Trans-Atlantic Rush of Meetings Ahead of Jan. 20 Ramstein Global NATO Defense Contact Group Summit

Jan. 17, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)—A rush of meetings is taking place in the U.S. and Europe, solidifying still more backing for the crazed Global NATO war mobilization, before the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting at the U.S. Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Jan. 20.

On Jan. 18-19, the Military Committee of NATO, its highest body, will meet in person in Brussels. It will be a meeting of the Military Committee in Chiefs of Defense Session (MCCS), with 32 Chiefs of Defense, from the 30 member nations plus counterparts from Finland and Sweden. Admiral Rob Bauer, Chief of the NATO Military Committee, will preside.

Today in Washington, D.C., Britain’s Foreign Secretary James Cleverly met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken; tomorrow Cleverly meets in Toronto with Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly. Cleverly spoke at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, saying that the West is sending a message to Putin, that we will “support Ukrainians until they are victorious.” The hasty two-day visit to North America Cleverly described, ahead of his departure from London, was arranged because, “The U.K., U.S., and Canada always have each other’s backs when it counts protecting the rules-based order for nearly 80 years.”

At the White House today, President Joe Biden met with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who indicated Dutch support for co-supplying the Patriot air defense system. “We have the intention to join what you’re doing with Germany on the Patriots project, the air-defense system.” Praising the Dutch role in the Western alliance, Biden said, “Russia is continuing to act in ways that are almost unbelievable.”

Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley today met in Poland—at a secret location—with the head of Ukraine’s armed forces, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, who reported later that he had “outlined the urgent needs” of the Ukraine military. On Jan. 16 Milley reviewed Ukrainian troop training at the base in Grafenwöhr, Germany. Some 600 Ukrainian soldiers are said to be in training, but smaller groups have been run through the program there before. Col. David Butler, a spokesman for Milley, said that the current training is an extension of what the U.S. has been doing since 2014, with international backing.

Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kiev on Jan. 16, for the purpose of reviewing economic and security matters, to “reaffirm” U.S. support “against Russia’s unprovoked aggression,” according to her department. She also met with Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. Prior to that, she was in Germany and Poland, for meetings on Ukraine, along with Under Secretary of Defense Dr. Colin H. Kahl and Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer.