British soldiers
British soldiers travel in Lithuania in 2017. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the forces in the region could be bolstered amid tensions with Russia.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson says Britain is considering a "major" deployment of troops, warships, and fighter jets in Eastern Europe to counter Russian "hostility" toward Ukraine.


Comment: Meanwhile the President of Ukraine, and even its defense minister have said the situation is no different to last year, which makes it pretty clear that the provocateurs are those in the West.


"This package would send a clear message to the Kremlin: We will not tolerate their destabilizing activity, and we will always stand with our NATO allies in the face of Russian hostility," Johnson said in a statement late on January 29.

The comment comes as NATO members stepped up vows of additional support for Ukraine in the face of a Russian military buildup along their common border in what many in the West fear could be the prelude to an invasion.


Comment: The most destabilizing action in Ukraine in recent years was the US-backed coup in 2014. By all metrics the situation has worsened in Ukraine, with poverty soaring, the economy crashing, corruption is rife, including in the courts, and violent crime appears to be on the increase.



Earlier on January 29, France unveiled plans to send hundreds of troops to Romania.


Comment: This comes a day after Macron feigned concern that the West wasn't 'listening to Russia'.


That came a day after the United States said it would soon move a small number of U.S. troops to Eastern European and NATO countries and that it has put thousands more on standby. The United States already has tens of thousands of troops stationed across Western Europe.


Comment: Is it any wonder that Russia wants to limit NATO's encroachment? It's precisely to prevent situations like this, that actually endanger the security and safety of much of the planet.


Amid the tensions, Moscow has denied any plans to invade Ukraine.

The conflict between Ukraine and Russia erupted in February 2014, when months of street protests culminated in violent clashes in Kyiv and the ouster of the country's pro-Russian president. Shortly after, Russia moved to annex Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and began stoking a war in the eastern region known broadly as the Donbas.


Comment: He was Ukraine's democratically elected president. That he was at least open to talks with Russia partly explains why the US felt they had to get rid of him.


Washington and London, among others in the West, have said that any new Russian incursion into Ukraine would lead to swift and devastating sanctions against Moscow.


Comment: Except the sanctions aren't working as intended, and European politicians have admitted that to harm Russia economically means to also damage Europe's extremely fragile economy: German minister warns of 'system collapse' if Russia blocked from SWIFT


Britain is set to present its offer of bolstered military presence to NATO military chiefs next week, his office said.

The move could see the British force in Eastern Europe double to some 1,150 troops, officials said. Additional weapons could be sent to Estonia, they added.

Boris Johnson
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson
Johnson, who is scheduled to visit the region next week, will also speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone, his office said.

Johnson's office said the deployment would be focused on supporting NATO allies in the Nordic and Baltic regions.

"I have ordered our Armed Forces to prepare to deploy across Europe next week, ensuring we are able to support our NATO allies."

Johnson, who has been under pressure following a series of political scandals at home, said, that if Putin chooses "bloodshed and destruction" in Ukraine, it would be "a tragedy for Europe."


Comment: Johnson tried to hide from the plethora of scandals plaguing his government by 'isolating with Covid' for a few days but it did little to quiet the furore and further revelations only made his position even more tenuous. That might partly explain his hysterical rhetoric against Russia, to try to distract from rampant corruption increasingly being brought to light at home: UK's Met police to investigate No. 10's multiple violations of lockdown, police want FULL report to be published immediately


"Ukraine must be free to choose its own future," he argued.

Ukraine is not in NATO but has received military, economic, and political support from the West.

Johnson is also scheduled to send Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Defense Secretary Ben Wallace to Moscow for talks with their Russian counterparts in the coming days.

France, in its announcement, said it plans to send "several hundred" troops to Romania as part of a "defensive alliance." Defense Secretary Florence Parly said she had visited Romania on January 27 to discuss the issue.
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NATO Says It Won't Send Troops To Ukraine If Russia Invades

Stoltenberg
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said that the Western military alliance will not send combat troops to Ukraine in the event that Russia invades the country.

"We have no plans to deploy NATO combat troops to Ukraine...we are focusing on providing support," Stoltenberg told the BBC during an interview on January 30. "There is a difference between being a NATO member and being a strong and highly valued partner as Ukraine."


