Putin's Master Plan To Destroy Europe, Divide NATO, And Restore Russian Power And Global Influence

Veteran journalist and author Joseph C. Goulden offers a good review in the Washington Times of Douglas E. Schoen's Putin's Master Plan to Destroy Europe, Divide NATO, and Restore Russian Power and Global Influence.

A day or so after Soviet Communism collapsed into a pile of rubble, I had a phone chat with a longtime pal, Herbert Romerstein, who knew — and hated — Communism with a fervor unsurpassed in Washington (or perhaps anywhere else).

As dedicated Red-baiters, we gloated a few minutes, then Mr. Romerstein quietly opined, “Before we shall cheer .”

I knew what he was thinking. Could a society constructed by a power-mad dictatorship undergo a permanent reformation? Or, in due course, could we expect more of the same from whoever ended up running Moscow?

The answer, via the book at hand, is one of the more frightening works I have read in years. It convincingly documents how Russian President Vladimir Putin is well into a planned power grab that extends far beyond his stated goal of “restoring Russia as a player on the world stage.”

You can read the rest of the review via the below link:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/nov/29/book-review-putins-master-plan-to-destroy-europe-d/

U.S. Navy Admiral And NATO Leader Says Russia Building ‘Arc of Steel’ In Europe

Jim Garamone at the DoD News offers the below piece:

WASHINGTON October 6, 2015 — In the same vein as Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain metaphor, a NATO commander said today that Russia is building an “arc of steel” from the Arctic to the Mediterranean Sea.

Navy Adm. Mark Ferguson (seen in the above official photo), who commands NATO’s Allied Joint Force Command in Naples, Italy, and U.S. Navy forces in Europe and Africa, spoke at the Atlantic Council here.

The alliance also faces threats from the south, and both threats argue for more attention from the United States, NATO members and allied states, Ferguson said.

The admiral spoke first about Russia. Calling it the most dangerous threat in Europe, he said Russian leaders are more than willing to use military force to achieve their objectives, noting Russian aggression in Georgia, its illegal annexation of Crimea and its continued operations in Ukraine.

NATO’s response to Russia was “assurance and adaptation,” he said.

Assurance was covered by demonstrations of alliance solidarity on land, in the air and at sea. “These actions were highlighted in the media with the intent of improving their visibility in the public domain,” he said. “The intended effects were to reassure allies and improve the underlying support structures of the Eastern nations. There was a renewed focus on interoperability, logistics and intelligence.”

The Hard Work of Adaptation

The hard work underway now is adaptation, which, Ferguson said involves the fundamental transformation of NATO’s structure and capabilities. “To be credible, NATO’s adaptation must focus on building the range of capability, increase its capacity or depth and improve its responsiveness,” he said.

Russia has learned this already, the admiral said, noting that its actions fully integrated the elements of speed and strategic surprise in its operations. “Air and land forces with cyber will dominate the center of NATO’s defended territory,” Ferguson said.

But Russia is active on the waves, too, Ferguson said. From the North Atlantic to the Black Sea, Russia is fielding an increasingly capable navy, he added, unveiling a new maritime strategy and demonstrating new equipment and capabilities at sea.

“This remilitarization of Russian security policy is evident by the construction of an ‘arc of steel’ from the Arctic to the Mediterranean,” Ferguson said. “Russia has introduced advanced air defense, cruise missiles systems and new platforms.”

Strategy Aimed at NATO Maritime Forces

The strategy is clearly aimed at deterring NATO maritime forces, he said, and is not defensive. “The proficiency and operational tempo of the Russian submarine force is increasing,” Ferguson said.
Russia also is integrating asymmetric capabilities fully into its conventional military strategy. “This involves the use of space, cyber, information warfare and hybrid warfare designed to cripple the decision-making cycle of the alliance,” Ferguson said. “Their capabilities are focused on the creation of ambiguity.”

The alliance must reply, he said. He recommended three areas of response. First, alliance nations must invest in training at the high-end of warfighting skills. “Second, forces must be on call for real world operations, and third we must keep apace of the growing Russian capabilities,” he said.

Training Must Incorporate New Russian Strategy

Any training has to incorporate Russian new strategy, Ferguson said, adding that naval forces must be able to reply to and counterattack asymmetric threats. “We must invest in systems that allow us to fight through these effects,” the admiral said.

