Tuesday, January 31, 2017

And In Other News: German Panzers Roll Into Lithuania

From Reuters:
Germany sends tanks to Lithuania for NATO mission
Germany began sending tanks and other equipment to Lithuania on Tuesday as part of a NATO mission to beef up the defense of eastern Europe and send a signal of resolve to Russia, which has denounced the build-up as an act of aggression.
The German army command said it was sending about 200 vehicles, including 30 tanks, by train to Lithuania along with 450 troops, the first of whom arrived last week. The transports would continue until late February.

Seven decades after the end of World War Two, the movement of German troops to eastern Europe, even on a NATO mission, remains a sensitive issue both in Germany and the region.

On Monday the U.S. military deployed thousands of soldiers and heavy weaponry to Poland, the Baltic states and southeastern Europe in its biggest build-up since the Cold War.

The movements are part of a strategy agreed by NATO leaders last July to reassure member states that were once part of the Soviet bloc and have been alarmed by Russia's seizure of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014....MORE
Meanwhile, Russia appears to be doing some sort of flanking maneuver into the Arctic:

Russia embarks on its largest Arctic military push since the fall of the Soviet Union
-Daily Mail

Releasing none-too-subtle photos that have to have the Lapps (Sami) thinking WTH:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHccz1oNiMusOQw7f8YziMMfosaomvEnuy5JHDdEOjJkBMmBkREP01aeb1nq7cbpx3vSdLQQdRHLPXfzroxcHujPW2p6mgHa6AliH8vX__RaKRqohsJ-GsV9xE7hhFmG6Y69qyiWEcvMwX/s1600/PUTIN-1.jpg
Image Attribute: Russian servicemen of the Northern Fleet's Arctic mechanized infantry brigade participate in a military drill on riding reindeer and dog sleds near the settlement of Lovozero outside Murmansk, Russia January 23, 2017. Picture was taken January 23, 2017. Lev Fedoseyev/Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation/Handout via REUTERS
-IndraStra