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Black Sea drills showcase strong NATO-Ukraine defense ties

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By DMYTRO VLASOV

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Where was NATO as Russia annexed Crimea?

Ukraine is not a NATO member, NATO is not obliged to defend Ukraine and at the time due to the treaty that unified Germany and freed Eastern Europe from Soviet control, there were no US troops in any part of the former Warsaw Pact. The Russian invasion of the Crimea was the catalyst for the US and other NATO nations to abandon that treaty and bring US and other NATO forces into Poland, Latvia, Estonia andLithuania. It is also the catalyst for the current high tempo of NATO exercises with Ukrainian forces.

Bringing Ukraine into NATO would not be simple. Their population is divided between those with an affinity to the west and those with an affinity to Russia. Their politicians on both sides of this divide are grotesquely corrupt, from national leaders down to municipal government. A large chunk of the Ukrainian population wants no part of NATO (not unlike Finland and Sweden btw, who also exercise with NATO frequently but are not themselves members). The result is the Russians can't be certain whether or not NATO would aid them in a crisis or not. That ambiguity combined with these exercises are designed to give Russia reasons to doubt they could get away with another land grab in Ukraine. It worked this spring when Russia mobilized 100K forces to the Ukraine border. NATO conducted large scale exercises just over the border from Ukraine in the Baltic states and made it clear they could move if necessary. Russia eventually backed down.

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“We’d like to demonstrate to everybody, the international community, that no one nation can claim the Black Sea or any international body of water,”

message sent and Lilly received.

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@P. Smith

Cool photos. Where was NATO as Russia annexed Crimea?

It was making cool photos.

The result is the Russians can't be certain whether or not NATO would aid them in a crisis or not.

Would NATO, after it ran away from Afghanistan with its tail under between its legs, be happy to take part in a real war with Russia? Ummm, yes, sure NATO soldiers would be happy to die for "grotesquely corrupt" (very accurate definition!) Ukrainian politicians!

It worked this spring when Russia mobilized 100K forces to the Ukraine border. NATO conducted large scale exercises just over the border from Ukraine in the Baltic states and made it clear they could move if necessary. Russia eventually backed down

Wrong logical chain. It were Ukrainians who started the build-up of forces this April. The Ukrainian regime is desperate to prevent the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline from completion. To do it it was even ready to start a war that would make the partnership between Russian and Germany impossible. Then the open build-up of regime forces began. But after the regime realized that if it started a war it would wage it alone, Ukrainians backed down.

That ambiguity

What the Russians really think about NATO actions was clearly demonstrated recently with the British destroyer off Crimea. This time Russians fired only at her course, but would they be kind enough next time to fire warning shots, or would sink on the spot, that's ambiguous!

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Black Sea drills showcase strong NATO-Ukraine defense ties

Corporate media propaganda headline. What they do show is ill-advised and reckless warmongering by the neocon/neolib swamp in power in the EU and now in Washington.

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