The security challenges to the alliance’s south also concern NATO planners, he said. Al-Qaida affiliates and extremist groups in Africa are becoming increasingly dangerous, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant controls 200 kilometers of Libya’s coast, he noted. “What makes this threat particularly vulnerable is no state structure exists for negotiation, as it does with Russia,” he said.

The immediate challenge for NATO military commands is to improve the alliance’s understanding of the networks and to begin to provide political leaders with better situational awareness and, consequently, well-reasoned options for action, Ferguson said.

General Petraeus Says Counterinsurgency Strategy Has 'Borne Fruit'

By Karen Parrish, American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, July 12, 2011 - The commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, the officer many view as the architect of the Defense Department's counterinsurgency strategy, assessed its results in Afghanistan as he prepares to retire.

During his last full week commanding coalition and U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, seen in the above DoD photo, discussed his tenure there with NATO TV yesterday.

"What we have done is implement the so-called NATO comprehensive approach, a civil-military campaign ... that does indeed embody many of the principles of the counterinsurgency field manual that we developed back in 2006, and which we employed in Iraq in the surge of 2007-2008," he said. "I think generally, it has borne fruit."

Petraeus and Marine Corps Gen. James N. Mattis, who succeeded him in August as commander of U.S. Central Command, jointly oversaw the manual's development and publication. Petraeus has issued further counterinsurgency guidance on troop operations and contracting since assuming the ISAF command in July 2010.

There have been setbacks as well as successes, the general said, but over the last year coalition and Afghan forces have halted the Taliban's momentum in much of the country, and reversed the insurgent hold in central Helmand province, districts around Kandahar city and in the security bubble in and around the Afghan capital of Kabul.

While ISAF and Afghan forces have increased their hold in many population centers, there is still a tough fight for control of the country, he said.

"We always say it gets harder before it gets easier, and we have definitely been in the 'getting harder' phase of this overall endeavor," the general noted.

The number of enemy attacks between last May and this May was about the same, he said, and levels in June decreased by 3 to 5 percent from last year. That trend may not continue, but is still noteworthy for those two months, Petraeus said, particularly since the increase in violent incidents from 2009 to 2010 was "very, very significant."

"But this is hard," he said. "There is a resilient enemy, and there is no question ... that enemy is willing to cause civilian casualties. It's an enemy willing to blow himself up, in some cases, to achieve objectives."

Enemy activity within Afghanistan's border area with Pakistan is a very serious challenge, the general said.

Petraeus said ISAF and Afghan forces have worked together to establish a layered border defense in key locations such as the area between Khost province and North Waziristan. The protection force there "is quite effective and well supported," he added.

Coalition troops plan to expand that force and establish similar defenses in Paktika province and other "rugged, mountainous tribal areas in which the insurgents have been able to establish safe havens over the years," he said.

"Many of these areas, frankly, are just not those in which you will ever see sizeable Afghan or ISAF forces," he acknowledged.

With mountains reaching to 14,000 feet and sparse population, he said, the border area requires sustainable security solutions that will deny insurgents access to the Afghan side of the border. The challenge then, he said, will be to "work with our Pakistani partners so that they can do the same on the other side."

"Keep in mind, many of these insurgents are posing what we believe is the most existential threat to Pakistan," Petraeus said. "[They] pose the most urgent threat to the very existence of the Pakistani state, as its citizens know it, ... killing dozens of Pakistani civilians in an average week."

In contrast, and in keeping with the coalition's emphasis on minimizing civilian casualties, he said, coalition special operations activities generally result in no shots fired.

"They have been very effective, indeed, in getting those individuals we're seeking," he said. "Typically capturing them, because we want to interrogate them and ... learn more about their networks."

The hierarchy of Afghan security forces is capable "with some caveats," the general said.

"The Afghan special operations forces, over 12,000 of them now, [are] really quite capable and indeed leading nearly a quarter of the so-called night raids at this point," he said. "We certainly provide enablers for them ... but they are the ones going through the door, they're the ones doing the apprehensions, the searches, and all the rest of that."

The Afghan regular army forces are "generally doing well," he said. "Certainly there's a range of them," he added, "all the way from still being established ... to an actual independent infantry battalion."

The Afghan police forces, he said, "run the gamut from quite good to some that are suspect in the eyes of the local population."

Petraeus said that during the attack on the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul on June 28, Afghan forces responded capably and relatively quickly in a situation involving a massive structure with hundreds of rooms, two huge wings and multiple floors.

It does take a few hours to alert a force, assemble it, issue its equipment, develop initial plans, deploy to the location, get an update and then launch into operations," he said, "keeping in mind that the individuals they were going after, each of them, was wearing a suicide vest and heavily armed."

