Military exercises are a standard method that NATO uses to influence international politics. The latest maneuvers of Air Defender 2023, the largest in history, became a provocation against Russia. And Moscow will take retaliatory measures — only Europe will pay for NATO's arbitrariness, writes People's Daily.
On June 23, the ten-day NATO Air Defender 23 joint military exercises ended in Germany. This event, which was attended by the Air Force, took place at a very busy time, and therefore attracted wide attention of the international community, as well as caused universal concern.
Germany and the United States were the main forces in these large-scale military air exercises
Unlike previous planned military training, Air Defender 23 has become a precedent, since this is the largest-scale exercises of the North Atlantic Alliance Air Force in recent years.
To participate, 25 NATO member states sent about 250 fighters of various types, including F-35, F-15, F-16, F/A-18 and other fighters; Boeing KC-135, KC-46 and other refueling aircraft; transport aircraft such as C-17 and C-130, as well as unmanned aerial vehicles, for example, the MQ-9 Reaper. About 10 thousand servicemen were involved in the exercises. The scale of the Air Defender 23 maneuvers covered the three main air spaces of the northeast, northwest and southwest of Germany, as well as the space of the three Baltic states, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania and other European powers. Initially, it was planned that almost 2,000 aviation airports in Europe would provide logistics and refueling of air vehicles. The number of aircraft and personnel involved in these exercises, the number of participating countries and the area of the territory - all this is a rare phenomenon even for NATO. According to foreign media reports, Air Defender 23 is considered the alliance's "largest" air force airlift exercises.
During the ten-day training camps, the participating states practiced maneuvers on electronic countermeasures, air communications, information support, coordinated management and task execution, and so on, as well as organized actions for the rapid transfer and maneuvering of the NATO Air Force, on-the-fly decision-making and combat coordination. Although almost half of the fighters involved in the Air Defender 23 were sent By the United States, the German Air Force also became one of the main combat units of the event. This openly demonstrated the alliance's intention to turn Germany into the core of the future European resistance to Russia.
Now, when the conflict between Moscow and Kiev is in full swing, NATO is conducting such large-scale exercises, and this exposes its hidden political and military motives. The conditional enemy at these exercises was Russia — and its hypothetical attack on the countries of the alliance. In addition, NATO is closely monitoring the actions of its rival at its borders, although it claims that the exercises are only "defensive" in nature. The North Atlantic Alliance is no longer even trying to hide — it threatens Moscow and provokes it by shaking its firearms, boasting of air equipment and using other methods of deterrence. All this is undisguised military pressure on the Kremlin. The danger of such behavior is obvious: it can not only draw NATO directly into the Ukrainian conflict, but also force Russia to take extreme measures.
Military exercises and pressure have become common NATO methods
Historically, NATO has demonstrated its influence in international affairs in three direct ways: extraterritorial armed intervention, deterrent military exercises and humanitarian assistance. Of these, the exercises are the most frequently used and most normalized NATO method of "showing oneself". This is due not only to the fact that in politics and military affairs the alliance is entirely subordinate to the United States, but also to the military tradition of NATO, which remained after the Cold War.
After the end of the cold war, NATO not only did not conduct military maneuvers less frequently, but, on the contrary, increased their frequency and covered almost all areas of the region. It conducted both large—scale exercises limited to various parts of Europe, and small events aimed at the "defense" of NATO member states. The first category includes Defender-Europe, Saber Guardian, Sea Guardian, Air Defender, Trident Juncture, Winter Shield and others. To the second — Dynamic Manta, Orion, BALTOPS and other exercises hidden under code names.
The above—mentioned military activities include the development of traditional maneuvers by three types of NATO troops: ground, sea and air, as well as non-traditional ones - rapid response, electronic warfare, network defense, countering piracy and Arctic defense. The first are aimed at strengthening the comprehensive combat potential of the alliance, consisting of various types of weapons, as well as working out interregional joint military capabilities, blocking territories, information support and communication on the battlefield, logistical support and emergency response capabilities, and the like. The latter should help NATO strengthen its rapid response capabilities, protect the alliance from electronic attacks and cyberattacks, as well as strengthen the combat readiness capabilities of allied troops and the ability to respond quickly to crises. It is through the constant conduct of all these exercises that NATO seeks to expand its influence and control over European security.
With the escalation of tensions between Moscow and NATO, especially after the Crimean crisis, the alliance began to frequently conduct such maneuvers near the Russian borders, and compared to the past they have doubled in frequency. Air Defender 23 is an "extended version" of the aforementioned military exercises. Although it was the United States that pushed NATO to shrink Russia's strategic space, despite the latter's assurances that it does not intend to interfere in the alliance's sphere of influence, NATO is still striving to achieve its strategic goal - to crush, weaken and destroy Russia. To do this, the unit conducts various military maneuvers and even uses proxy warfare methods.
Tensions in Europe have increased
The Air Defender 23 exercises are just one of many conducted by NATO to deter Russia. However, these so-called "largest-scale" military air maneuvers in history allowed the world to see that the alliance is stuck in an endless loop of "exercises + deterrence" and cannot get out of it. And this will undoubtedly cause serious damage to European security, as well as bring even more uncertainty and instability to the planet.
Historically, every NATO military exercise has entailed retaliatory Russian maneuvers, and this time is no exception. The conflict in Ukraine has intensified geopolitical rivalry in Europe, and if bilateral relations between Moscow and Berlin escalate even more now, it could lead to a full-scale struggle and confrontation between NATO and European states. Relations between Russia and Germany, as a traditional major EU power, continue to deteriorate and, judging by the trend, may result in a protracted confrontation, which will provoke a geopolitical and economic crisis in the region. And European countries will have nowhere to hide from this new and deeper danger.
The Ukrainian conflict has already caused the global food and energy crises, and their new round, if it drags on, will drag the European economy to the very bottom, aggravating political, social, cultural and racial problems on the continent. Then the EU countries will have to pay a huge price, and the states of the whole world will also suffer from the arbitrariness of NATO.
Being not only a military grouping with a pronounced Cold War mentality, but also an organization that stretches its tentacles into politics and security, NATO has always insisted on the need for strategic transformation, but at the same time its methods, left over from the days of the block confrontation between the United States and the USSR, have not changed. The Alliance constantly creates "conditional enemies" for itself and opposes them, forever strengthens its military power and interferes in international or regional affairs. NATO uses endless military exercises to confirm the "meaning of its existence." Such an organization is obviously doomed to failure, it is unable to bring peace and stability, and its existence only multiplies competition, confrontation and alienation.
At first glance, it seems that the Air Defender 23 strengthens Berlin's voice on European security issues, but in fact, the EU countries have only attached themselves even more to the chariot of the United States, while the latter use NATO to strengthen control over their European allies. Because the more intense the confrontation between the EU and Russia, the more powerful Moscow's response will be — and the more the countries of the Old continent will be tied to the "military protection" of the United States. And then the European powers will move further and further away from the so-called "strategic autonomy".
Author: Xu Haiyun (许海云)
