The highest ranking US officer in Europe, who is also the Supreme Commander of NATO, released an unprecedented statement yesterday.
On his personal NATO site General Philip Breedlove unmasked Russian tactics and tradecraft in Eastern Ukraine. Behaving as senior ranking officers of old, without obfuscation or any political packaging of his words, the General was prepared to talk truth to the propaganda of the Kremlin. His bosses: President Obama, the heads of state of NATO nations, and even the Secretary General of the Alliance, have only said that Russia “may” be behind the most recent incidents of masked gunmen taking over facilities in Eastern Ukraine. The Commander of NATO says there are.
General Breedlove walks the reader through his analysis of the tactics and weapons used by the actors involved to demolish President Putin’s statement yesterday that it is “rubbish” to claim that Russian units are now moving into another part of Ukraine.
Given that Putin used the phrase Novorossiya–New Russia–to describe non-Crimean Ukrainian lands, it is clear that we are now in Phase Two of the Kremlin’s plan to expand into regions that once were part of the Soviet Union. (See the Breitbart News interview with Ed Lucas, author of The New Cold War for more).
The fact that Putin used this ominous phrase just a matter of hours after the Geneva agreement was signed betrays just how much of a sideshow the whole exercise dedicated to a peaceful resolution of the crisis was for the Kremlin.
It is hard to recall when an active-duty US officer, let alone the highest ranking one in Europe, was so candid about the enemy NATO was established to protect against. Never in the last 23 years since the collapse of the old USSR, thats for sure. It would be so reassuring to hear General Breedlove’s political masters speak with just a fraction of his forthrightness. Given that a recent poll saw the majority of Americans state that they believe President Obama lies on important issues (such as the likelihood of war in Europe?), and that President Putin’s domestic approval rating has recently shot up to 75%, maybe the White House will take a cue from General Breedlove and start to get serious about Vlad the Invader.
Sebastian Gorka PhD is National Security Editor for Breitbart.com.
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