Neither Nato nor Russia are working to reduce tensions, with the former Soviet state holding its biggest manoeuvres since 1981 last month, mobilising 300,000 troops
MILITARY forces from 31 countries began Nato's largest war games since the Cold War yesterday, in an exercise branded “insane” and provocative by one critic.
Stretching from the Baltic Sea to Iceland, military manoeuvres were practiced close to Russia, which itself held a huge military drill last month.
The Nato exercises played out a hypothetical scenario that involved restoring the Scandinavian country's sovereignty after an attack by a "fictitious aggressor".
Peace activist and author David Swanson, told Radio Sputnik the drills were "madness", and argued it was no longer clear what Nato’s true purpose was.
He said these kind of games were great “for building up hostility and maintaining enemies that help sell weapons, but they risk major war.”
“And they risk nuclear war.”
Swanson pointed to a petition at RootsAction.org calling for an end to military exercises that had obtained over 10,000 signatures.
The exercises involved 50,000 troops, 250 aircraft, and 10,000 tanks, trucks and other land-based vehicles, and were headed by US admiral James Foggo.
Foggo said: "We're here now, in the north, demonstrating our capability to bring a large force to bear on a problem that is an Article 5 problem” - referring to the Nato treaty's promise of mutual defence among member countries.
Dubbed Trident Juncture, the exercise is by far the biggest in Norway since the early 1980s, a sign that the alliance wants to sharpen its defences after years of cost-cutting and far-flung combat missions.
The exercises will continue over the next two weeks, in which troops will be tested against unforgiving environments.
Increasingly concerned about Russia since it annexed Crimea in 2014, Norway has sought to double the number of U.S. Marines receiving training on its soil every year, a move criticized by Moscow.
In a joint op-ed published Thursday in Dagens Nyheter, one of Sweden's largest newspapers, the Nordic defence and foreign ministers said they saw "no military threats against the Nordic countries today, but we live in an unpredictable and uncertain time.
"Russia has both shown the will and ability to use military force to achieve strategic goals.
"Cyber-attacks and disinformation are actively used to create divisions between people in Europe as well as in the United States, which in turn challenges democratic institutions and our ability to reach common conclusions," they said.
If Nato and Russia are playing at intimidation, they both guilty for raising tensions.
Last month Russia held its biggest manoeuvres since 1981, called Vostok-2018, mobilising 300,000 troops in a show of force close to China's border which included joint drills with the Chinese and Mongolian armies.
Nato's war games were originally meant to involve 35,000 troops, but that number has grown in recent months and included the late addition of an aircraft carrier, the USS Harry S. Truman with some 6,000 personnel.
Nato fears Russia's military build-up in the region could ultimately restrict naval forces' ability to navigate freely, and on October 19 the Truman became the first American aircraft carrier to enter the Arctic Circle since before the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Read more - NATO stages biggest military exercise since end of Cold War:
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(Vostok) Russia stages biggest war games EVER with 300,000 troops marching alongside Chinese soldiers for the first time:
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Critics are calling the massive show of force “insane,” as it increases the risk of armed conflict:
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Petition for both sides to end war games: [ Ссылка ]
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