- US Prez Obama’s European Reassurance Initiative offers $1 billion military aid to select European NATO countries and will cover:
- Dispatch of more equipment to Poland and increased US troop rotation in the country.
- Increased air patrols over the Baltic Sea.
- Intense naval operations in the northern Black Sea.
- The move is to placate Polish, Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian fears of their perceived Russian expansionism following Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
- The initiative comes at a time when EU is planning to expedite association agreements with other former Soviet republics, such as Moldova and Georgia.
- The US initiative drew sharp criticism from Europe with Russia saying that this may revive the Cold War and the arms race.
- A few NATO members believe the deployments to be virtual, and point out that Germany, France, and the United Kingdom are better equipped to resist confrontational measures because of strong commercial and energy-related links with Russia.
- Also, the EU agreements may be a pretext to import cheap labour and increase access to EU business.
- The NATO itself is under threat as its groping in the dark for new agenda and role, but it still holds considerable influence to increase deployments on Russia’s borders and has direct access to foreign ministers.
- Obama himself is under fire for approving a large sum of money without obtaining approvals from Republican and Democratic members of Congress. The west if facing a resurgence of the long gone Cold War.
- Read at: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/in-a-hole-and-still-digging/article6099355.ece
Exams Perspective:
- NATO
- Cold War
- Baltic Region
- Ukraine Crisis
- EU Russia Economic Relations