(PatriotSpotlight.org) – NATO says it has half a million troops on hold to hit back at possible threats from Russia. This statement comes amid rising anxieties that open conflict with Moscow is a real possibility.
A NATO spokesperson said these 500,000 troops were on high alert, and that the alliance had undergone dramatic change since Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea. That same year also saw Russia move to occupy parts of Ukraine’s eastern regions.
NATO is considering a slew of further changes to fortify its defenses, such as the reintroduction of national service across certain member states. A third of NATO states already have a form of conscription, especially those close to Russia, and have been ramping up their equipment stockpiles and military training in recent years. This is unlikely to go ahead in the UK, where the Conservative Party, who lost in the country’s July 4th election, sparked a major row by pledging to introduce some form of national service, military or otherwise, for young people.
During its recent annual summit in Washington, D.C., the alliance’s 32 member states reiterated their commitment to backing Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion and shoring-up their military infrastructure. Upcoming elections in Europe and the U.S. however, throw the reality of these commitments into doubt. Former President Donald Trump is keen to promote a settlement between Russia and Ukraine.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is also poised to replace Jens Stoltenberg as NATO Secretary General this October after the latter has spent a decade in the role. NATO was formed in 1949 as a response to the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact which vowed to defend member states threatened by the West. Following the collapse of communism at the beginning of the 1990s, Russia even expressed a desire to apply for NATO membership. Many Western commentators feared that Russia could seek to disrupt the alliance by prioritizing its own concerns over Western or American ones, given that the alliance itself was set up to fence in Moscow.
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