Poland wants even more American troops than US is deploying there
20 April 2014, 12:07 -- The US is going to deploy more ground troops in Poland. Poland is already hosting some 100 to 150 US military servicing a battery of Patriot missiles. This battery was deployed in Poland in 2010 as part of NATO's air defense shield in Europe.
NATO's top commander Gen. Philip M. Breedlove says that NATO is planning to move a 4,500-strong brigade from Fort Hood in Texas to Poland.
However, Poland's Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak says that Poland is asking for as many as 10,000 American troops.Mr. Siemoniak said this after his meeting with US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Thursday.
The Polish Defense Minister wants to see his country playing a leading role in NATO's build-up of troops in Eastern Europe under US patronage.
At present, it wouldn't probably be an exaggeration to say that the US is attaching priority, first of all, to its military presence in Asia. After what he qualifies as "Russia's aggression against Ukraine", the US needs to pay more attention to its military presence in Europe, Tomasz Siemoniak insists.
The Pentagon has not so far revealed any details about whether it may follow the wishes of the Polish Defense Minister, saying that its plans concerning Poland are still under consideration. However, a senior US official told Fox news on Friday that around 130 soldiers may be sent to Poland on a rotational basis.
The US military also announced on Friday the dispatch of a US Army company of about 150 soldiers to Poland to take part in a two-week land-forces exercise.
NATO's military response to the Ukrainian crisis was to deploy additional aircraft for patrols in European airspace and to send American warships into the Black Sea.
The recent events in Ukraine aggravated relations between the US and Western Europe, on the one side, and Russia, on the other. Russia does not recognize the authorities that came to power in Ukraine after a recent coup as legitimate. Moreover, Russia believes that the Ukrainian coup was orchestrated by the West.
A referendum recently held in the Crimean Peninsula, which used to be part of Ukraine, showed that the majority of Crimea's residents want their peninsula to be part of Russia, and Russia has accepted Crimea as such. However, the West qualifies this as Russia's forced annexation of Crimea.
In reality, Russia has not introduced its forces into Ukraine so far – but it believes it has the right to do so any moment if ethnic Russians become to be oppressed in Ukraine.
NATO's increasing of its military presence in Europe is a response to Russia's alleged "aggressive plans". NATO's members in Eastern Europe acknowledge themselves that from the point of view of military might, Russia is strong enough to defeat their national forces. Theoretically, this is probably really so. However, in reality, any talks that Russia has any aggressive plans against any country are totally groundless.
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