(WARNING)(Beginning of NATO Mobilization)(Preparing for war) - Norway, Sweden, 'What Ukraine Can Learn From Finland'

'Red Army Commanders assumed Tolvajarvi would be a cakewalk, just like former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin assumed the entire invastion of Findland would be easy..'

- What Ukraine Can Learn From Finland, December 19, 2021


'Denmark, Spain and the Netherlands are among allies sending assets to the Eastern flank.

NATO announced Monday that European allies were deploying added ships and fighter jets to Eastern Europe and putting new forces on standby in response to Russia’s continued military mobilization along the Ukrainian border.

“Denmark is sending a frigate to the Baltic Sea and is set to deploy four F-16 fighter jets to Lithuania in support of NATO’s long-standing air-policing mission in the region,” the alliance said in a statement. “Spain is sending ships to join NATO naval forces and is considering sending fighter jets to Bulgaria. France has expressed its readiness to send troops to Romania under NATO command.”

The alliance also said that the Netherlands was putting “a ship and land-based units on standby for NATO’s Response Force,” and as of April would send two F-35 fighters to Bulgaria to support the alliance’s air-policing activities in the Black Sea region.

NATO’s announcement comes amid reports that senior Pentagon officials on Saturday presented U.S. Joe Biden with options for adopting a more aggressive posture toward Russia. This would include deploying additional military forces and equipment to Eastern Europe, according to NBC News and The New York Times.

“NATO will continue to take all necessary measures to protect and defend all Allies, including by reinforcing the eastern part of the Alliance,” Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, the alliance’s top civilian official said in the statement. “We will always respond to any deterioration of our security environment, including through strengthening our collective defence.”

While some of the NATO movements seemed to involve personnel or equipment previously committed by allies, the effort to publicize the deployments signalled that Western powers wanted to raise the volume in their warnings to the Kremlin about any potential military strike.

While Ukraine is not an ally, NATO countries have threatened severe sanctions in response to any attack, and Stoltenberg has said that the alliance will move quickly and forcefully to protect its members, including the small Baltic nations, under Article 5, the collective defense clause in the NATO treaty.'

- NATO sends ships, fighter jets to eastern Europe as Russia tensions simmer, January 24, 2022



Context

Sweden redeploys troops to the island of Gotland near Russia, January 17, 2022

Cold Response 2022: 35,000 Soldiers from 26 Countries in Northern Military Exercise, January 19, 2022

Could the West have saved Russia from itself? No.


'..Today’s war in eastern Ukraine, along with Russia’s wider hybrid war against the entire Western world, are the latest episodes in the unraveling of the Soviet empire..'