PNN – On Wednesday, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) started its biggest exercise since the Cold War.
According to Pakistan News Network, citing Reuters, more than 90,000 military personnel from the United States and NATO partner countries are participating in this NATO exercise, which is called “Persistent Defender 2024”.
Also, more than 50 warships, 80 fighter jets, helicopters and drones, and at least 1,000 combat vehicles, including 133 tanks and 533 combat vehicles, will participate in this exercise, which will continue until the end of May in Europe and the North Atlantic Ocean.
According to Reuters, NATO did not mention Russia in its statement, but in its main strategic document, it mentioned Moscow as the most important threat to the security of the alliance’s members.
Read more:
By fueling the Ukraine crisis, expanding NATO, and now holding the largest maneuver in the post-Cold War environment, the West pursues multiple goals, including “strengthening the alliance” and “filling the alliance’s internal gaps.” As General Christopher Cowley, the top commander of the NATO alliance, told reporters that holding this exercise will show “our unity, strength and determination to protect each other”.
An example of the existence of a gap and difference between NATO members appeared during the expansion of this military alliance to the Scandinavian area. After two years, Turkey has not yet issued the permission for Sweden to join NATO, and Finland has just become a member after long efforts and consultations.
Another gap is related to the competition of the United States and some European actors for the leadership of NATO. Macron’s idea of ​​a “single European army” has been proposed with the aim of Europe’s military independence from America, although this divergence has become obvious in Trump’s administration and diminished in Biden’s administration.
Just as NATO was able to help by starting the war in Ukraine and advancing the project of Russophobia, this time this coalition will act as an umbrella to save them from Russia’s grip by citing Article 5 of the Constitution and holding a large maneuver.
Therefore, although NATO did not mention Russia in its new statement regarding the exercise, its strategic document identifies Russia as the most important and direct threat to the security of NATO members. NATO’s description of the exercise as a “simulation of an imminent conflict scenario with an enemy of almost the same level” is undoubtedly indicative of Russia.
Undoubtedly, the holding of the large NATO exercise, which has been trumpeted by the Western media for a long time, will blow on the fire of the war in Ukraine and will complicate the tangle of confusion, which is on the verge of two years, and there is no way out of it.