Participation of Infantry, Maritime and Air Force in Aggressive Exercises

In 1997, the U.S. launched the annual infantry manoeuvre "Rapid Trident" (originally called "Peace Shield") in Western Ukraine. Four were held between 1998 to 2001 and one in 2003. Ukraine's Ministry of Defence states that the aim of "Rapid Trident" is to "exercise with modern technologies, to improve interoperability between units and HQs of participating nations, practical use of experience of peacekeeping operations and previous exercises, increase the level of interoperability and cooperation between service personnel of different nations."[1] U.S. and NATO troops stationed in or regularly deployed to European countries such as Ukraine constitute a sort of "foreign legion," a "police baton" in the hands of the reactionary forces. The U.S. Field Service Regulations openly say that "land forces in oversea areas are... a means by which the United States can assist its allies to deal with disorders inspired and directed by hostile states" (p. 12). According to "Unified Command Plans" adopted by the U.S. Defense Department, Ukraine, Byelorussia, Moldavia and the Caucasus from October 1, 1998 were deemed to be zones under command of NATO, which is based in Western Europe. These designated zones were nothing less than a potential theatre of war manoeuvres. In 1999, the U.S. launched its annual Exercise BAGRAM with Poland, in which the Canadian Forces now participate. Following the neo-liberal "Orange Revolution" of 2004 in Ukraine that installed the banker Viktor Yushchenko, financed in part by Canadian cash and with the participation of Ukrainian Canadians and an election team of 400 "observers," the pace of Canadian military involvement was accelerated. Out of all the countries of Europe, the Canadian Department of National Defence designated the armed forces of three countries as "strategic partners" of the Canadian Forces: Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania, all of which border Russia -- the intermare.[2] In parallel with the U.S. "Rapid Trident" exercises, the Canadian Forces launched annual "Maple Arch" army exercises under its sponsorship, focusing on "interoperability" of the infantry forces from Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania. A focus of interoperability is the quality and nature of combat training: the armies within the alliance must be confident that the subordinate Ukrainian forces are an effective fighting force ready for redeployment in conflict zones abroad. NATO relied on two key methods to "tame" the Ukrainian army: holding such joint military exercises and improving the combat effectiveness of the Ukrainian military during NATO operations abroad. In September 1997, the same year that "Rapid Trident" was launched, the U.S. launched its annual "Sea Breeze" naval-military manoeuvres -- presented as "multinational exercises" -- in the Crimea, Odessa and Black Sea coastal regions, which focuses on taking control of the strategic Black Sea and converting it into an American lake. Maritime Command of the Canadian Forces regularly participated, either by deploying a warship or specialists as observers. In particular, armed forces from Black Sea riparian nations participated -- units from NATO countries Turkey and Romania, but also the non-NATO nations Georgia and Ukraine. On October 25, 1998 thousands of U.S. marines "invaded" the shores of Odessa during the "Sea Breeze" exercise, with U.S. warships participating in full war conditions. The aim of the war manoeuvres was to ascertain and learn about the terrain of the former Soviet Union and the Black Sea region. Thousands of Ukrainians repeatedly protested against these NATO combat manoeuvres and the "visits" of U.S. warships to the Crimea and Black Sea ports such as Odessa in the spirit of No Harbour for War. During the July 14-26, 2008 exercises, Ukrainian anti-NATO protesters set up camps along the Black Sea coast, held rallies, and reportedly attempted to prevent foreign warships participating in the exercises from leaving the port of Odessa. A poll conducted in June 2008 by the Razumkov Center pollster indicated that at least 60 per cent of Ukrainians oppose NATO membership. "Sea Breeze" 2008 involved 14 ships, 17 aircraft and more than 2,200 personnel from Ukraine, the U.S., Canada and 13 other countries, including NATO members. At the conclusion, Vice Admiral Ihor Tenyukh, the Ukrainian navy chief, stated that during the exercises the participants conducted 55 air sorties, 410 paradrops, and 76 naval drills with live firing at sea targets. The admiral, a graduate of a U.S. training course, was to commit treason during the 2014 coup d'état.