Germans oppose permanent NATO base in Poland and Baltics

[webfact]

Germans oppose permanent NATO base in Poland and Baltics - poll

BERLIN: -- Nearly three quarters of Germans would oppose NATO having permanent NATO military bases in Eastern Europe as requested by Poland and the Baltic states because of a perceived threat from Russia, according to a new poll released on Wednesday.

Poland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia - all former members of the Soviet bloc - have been among the loudest voices calling for tough sanctions on Russia.

Some 71 percent of people opposed sending German troops abroad even when diplomacy or sanctions fail.

NATO has tripled the number of fighter jets based in the Baltics and NATO's top military commander, US Air Force General Philip Breedlove, said last month NATO would have to consider permanently stationing troops in Eastern Europe.

Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_06_25/Germans-oppose-permanent-NATO-base-in-Poland-and-Baltics-poll-8123/


-- Voice of Russia 2014-06-25

[Baerboxer]

Ironic that America, Britain and France maintained a large military presence to protect West Germany from Soviet and Eastern Bloc for so many years,

The 'border" has moved East. Germany needs to contribute not just let others do everything.

[Morch]

Would having a NATO base/presence in Poland be in addition to present deployment or would it involve moving units further East?

Was under the impression Germans were in favor of reducing NATO (or rather, USA) presence in country, but reading this seems like the notion was of getting them off the continent or pull back West.

[fvw53]

Let us not read information from "The voice of Russia" without caution.

If I were a citizen of the Baltic states I would also been worried to see appear masked self defence forces as was the case in Ukraine : indeed the 3 states have Russian minorities.

Poland is a special case : the country was in its history wiped from the world map several times by its Russian and German neighbours...but I am not sure if the majority of the Polish people wish a stronger NATO presence in their country despite their bad memories of the period 1939 - 1989.

NATO is a defensive coalition - only defensive - and must protect every member state also those without a bad memory of occupation...and this cannot depend on an increased NATO presence.

I would prefer that the Scandinavians have the last word in this discussion : it is also their region.

[khunken]

Let us not read information from "The voice of Russia" without caution.

If I were a citizen of the Baltic states I would also been worried to see appear masked self defence forces as was the case in Ukraine : indeed the 3 states have Russian minorities.

Poland is a special case : the country was in its history wiped from the world map several times by its Russian and German neighbours...but I am not sure if the majority of the Polish people wish a stronger NATO presence in their country despite their bad memories of the period 1939 - 1989.

NATO is a defensive coalition - only defensive - and must protect every member state also those without a bad memory of occupation...and this cannot depend on an increased NATO presence.

I would prefer that the Scandinavians have the last word in this discussion : it is also their region.

NATO was supposed to be defensive coalition and give the US a military role in Europe. It was also supposed to be a Cold War body to defend against supposed threats from the USSR.

It should have been disbanded when the USSR broke up but the US didn't want to lose it's military bases in Europe. Even worse, it has become an offensive (in more than one way) institution involved in the invasion of Afghanistan and the deceitful bombing of Libya. It wanted to get involved in Syria but was rightly blocked by the Russians & Chinese in the UN.

I'm not surprised that many Europeans oppose yet more military bases in Europe. All they do is incite the Russians and have them increase their opposing bases - adding to tension instead of reducing it.

The US & NATO involvement in the virtual coup in Ukraine has been a prime example of how not to handle former USSR satellites.

[NeverSure]

Screw Germany. Ingrates. Ever since WWII it has been a big baby, asking the US to protect it.

The sole reason that Germany is able to have a decent economy is because it doesn't have to spend on military. The US does it for them.

The US should pull clear out of Europe, "stop being the world's policeman" as so many Europeans like to ask of it, and let the damn countries fend when it comes to Russia or the ME, where they get their oil,

[rgs2001uk]

^^^^^,

strange that its taken you almost 53 years to wake up to this fact, Eisenhower warned of it years ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military%E2%80%93industrial_complex

Has anyone asked ISIS how much they will charge us for oil?

Never mind Europe, how about pulling out of the Far East and letting the Chinese have some Japanese payback, dont think the Koreans, Phillipinos, Malayasians, Indonesians Or Singaporeans will complain too much.

Never mind Abe will continure to visit Japanese war shrines.

Got to keep them F-16 contracts flowing though havent we?

[NeverSure]

^^^^^,

strange that its taken you almost 53 years to wake up to this fact, Eisenhower warned of it years ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military%E2%80%93industrial_complex

Has anyone asked ISIS how much they will charge us for oil?

Never mind Europe, how about pulling out of the Far East and letting the Chinese have some Japanese payback, dont think the Koreans, Phillipinos, Malayasians, Indonesians Or Singaporeans will complain too much.

Never mind Abe will continure to visit Japanese war shrines.

Got to keep them F-16 contracts flowing though havent we?

Good post. I agree.

The US gets about 2% of its oil from Iraq, rendering ISIS irrelevant. LINK

The US has a great diversity of places it gets oil for strategic reasons. Its #1 supplier is Canada, #2 is Mexico, #3 is Brazil. All close to home. Those three have the ability to crank up and replace the ME supplies, which are dwindling to irrelevance as US production increases rapidly.

The numbers are skewed because oil is a global market. The US exports a lot of oil and imports a lot. It could forbid exports for a while and use only Canada's oil. Its not about to get trapped without oil.

It's Europe that needs the ME (and Russia.)

Let them st** and fend.

[Morch]

^^^^^,

strange that its taken you almost 53 years to wake up to this fact, Eisenhower warned of it years ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military%E2%80%93industrial_complex

Has anyone asked ISIS how much they will charge us for oil?

Never mind Europe, how about pulling out of the Far East and letting the Chinese have some Japanese payback, dont think the Koreans, Phillipinos, Malayasians, Indonesians Or Singaporeans will complain too much.

Never mind Abe will continure to visit Japanese war shrines.

Got to keep them F-16 contracts flowing though havent we?

Got to keep them F-16 contracts flowing though havent we?

Pulling out could even be more than economically sound, if countries would need to buy their own gear, and more of it.

[daveAustin]

I agree in a sense to keep NATO (read: not just US) influence to a minimum today, it is 2014. But then again, something irks me about Germany saying so. In fact, it irks me when ANY euro country (read: not Britain) starts yapping away and sides against UK/US.

Germany in particular is very lucky it has been allowed to be where it is again, Britain could have easily continued carpet bombing the place after what it did.

Edited July 1, 2014 by daveAustin