we would be still in the Cold war; the instability would continue to grow, and a new division of Europe is to be feared”.

“It was up to Russia”

Wolfgang Ischinger, Chairman, Munich security conference, has defended at a Meeting with representatives of the foreign press in Berlin, the NATO strategy in Eastern Europe. The dire situation for the Eastern Alliance partner by the events in Ukraine and the Region as a whole – was not caused by NATO.

Missiles against – whom? – Missile shield defense base in Deveselu, Romania

By Moscow would be working with “tremendous Propaganda arguments,” said Ischinger. NATO did not react on the security needs of the Eastern Europeans “in moderation”, the four battalions in Poland and in the Baltic States, contrary to the Russia-NATO founding act.

Ischinger hopes, however, from the Warsaw summit, a “credible affirmation of the offer on confidence-building measures“ in the direction of Moscow. From the Russian side, he expected the same restraint: “Russia must not overreact to the moderate character of the NATO action and not an Upgrade spiral,” said Ischinger. It was up to Russia to accept the existing offer of cooperation with the Alliance.

A second topic will deal with the NATO summit. In addition to the already “historic,” announced decisions, a clear sign of the UK is expected to the overarching “Brexit”. Not only the Eastern Europeans fear that a possible EU exit of great Britain would weaken after the Referendum, the Position of the Alliance on its Eastern flank. London must not isolate itself and would not be well advised to dispense with its essential role in NATO. A weakening of the Alliance would be the wrong Signal, that of the summit were to, and would put into perspective all of the important decisions.