by Stephen Lendman

Washington keeps upping the stakes for direct confrontation with Russia. It risks unthinkable nuclear war.

Rogue states operate this way. America is by far the worst. Incorporating former Soviet republics and Warsaw Pact countries into NATO represents a major threat to Russia's security.

Surrounding it with US bases heads things toward possible conflict. America's relentless push east may launch WW III - like Hitler's land grabs began WW II in September 1939.

Thousands of US boots on the ground, tanks and other military hardware in Latvia represent Obama's latest affront - another provocation daring Russia to respond.

US General John O'Connor in Latvia said "(f)reedom must be fought for. Freedom must be defended." No nation in world history has done more to destroy it worldwide.

O'Connor ludicrously added US military might on Russia's border "demonstrate(s) (America's) resolve to President Putin and Russia that collectively we can come together (and stay) as long as required to deter (nonexistent) Russian aggression."

Planned US/Latvian/Estonian/Lithuanian exercises are part of so-called Operation Atlantic Resolve - a US army mission begun last year on Russia's border.

Pentagon sources reported about 3,000 US 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team troops, 750 vehicles, tanks, artillery, helicopters, and other heavy equipment arrived in Riga on Monday.

Some forces and equipment will remain in Latvia. Others will head to Estonia and Lithuania.

Latvian Defense Minister Raimonds Vejonis lied claiming planned exercises "will further help to ensure the security of all three Baltic states and demonstrates solidarity with our fellow NATO members."

America and rogue NATO allies pose the only regional threat. Pentagon controlled exercises target Russia.

Senator John McCain ludicrously claimed failure to increase America's Baltic military footprint could lead to NATO's collapse.

"If (Russians) move into the Baltics…and there is no tripwire there, I doubt there would be a reaction, he said. "(I)t would mean the end of NATO."

Lunatics like McCain may remind readers of former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright once telling former Joint Chiefs chairman Colin Powell "(w)hat the point of having this superb military you're always talking about if we can't use it."

He wants an increased US military presence on Russia's borders to deter a nonexistent threat.

He's like other lunatic neocon policy-makers in Washington. They risk launching WW III.

Former Carter administration National Security Advisor/longtime Russia hater Zbigniew Brzezinski lied to Congress days earlier.

He absurdly claimed Putin may seize Estonia and Latvia unless Washington stops him by increasing its military footprint in both countries.

Not a shred of evidence supports his accusation. Plenty refutes it. Russia threatens no one. America threatens world peace.

Brzezinski may have starting WW III in mind. He's unapologetically belligerent. He's an imperial strategist.

He's part of Washington's lunatic fringe - planning one war after another. Preparing for the big one - attacking Russia with nuclear weapons. Risking armageddon.

Big Lies launch wars. Heavy US military presence on Russia's borders heads things perilously toward direct confrontation.

Lunatics in Washington intend stopping at nothing to achieve unchallenged global dominance.

America's military footprint infests Eastern Europe - including Baltic countries Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania.

A 1997 Russia/US-dominated NATO agreement forbids it - other than temporary exercises.

Washington's presence is permanent. Its agreements aren't worth the paper they're written on.

It wants NATO made a global police force - operating on every continent. It wants it used against all independent countries.

It wants it for permanent wars on humanity. It wants major rivals Russia and China made US satellites - vassal states Washington controls.

Military exercises near Russia's borders are preparation for all-out war. By summer's end, "you could very well see an operation that stretches from the Baltics all the way down to the Black Sea," according to 173rd Airborne Brigade Col. Michael Foster.

"As you connect countries, there is almost a line of US troops" on Russia's Western and Southern borders, he explained.

Days earlier, Russia's Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov commented, saying:

"Instead of uniting forces to fight evil, the worst of which is terrorism, Western nations are drawing new divisive lines, trying to realize containment schemes against unwelcome states."

Today, Russia has been chosen as the target." On February 24, events in US satellite/NATO member/Russiaphobic Estonia weren't encouraging.

Independence Day commemoration was used to parade heavy weapons around 300 meters from Russia's border - another US-instigated provocation.

American made military hardware displayed US flags. Pentagon forces participated. Estonian officials regurgitate Western Big Lies about (nonexistent) "Russian aggression" in Ukraine.

It's a pretext to deploy increasing numbers of US and other NATO forces menacingly close to Russia's borders.

In December, a train carrying US armored vehicles was spotted in Latvia's Dalbe Railway Station - uncomfortably close to Russia's border.

Reportedly it carried 38 vehicles, several semitrailers, eight Bradley Fighting Vehicles, nine M113 armored personnel carriers, four petrol tankers, heavy expanded mobility tactical trucks, high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles, an M88 Hercules Armory recovery vehicle, tactical engineering and medical vehicles plus railcars with ammunition.

Washington wants Baltic and other Eastern European countries buying US heavy weapons in preparation perhaps for war on Russia.

Lunatics running these countries are willfully putting their populations in harm's way to please US officials.

So are other European countries unless they stop allying with Washington's war plans. Survival may hinge on what they decide.

-###-

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio