“Defender 2020”: NATO powers threaten war against Russia

Gregor Link

In the coming year, armed forces from 17 NATO states, including the US and Germany, will carry out the “Defender 2020” manoeuvres. With the largest military deployment in Europe in 25 years, the Western military alliance is preparing for a war against the nuclear power Russia, which in turn is conducting its own massive military manoeuvres.

As the German defence ministry told the parliamentary defence committee last week, the US military will be transferring a full division to Poland and the Baltic between April and May next year. A total of 37,000 soldiers will participate, up to 20,000 of them being brought across the Atlantic from the US along with tanks and military equipment.

The aim of the “exercise” is to rehearse a “rapid deployment of larger units across the Atlantic and through Europe” to “ensure that the appropriate procedures work in a crisis situation.” The “linchpin” of the mobilization of the US armed forces will be Germany and its Bundeswehr (armed forces).

As the newspaper Die Welt states, referring to the letter from the defence ministry, Germany has an “essential interest” in “proving” its “central role” in the transatlantic military alliance. The German army, according to the paper, will participate in the manoeuvres in the areas of “combat” and “combat support” and play a key role in the “leadership” of American troops. As part of its role as a logistical “hub” and NATO transit country, Germany will establish three so-called convoy support centres for the marching columns, as well as a tank facility at the Bergen military training area on the Lüneburg Heath.

The responsible US military brass, who in their publications have blithely compared the manoeuvres with the D-Day invasion of Europe, regard it as an important practical step in their increasing military and strategic cooperation with Poland.

As early as June of this year, a defence agreement between President Donald Trump and Polish President Andrzej Duda had created the logistical conditions for such a massive deployment of troops. These include a “forward-facing” division headquarters, an air force base, a combat training centre, and other supporting infrastructure. The agreement also included the reinforcement of US troops in Poland to nearly 6,000 and the deployment of a squadron of “Reaper” MQ-9 drones.

Despite growing transatlantic conflicts, the German government is leading the way in the war against Russia. German imperialism is pursuing its own military interests. Berlin sees the exercise as an opportunity to ensure the operational ability of Germany’s Joint Support Enabling Command (JSEC) in Ulm, thereby coming closer to its claim to be Europe’s leading military power.

According to the German defence ministry, the tasks of the NATO command post established last year include the coordination of European troop movements and materiel transports in the event of a “critical development towards an impending confrontation with an equal opponent,” i.e., the outbreak of another great war in Europe.

In order to be able to “perform” optimally at the time of such a “maximum level of effort,” the JSEC writes in its task description, “tasks are already to be fulfilled in peace-time.” In the journal InfoBrief Heer published by the Förderkreis Deutsches Heer (FKH), a think tank promoting the interests of the German military, it says, “the involvement of the JSEC ... in the US exercise Defender” serves the “preparation” of the command for “complete operational capability.”