And czech soldiers are carrying out a military exercise in lithuania the potential enemy russia their mission deterrence and a show of strength a nato eastern flank. Ablaze if it will deter the enemy with all the means at our disposal the world is growing less secure and more confusing a renewed arms race with nuclear and conventional weapons is imminent existing alliances are crumbling the need to be for many to be strong to deter any potential aggressor from attacking most to preserve the peace of germany and its neighbors could again be caught in the middle between the superpowers. Russia is laying claim to territory and for the 1st time since world war 2 a country is taking that territory by force but it doesnt this is a potential threat of the highest order and anyone who opposes a rearmament debate is not just not. Heave thats incredibly dangerous on the field. Can the German Military the bundesbank meet the new challenges. I do believe that the German Military is in a very dire and critical state is the number of ships that can sail the number of planes they cant fly. Can the western Alliance System still guarantee security. What role does germany play in nato and in the world. When nato sounds the alarm the order reaches the 9th armored demonstration brigade in moonstone in northwestern germany this time the mail is about an exercise but the entire apparatus responds as it would in a genuine emergency the brigade provides part of the Ground Troops for natos very High Readiness joint task force the v. J. It was established in 2014 in response to russias annexation of crimea. And im pleased. That i can also add. However no longer here because i received the alarm order now a value waited and then i decipher the letter combinations in the order to find out which alarm measures have actually been triggered and for the timing for that i consult the board is fair Crisis Response plan. So i can see which alarm measures are behind the combination of letters. On its own for backing. For the check which measures are important for the v. J. T. F. Brigade and then ill inform the chief and the brigade leadership accordingly and shift on to go out of your lunch bring in from young. Rapid response units are central to natos new threat scenarios in this instance an emergency situation that involves fighting off an enemy attack will be rehearsed in a maneuver in poland. Telephone. Within 3 days at the most 2300 soldiers from 3 countries have to be ready to move. All the strands come together here and a high security area at headquarters. Its a logistical challenge to coordinate the troops from germany norway and the netherlands. Differ but also from what we have to establish communication with the 1st german Armored Division and the german netherlands corps i want the initial results in 90 minutes since. The clock is also taking for major maja on. Laptops. Nothing unusual to report in the area you have a very good with the major heads a company of around 250 soldiers. But. The biggest challenge for us is to be ready to move within 48 hours my soldiers have to load all the trucks the trucks have to be organized in convoys my heavy vehicles have to be perpetual Rail Transport 48 hours is not a lot of time and i feel. Major item is an experience older who has served on Foreign Missions in mali and kosovo now she has to ensure that the command in poland will have a fully equipped workplace around 600. 00 vehicles including 70 tanks are setting off from garrisons around germany to head for poland. The Rapid Response force is more important to nato than ever but today at a time when europe once again has to worry about security how united are the partners in the alliance. Washington april 29000 nato celebrated the 70th anniversary of its founding for 7 decades the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has used its deterrence capability to protect p. Freedom and prosperity and both sides of the atlantic a day before the ceremony the wests leading defense and Foreign Policy officials gathered at a meeting. It was supposed to be a celebration of 70 years of nato and transatlantic relations. But then u. S. Vice president mike pence took to the podium to issue a rebuke. More of our allies are now being their commitments but still too many others are falling short and as we all acknowledge germany is chief among germany is europes largest and healthiest economy its a leading global exporter and has benefited from u. S. Protection of europe for generations germany must do more. A not so diplomatic attack on the Alliance Partner that has not invested the agreed 2 percent of its g. D. P. And defense. The German Foreign minister had to try to explain why his wealthy country wasnt prepared to spend more on european security. And know that our budgetary process is sometimes difficult for outsiders to understand i believe were not just for them however we made a Firm Commitments to invest more money and defense. And we intend to keep all words. We in europe know that we can take over security for granted. A rather modest show of strength from the foreign minister. Left the meeting by the back door to avoid unwanted questions a fitting image of germanys appearance at the nato summit. Germany has already promised its allies at 3 summits to raise military spending as agreed the Defense Ministry would like to see a hefty rise to 54700000000. 00 euros a year but the finance ministry has other plans even one spending to drop in the coming years to 44200000000 that corresponds to 1. 