Prime Minister of Brandenburg Refuses to Welcome American Tanks From "Operation Atlantic Resolve"
The Prime Minister of the Federal State of Brandenburg, Dietmar Woidke, refused to welcome the US military, who will pass through his region on the way to NATO exercises in Eastern Europe. Woidke said that Germany wouldn’t benefit in the long term from the tanks going back and forth and stated that it was important to continue a dialogue with Russia.
Mikhail Antonov will talk specifically about the sentiment change in Germany itself and the consequences of such changes for NATO.
NATO's Operation Atlantic Resolve has been entering, rolling in and coming through for the second year since its beginning. The meaning of these maneuvers so far boiled down mainly to maneuvering, denoting the US military presence in Eastern Europe. A tank brigade, a helicopter unit, and a logistics center, totaling 5,000 US troops, move from point to point like a tent circus, attracting local acrobats to their tours.
Last July, 23,000 NATO soldiers repelled a limited Russian invasion in Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary. In December, Americans rushed from Poland to Lithuania and back along the Suwałki corridor separating the Kaliningrad region from Belarus, practicing a counter-maneuver in case the Russians want to cut this corridor.
In one word, Europeans got sick and tired of the M1 Abrams tanks. In Germany, which, by agreement with the United States, is simply obliged to provide American troops with the opportunity to do transfers, even serious politicians began to flinch as they watched the tank-laden trains going east. For example, the Prime Minister of Brandenburg, Social Democrat Dietmar Woidke.
Dietmar Woidke: "I won’t wave to them while standing in the street. I don’t think that in the long run we’ll be helped by the fact that tanks will move on both sides of the border".
Germany Minister of Defense Ursula Von der Leyen will wave to the American tanks. Angela Merkel’s party comrade, the former minister of labor, the former minister for family affairs is among those military analysts who see the growing threat from the east.
At the same time, Germany’s Social Democratic Party, which participates in coalition talks with Merkel these days, has been objecting for a long time about the fact that the US, in every possible way, is using Europe.
Sigmar Gabriel, German Foreign Minister: "We can’t afford to wait for decisions in the US or to react to them. We must form our own position and, if necessary, tell our partners where the border of our solidarity lies. Sanctions against Russia, adopted in the summer by the US Congress, undermine our own important economic interests".
But Washington took care of creating a system for maintaining Operation Atlantic Resolve on the continent. The less of it there is in Germany, the more allies there are in Poland and the Baltics. In December 2017, the Americans rotated the contingent. In 2018, they’ll do it again. It’s not clear when these guest performers will leave Europe.
The conclusion of Operation Atlantic Resolve hasn't been defined, and there’s no clear plan about where it'll take place next. The US is obviously just trying to maintain a state of constant military tension on NATO's eastern flank in order to avoid any possibility for discussion whatsoever about whether the "Russian threat" actually exists.
Mikhail Antonov, Alexander Korostelyov, and Andrei Putra, Vesti, Berlin, Germany.