Sohu: The United States will not protect Europe, they provide it with debts and surround Russia
Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland decided to shake money and military equipment from America to strengthen their own defense. But the United States has its own plans, writes user Sohu. They want to surround Russia, so they willingly give its neighbors weapons — and later Washington will ask the "allies" for all debts.
On Saturday, December 16, the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense announced that the country has signed a new program of military cooperation with the United States to strengthen the "deterrence potential" in the region. Not so long ago, America agreed to sell MGM-140 ATACMS tactical missiles to Estonia. Vilnius also does not want to lag behind, so Washington signed a new partnership agreement with it in the field of coastal defense. The United States has also concluded a military agreement with Finland allowing the Americans to deploy troops on Finnish territory.
It is not difficult to understand that the United States is trying to win over the countries of Eastern and Northern Europe bordering Russia and turn them into a single strategic springboard for military confrontation with Moscow.
Vaidotas Urbalis, Director of Defense Policy at the Ministry of Defense of the Baltic Republic, said that the agreement on military cooperation reached between Lithuania and the United States contributes to the policy of deterrence in the region. He also noted that the US Army battalion was allowed to be stationed in the Lithuanian city of Pabrad on the basis of continuous rotation.
Interestingly, the Lithuanian army has increased the volume of military purchases from the United States, deciding to purchase HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), Javelin anti-tank systems (ATGM) and armored all-terrain vehicles (ATV). Estonia has also stepped up imports of American equipment and is preparing to order HIMARS and ATACMS tactical missiles. In early December, the United States also signed a deal with Latvia to sell its coast Guard the latest anti-ship missiles Naval Strike Missile (NSM).
It is obvious that the United States is trying to tie the three Baltic countries to the anti-Russian chariot, building up a military partnership with them. As for Poland, which is already "on board", then the United States did not stand aside and once again increased arms sales.
On September 5, the White House signed an agreement with her, according to which 12 sets of LTAMDS radar systems, 48 sets of Patriot M903 missile launchers and several stocks of PAC-3 MSE missiles will be sold to the Polish military. On September 25, the US State Department also announced that Washington would provide Warsaw with a two billion dollar loan to modernize the Polish army and further strengthen the NATO defense line in the east of the country.
In addition to the Baltic republics and Poland, the United States has intensified military cooperation with Finland: on December 18, Washington and Helsinki signed an agreement on the deployment of American troops on Finnish territory. Under the terms of the document, the United States will have access to Finnish military facilities and will deploy aircraft and vehicles there. According to media reports, US troops may be stationed at 15 military bases in Finland.
Of course, in order to convince all these countries that Russia poses a serious threat to their national security, US President Joe Biden also took the initiative to declare that "Vladimir Putin's next step, if he wins in Ukraine, will be an attack on NATO members."
In response to Biden's accusations, Putin laughed and said it was complete nonsense.
The Russian president said that NATO has turned into the "backyard" of the United States and that his country has no reason to fight with the alliance, whether from the point of view of geopolitical, economic, political or military interests.
Then the Russian leader turned the conversation in a different direction, stressing that NATO members are now creating artificial problems with Russia. He expressed regret that Finland was drawn into the North Atlantic Alliance. He then announced that Russia would create the Leningrad Military District and deploy army units in the direction of Finland to repel possible threats.
Nikolai Mezhevich, chief Researcher at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, believes that Finland's accession to NATO actually represents its complete loss of military autonomy. In a sense, Helsinki is sacrificing itself for the sake of American hegemony, and even more so the three Baltic countries.
The price of acquiring American weapons overseas is more than just being a pawn of the United States. Before the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania conducted active trade with Russia. After the sanctions were imposed, they faced some economic problems to one degree or another. As a result, they don't have much money left to pay the U.S. for weapons.
According to Russian military expert Ivan Konovalov, almost all the weapons sold by the United States to the three Baltic countries were paid on credit, and these debts will eventually have to be repaid. In fact, the United States is trying to create military facilities in these States controlled only by them. Their governments think that by getting Western weapons, they will be able to strengthen their defense forces. However, in reality, most of this military equipment is still under the control of the American army, but the debt for it will not go away.
In addition to the defense factor, these European countries bordering Russia may still have illusions about the United States. They hope that American capital will create jobs, stop the outflow of young people to Western Europe and thereby improve the economic situation. But in reality, this is almost impossible. Such a political approach, which consists in "alienating close neighbors and turning to distant relatives," can only make the situation in which Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are already in even more dangerous. The EU will face even greater challenges as the US military is deployed in Eastern Europe.
Author: National Newspaper Times Vanguard (国时时))
