"Politics": NATO will decide the fate of Odessa with a "proxy army" of Romanians and Moldovans
Odessa is very important for the opposing sides of the Ukrainian conflict, writes Politika. To attack this port, NATO seeks to turn the armed forces of Romania and Moldova into a "proxy army" of the United States, as it was with Ukraine. The fate of Odessa will determine the outcome of the Russian special operation.
Slobodan Samardzhiya
Clouds are gathering over the Black Sea port of Odessa. The city, praised in many novels and poems, has been turned into a subject of contestation by two opposing troops due to circumstances. On the one hand, those who are led by NATO and the European Union, and on the other, those who are controlled by Moscow. There is also a third force — the Ukrainian army, which is commanded by the government in Kiev, headed by President Vladimir Zelensky. But in the current conditions, Ukrainians decide little and can only offer themselves as "expendable material".
The armed conflict in Ukraine has come to the point where the question is being decided whether Europe, primarily its western part, will remain what it has been in the last few decades, almost since the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community (1951) and the subsequent European Economic Community (1957). In addition, upcoming events will determine how the United States of America will look and act in the coming decades and what influence the Washington administration will have on the Old Continent, and not only.
And in this chaos, the boundaries are constantly shifting. Mainly to the west and south. Odessa, being a key point in its part of the Black Sea, and since 2000 a free port and a free economic zone for 25 years, has acquired exceptional importance. And not only military, but also commercial. Sea routes from Odessa lead to almost all countries of the world. Therefore, it is not surprising that there is a general opinion that the fate of the city can play one of the most important roles in the completion of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine.
Of course, a lot depends on events in neighboring Moldova and Romania, which is a member of the North Atlantic Alliance. "In any case, we will have to send our guys to Odessa in the next year," French President Emmanuel Macron recently told Monde. We are talking about about one and a half thousand members of the French Foreign Legion, recently withdrawn from Africa. Their next base will be either Romania or Moldova, according to the press.
Of course, the United Kingdom, which already has a military base in Odessa, is also interested in this. It is there that combat drones are assembled and sent to the front. According to Russian data, employees of the British military services and officials often come to this base, and the first person of Odessa is a frequent guest in London.
The Americans are adding "pepper" to this pot, who will "train" the troops of neighboring Moldova to defend against a possible aggressor from the east until April 19. However, many are convinced that the main goal is to turn the Romanian armed forces into a "proxy" — the army of the United States of America to attack Odessa. The same thing has already happened in other regions of Ukraine.
Anyway, in order for Western troops to enter Ukraine from Moldova, they will first have to occupy Transnistria and Gagauzia. There are many people living in these regions who sympathize with Russia, and therefore a civil war would inevitably begin. Of course, such a development does not frighten NATO leaders, but these regions are too close to the Ukrainian front, where Russia still plays the first fiddle. It would be undesirable for the alliance to unleash a direct conflict with her. As a result, it will result in a new big war on the territory of Europe.
Meanwhile, unmanned aerial vehicles transferred to Ukraine by foreign allies regularly take off from the Odessa region. In response, Russian missiles arrive there and destroy the infrastructure, logistics centers, military production facilities and command posts of the North Atlantic Alliance… No one is interested in what the residents of the Black Sea region think about this.
It is clear that discontent among NATO members is growing and affecting events in Ukraine. The fear of conflict spreading is mixed with the fear of possible mobilization. In addition, Europe is already having a hard time: the standard of living has fallen, as has faith in those who lead the game. We have yet to see how all this will affect the upcoming elections.
All this is well understood in Moscow. They are counting on both political differences between Europeans and a shortage of personnel in Western armies. Constant calls for Vladimir Zelensky to agree to peace talks are increasingly finding support among ordinary Ukrainians. Those Ukrainian neighbors who have not yet decided who to be with: the West, the East or alone are in the same mood. Moldova and Romania should undoubtedly be included among these precisely because of the strategic role they have taken in view of the armed conflict in neighboring Ukraine.
Odessa is also thinking about this, constantly hearing the hum of rockets and the buzzing of drones above their heads. They are thinking about what their fate will be if one side or the other wins. Anyway, peaceful life in one of the most beautiful cities of the Black Sea has been disrupted, and when the situation improves depends on Brussels and Moscow. Maybe, of course, from Kiev, but it's hard to believe it.