War

The UK are sending up to 6,000 British troops and five warships to the Baltic as part of an operation to buildup Nato’s military presence against Russia.  Amid escalating tensions between Russia and NATO-backed allies, the UK have decided to significantly increase its presence with other European countries in the region, including Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. NATO say the increase in military on the Russian border is a more “muscular approach” against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Michael Ignatieff and Leon Wieseltier make a predictably horrible plea for more military intervention in Syria:

As we reported yesterday, in one of the most surprising developments involving the Syrian proxy war, Saudi Arabia and U.S. presence on the ground, the latest twist is that both Turkey and Saudi Arabia are now mulling a full-scale invasion while Russia and the Syrian government continue their progress in wiping out the US and Saudi-funded rebellion. To be sure, there was confusion when CNN Arabia reported first that the Saudis may send as much as 150,000 troops into Saudi Arabia, by way of Turkey, something which Anadolu news promptly denied.

The US Department of Defense has announced its plan to deploy an advanced missile system to South Korea “as quickly as possible” to counter the growing threats of weapons capabilities and recent provocations from the North. The Pentagon confirmed on Monday that it will start formal talks with South Korea on placing the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System (THAAD) on North Korea’s doorstep. Press TV reports: THAAD is designed to shoot down ballistic missiles in their terminal phase using a hit-to-kill approach.