23 percent of g. D. P. So even further below natos 2 percent target. Julie smith was a security advisor in the Obama Administration and is a prominent expert on german american relations. I do think the Nato Alliance has a germany problem because now one of its largest allies is unwilling or unable to meet a commitment that essentially all allies made in 2014 this is not a situation where the Trump Administration is fired up and frustrated with the German Government were now facing a situation where democrats and republicans alike are quite critical of berlin and its failure to meet that target understand that almost all cultishness would like to spend money on Something Else on the phones on health or education or infrastructure at the same time we are suspect germany to invest more. In defense because we all promised to do so back in 24 team. But germanys governing coalition of conservatives and social democrats. Has a different take on the numbers they say germany has invested more than 30000000000 euros in nato since 2014 provided the 2nd largest contingent of troops in afghanistan and taken part in Many Missions around the world the social democrats in particular oppose a sudden rise in the Defense Budget foreign and defense policy expert cliff notes and he explains. The figures supposedly provide suitable personnel to nato. We try to coordinate with our Alliance Partners and are guided by quality. Is a swipe at sent back when the German Government accepted this 2 percent target we in Parliament Said alternately we the lawmakers are the ones who will decide what will be in the annual budget was in yiddish and also stated. Carlo must be a professor at the Bundeswehr University in munich advises the government on Security Issues he says economizing on military spending would be disastrous this is no its not just grossly naive its negligent and risky here in europe we are currently in a situation where the Russian Federation with its armament efforts has an advantage in strategic escalation that we currently cant compete with got the commissions and that simply. Letting their putins russia has changed the world in terms of Security Policy when the cold war ended it seemed unthinkable but the world is now once again in the middle of an arms race and putin has been testing the limits of the Nato Alliance with the conflict in Eastern Ukraine the russian and accession of crimea russia on the other hand has provoked by natos eastern and largemouth plans. In april 26th seen over the baltic sea 130 kilometers from kaliningrad 2 russian fighter jets carried out 20 mock attacks on a u. S. Warship. And the number of product. Patience is increasing. There are threats that we have to address or challenges we have to address in the north atlantic with increased Russian Submarine activity and our lack of sensors up there to understand whats going on there is definitely a threat stemming from russia. Nato takes that threat very seriously its response has been for example the exercise in poland with the brigades from germany norway and the netherlands 4 days after the raising of the alarm in one stop the v. J. T. F. Rapid response troops are on their way to the noble job exercise. More than 2300 soldiers are being trained to ensure europes security under german leadership but would jump its a huge noble jump is basically all about nato is Rapid Response troop the task is deterrence through a show of strength. But if at the end of the day that doesnt help we have to clearly show that we are in a position to defend the territory of the alliance and if necessary to restore the territorial integrity of nato not to be to have some. Its just after 4 oclock in the morning the 9th armored demonstration brigade positions itself. First Sergeant Major hey get him commands a leopard 2 tank. It weighs 64 tons and has a 1500 horsepower engine. And. No pops was actually were here on a leopard to battle tank. We have a crew of 4 men. The fairness of this is my driver he steers according to my orders the gunner is responsible for the exchange of fire and the loader is responsible for all the weapons on the tank including the machine guns that im the commander i coordinate everything. Final preparations for the maneuver take it to him and his crew take a battle position. Ok richards ok saigon or swing the tower to the right. Youve got woods on the right do you recognize. They swing more to the left. And although right there you can see the Observation Center of the platoon. The mission here is to retake a village even though no one wants to say it openly the Rapid Response troop is supposed to deter russia today the enemy only consists of dummies and decommission tanks here lets follow here on our left my platoon is in position next to them is another platoon in position for the log further ahead. Ed in the left hand section theres also a no we just company in opposition. They are all ready and waiting for the shooting to start of the season the. Last dog. Was run over. And. Head to tims tank platoon is one of natos elite units its a fully equipped brigade which makes it quite an exception in the bundesbank. The military is supposed to have 8 fully equipped brigades by the year 2031 but at the moment not a single brigade is 100 percent ready for action she even the v. J. T. F. Troops had to borrow material from all over germany. Is cut and everyones realized that the way the system functions at the moment we had to bring materials from throughout the been disparate to munster or other places to fulfill our mission but that is not an acceptable state of affairs. This is not about building but adequate equipment those 8 brigades have to be fully equipped so that they can be just as ready for action as this brigade is. Fully acquitting them will be costly but germany has made a binding commitment to nato. The army estimates that the price for a single brigade will amount to 5000000000. 