Europe is ready to pay the cost of Russia sanctions
Too much is being made of divisions in the West over how to respond to Russian aggression against Ukraine. The truth is that there is a broad consensus in the transatlantic alliance about how to proceed if Moscow were to invade its neighbor. The biggest differences aren’t about strategy — they’re about who will have to pay the price of carrying out that strategy.
To be sure, disagreements do exist. Recent weeks have lain bare divergences over matters of war and peace across the Continent, as Paris reached out to Moscow, in apparent dissonance with Washington and London, and Tallinn continues to despair at Berlin’s refusal to allow German-made weapons into Ukraine.
But the real problem lies elsewhere: When it comes to deterring Russia, it is simply a structural fact that Europeans will pay a much steeper price than their allies across the Atlantic — one they are willing to pay but that will continue to have an effect well into the future.
For the most part, Europe is remarkably united on Russia. There is full agreement among allies that the origins of this crisis lie in Moscow’s military buildup along the Ukrainian border. No one contests NATO’s open-door policy — at least not formally; and all concur on the need to deter Russia. Meanwhile, no one on either side of the Atlantic is prepared to go to war over Ukraine — this has been made abundantly clear. [Continue reading…]
President Joe Biden on Wednesday ordered the deployment of around 3,000 U.S. troops to Poland, Germany and Romania in a new show of support to allies as Russia continues its military buildup near Ukraine’s borders.
The deployment might not be the last, as thousands more troops in the U.S. and Europe remain on alert to move if Russia continues to mass fighting forces.
About 2,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C., will head to Poland and Germany, while another 1,000 belonging to a Stryker squadron — already based in Germany — will deploy to Romania.
“These forces are not going to fight in Ukraine,” Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Wednesday. “We are making it clear that we’re going to be prepared to defend our NATO allies if it comes to that.” [Continue reading…]