Post: #1

WARSAW — A Moscow-friendly Greece could paralyze NATO's ability to react to Russian aggression, former US national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski warned Wednesday.

Athens could use its veto to slow the alliance's response if Russia set its sights on its Baltic member states, he told Poland's Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.

The Cold War-era hawk, who worked for president Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981, said Poland too "could be a target" after Russia's annexation of Crimea last year, as well as former Soviet states such as Moldova, Georgia and oil-rich Azerbaijan.

NATO's Article 5 commits the 28-member alliance to respond collectively if a member is attacked, he said.

"But NATO is bound by the principle of unanimity," Polish-born Brzezinski said, warning that the alliance "could be paralyzed for some time ... namely by Greece, which is a friend of Russia and wields veto power."

Greece's radical left government is cultivating ties with Russia amid Athens' scramble to avoid bankruptcy.

DEFENSE NEWS

Russian Bombers Spark NATO Scramble

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on April 8 in Moscow before returning for an annual Victory Day parade in May.

Greek officials have openly floated the prospect of Athens turning to Russia or China for help if loan talks with the EU end in failure.

Since it sliced Crimea away from Ukraine last year, Russia has engaged in saber rattling in the Baltic region.

Earlier this year, Brzezinski urged the US and its allies to deploy troops to Baltic states to deter Russia from staging a possible incursion into the formerly Soviet-ruled countries.

NATO is deploying more aircraft, ships and personnel for exercises on its eastern flank, which lay behind the Iron Curtain a quarter of a century ago.

NATO has also created a force of 5,000 troops capable of rapid deployment and will establish command centers in the Baltic states, Bulgaria, Poland and Romania by 2016.
http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense.../70444896/

Greece could be a danger to the safety of Europe. I would say kick Greece out of NATO.

Post: #2

You can tell they're desperate when they court an enemy.

Post: #3

(03-26-2015 12:38 PM)Foolsgo1d Wrote:  You can tell they're desperate when they court an enemy.

Greece's links with Russia is hundreds of years older than the US.

Post: #4

The idea that Russia is going to attack the Baltics, Nato members, is insane.

Post: #5

(03-26-2015 12:46 PM)N°6 Wrote:  Greece's links with Russia is hundreds of years older than the US.

Moscow as the Third Rome.

Post: #6

(03-26-2015 12:46 PM)N°6 Wrote:  

(03-26-2015 12:38 PM)Foolsgo1d Wrote:  You can tell they're desperate when they court an enemy.

Greece's links with Russia is hundreds of years older than the US.

Britain's' links with most of the world is just as old. Greece does not strike me as a place Russia has any influence over. if this was the case we would almost certainly have seen a military base on one of the Greek islands.

Post: #7

Greece is an economic basket case that would, at best, be a drain on resources for Russia. The West fears Greece leaving because if Greece left the EU and NATO and was able to right itself, that would make all the technocrats in the EU-NATO look like complete idiots.

Post: #8

Although its talked about constantly by IR theorists and other commentators, I genuinely can't see why Russia would attack the Baltic states and what there would be to gain from doing so. The events in Crimea were not exactly spontaneous, you just have to look at Russian foreign policy in the last 15 years which has always been a case of check and mate with NATO.

The neo cons seem to be getting a hard on for this prospect.

Post: #9

(03-26-2015 01:06 PM)Sonsowey Wrote:  The idea that Russia is going to attack the Baltics, Nato members, is insane.

Why is that insane?

Post: #10

(03-27-2015 03:41 PM)puckerman Wrote:  

(03-26-2015 01:06 PM)Sonsowey Wrote:  The idea that Russia is going to attack the Baltics, Nato members, is insane.

Why is that insane?

I feel like Russia would be caught on two fronts if it started attacking a NATO member...it would have europe on one side and then the US coming at it from pacific bases. Its better off absorbing former USSR states now and then moving south into the middle east to gain territory. If it gets the Suez canal...then it would have some good strategic footing to mess with supply lines while taking on Europe.

if there was ever some conflict that occupied the US in the Pacific again (see Japan vs. USA WWII) Russia would likely open up on Europe...again.