00 euros but in recent years there has been practically no investment in material and equipment and even with a lot of money it will. Hard to quickly rebuild all the structures that have been dismantled over the years. Thats if theres a lot of. Guns a steam and up with the studies and there are systems in the that are older than i am and we still have the problem that we are deployed in major nato exercises so we can meet our obligations but it comes at the expense of operations in exercises back home get. Me in this we no longer invested in the large stocks of Replacement Parts nor of ammunition and now to fill up and modernize everything in the existing structures will take until 2031 for. One cause we will definitely need that many years to get to the point where we can meet nato and e. U. Demands to become the us we do not to follow. Sometimes even a piece of fencing can stop 60 tons of military high tech in its tracks and then tank commander hey get him is not happy with the situation if. There are go in there turn the motor on give a signal to the front and then drive backwards a bit about. Time is pressing the tank crew has to get the vehicle back into position for the nato exercise. And. The scenario that is being rehearsed here is chillingly realistic. In terms of liberating a village symbolizes the fear of an invasion by enemy troops. And here in poland in europe. Thank. After 5 hours the maneuver is completed for hey get him and his crew the commander is 32. 00 his comrades are all under 30 and the cold war is something they only know from history books. When i joined up the bullets there was already involved in missions abroad but now the threat is different and we see here that a completely battle ready brigade has been formed to engage in high intensity combat if necessary. As it was the 1st a few on. The idea of defending the alliance and their country is no longer entirely theoretical 3 quarters of a century after the end of world war 2 that has become an imaginable scenario for german soldiers. From the 5 been a soldier for 35 years of help because i saw the wall fall i saw europe being reunited i experienced islamist terrorists occupying half the middle east. So at the end of the day one thing counts for me is that it doesnt matter who youre against at the end of the day theres only one thing that is lasting and forward looking and thats what youre for and we are for the freedom and peace full stop. Peace and freedom where the goal is in the late 1980 s. When the u. S. And the soviet union agreed to ban their land based intermediate range nuclear missiles. U. S. President Ronald Reagan and soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev signed the i. N. F. Treaty in december in 1087. 00 in washington after decades of cold war it was a milestone in ending the arms race between the superpowers. In 2019. Then after accusing russia of violating the treaty the us formally pulled out of the i. M. F. And the new start a 2010 Nuclear Arms Reduction treaty between the us and russia may not be extended when it expires in 2021. Does this herald a new Nuclear Arms Race designed if its all at the i. N. F. Treaty cant be saved because neither of the party east of ukraine meant are still interested in saving the United States would only want to rescue it if it is globalized meaning of china india and pakistan join the chinese have already made it clear that they see no reason to join it on the russians have violated and the in these and. Inflicts. In early 2019 russia publicly unveiled its. Nuclear missile the Ground Launched Cruise Missile is claimed by u. S. Intelligence to have a range of over 2300 kilometers which puts it in violation of the i. N. F. Treaty the agreement bans the development and possession of ground based missiles with a range of over 500 kilometers. From. The far for me its also a question of security for germany and to the treaty would mean that we again enter a threat mechanism that Nuclear Medium range weapons will again threaten areas extending to us and western europe. And that has to be urgently prevented you from. Its a crucial test for europe. For some years poland has been calling for Nuclear Weapons if necessary going it alone with the u. S. Its. Romania has invested billions of euros in u. S. Missile Defense Systems to protect it from a potential russian threat. Is Vladimir Putin deliver. Exploiting the Current Power vacuum and natos weakness to redefine his own role. Police definitely fanning the flames in Central Eastern europe so its not that i lie awake at night and worry about some sort of conventional military. Escalation with russia i think thats always a possibility but thats not war what worries me the most what worries me the most is his efforts to divide us and undermine our values and our institutions that weve spent 70 years building and hes succeeding on that front. Russia is trying to destabilize the alliance and western democracies it influences elections and referendums launches Cyber Attacks and wants to bind individual nato partners to it more closely. Does putin see the end of the i. N. F. Treaty as a way of driving a further wedge between nato partners. What is the aim of russias foreign and defense policy. For years journalist Alexander Golts has been observing and analyzing the Russian Military apparatus and kremlin policy. Key to find putins motivation puzzling dont