WikiLeaks cables reveal secret Nato plans to defend Baltics from Russia

[CHIMO]

Source: guardian.co.uk

Washington and its western allies have for the first time since the end of the cold war drawn up classified military plans to defend the most vulnerable parts of eastern Europe against Russian threats, according to confidential US diplomatic cables.

The US state department ordered an information blackout when the decision was taken earlier this year. Since January the blueprint has been refined.

Nine Nato divisions – US, British, German, and Polish – have been identified for combat operations in the event of armed aggression against Poland or the three Baltic states. North Polish and German ports have been listed for the receipt of naval assault forces and British and US warships. The first Nato exercises under the plan are to take place in the Baltic next year, according to informed sources.

Following years of transatlantic dispute over the new policy, Nato leaders are understood to have quietly endorsed the strategy at a summit in Lisbon last month.



Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/06/wikileaks-cables-nato-russia-baltics

[msongs]

1. like the russians didnt know about this already nt

[JDPriestly]

3. You are probably right, but Assange might have a problem

with the release of this one because it concerns NATO's plans. I don't know but this might cause him problems.

This is the first Wikileaks concerning military plans that I happen to have read. (I'm not particularly interested in cables regarding military issues. Makes me feel like I am looking at someone's dirty underwear. This cable report is not very explicit, so you are probably right, msongs. But I think Assange should avoid releasing information about western military defenses. Most of the cables I have read were of general interest, but this one borders on being explicitly military in its content.)

This particular dispatch could qualify possibly as genuinely a state secret. Problem is it may not just be a state secret of the US even though it is a US cable. This cable might give some court other than an American court jurisdiction and some law other than American law some applicability.

But I think Assange and his friends know what they are risking. They have taken this upon themselves as an act of conscience. Whether we agree or not, they have the right to decide for themselves to take that risk.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. This is news?

[Ian David]

4. Remember the episode of The Brady Bunch where Greg was supposed to steal a football playbook? n/t

[Crowman1979]

5. I think Russia doesn't need to use military force if they want to control the baltics.

They'll use economic or political strategy in order to force it's influence. Plus I think this Sabre rattling they are doing is just causing us to drain our treasury via Defense spending.

[Javaman]

10. Saber rattling is so 20th century. Energy control is where it's at.

If Russia wanted the Baltic states to fall in line, they can do to them what they have been doing to the Ukraine, cut off or raise the price of natural gas.

Better way to keep ones hands clean.

[soryang]

6. We have alliances with almost every country on earth now

It's a combined insane plan to take over the world and sell weapons to every country on earth, because we have nothing else left to sell since the financial innovations took a dive off a cliff.

[14thColony]

7. Shocked! I'm shocked to find this is going on.

Shocked and startled to discover that NATO, a defensive military alliance focused on Europe, has plans to defend members of the alliance in event of a military attack against them in Europe.

Actually I'm more shocked NATO managed to plan anything this quickly...

[Joanne98]

8. NATO has secret plan to defend Baltics: Wikileaks

Source: Reuters

Reuters) - NATO has drawn up secret plans to defend the Baltic states against any Russian threat, Britain's Guardian newspaper reported on Tuesday, citing U.S. diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks.

The decision to draft contingency plans for the former Soviet states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania was taken secretly earlier this year at the urging of the United States and Germany, ending years of division within the alliance over how to view Russia, the Guardian said.

In parallel talks with Warsaw, it said, Washington offered to beef up Polish security against Russia by deploying special naval forces to the Baltic ports of Gdansk and Gdynia, putting F-16 fighter aircraft in Poland and rotating C-130 Hercules transport planes into Poland from U.S. bases in Germany.

The details were from 250,000 diplomatic cables obtained by the website WikiLeaks that are being made public.

Russia said it was "bewildered" by the allegations, a source in its foreign ministry told Interfax news agency.

NATO leaders were understood to have quietly endorsed the new strategy to defend vulnerable parts of eastern Europe at a summit in Lisbon last month, the Guardian said


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6B620820101207

[dipsydoodle]

9. Duplicate LBN

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4645532