The president of the United States, Joe Biden, announced this Wednesday at the NATO summit in Madrid a considerable reinforcement of the US military deployment in the face of the deterioration of the security situation on the continent caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In addition to plans to raise the number of destroyers at the Rota naval base from four to six announced Tuesday, Washington intends to open a permanent headquarters for its Fifth Army in Poland and position a support battalion on Polish soil, deploy a rotating mission with some 3,500 fighters in Romania, reinforce the military presence in the Baltic countries, station two additional squadrons of F-35 fighter jets in the United Kingdom and reinforce the positioning of anti-aircraft defenses in Germany and Italy.
This is a new consistent step by the US, which since last February’s invasion has already sent some 20,000 additional troops to Europe, bringing the total to around 100,000. Specifically, the reinforcement in Poland will represent the first permanent US deployment on NATO’s eastern flank, a step of profound political as well as military significance. The troops located there will consolidate the command and control capabilities in that region. The new anti-aircraft defenses positioned in Germany will be accompanied by some 650 military personnel, according to Washington.
The reinforcement of the eastern flank and, in general, of NATO’s rapid reaction capabilities is one of the central elements of a summit that faces a geopolitical change of magnitude unknown in decades. The Alliance plans to raise the number of military personnel ready for its rapid deployment force from 40,000 to 300,000 by 2023, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday.
The leaders of the Atlantic Alliance, who began the first session this morning in the field of Heads of State and Government, face a multitude of issues at the Madrid meeting to fine-tune the position of the Atlantic Alliance in a world that is advancing in a path of polarization with signs of confrontation, with the tension with Russia in the first row, and the challenge of the powerful rise of China in the second, but much deeper, level.
The range is very wide and of great importance. On the one hand, plans to reinforce defense capabilities are being discussed, with new deployments on the ground such as the one announced by Biden and new investments for the future, with a large increase in spending by many allies that will need to be coordinated effectively. In this field, the challenge of the European countries stands out so that the investments do not chronicle the problems of fragmentation and duplication that erode their compatibility.
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On the other hand, there is a reflection on the reformulation of support for Ukraine, also in view of the difficulties on the ground with the advance of Russia in the east of the country, and which should materialize with the announcement today of a new aid package. “This is not a war only against Ukraine, but to decide the future world order,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking by videoconference at the morning session of the summit.
Several allies have announced in recent weeks the delivery of more far-reaching aid with respect to the material provided to kyiv at the beginning of the Russian offensive; In the background, the question of helping Ukraine in the transition from the use of Soviet-style weapons, whose stocks are depleted in the arsenals of the allies, to NATO material is agitated. Significant training programs will be necessary to ensure effective use of more modern weapons.
In addition, the allies must approve the new Strategic Concept that, for the first time, according to different sources, will treat Russia as a direct threat and China as a challenge to the values of the alliance, along with adaptation to heterodox challenges, from cyber attacks, terrorism , destabilizations linked to climate change, as components of the menu of the momentous event.
In parallel, there is the important perspective of foreign relations, from the upcoming integration of Sweden and Finland, after overcoming Turkey’s veto, in what constitutes a serious strategic setback for Vladimir Putin, to the significant participation in the summit as guests of various Asian democratic countries, a symptom of the growing projection of the Alliance, which was born Atlantic, towards the Pacific.
As Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg pointed out, this is probably the largest transformation the Alliance has undertaken since its founding.
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