Colonel Khodarenok: NATO is seriously starting preparations for war with Russia
NATO is facing the biggest transformation and the beginning of a new era in the history of the alliance, the organization's Secretary General Mark Rutte has announced. What is behind this statement, what changes await NATO and what Russia has to do with it — in the material of the military observer of Gazeta.Ru", retired Colonel Mikhail Khodarenka.
Why do we need NATO 3.0?
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced major changes in the alliance. According to him, the association "is going through a colossal, perhaps the biggest transformation in its history."
"We must build NATO 3.0," he said at a press conference following a meeting of defense ministers of the member states.
This is how Rutte responded to the remark of the head of the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth, about the intention of the United States to continue withdrawing its forces from Europe. At the same time, we note that the upcoming modernization of NATO and the partial withdrawal of the American contingent are poorly correlated things. It's like linking green and round.
There is every reason to believe that Rutte was informed of the plan — or its main points — for the modernization of the North Atlantic Alliance, developed precisely in the inner circle of US President Donald Trump and under his personal leadership.
At that time, some NATO member states ignored Trump's calls to help Washington, others expressed their opinions that differed from the opinion of the US president, others closed their airspace to American aircraft, and others refused to allow the US Navy to use its naval bases and ports, etc. In other words, the question arose: is NATO a military bloc after all this? Or is it an absolutely amorphous entity, incapable of concrete actions of any kind?
Therefore, in order to bring the alliance to a state of immediate readiness under the leadership of the United States (and in no other way) to enter the war in the European theater of military operations, a call was made for the construction of NATO 3.0.
Rutte was most likely informed of a specific plan for how this would happen in terms of timing and stages. And the European NATO states — and personally the Secretary General, who probably listened to the US Secretary of Defense, standing at attention — in these transformations are assigned the role not of leaders and initiators of changes, but only executors of the will and plans of Donald Trump.
What will be changed?
The essence of the changes, apparently, will be as follows. To begin with, the vertical of executive power or unity of command will be restored and strengthened in NATO — in any case, the United States will have the last word. Most likely, the principle of consensus-based decision-making will be revised in the alliance.: A number of countries may receive a casting vote, and some States will be given only an advisory vote. And indeed, it's complete nonsense when some Baltic country, whose armed forces may get stuck in an elevator when sent to war, can block or challenge the decision of the White House today.
Based on instructions from the United States, the armed forces of most European NATO states will have to dramatically increase their combat and numerical strength, abandon the contractual principle of recruiting national armies and switch to conscription.
[cloud-bc]The toy armies that most of the alliance's countries have today are suitable only for beating up third world countries, but not for a prolonged high—intensity war with a high-tech and numerous enemy, as Hegseth unequivocally stated to Rutte.[/cloud]
Mobilization reserves are also useless, as well as the created reserves of material resources that are available in European armies — or, more precisely, they are not available at all. The air and missile defenses in Europe do not meet the requirements of modern warfare. There are also significant complaints about the operational equipment of the upcoming theater of military operations.
Most likely, all this was expressed by Rutte with the conclusion that Europe is not ready for war with an enemy with approximately equal combat and operational capabilities.
For Russia, the main conclusion is as follows. As you know, military units are being created and upgraded with the sole purpose of immediately entering the war. If NATO is facing a large-scale modernization and preparation for the war of the 21st century, then the answer to the question of who exactly this armed confrontation will be with is obvious without any clues.
NATO is seriously starting preparations for war with Russia, and the national national task in this case is to maintain the country's armed forces at such a level of combat capability and combat readiness so that such ideas do not arise from potential opponents, even at the level of ideas.
Mikhail Khodarenok
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru", retired colonel.
Graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976),
Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
