NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg had said, ahead of a NATO summit in Spain,
"Russia has walked away from the partnership and the dialogue that NATO has tried to establish
with Russia for many years.
They have chosen confrontation instead of dialogue.
We regret that - but of course, then we need to respond to that reality"
This signaled that NATO will be adopting a new plan of action and this took shape during
the summit held in Madrid on June 29.
There are far-reaching implications for the whole world.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes how NATO plans to counter Russia with a major
shift in strategy?
Let's get into the details.
The Russian conflict is having a massive fallout.
Ukraine’s economy is expected to shrink by an estimated 45.1 percent this year.
There is an issue with the world's food security since Ukraine which is one of the main world
exporters of grains as well as vegetable oils is unable to export its products.
There are also many concerns with the world's energy security with countries like Germany
potentially facing a massive crisis.
Russia's invasion has sparked a major geopolitical shift in the West.
The has even made once neutral countries Finland and Sweden apply to join NATO and Ukraine
to secure the status of candidate to join the European Union.
NATO will dramatically boost its rapid-response forces for Eastern Europe with a sevenfold
jump.
Stoltenberg said NATO in the future would have "well over 300,000" troops on high alert,
compared to 40,000 troops that currently make up the alliance's existing quick reaction
force, the NATO Response Force (NRF).
As per reports, the new force model will "provide a larger pool of high readiness forces across
domains, land, sea, air and cyber, which will be pre-assigned to specific plans for the
defense of allies"
Stoltenberg said NATO combat units on the alliance's eastern flank nearest Russia, especially
the Baltic states, are to be boosted to brigade level, with thousands of pre-assigned troops
on standby in countries further west like Germany as rapid reinforcements.
He added, "Together, this constitutes the biggest overhaul
of our collective deterrence and defense since the Cold War,"
The change will mean that NATO would be able to respond with more forces at short notice
if such a situation arises.
As per reports, the precise scale and composition of the force were still being worked on and
the transition was planned for completion in 2023.
The desire is for NATO to have sufficient forces on the ground to defeat any attempt
at an invasion.
This is a fundamental shift from a policy known as a "tripwire" that was adopted after
Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014, with the annexation of Crimea.
As per that concept, allies agreed to set up four missions in the Baltic states and
Poland, each with around 1,000 troops.
If Russia chose to invade, these battlegroups would not be able to stop the attack but would
trigger a "tripwire".
Once this tripwire was breached, reinforcements be rushed in.
But there are two issues with the "tripwire" policy:
1.
It will be hard to dislodge Russian forces from occupied territories since they will
dig in.
2.
Russian forces have conducted human rights violations in areas they have occupied.
So, there is a need to deny any Russian force from having the ability to take any ground
from day one of an attack.
NATO has changed its language on Russia from the previous wording, enshrined at its Lisbon
summit in 2010, that described Moscow as a strategic partner.
In Madrid, NATO has declared Russia the "most significant and direct threat” to its members’
peace and security The declaration underscores how greatly Russia's
invasion of Ukraine has upended Europe's post-Cold War security order.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg acknowledged the enormous challenges, saying the alliance
is “in the midst of the most serious security crisis we have faced since the Second World
War”.
US President Joe Biden, whose country provides most of NATO's military power, vowed the summit
would send “an unmistakable message ... that NATO is strong and united”.
He stated, “We're stepping up.
We're proving that NATO is more needed now than it ever has been,”
He announced a major boost in America's military presence in Europe, including a permanent
US base in Poland, two more Navy destroyers based in Rota, Spain, and two more F-35 squadrons
to the UK.
During the Cold War, the two sides of the conflict for global power were clear, with
American-led democracies slugging it out with the U.S.S.R and its communist allies for dominance.
The Cold War lasted roughly 45 years from the end of World War II to the Soviet collapse
in 1991.
The era was defined by an intense political, economic and military rivalry between the
U.S. and U.S.S.R.
Though the world's two dominant powers never came into direct conflict, there were indirect
confrontations in Korea and Vietnam.
The specter of nuclear war loomed over the entire period, almost reaching the tipping
point with the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.
The 30 years since the fall of the Soviet Union, although far from peaceful, were less
starkly divided, with major world powers competing largely over economic and cultural influence,
while also finding room for cooperation when their interests aligned.
But it is about to change for worse and NATO will have a major role to play and it is evident
that it is gearing up for a new reality.