Neue Beobachtungsliste: NATO-Nordostflanke

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In diesen Zeiten richtet sich die öffentliche Aufmerksamkeit schnell auf immer wieder neue Punkte, und in der Sicherheitspolitik ist derzeit Syrien das Top-Thema – damit verbunden die Südostflanke der NATO. Aber es scheint mir sinnvoll, die für Deutschland bedeutsamere (Nord)Ostflanke der NATO im Blick zu behalten. Vor allem die baltischen Staaten und Polen.

Deshalb als neue Rubrik, mit gelegentlichen Sammelthreads: NATO Nordost (ergänzend zur Exercise Watch, wo diese Region ja auch im Mittelpunkt steht). Um auch mal all die teils kleineren Meldungen zu sammeln, die im Tagesgeschäft oft untergehen. (Mit der Bitte, das als Informationssammlung zu verstehen und weniger als Aufruf zur Meinungsäußerung nach dem Motto Oh Gott, die Amis oder Die Russen wieder!)

Zum Auftakt ein paar Meldungen aus den vergangenen Tagen – da wären natürlich noch mehr Infos über die russische Seite von Interesse, die zum Besipiel, siehe die Meldung unten, von einer angespannten Situation im Baltikum spricht. Da wird aber bestimmt noch was zusammenkommen.

• U.S. Army Europe: 5.000 Tonnen Munition für die US-Armee in Europa

In the largest single Europe-bound U.S. shipment of ammunition in 10 years, the 21st Theater Sustainment Command, with enterprise partner the 598th Transportation Brigade, transported over 5,000 tons of ammunition from the port of Nordenham to the Theater Logistics Support Center Europe’s ammunition depot in Miesau Feb. 17-18.

The ammunition, which required 415 shipping containers to transport overseas, will be stored at the Miesau depot where it will be available to various units and activities in support of operations like Atlantic Resolve and exercise Anakonda 2016.
Maintaining stockpiles of ammunition in the European theater means that U.S. and NATO forces can quickly draw ammunition in support of short notice NATO operations and other multinational efforts aimed at maintaining a strong alliance, according to the 21st TSC chief of staff, Col. Matthew Redding.
„This critical shipment will help us to continue to enable the NATO alliance, and the fact that it’s the largest single shipment in 10 years demonstrates our continued commitment to the defense of our allies,“ said Redding.

• TASS: Russia to continue drills near western borders over situation in the Baltics

Russia’s airborne troops will continue drills near Russia’s western borders over the tense situation in the Baltic republics, a top-ranking Russian military said on Friday. (…) He said that Russian airborne troops are acting „with due account of the tense situation in the Baltic Republics, which has a tendency towards aggravation.“ „For instance, a Stryker brigade combat team is being deployed in Lithuania,“ he said.

• DefenseNews: US Navy in Talks To Use Iceland’s Keflavik Air Base Again

The government of Iceland is engaged in a dialogue with the United States over the proposed future deployment of Navy P-8 Poseidon submarine „hunter“ aircraft from a renovated Keflavik Air Base.
The US Navy, which withdrew aircraft assets and personnel from the airport in 2006, plans to spend an initial $22 million to renew hangar facilities and restore infrastructure at Keflavik as part of a project to house P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft for maritime patrol operations in the North Atlantic. The capital investment plan is included in the US Defense Department’s 2017 fiscal budget.

• Gemeinsame Manöver des Nicht-NATO-Mitglieds Finnlands und der USA:

Joint military exercises conducted by Finland and the United States may be a new, but hardly unexpected, phenomenon, says Alexander Stubb (NCP), the Minister of Finance.
Stubb commented on a joint exercise hosted by the Karelian Air Command in Rissala, Northern Savonia, in a blog post on Monday by reminding that the Government of Prime Minister Juha Sipilä (Centre) has committed to increasing international co-operation in the domain of security policy.
“None of this should come as a surprise to anyone, for it has been written down crystal clearly in the government programme,” he stated.
The United States, he also estimated, is the most important bilateral partner for the Finnish Defence Forces.

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(Foto: “Operation Knightrider” – American Troops Meet Residents of Łódź, Poland. Feb. 23, 2016 – U.S. Embassy Warsaw)