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Hier der übersetzte Artikel der revolutionären Nachrichtenseite "The Red Herald":
”Steadfast Defender 2024” – The largest NATO exercise in decades
From the 22nd of January to 31st of May the largest NATO exercise in 36 years, since the end of the so-called “cold war”, takes place. 90,000 soldiers from 32 States take part in it. The maneuver “Steadfast Defender 2024” is part of a series of “Steadfast Defender”, of which the exercise of this year is expected to be the most extensive.
The “Steadfast Defender” as part of preparation for war
What is named as “Steadfast Defender” is in reality not a “defense exercise”, but a part of the militarization and “making the NATO- and EU-countries ready for war”. The “Steadfast Defender 2024 is about exercising for a military confrontation with Russia, as NATO tests among others moving troops to eastern Europe and the exercise takes place mostly on the eastern flank of NATO, from Norway to Romania. The last NATO exercise comparable in dimension was the maneuver “Reforger” in 1988 with 125,000 soldiers. With the “Steadfast Defender 2024” “defense against a Russian attack” is supposedly simulated. The key word “defense” is often heard in connection to the current armament, see the Sky Shield Initiative, and is used to justify above all the high armament of the imperialist countries.
In an attempt of the USA to maintain its hegemonic position, the so-called “alliance partners” of the USA in Europe should be made ready for war through military alliances, such as for example NATO. How concrete the preparation for war is, is already shown in the amount of soldiers taking part: when it was 9,000 “exercising” soldiers in “Steadfast Defender 2021”, now it is 90,000 from 32 States. As in the NATO-maneuver “Defender-Europe-20” which was canceled during the Corona-pandemic, in the first phase the shipping of US-troops will be trained and then in the second phase the moving of the troops. Thus the “exercise” of NATO for a military confrontation with Russia did not begin with the attack of Russia against Ukraine. This fact shows also that this is not just about “defense”.
According to official information, “a conflict with Russia and terrorist groups is being prepared for”. The Netherlandish admiral and chair of the NATO military committee says that “peace is no longer self-evident and in the two next decades an extensive war with Russia has to be expected in the next two decades”, and therefore “we need to be prepared that they attack us”. The Norwegian head of armed forces Eirik Kristoffersen emphasizes here that “the time is up” and there is “a time frame of one, two, maybe three years” in which it must be invested massively to defense.
Armament and preparation for war in the EU
Also the EU is intensifying the armament and the preparation for war. The further construction and intensifying of the “Permanent Structured Cooperation) as well as with the “EU-reaction force” should make also the EU-member States fir for war and match them to NATO-standards. Also the ruling class of Austria has accepted this new reaction force, which is completely against the neutrality.
With the maneuver “Quadriga 2024”, which will be carried out by the German Bundeswehr, the alarming, movement of troops and the commando will be trained. This exercise is for the defense of the eastern flank of NATO, in which Germany acts as a pivot point for the defense of Europe. In the maneuver “Grand South” which will take place between 26.04.2024 and 18.05.2024, the troops of the Bundeswehr will be moved to Hungary and Romania. Looking back to the earlier movement of troops, it can be expected that also in this exercise troops will be moved through Austria.
On the side of the dismantling of social and democratic rights, the dismantling of social services at the same time with the massive increasing of investment into militarization and armament is preparation for war which is totally clear organized against the peoples. The current large maneuver serves preparation for war of the imperialists, war which has the slaughtering of the peoples as a consequence. The history has shown and also the present moment proves that the peoples need to oppose the increasing plans of armament and war of the ruling classes. In Austria it means among other things the strong defense of the neutrality, which means to struggle for the application of the demand for the re-application of neutrality.
