Enormous, 'Seriously Destabilizing' NATO War Games Begin in Poland [View all]

[Lodestar]

The United States is providing around 14,000 troops for the exercise, more than any other participating nation

Drawing Russian rebuke, NATO members and partners on Monday launched what is being called the largest war game in decades—a 10-day exercise involving 31,000 troops and thousands of vehicles from 24 countries, none more committed than the United States.

The exercise, dubbed "Anakonda-16," is taking place in Poland ahead of next month's NATO summit in Warsaw that will likely approve more troops to be stationed in eastern Europe. The United States is providing around 14,000 troops for the exercise, more than any other participating nation.

According to Stars and Stripes:

Thousands of troops have arrived in Poland to begin the 10-day series of engagements, including air-ground assaults and electronic warfare scenarios. Airborne units, infantrymen, medics, military police and aviation units will operate jointly throughout the exercise, which culminates in a massive live-fire event led by the U.S. Army’s 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division.

A separate international naval exercise, Baltops-16, also involving NATO forces, began Monday in Finland, which is not a member of the global alliance.

The activity comes, as journalist Lucian Kim noted in an analysis published by Reuters, "just weeks after the United States inaugurated the first of two controversial missile-defense installations in Eastern Europe. Next year, the Pentagon plans to quadruple military spending in Europe to $3.4 billion and begin rotating an armored brigade through Eastern Europe—in addition to extra NATO forces to be deployed to Poland and the Baltics."

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http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/06/06/enormous-seriously-destabilizing-nato-war-games-begin-poland