The arrival, The 6 March, of the former 200 US soldiers in Bavaria
Manlio Dinucci
Defense ministers of the 27 EU countries, 22 of which members of NATO, they met on 4-5 March in Zagreb Croatia. Central theme of the meeting (which was attended by Minister Guerini of the Democratic Party for Italy) it was not like facing the Coronavirus crisis that blocks civilian mobility, but how to increase "military mobility".
The decisive test is the exerciseDefender Europe 20 (Defender of Europe 2020), in April and May. NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg, who participated in the EU meeting, he calls it "the largest deployment of US forces in Europe since the end of the Cold War."
They are coming from the US to Europe - announces the US Army Europe (US Army in Europe) – i 20.000 soldiers who. along with others 10.000 already present and a 7.000 of NATO allies, "They will spread across the European region."
US forces bring with them 33.000 pieces of military equipment, from personal armaments to Abrams tanks. Therefore, adequate infrastructures are needed for their transport.
However, there is a problem, highlighted in a report by the European Parliament (February 2020): “Since the 1990s, European infrastructures have been developed purely for civilian purposes. However, military mobility has once again become a key issue for NATO. Since NATO lacks the tools to improve military mobility in Europe, the European Union, which has the legislative and financial tools to do so, plays an indispensable role ".
The Action Plan on Military Mobility, presented by the European Commission in 2018, plans to modify "infrastructures not suited to the weight or size of military vehicles". for example, if a bridge cannot bear the weight of a column of tanks, it must be strengthened or rebuilt.
Based on this criterion, the load test of the new bridge, which in Genoa will replace the collapsed Morandi bridge, should be made with Abrams tanks from 70 tons.
Such changes, useless for civil uses, involve heavy costs for the member countries, with a "possible EU financial contribution". The European Commission has earmarked an initial allocation of € 30 billion for this purpose, public money coming out of our pockets.
The Plan also provides for "simplifying customs formalities for military operations and the transport of dangerous goods of a military nature". The US Army Europe has requested the establishment of "a military Schengen Area", with the difference that it is not people who circulate freely but tanks.
The exerciseDefender Europe 20 - was said at the meeting in Zagreb - will allow us to "identify any bottleneck in military mobility, that the EU will have to remove ". The EU transport network will then be tested by 30.000 US soldiers, that "will spread across the European region", exempted from the Coronavirus regulations.
This is confirmed by the video of the US Army Europe on the arrival in Bavaria, The 6 March, of the former 200 US soldiers: while in Lombardy, a few hundred km away, the strictest rules apply, in Bavaria - where the first European infection of Coronavirus occurred - US soldiers, got off the plane, they shake the hands of the German authorities and hug their fellow soldiers without any masks.
The question arises spontaneously: maybe they are already vaccinated against the Coronavirus?
We also ask ourselves what purpose "the largest deployment of US forces in Europe since the end of the Cold War", officially to "protect Europe from any potential threat" (with clear reference to the "Russian threat"), at a time when Europe is in crisis due to the Coronavirus threat (there is even a case in the NATO Headquarters in Brussels).
And since the US Army Europe announces that "movements of troops and equipment in Europe will last until July", one wonders if all 20.000 US soldiers will return to their homeland or if some of them remain here with their armaments instead.
The Defender will not be the Invader of Europe?
(the poster, 10 March 2020)