The Trump administration is sending about 200 troops to Nigeria to help train its military to fight Islamist militants, U.S. and Nigerian officials said Tuesday.

The deployment comes weeks after President Donald Trump accused Nigeria’s government of failing to protect Christians from terrorist attacks in the West African country.

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Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/us-send-200-troops-nigeria-172823454.html

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Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is expected to sign an order sending the troops to the border, bolstering National Guard forces already there, an official said Thursday. The action comes as President Donald Trump has spent recent days calling attention to the caravan of Central Americans slowly making its way by foot into southern Mexico but still more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) from U.S. soil.

Trump, who made fear about immigrants a major theme of his 2016 election campaign, has been eager to make it a top issue heading into the Nov. 6 midterm elections, which will determine control of Congress. The president and senior White House officials have long believed the issue is key to turning out his base of supporters.

The additional troops would provide logistical and other support to the Border Patrol, said the U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a plan that had not been finalized and formally announced.

It’s not unusual for the National Guard to help with border security. Active-duty troops, however, are rarely deployed within the United States except for domestic emergencies like hurricanes or floods. Fears of militarizing the border were fanned by a May 1997 incident in which a Marine on a counter-narcotics mission shot to death an 18-year-old who was herding goats in Redford, Texas.

Troops being sent at Trump’s direction would not be on armed security missions. They would assist the Border Patrol by providing things such as vehicles, tents and equipment. There already are about 2,000 National Guard members there under a previous Pentagon arrangement.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said in an interview with Fox News on Thursday that the Department of Homeland Security had asked the Department of Defense to “bolster” their capabilities with air support, vehicle barriers, engineering and other logistical assistance. National Guard troops can perform those same functions, so it was not immediately clear why active-duty forces were sought.

Asked if the troops would be armed, Nielsen said Mattis would decide the rules of engagement, but added: “We do not have any intention right now to shoot at people. They will be apprehended, however.”

Trump has used the caravan to bolster his election-season warnings that the U.S. is being infiltrated by immigrants “pouring across the border” illegally.

He has claimed, without any apparent basis in fact, that “Middle Easterners” were among the group. At rallies and on Twitter, Trump has tried to portray Democrats as pro-illegal immigration, even claiming, with no evidence, that Democrats organized the caravan.

He tweeted Thursday that “Democrat inspired laws make it tough for us to stop people at the border” and said he was using the military to respond to what he called a “National Emergency.”

Many migrants in the sprawling caravan — once estimated by the United Nations to number more than 7,000 — are hoping to make it to the United States. Most are Hondurans, seeking to escape poverty and violence, and include families with children.

The caravan swelled dramatically soon after crossing the Mexican border on Oct. 19, but sickness, fear and police harassment have whittled down its numbers.

Trump tweeted a direct message to the migrants Thursday, urging them to return home.

“To those in the Caravan, turnaround,” he wrote. “We are not letting people into the United States illegally. Go back to your Country and if you want, apply for citizenship like millions of others are doing!”

The migrants have largely been disconnected from news reports about them. When asked about Trump’s tweets, they have generally responded that he should stop attacking them and said they would keep heading north.

Candy Guillermo, a 37-year-old migrant in the caravan who had heard about the plan to deploy troops, was surprised she and the children in the group would be considered a threat.

“Trump should be more humanitarian,” she said. “We only want to give our kids a better future.”

Migrants who do reach the U.S. border can claim asylum under U.S. and international law. Those who clear an initial screening are often released until their cases are decided in immigration court, which can take several years.

But Nielsen warned: “This caravan cannot come to the United States. They will not be allowed in. They will not be allowed to stay.”

In 2017, the U.S. had 331,700 asylum claims, more than any country in the world, according to the U.N. Refugee Agency. That’s nearly double the asylum claims the U.S. fielded in 2015 and nearly quadruple the claims in 2013.

Trump ordered the deployment of the National Guard earlier this year to respond to an increase in illegal crossings. Those troops are under the control of state governors and are limited to support roles such as providing surveillance.

The planned deployment of active-duty troops is in response to a request from the Department of Homeland Security, which manages the Border Patrol. Earlier this year, Mattis authorized Pentagon funding for up to 4,000 National Guard troops on the border. So far, only a little over 2,000 have been used.

Federal law prohibits the use of active-duty service members for law enforcement inside the U.S. unless specifically authorized by Congress.

Trump hinted at the troop announcement at a rally in Wisconsin on Wednesday. “Wait’ll you see what happens over the next couple of weeks. You’re going to see a very secure border,” he said. “You just watch.”

Source: http://www.fox5dc.com/news/troops-headed-to-the-us-mexico-border

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FILE PHOTO: A convoy of US troops near Warsaw, Poland. © Kacper Pempel / Reuters

US troops in the Baltic countries would be “outranged, outgunned and outmatched” by Russians in case of a conflict, the head of the US European Command told lawmakers, seeking to secure funds in the face of a Moscow “threat.”

