Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
I’ve written before about the strange perception Europeans have when it comes to their relationship to the NATO alliance. Consider the following conceptualization.
The secretary general of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, has repeatedly stated that Ukraine is not at war with Russia.
All 32 member states of NATO are, however, members of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) that is sometime referred to as the Ramstein group. The UDCG is a coalition of about 50 countries that includes the European Union and about 24 other countries as well as NATO.
This group supports the defense of Ukraine by sending military equipment and coordinating these deliveries during monthly meetings.
The membership of NATO and the European Union is remarkably similar, but Europeans seem to view these organizations as being separated by some sort of virtual barrier like a Chinese wall.
The list of armaments and munitions sent to Ukraine at the behest of the UDCG is long and varied, from small arms up to and including tanks, as well as the possibility of fighter aircraft. These shipments have depleted the arsenals of many countries to the point that they are concerned with their ability to defend themselves should a conflict arise. Yet they continue to assume NATO has some weapons cornucopia.
When NATO members France, the UK and the Baltic states make noise about sending troops to Ukraine, they do so with the idea that if those troops begin to take casualties, some legendary “NATO” will bail them out.
Germany has just proposed that a “no-fly” zone be established in Eastern Ukraine where NATO allies Poland and Romania would shoot down Russian missiles in Eastern Ukraine.
Once more, if the Russians decide to take some hostile action, the assumption is that the other “NATO” will ride to the rescue.
One final thought. The New York Times reports that U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Charles Q. Brown, indicated that sending Western military trainers to Ukraine is inevitable at some point. Brown admits this marks a significant shift from past NATO policy.
When an opinion writer in Lubbock, Texas, rants about what happened after the increase from 11,000 advisors to 543,000 combat troops in Vietnam, take it with a grain of salt.
When C.Q. Brown casually remarks that “deploying Western military trainers to Ukraine is inevitable at some point,” break out the body bags.
Rube Render is a former Clovis city commissioner and former chair of the Curry County Republican Party. Contact him:
