Imperialist forces of “U.S. Army Europe” recently took part in one of the most expansive ground military operations in Europe since World War II. The 2nd Cavalry Regiment of the U.S. 3rd Squadron led a convoy of 120 Stryker armored vehicles, NATO tanks, over 500 U.S. soldiers, and at some points aerial support from A-10 Warthog planes in what was nicknamed the “Dragoon Ride” through the Eastern European countries of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany. “Dragoon” was a term for horse cavalry in an early time and now refers to mounted troops in armored vehicles.
On its way back from a joint-military operation in the Baltic states and Poland known as Operation Atlantic Resolve, the convoy set out from three locations converging in Prague and continued back to Army headquarters in Vilseck, Germany. The official statement from U.S. Army Europe claimed: “Operation Atlantic Resolve is a demonstration of continued U.S. commitment to the collective security of NATO and to enduring peace and stability in the region, in light of Russia’s illegal actions in the Ukraine.”
Far from committing to peace and stability in the region, U.S. General Ben Hodges concocted the “Dragoon Ride” as a demonstration of aggression against Russia’s sovereignty, justifying the act by acknowledging that Putin “moves troops and stuff around Russia whenever he wants to.”
“This is an aggressive step, another aggressive step by the U.S. and by NATO, but particularly by the U.S.,” Richard Becker of the ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) Coalition said in an interview with RT television. “It’s not Russia that has been the aggressor in this situation, it’s the U.S. and NATO trying to absorb Ukraine and move closer to the critical border of Russia that has created the crisis that we’re seeing.”
This show of force on behalf of the U.S. was meant to sway the public in these countries to the side of U.S. and NATO forces, but also to intensify anti-Russian sentiments that falsely identify Putin as a ruthless aggressor seeking to expand to the west. These anti-Russian sentiments are mirrored by the ultra-nationalist government in Kiev that took power in a fascist-led coup backed by the U.S. The Poroshenko government has waged war against its own citizens who have justly mounted a resistance in eastern Ukraine to the government in Kiev.
A major goal of U.S. imperialism is to pull the Ukraine into both NATO and the EU, whereby a cooperative puppet regime can enable plundering of the economy, disregarding the interests of the poor and working class. Once NATO forces are in the Ukraine and at Russia’s doorstep, the U.S. can further expand its role as global hegemon.
Already, the U.S. has tested rapid-deployment Patriot missile launchers in Poland and threatened to arm the government in Kiev, at the same time waging a propaganda campaign aimed at demonizing Russia while arming Ukrainian forces including some that are openly pro-Nazi. As a matter of strategy, the U.S. is attempting to warp public opinion in the Eastern European NATO countries using anti-communist rhetoric to create fear of a perceived threat from “the specter of Russia” so that U.S.-led operations are viewed as “defensive.”
‘Dragoon Ride’ protests
Despite all the flag waving, sizable opposition was mounted against the “Dragoon Ride,” particularly in the Czech Republic, where more than a thousand anti-NATO demonstrators chanted “Army go home!”—voices of resistance to U.S. imperialism in the region.
It is obvious that the aggressive posturing of the U.S. threatens peace and stability throughout Eastern Europe. It is the duty of all revolutionaries and progressive people to stand against the expansion of NATO and the EU into the Ukraine and to expose the reactionary and hypocritical role of the U.S. in the region.
