NATO’s War Plans Accepted that Russia Would Conquer Eastern Europe
The belief that NATO would lose a conventional conflict did nothing to contradict the notion that NATO could play a valuable role in deterring war.
Here s What You Need To Remember: The RAND wargame suggests that Russia could take the Baltics, and perhaps hold them, for a while. Moscow would begin to pay costs very early in any conflict, however, as NATO forces moved against Kaliningrad, Transnistria and other Russian holdings.
A recent RAND wargame on a potential Russian offensive into the Baltics brought talk of a “new Cold War” into sharp focus. The game made clear that NATO would struggle to prevent Russian forces from occupying the Baltics if it relied on the conventional forces now available.
For the last hundred years, oil has been a frequent reason for war.
Here s What You Need To Remember: The presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia helped spur the rise of Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda and ultimately 9/11. The full cost of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 will be paid for by American taxpayers for decades.
For the last hundred years, oil has been a frequent reason for war. Nations have fought wars, or shaped their military strategy during a war, to conquer oil fields or prevent rivals from controlling the commodity that is the lifeblood of industrial economies and modern militaries.