Post: #11

(03-27-2015 03:41 PM)puckerman Wrote:  

(03-26-2015 01:06 PM)Sonsowey Wrote:  The idea that Russia is going to attack the Baltics, Nato members, is insane.

Why is that insane?

Russia/USSR has never attacked NATO

There is no evidence they will do this. It's a pure scare tactic.

Post: #12

(03-26-2015 02:36 PM)Foolsgo1d Wrote:  

(03-26-2015 12:46 PM)N°6 Wrote:  

(03-26-2015 12:38 PM)Foolsgo1d Wrote:  You can tell they're desperate when they court an enemy.

Greece's links with Russia is hundreds of years older than the US.

Britain's' links with most of the world is just as old. Greece does not strike me as a place Russia has any influence over. if this was the case we would almost certainly have seen a military base on one of the Greek islands.

Greece should strike you as a country which Russia has influence over:

Quote:Greece–Russia relations refer to bilateral foreign relations between Greece and Russia. Due to the strong historical friendship and the deep cultural and religious ties between the two nations, (the majority of Greeks and Russians practice the Eastern Orthodox faith), Greece and Russia enjoy excellent diplomatic relations. Both countries also share common political views about the Balkans and the world, with Greece being a strong supporter of Russia's stance on the Kosovo Unilateral Declaration of Independence. Diplomatic relations were established in 1828.[1] Both Greece and Russia are full members of many organizations, including the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. According to a Pew Research Center opinion poll taken in 2013, 63% of Greeks view Russia favorably versus 33% expressing a negative opinion.[2]

Due to the cultural, religious and historical ties between the two nations, from medieval to modern times (Byzantine Empire and Kievan Rus' comprised part of what today is known as the Eastern Orthodoxy), Greece and Russia today enjoy strong diplomatic relations and consider each other a brother nation. Russia assisted Greece in the Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire. Today, many Greeks live in the Russian Federation and many Russians live in Greece. Most Greeks live in the Russian Black Sea region (100,000) with large concentrations in capital Moscow (80,000) and St. Petersburg (3,000), while many Russians live mostly in the Khalkidiki region and the Greek isle of Crete.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greece%E2%8..._relations

Post: #13

(03-27-2015 09:12 PM)Sonsowey Wrote:  

(03-27-2015 03:41 PM)puckerman Wrote:  

(03-26-2015 01:06 PM)Sonsowey Wrote:  The idea that Russia is going to attack the Baltics, Nato members, is insane.

Why is that insane?

Russia/USSR has never attacked NATO

There is no evidence they will do this. It's a pure scare tactic.

U got that right.

You guys should see how the UK tabloids are really pushing the whole "Putin's Russia is the new USSR" angle here. Seen a lot of it in all the papers across the board. They have shots of the Bear recon/bombers and use all sorts of hyperbole to make it seem as if Russia is constantly testing the UK's and NATO's defenses like back in the Cold War. Actually, that stuff never really stopped from what I know so there is a grain of truth in it all, but it's been going on for decades. But man I've walked down the aisle a couple days here where the headline on every newspaper had something to do with the new cold war and how Russia must be stopped. I can only imagine the average person here just drinks down the anti-Russian Kool-aid and takes it as gospel.

I think the progressive left took stock of the whole situation and just decided to join in and go full retard anti-Russia, despite a lot of the left being Soviet apologists and supports of Russia in the past. So that's why even far-left papers like the Guardian are piling on the "Putin as Dictator" and "Russia must be stopped" bandwagon (in the early part of the Ukraine crisis they were actually being a voice of reason re Russia's intentions). Putin and masculine Russia, with all it's faults, is pretty much exactly the opposite of what the mainstream media and social elites are pushing in the West these days and it scares them. So that's why the subtle shift on the foreign policy side occurred in my opinion.

I can only imagine how the feminist editors and their mangina male counterparts look on in horror at all those feminine, sexy and in-shape Russian women & the tough-looking male counterparts and how much it scares them.

Anyway, if they can't contain Russia just wait to China awakens even more and really puts the screws to all this Western pc-garbage ideology (at least I hope that happens).