U.S. Puts 8,500 Troops on High Alert as Tension Rises Between NATO & Russia over Ukraine

The U.S. has prepared some 8,500 troops to deploy to Eastern Europe in the event that Russia invades Ukraine, which Russian President Vladimir Putin denies is his goal. On Wednesday, officials from Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany are scheduled to meet in Paris to negotiate resolving the crisis. "The security of Europe ought to be principally Europe's business," says Anatol Lieven, senior fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. "This whole notion of great power competition, which is embedded in the National Defense Strategy, has been used as kind of the magic key to keep Pentagon spending at near-records levels," says national security expert William Hartung, research fellow at the Quincy Institute.

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[biglebowski]

Too bad we can't spend that money on important things like education, health care and our shitty infrastructure.

[chriskaiser]

How about we keep our troops at home and put the politicians in a cage fighting bracket? Then the winner gets a belt and can say they won.

[emiebex]

America does also have the option of staying out of a foreign conflict...for once.

[dustykashifeathers]

All this attention and money spent on poking the Russian/Ukrainian border into a world war, in contrast to the very little attention and money spent on our own domestic problems of mass poverty and industrially induced climate crises.

[philyogaeveryday]

Finally, a media outlet questioning the establishment narrative.

[slipperyeel]

The biggest threat to the well being of the military industrial complex is PEACE. The American non democracy and limited freedoms would wither into irrelevance.

[jessieochoa]

Seems Confusing to me. When I was stationed in Europe the Russians always moved more than 100, 000 troops in tandem with American forces movements. We own NATO as we were told in Europe despite what's Europeans said. But none of the citizens I met in Europe, other than so called leaders of American paid for there wanted American forces occupying their lands. Very difficult to understand.

[jeffv]

Who THE HELL still has trust in what NATO says. Smh.

[remicaron]

Why is this a NATO issue? Should this not be a UN issue? When did NATO become the world police? We aren’t the arbiter of what sovereign countries can and can’t do in their countries.
This whole thing is a stock market buster plot while Putin looks strong in Russia. It’s a win win if you’re an oligarch in Russia or the West while the poors will have to pay the price with their lives.

[theonlynoob]

American defensively ready to deploy troops across two continents to deter the aggressive Russians from moving troops in Russia.

[edwardbridges]

We don't need to worry about their freedom, we need to be worried about our own with this government.

[yardman]

So let me get this straight if the United States moves its troops inside America should Canada 🇨🇦 and Mexico 🇲🇽 prepare for War?

[chrismoore]

“Older men start wars, but younger men fight them. ” ― Albert Einstein

That's just great... -_-

[dukelee]

Isn't there constructive jobs we could offer young men from Texas or Mississippi besides murder?

[happyjonkers]

Europe is making an absolute fool of itself, US

[davidlim]

8500 US troops against 100, 000???
What happened to their USD768billions defence budget?

[amareshroy]

Such war in apparently serene zone will escalate sell of arms world wide.russia USA, big arm exporter will gain. Other will spend development fund in arm purchases.

[Lamin_G]

Of course, the U.S. is not interested in "de-escalating" the tense situation at the Ukraine-Russian border, as it keeps claiming. Otherwise, they would have simply responded to Russia's concerns about NATO's expansion that gets ever closer to Russia, and a future induction of Ukraine into NATO, by signing an agreement that neither of those concerning items will come to pass, BUT with a caveat: the agreement *will only remain valid as long as Russia does not violate* it with *invading* Ukraine or any of the NATO-allied countries neighboring Ukraine.

Accordingly, if Russia were to invade any nearby countries in the future, then the signed agreement would be null and void. This would ease the tensions.

As it is, some European members of NATO, like Germany, and possibly France, are not eager to get into a conflict with Russia, given the important energy supplies (like *natural gas*) needed from Russia.

Germany has refused to export German-made weapons to Ukraine, while France is talking about a creation of a "new" EU military force that is not in competition with NATO, BUT is independent of NATO. The idea here, is that the new force would give EU the necessary "independence" to advance interests of EU countries. Read between the lines!

Another thing: Russia wants a *signed agreement*, but surely, they are aware that even signed agreements by western countries are easily torn up without notice?! Recall, for instance, the nuclear related agreement with Iran, which the U.S. unilaterally pulled away from? Maybe, the Russians are thinking, that unlike Iran, they have the political and military clout to enforce a signed agreement.

[jerroldrichards]

I hope I do not come across as an arm-waving survivalist by mentioning the ancient concept of a well-stocked pantry, considered by pretty much everyone, everywhere, throughout all human history, to be a basic part of responsible homestead management.

Universally accepted that is except for the past few decades, in which we have become used to getting our food just-in-time from far away, provided by fragile financial and goods distribution systems. I am concerned such systems could be targeted if conflict metastasizes out of the Ukraine area, something major wars tend to do.

We zap the dough of Putin's mafia buddies, they zap Kroger, and so it goes.

Personally, I would define "well-stocked" as including enough calories per person for a year, rotating, discarding or donating to charity as necessary. I would consider rice, beans, olive oil, and salt to be essential basics. Example for two people at 2, 000 calories/day: 2 x 2, 000 x 365 = 1, 460, 000 calories.

[jetetarro]

$500 million fast track military spending… well.. they military industrial complex wasn’t happy with a diminishing war in afghanistan