Comment: It seems that NATO & co are doing everything but sending troops to actively fight with Ukraine and that's likely because not only are the West incapable of legitimately taking on Russia, but also because manufacturing the consent of Western citizens to be dragged into yet another baseless war has yet to be achieved. For the past two years the the establishment has been primarily focused on hystericising the public over the coronavirus. Which, coincidentally, or not, is being rather quickly dropped in favour of hysteria over the Ukraine issue.

It's possible that the authorities will use the already hystericised population to their advantage and simply transfer that attention over to another 'external threat'.


Stoltenberg's comments come among heightened tensions between NATO and Moscow as Russia has amassed more than 100,000 troops along Ukraine's border, which has led to concerns of an invasion.


Comment: Russia's troops have amassed within their own territory, however, indeed, this is a show of force, and it's a perfectly reasonable response to the West amassing troops in numerous countries surrounding it, as well the West's arming of a demonstrably corrupt and unstable Ukrainian government on its doorstep.


The Kremlin, which has denied it plans to invade as it did in 2014 when it seized Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, has insisted in recent negotiations with Washington and NATO that guarantees be made that Ukraine and other former Soviet states will not be admitted to the alliance.

Ukraine seeks NATO membership but has not been offered a Membership Action Plan, which would provide a road map to joining. However, NATO has said its "open door" policy is not up for negotiation, and Washington has stressed that sovereign states have a right to choose their own military alliances.


After the United States responded to Moscow's demands in writing, Russian President Vladimir Putin told French President Emmanuel Macron on January 28 that he felt the West had "ignored" Moscow's security concerns.


Comment: It's not just that they've ignored Russia's concerns, they've actually broken agreements they made decades ago that NATO would not expand eastward, because, even back then it was acknowledged it would be viewed as a valid security concern of Russia's.


NATO has said it is prepared to step up its troop presence in its Eastern European member states should Russia invade Ukraine, and many members of the alliance have provided military equipment, including lethal weaponry, to Kyiv as tensions mount.

Britain is expected to publish new legislation this week that would broaden economic sanctions against Russia if it chooses to invade Ukraine.

"What the legislation enables us to do is hit a much wider variety of targets. So there can be nobody who thinks that they will be immune to those sanctions," British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told Sky News on January 30. "Any company of interest to the Kremlin and the regime in Russia would be able to be targeted so there will be nowhere to hide for Putin's oligarchs, for Russian companies involved in propping up the Russian state."


Comment: Miss Truss reveals her abject ignorance as to the state of Russia, and even Europe's own economy, in just a few sentences.


Truss, who is expected to travel to Russia this month for discussions with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, said it was "very unlikely" that British troops would be sent to fight in Ukraine in the event of war, however.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is considering options to alleviate Russian aggression, including a "major" deployment of troops, warships, and fighter jets in NATO members of Eastern Europe, is expected to travel to Ukraine and hold a planned telephone call with Putin this week in an effort to "accelerate diplomatic efforts."

In a tweet on January 30, Johnson wrote that he continues to "urge Russia to engage in negotiations and avoid a reckless and catastrophic invasion."

Washington, which has said there will be severe consequences if Russia invades Ukraine, has said that it is seeking a diplomatic solution to the standoff but added that Moscow must first dismantle its buildup near Ukraine's border.


Comment: Russia was the first to table a deescalation proposal, and it did so openly, meanwhile the US has stated that it wishes to discuss the situation with Russia 'secretly'; and that's likely because it can't be seen to be openly rejecting Russia's reasonable proposals.


"The Russian government has said publicly that it has no intention to invade Ukraine, but the facts on the ground tell a much different story," U.S. Ambassador to Moscow John Sullivan said on January 28.

Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov has said he expects to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the coming weeks for a new round of talks, but that Putin will ultimately decide how to respond to Washington's stated response to Moscow's demands.

Lavrov said on state television on January 30 that Russia will seek clarity from NATO and the 57-member Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe pertaining to their positions on regional security, and will continue to demand legally binding security guarantees "with full, equal, regard to Russia's legitimate interests."

Moscow has been backing separatist fighters in an ongoing war in eastern Ukraine that has claimed more than 13,200 lives since 2014, the same year Russian illegally annexed Crimea.