[3] Since the creation of the Standing NATO Response Force Maritime Group 1 Fleet and the NATO transformation pushed by then U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (2001-2006), Maritime Command has regularly participated in NATO Fleet patrols of the Black Sea, which have become ceaseless. Canada currently deploys a warship to NATO's "assurance and deterrence" mission in Eastern Europe. Regarding the air force, Canadian CF-18 fighter jets began operating in Romania for the first time during the summer of 2014, when six jets took part in exercises at Campia Turzii. The three-month-long exercise was the first overseas mission involving the newly-created Royal Canadian Air Forces' 2 Wing, an air expeditionary force tasked with being ready for rapid deployment in Canada or anywhere around the world. Making clear the offensive purpose of 2 Wing, Lt.-Col. Luc Girouard told Postmedia foreign affairs correspondent Matthew Fisher at the time, "We learned our lessons from Haiti, Aviano and Libya. We need to deploy quickly and we need people with experience to do it. That is our raison d'étre . It is a concept that has been developed over the years." Less than three weeks after announcing with considerable fanfare the withdrawal of Canada's CF-18 fighter jets from the Mideast war in Syria and Iraq, the Liberal government revealed on February 24, 2016 that four of these aircraft would deploy directly to Romania for joint exercises with the NATO member's air force. One hundred Canadian military personnel took part in the month-long training exercises from a Romanian air force base in Constanta. While not formally being conducted through NATO, exercise "Resilient Resolve" was nonetheless an important part of the alliance's military build-up throughout Eastern Europe aimed at encircling and isolating Russia. Romania is one of the six Eastern European countries where NATO agreed to establish forward command bases in the wake of the Ukraine crisis in 2014 -- bases which became operational in the early part of 2016. Notes 1. "Armed Forces Participation in International Military Exercises," Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. 2. According to the Department of Foreign Affairs, "In February 1998, Canada was the first North-Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) country to ratify Polish accession to the North Atlantic Alliance. Since then Canada has become a leader among NATO countries in language and peacekeeping training in Poland, with hundreds of Polish officers and senior general staff having received training in Canada and Poland." In addition, Polish paratroopers were brought to the Chaudiere-Appalaches region of Quebec for training in winter warfare in the "Rafale Blanche" exercises. The aim of the 2012 exercise in the St-Éphrem-de-Beauce, La Guadeloupe and St-Daniel areas was "to perform combat manoeuvres in winter in an unfamiliar place, where it will be possible to interact with people and use the equipment and military vehicles." In September 2014 Canada assumed co-command with Portugal of the NATO Baltic Air Policing task force based in Siauliai, Lithuania, deploying "approximately 135 personnel, four CF-188 Hornet fighter jets along with a mission support element." On January 5, 2015, the ATF Command was transferred to Poland. Since February 2016 Canadian Forces soldiers have been stationed in Poland as part of NATO's "Operation Reassurance" and it has assumed command of a NATO brigade based in Latvia. 3. During the putschist rally in Kiev on January 19, 2014 Tenyukh called for members of the Armed Forces to defy "illegal" orders from those in power -- an act of treason. He was quoted as saying "Tomorrow the regime will enslave you too. Therefore we are calling on you to fulfill your military oath of loyalty to the Ukrainian people, and not to the authorities who have gone off the rails." In February 2014 Tenyukh was appointed Minister of Defence of Ukraine by the coup government. In less than a month after the appointment he resigned due to his indecisiveness during the Crimean crisis, during which the Admiral of the Ukrainian Navy and thousands of soldiers defected to Russia. He was replaced by Lieutenant-General Mikhail Koval, who like Tenyukh, was a member of the fascist Svoboda Party. (TML Weekly Supplement No. 23, June 24, 2017)