Afghan forces accomplished a "credible and courageous performance" clearing the hotel of heavily armed attackers in suicide vests, he said.

NATO forces assisted during the attack, Petraeus said. "But it was the Afghan forces that died in this operation," he added. "There's no better example ... that they were the ones confronting these would-be suicide bombers, and ultimately forcing the remaining handful that remained up on to the roof, where they were killed by ... other forces."

Petraeus will turn over command July 18. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. John R. Allen has been nominated for promotion to general and appointment as Petraeus' successor.

Petraeus will retire from the Army on Aug. 31 and assume his new duties as CIA director Sept. 6.

Petraeus told NATO TV he never expected to end his military career in Afghanistan.

"I thought I would end it as the commander of U.S. Central Command," he said. "This was unexpected. ... We've jokingly said that I went to the White House for the monthly National Security Council meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan with President [Barack] Obama, and came out with a new job."

Serving as NATO ISAF commander was "an extraordinary privilege," Petraeus said.

"There's no greater honor, there's also no greater responsibility, than that of command," he said. "I've had probably more than my share of commands, especially as a general officer, and especially in some pretty important endeavors in combat."

Marine Lt General John R. Allen Vows To Emulate General David H. Petraeus' Leadership

By Lisa Daniel, American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 28, 2011 - If he becomes the new commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Marine Corps Lt. Gen. John R. Allen (seen in the above DoD photo) said he'll seek to equal the strong leadership of his predecessor, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus.

"If confirmed, I will seek to emulate General Petraeus' resolute leadership," Allen said today during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Petraeus appeared before the committee last week for his confirmation hearing to become President Barack Obama's CIA director, replacing Leon Panetta, who becomes defense secretary on July 1.

"I assure you, I will do whatever I can to provide our forces with everything they need in Afghanistan and [for them] to arrive home safely," Allen said.

The general told the senators he did not participate in military recommendations that led to Obama's decision this month to bring home all 33,000 U.S. surge forces from Afghanistan by September 2012, but he agrees with it. The redeployment of 10,000 of those troops this year will begin next month.

"The troops that will be redeployed in July represent the fulfillment of the president's commitment to both resource the strategy he enunciated at West Point [in December 2009], but also to demonstrate to Afghan leadership the urgency of increased Afghan national security force strength and capability to assume its proper role in securing Afghanistan," he said.

Allen noted that 68,000 U.S. troops and tens of thousands of NATO forces will remain in Afghanistan after the surge forces redeploy. He added under questioning that it will be enough to continue counterinsurgency operations there, and that if confirmed, he will monitor the drawdown closely.

"It is my intention, as commander, to monitor that progress," he said. "Should I become concerned that our ability to accomplish our objectives is threatened, I will give forthright recommendations up the chain of command."

Allen recently became a special assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff after serving as deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Afghanistan and Iraq theaters. He was the deputy commanding general of Multinational Force Iraq – West and commanded the II Marine Expeditionary Force in Anbar province, Iraq, from 2006 to 2008.

If confirmed as commander in Afghanistan, Allen said he looks forward to serving again with Ryan Crocker, former U.S. ambassador to Iraq and the new ambassador in Afghanistan, and will "fully synchronize" military and civilian efforts there.

Based on his recent time in Afghanistan, Allen said, he agrees with assessments that U.S. and NATO forces have made significant progress there, but that challenges remain.

Afghan and coalition forces control much of the battle space in Afghanistan, including the capital of Kabul, which consists of one-fifth of the population, as well as other population centers in Kandahar and Helmand provinces, the general said.

Military operations increasingly are being led by Afghan forces, which are on track in a surge of their own to meet a goal of 305,000 troops later this year, Allen said.

Asked about the importance of Afghan forces taking over security, Allen said, "It's essential to the strategy."

The Afghans also are making much progress in getting Afghan men to leave the insurgency and reintegrate into Afghan society, the general said. About 1,900 Afghan men have been reintegrated from the insurgency and about 3,000 more are waiting reintegration, he said.

Still, "there are significant challenges" in Afghanistan, Allen said, including the need for more operational training and literacy education, and the need to get rid of government corruption in Afghanistan and insurgent safe havens in Pakistan. NATO still needs about 480 more trainers for Afghan troops, he said.

"There are significant challenges, but I believe in the current campaign, ... the objectives are attainable," he said.