Rick Rozoff: The Pentagon and NATO Rehearse for War against Russia.

Last month was a busy one for US-NATO military exercises in the Baltic Sea. Three major multinational training exercises, including naval maneuvers, amphibious landings and preparation for deployment to Afghanistan, occurred in the region in June, in one case overlapping. From June 10-22 the US Seventh Army's Joint Multinational Training Command (JMTC), based in Grafenwoehr, Germany, conducted this year's Saber Strike, the largest multinational military exercise in the area. Approximately 2,000 troops from seven NATO nations, the US, Britain, France, Canada, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania participated in training to "engage the enemy, as they overcome challenges in interoperability," according to the JMTC's account of the drills in Estonia and Latvia. The former Soviet republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are the rotating sites for Saber Strike exercises and "share resources and capabilities to meet the training requirements of organic units and elements, who may deploy in support of contingency operations in Afghanistan." JMTCs lead exercise planner, Tony Bonarti, said of the training: In pursuing operational cohesiveness, these nations expect to achieve vast improvements in their respective defense and host-nation governments that allow them to be prepared to address both national and international crisis events. Live-fire and field training exercises were conducted at the Adazi Training Area in Latvia and other events were held at facilities in Estonia. The scenario employed for the live-fire exercise was "defending a Forward Operating Base." A US Army Europe website report of a war game simulation held at the Tapa Training facility said: "Working cooperatively with allied partners, the Estonian forces are exercising a combat action scenario.