More US-NATO Wars on the Horizon? NATO Launches “Trident Juncture 2015”, Largest Military Exercise since the End of the Cold War

All U.S./NATO commands and bases are in full swing to prepare the “Trident Juncture 2015” (TJ15), “the biggest NATO exercise by the end of the Cold War.”

It will take place in Italy, Spain and Portugal from September 28 to November 6, with land, air and naval and special forces units of 33 countries (28 NATO plus five allies): More than 35,000 troops, 200 aircraft, and 50 warships. The military industries of 15 countries will also participate to assess what other weapons NATO needs.

The purpose of this “high visibility and credibility” exercise is to test the “Response Force” (30,00 troops), especially its “Point Force’s” operational readiness (5,000 troops).

On the southern flank, starting mainly from Italy, NATO is preparing other wars in North Africa and the Middle East. This was confirmed by the attack carried out in Libya, on June 14 by the U.S. F-15E fighters that probably took off from Aviano in northern Italy, that have dropped numerous bombs ostensibly to kill a suspected terrorist.

The Italian Air Force is preparing for similar actions to ensure “the ability of its assets as part of a force of high readiness for deployment.” During TJ15 it will use the Trapani airport (not the airport in Decimomannu where “serenity” is lacking because of the protests there against military servitude), “for reasons eminently logistical, operational and for the distances to be covered and the previous experience gained in the course of other operations conducted by the base,” that is, the bombing of Libya in 2011. At Trapani-Birgi about 80 aircraft and 5,000 soldiers, who (despite the assurances of the Air Force) will put at risk the viability and safety of civilian flights.

NATO’s Joint Forces Command Naples, with headquarters in Lago Patria, Naples, will play a central role in the exercise under Admiral Use Ferguson, who is also commander of U.S. Naval Forces in Europe and the Africa Command: Alternating annually with Brunssum (Netherlands), the JFC Naples plays the role of operational command of NATO’s “Response Force,” whose general command answers to the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe (always a U.S. general appointed by the president). The projection of forces to the south goes far beyond North Africa: Supreme Commander Gen. Breedlove clarified this by announcing that “the members of NATO will play a big role in North Africa, the Sahel and sub-Saharan Africa.”

On its eastern flank, NATO continues to increase its military pressure on Russia. According to information provided to the New York Times (June 13) by U.S. and allied officials, the Pentagon intends to “pre-position” heavy weapons (tanks, guns, etc.), sufficient to arm 5,000 soldiers in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary.

And while Washington has made it known that it does not exclude deploying ground-based nuclear missiles in Europe, Kiev has announced that U.S./NATO missile interceptors could be installed in Ukraine, similar to those in Poland and Romania. This ignores the fact that Moscow, as it has already warned, will take countermeasures because the launch pads for the interceptors can also be used to launch nuclear missiles.

In such a scenario “Trident Juncture 2015,” an expression of a strategy of all-out war, is taking place. This is confirmed by the participation of the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg last week in Austria in the secret meeting of the Bilderberg group, the same one that the Italian magistrate Ferdinando Imposimato denounced in January 2013 as “one of the leaders of the strategy of tension.”

Il Manifesto, 16 June 2015

http://ilmanifesto.info/la-nato-lancia-il-tridente/

Translation: John Catalinotto


Articles by: Manlio Dinucci

About the author:

Manlio Dinucci est géographe et journaliste. Il a une chronique hebdomadaire “L’art de la guerre” au quotidien italien il manifesto. Parmi ses derniers livres: Geocommunity (en trois tomes) Ed. Zanichelli 2013; Geolaboratorio, Ed. Zanichelli 2014;Se dici guerra…, Ed. Kappa Vu 2014.

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