{"id":1479334,"date":"2024-07-25T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-25T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1479334"},"modified":"2024-07-25T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-07-25T10:00:00","slug":"these-nato-states-are-embracing-conscription-eyeing-future-war-with-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/these-nato-states-are-embracing-conscription-eyeing-future-war-with-russia\/1479334\/","title":{"rendered":"These NATO States Are Embracing Conscription, Eyeing Future War With Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"

These NATO States Are Embracing Conscription, Eyeing Future War With Russia<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Connor Freeman via The Libertarian Institute,<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

As NATO escalates its proxy war in Ukraine and inches closer to fighting directly with Russia, the Washington-led bloc is\u00a0embracing mandatory military service<\/a>. Many European members of NATO have expanded or reintroduced conscription as part of large-scale preparations for such a war<\/strong>, CNN reports. Already\u00a0outpaced<\/a>\u00a0in terms of military industrial capacity by Russia, the alliance\u2019s new battleplans will see an attempt to beef up weapons production and form\u00a035-50 brigades<\/a>\u00a0of 3,000-7,000 battle ready troops.<\/p>\n

Outgoing NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has insisted, \u201cToday, we have 500,000 troops on high readiness, combat-ready battlegroups in the eastern part of the Alliance for the first time.\u201d But the bloc is struggling to meet its goals of assembling 300,000 soldiers prepared to be activated within a month and another half a million in six months. There is also a question of whether the bloc can filed a military fit for a protracted war akin to the Ukraine conflict.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Following the end of the Cold War, several European states ceased conscripting their citizens. Although increasing numbers of NATO member countries have resorted to the draconian practice during recent years, especially in the Baltics and Scandinavia. Roughly a third of the NATO alliance practices some form of compulsory military service.<\/p>\n

This year, for the first time since it was abolished in 2006, Latvia reimplemented its draft<\/strong>. Male citizens are subject to conscription within a year of turning 18 years old. Additionally, Norway has unveiled a long-term plan to increase its ranks of mandatorily conscripted troop<\/strong>s, employees, and reservists by 20,000 as well as double the military budget. In 2015, Oslo became the first NATO government to establish a gender-neutral draft.<\/p>\n

Lithuania brought back mandatory military service<\/strong> in 2015, each year drafting 3,500 to 4,000 men between the ages of 18-26 for a nine-month period. Although the Finnish Defense Forces<\/strong> employ only 13,000 people during peacetime, Helsinki claims it has the ability to activate over 900,000 reservists<\/strong> with 280,000 combat-ready troops. Sweden conscripts both men and women, Stockholm drafted 7,000 its citizens and the military expects to conscript 8,000 next year. The Swedes have had conscription since 1901.<\/p>\n

Citing the supposed Russian threat to Europe, Robert Hamilton, the head of Eurasia Research at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, said \u201cIt is tragically true that here we are, in\u202f2024, and we are grappling with the questions of how to mobilize millions of people to be thrown into a meatgrinder of a war potentially.\u201d For 30 years, Hamiliton served as a US Army officer. \u201cMeatgrinder\u201d is a term often used by frontline troops in Ukraine, particularly during the battle of Bakhmut where the average life span of such a soldier was only a few hours.<\/p>\n

In the United Kingdom, conscription is currently being pushed by Conservative MPs<\/strong>. The 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, the annual military spending bill, may include\u00a0provisions<\/a>\u00a0which inter alia will seek to automatically register all eligible men and women for Selective Service, a form of conscripted labor, which could inevitably include military service.<\/p>\n

Former Supreme Allied Commander of Europe General Wesley Clark echoed Hamilton\u2019s hawkish sentiments, emphasizing \u201cwhether this is a new Cold War or an emerging hot war is unclear.\u201d<\/strong> He added that NATO \u201cmust rebuild our defenses,\u201d including with mandatory military drafts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think young people in Europe and the US will come to realize that this generation, like the generation that fought WWII, it didn\u2019t ask to be the \u2018Greatest Generation\u2019 but the circumstances thrust that burden on them,\u201d Clark added.<\/p>\n

The risk of direct war with Russia is\u00a0growing<\/a>\u00a0by the day amidst the Ukraine proxy war, as the alliance has largely approved NATO missiles to be used for attacks\u00a0against the Russian mainland<\/a>. The bloc will soon provide Kiev with F-16s and an\u00a0explicit green light<\/a>\u00a0for the warplanes to carry out direct strikes against Russian territory as well. Without irony, Stoltenberg\u00a0claimed<\/a>\u00a0this should not be viewed by Russia as an escalation.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

As NATO considers increasing its nuclear weapons deployments, the US is also planning to deploy previously banned, medium-range, nuclear capable missiles in Germany<\/strong> which has caused Russia to hint it could similarly\u00a0retaliate<\/a>. Pointing to the massive US-led buildup for war with China, President Vladimir Putin\u00a0accused<\/a>\u00a0NATO of creating major security threats for Russia in Asia.<\/p>\n

NATO set its sights on China four years ago, identifying Beijing as a military threat to European security. China maintains a \u201cno limits\u201d partnership with Russia. \u201cNATO is already \u2018moving\u2019 there (to Asia) as if to a permanent place of residence. This, of course, creates a threat to all countries in the region, including the Russian Federation. We are obliged to respond to this and will do it,\u201d Putin vowed earlier this year. That same month, Stoltenberg\u00a0cited China<\/a>\u00a0as a reason the bloc is considering an \u201cadaptation\u201d of its nuclear arsenal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nThu, 07\/25\/2024 – 02:00<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/geopolitical\/these-nato-states-are-embracing-conscription-eyeing-future-war-russia<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

These NATO States Are Embracing Conscription, Eyeing Future War With Russia Authored by Connor Freeman via The Libertarian Institute, As NATO escalates its proxy war…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1479335,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1479334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1479334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1479335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1479334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1479334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1479334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}