Washington’s goal is to sow trouble in Europe and pressure its European allies into spending more on the US-led NATO bloc. By building new NATO military bases in the EU, Washington seeks to bolster the Alliance’s influence on the continent, the French journalist Victor Ayoli notes in his article for Agora Vox.The journalist points out that NATO has recently kicked off its BALTOPS 16 and Saber Strike 16 joint military drills in close proximity to the Russian north-western border.

“NATO is a war machine having no other use — as the Warsaw Pact had been dissolved long ago — than to serve exclusively the interests of the US financial elite and multinational corporations that are seeking global hegemony. Could you imagine what the Russo-NATO standoff could lead to? Do you think it would be limited to a few local strikes? It’s a naïve and even stupid assumption: NATO, like Russia, has an apocalyptic nuclear arsenal,” Ayoli underscores.

“Russia is no enemy to Europe,” Victor Ayoli stresses.

Citing the May analytical report posted by the anonymous blogger ‘The Saker’ on how Moscow is preparing to protect its national interests and secure its borders to prevent a repeat of the Wehrmacht’s Operation Barbarossa invasion in 1941, Ayoli calls attention to Russia’s ongoing military modernization.

First of all, Moscow is recreating its First Guards Tank Army. Currently it is equipped with T-72B3 and T-80 main battle tanks, but they will be replaced by the brand new T-14 Armata tank. Likewise, the Army’s infantry fighting vehicles (IFV) and armored personnel carriers (APC) will be replaced with newer, more advanced machines. From the air, these units will be backed by Mi-28 and Ka-52 attack helicopters.

Secondly, Russia has recently deployed its new Iskander-M operational tactical missile systems. The system is “extremely accurate, it has advanced anti-ABM capabilities, it flies at hypersonic speeds and is practically undetectable on the ground.”

Thirdly, while the tanks, IFVs and Iskander-M pose no deterrent to the US, the RS-28 “Sarmat” (SS-X-30 by NATO classification) would definitely prompt the US and NATO hawks to think twice, according to the journalist.

“The Sarmat is nothing short of amazing. It will be capable of carrying 10-15 MIRVed warheads which will be delivered in a so-called ‘depressed’ (suborbital) trajectory and which will remain maneuverable at hypersonic speeds,” The Saker, a US-based European military analyst, wrote in his blog in late May.

It is time for France to withdraw from the dangerous Alliance and accelerate its rapprochement with Moscow. Other countries, most notably Germany, will most likely follow in Paris’ footsteps, creating a new powerful Axis: Paris — Berlin — Moscow, he concludes.