“If you look at it in a concentrated way on the border of Eastern Europe and only on the ground force, I would agree with that statement,” General Curtis Scaparrotti told Senator James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Thursday.

Inhofe was referring to the recent RAND Corporation report which found that Russian forces could take the capitals of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania within 60 hours. The report has been compiled over the past several years, with the assistance of EUCOM, Scaparrotti said.

“I don’t have any argument with the basis of the report and the threat that we have,” he added. Though the RAND report concluded that NATO has “sufficient resources, personnel, and equipment to enhance conventional deterrence focused on Russia,” it argued a “more robust posture … is worthy of consideration.”

Scaparrotti: #Russia is carrying out a campaign of destabilization to change the international order, fracture @NATO, and undermine U.S. leadership around the world.

“Hence my comment that I don’t have all the forces I need in Europe today,” Scaparrotti lamented, despite admitting that the US has “repostured forces” and “rewritten plans” of containing Russia over the past few years.

Last month, EUCOM requested $6.5 billion for its European Deterrence Initiative in 2019, which is roughly $2 billion more than requested for fiscal 2018.

Roaring cannons: Massive US-led artillery drills kick off in Europe (PHOTOS, VIDEOS)

Following plans drafted by the Obama administration, the US deployed military forces into Poland and the Baltic states last year, to “reassure” its allies in the face of “Russian aggression.” Reserving the right to defend its national security, Moscow has long sought compromises in the face of the US and NATO’s creeping expansion towards Russian borders after the end of Cold War, with Poland joining in March 1999 and the Baltic States in 2004.

Scaparrotti took over EUCOM in May 2016, and has continued the drumbeat of hostility to Russia set by his predecessor General Philip Breedlove. He asked the lawmakers to approve the budget requests for more troops, supplies and information warfare programs to counter the “threat” of Russia.

At Thursday’s hearing, he accused Moscow of seeking to “change the international order, fracture NATO, and undermine US leadership.” Russia continues to intercept “routine reconnaissance flight operations over the Baltic and Black Seas, flying dangerously close to our aircraft and occasionally causing unsafe conditions for our pilots operating in international airspace,” Scaparrotti informed lawmakers, adding that Russia also “continues to hold snap exercises and to limit transparency of planned exercises.”

The US general failed to mention, though, that most of Russia’s military drills take place inside its own borders. The one exception was the September 2017 ‘Zapad’ exercise jointly organized with Belarus. Even though Moscow and Minsk were upfront and transparent about the number of troops involved and the objectives, some NATO, US and Ukrainian officials claimed they were a cover for something more sinister.

‘Citing perceived Russian threat, US is trying to get a foothold in Europe by means of #NATO‘ – #Lavrov https://on.rt.com/8zct 

Imagined Russia threat is pretext for US dominance in Europe through NATO – Lavrov — RT World News

Citing a perceived Russian threat, the US is trying to get a foothold in Europe by means of NATO, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. The alliance continues to expand, devouring even Moscow’s…

rt.com

Meanwhile, as Scaparrotti was complaining to the senators about Russia’s threatening drills, some 3,700 troops from 26 NATO member states were conducting artillery exercises at the Grafenwoehr range in Germany. The drills, dubbed Dynamic Front 18, began on February 23 and are scheduled to end on March 10.

Pentagon ‘disappointed’ by Putin’s revelation of new Russian nuclear deterrent

Just last year, EUCOM conducted “over 2,500 military-to-military engagements, including over 700 State Partnership Program events in 22 countries,” Scaparrotti informed the Senate, as well as 22 exercises with nine allies under a special program for Eastern Europe. The US military is also stepping up efforts to “counter Russia’s propaganda and misinformation campaigns” through a joint effort with the State Department called the Russian Information Group (RIG), Scaparrotti said.

Among the long list of ills Scaparrotti accused Russia of was conducting the June 2017 NotPetya cyber-attack, interfering in elections across Europe, and endangering the Balkan countries’ “brighter future as part of the Euro-Atlantic family of nations.” The general also spoke approvingly of the recent Trump administration decision to sell Javelin anti-tank missiles to the government in Kiev, and noted that the US has spent “over $850 million” in aid to Ukraine since 2014.

Though Scaparrotti argued that Moscow could challenge US dominance by 2025, there was little mention of several new weapons in Moscow’s arsenal, revealed last week by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a message to the US and NATO that their attempts to intimidate and contain Russia have failed.

“All the things you were trying to prevent through your policies have already happened. You have failed to hold Russia back,” Putin said.

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Source: https://www.rt.com/usa/420836-general-russia-outgunned-nato/

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