MESOP NEWS TODAYS SPECIAL : THE UPCOMING NEW COLD WAR – TRUMP SENDS US TROOPS HEADING FOR NORWAY & AUSTRALIA

Today’s Insight – Click bottom link for details

U.S. Marines Head to Norway and Australia | Kaitlin Lavinder and Will Edwards, The Cipher Brief
U.S. Marines are being deployed to Norway and Australia, ostensibly as part of standard procedure, but also to respond to two emerging threats, Russia and China.

Expert Commentary

First Foreign Forces in Norway Since WWII | Karsten Friis, Senior Advisor and Head, Research Group on Security and Defence, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
“The semi-permanent presence of USMC is in this context welcome, but I think the symbolic value is as important. The presence of U.S. troops is a signal of U.S. commitment to collective defense, and thereby also sends a signal of deterrence towards Russia. The various U.S. deployments in Europe, including this one, thus both serve a military and a political purpose.”

Marines Head to Australia: Still Working Toward a Full Deployment | Andrew Shearer, Director, Alliances and American Leadership Project, Center for Strategic and International Studies
“The Australian and U.S. governments are still working towards full rotations by a 2,500-strong Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF). That force level was originally meant to be achieved by around 2017, but is now likely to take several years longer, owing to drawn-out negotiations on cost sharing that took until October 2016 to conclude.”