Even Closer to the Conflicts

BERLIN (Own report) – The German government has entered the new year with the announcement of new global policy ventures and a plea not to shy away from “difficult decisions” in international conflicts. Berlin must assume “responsibility” and seek “global solutions,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared. Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, sees Germany having been moved “even closer to the crises and conflicts” of the present day, by its two-year membership on the UN Security Council, which began January 1. Berlin seeks to use its seat on that body to impose a formulation of EU foreign policy and induce Paris to submit to joint activities described as “European.” In the meantime, there are appeals from within the Protestant Church for an expansion of Bundeswehr missions. Beginning January 1, the Bundeswehr, has assumed command, of NATO’s “Spearhead” intervention forces, which, within 72 hours, can be deployed anywhere on mission. Should NATO launch a mission this year, the Bundeswehr would be at the cutting edge.

NATO Set to Test Its Ability to Respond to Article V

(Photo Credit: Master Sgt. Chad McMeen/U.S. Marine Corps)

 

The Trident Juncture 2018 exercises will begin next week in Iceland, and get underway fully in Norway on Oct. 25.

Beginning later this month, NATO will be testing both its ability to respond to an Article V invasion on a member country—in this case Norway—as well as its new rapid deployment policy called the Four Thirties.

The Article 5 World

BERLIN/BRUSSELS (Own report) – NATO’s new “Southern Strategy” and further expansion of this war alliance are on the agenda of the NATO Foreign Ministers Conference, which begins today in Brussels. Since some time, Southern European member nations have been pushing for broadening the focus of the alliance’s activities beyond the limits of Eastern Europe, to concentrate more on the Arab World, reported Karl-Heinz Kamp, President of the Federal College for Security Studies (BAKS). This is now up for debate. The idea is to reinforce the ties to countries, such as Jordan or Tunisia, as “partners” – and exclusively equip and provide them with training for waging war in the Arab World. The fact that NATO also will propose membership to Montenegro, Kamp explains, is primarily directed at Russia. NATO wants to show Moscow that, in its acceptance of new members, NATO is not willing to take other powers’ interests into consideration. As the President of BAKS points out, the accent will now be oriented much stronger toward accepting Finland and Sweden’s membership into the war alliance, rather than an eventual Ukrainian membership.

Message to the World

BERLIN/ULM/BRUNSSUM (Own report) – The German Bundeswehr will play a leading role in “Operation Trident Juncture,” a large scale NATO exercise, set for late September. German NATO-General Hans-Lothar Domröse will command the exercise involving more than 36,000 soldiers. The German Armed Forces’ “Multinational Joint Headquarters” based in Ulm (Baden-Württemberg) will be the main coordinator. “Trident Juncture” will exercise a military intervention in a fictitious country at the Horn of Africa with NATO’s “Spearhead” response force, comprised mainly of Bundeswehr soldiers. According to the training scenario, not only will western troops be confronting a regular army and guerilla fighters, but will also encounter “food insecurity,” “massive population displacements,” “cyber-attacks,” “chemical warfare,” and “information warfare.” According to Lt. Gen. Richard Rossmanith, commander of the “Multinational Joint Headquarters Ulm,” “Operation Trident Juncture” will not only send a “message” to Russia: “Everyone should consider carefully about how they deal with us” – because NATO is “the strongest military alliance in the world” with a “360 degree” orientation.

21st Century Warfare (II)

BERLIN/WASHINGTON/BRUSSELS (Own report) – Today, NATO’s “Very High Readiness Joint Task Force” (VJTF), with its significant contingent of German troops, will launch a series of maneuvers to prepare for its role as “Spearhead” in the alliance’s future war operations. A first “performance test” will be conducted until Friday, followed by the two-part “Noble Jump” exercises. The training will focus on alerting the elite troops and on their rapid relocation within NATO territory, with the official objective being to prevent “terrorists” from advancing onto the territory of an allied country and provoking a “government crisis.” The culmination of this year’s maneuvers will be the “Trident Juncture” exercise in September. Twenty-five thousand soldiers are expected to participate, training for a war of intervention in a fictitious country at the Horn of Africa. The western troops will not only be confronting a guerilla army but will also encounter chemical warfare, food insecurity, and have to channel population displacements. According to NATO, “lessons” have been learned from the military operations in Afghanistan and the “contemporary conflicts” such as in Ukraine.

21st Century Warfare (I)

Guess who’s playing a more leading role in NATO:

 

BERLIN/BRUNSSUM (Own report) – The Bundeswehr plays a key role in the current restructuring of NATO’s rapid intervention force. The implementation of a “Very High Readiness Joint Task Force” (VJTF) of between 5,000 and 7,000 troops for future offensive operations, known as “Spearhead,” is an integral element in this process. Half of the troops will be German. NATO’s Allied Joint Force Commander for Northern and Eastern Europe, German Colonel-General Hans-Lothar Domröse is in charge of the creation of the VJTF. According to Domröse, the objective is to get the western military alliance “into shape” for “waging wars in the 21st Century,” which is particularly expressed in the capacity “to be able to control a territorially limited destabilization by elusive subversive enemy forces.” The core of the VJTF will be comprised of the Mechanized Infantry Battalion 371, which disposes of the most modern weapons systems and is stationed in Marienberg (Saxony). The unit has demonstrated its combat readiness in two maneuvers last year. Both maneuvers were to train for combating insurgent separatists – a scenario, the Bundeswehr describes as, “very realistic in the current political environment.”