NATO: US Troops Could Be Deployed to Eastern Europe

Pressure is rising between the
U.S. and Russia, with Ukraine caught in the middle. The
top general of NATO suggested yesterday that he may send
American troops to Eastern European members of the military
alliance.

U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove said he isn’t going to
“write off involvement by any nation, to include the United
States.” He told the Associated Press that “essentially what we are
looking at is a package of land, air, and maritime measures that
would build assurance for our easternmost allies…. I’m tasked to
deliver this by next week. I fully intend to deliver it early.”

The request comes from the foreign ministers of NATO.

Any U.S. military involvement likely wouldn’t sit well with the
American public, however. The latest Reason-Rupe poll indicates
that
76 percent of Americans oppose sending troops to Ukraine, even
if Russia were to stage another invasion.

Ukraine is not a NATO member, but it borders four countries that
are. Russia also shares a border with four NATO members.

Breedlove noted that Russia’s aims are still unclear, so
“everything we are trying to do in the air, on the ground, and at
sea, we are trying to completely characterize as defensive in
nature… so that we don’t provoke.”

Last month, NATO
suspended cooperation with Russia over perceived threats to
Ukraine’s sovereignty and has been turning up the heat. The AP
explains that “NATO has already reinforced its Baltic air patrols
and is performing daily AWACs surveillance flights over Poland and
Romania,” and “NATO member states [will] carry out beefed-up
maritime operations through the end of the year.”

The Russian Foreign Ministry
shot back yesterday, accusing NATO of exaggerating the
Ukrainian crisis to stir interest in potential new members. The
Kremlin
denies that it plans to invade any more parts of Ukraine, but
the fact that it has stationed artillery, airplanes, and an
estimated 40,000 troops along Ukraine’s eastern border leaves
Ukraine and other countries with large ethnic Russian populations

wary of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plans.