Det är vidrigt att se hur den ogrundade rysshetsen fortsätter i Almedalen och att även ÖB deltar, trots att han sade för ett år sedan på Almedalen att Ryssland inte är ett hot. NATO generalen Pavel är mera balancerad:

"According to General Pavel, NATO is not contemplating any further troop build-up in Eastern Europe beyond what's already been done, and as Reuters reports, Pavel claims that the build-up was just in hopes of discouraging Russia from orchestrating the kind of campaign it used to annex the Crimea peninsula. However what Pavel said next is most interesting:

"Deployment of substantial military force is not being considered. It is not the aim of NATO to create a military barrier against broad-scale Russian aggression, because such aggression is not on the agenda and no intelligence assessment suggests such a thing."

Well that's quite a statement, because the actions of the US and NATO have completely contradicted that assessment. If Pavel is correct, and there is no actual intelligence that suggests any aggression is being planned by Russia, then either the US is trying to provoke the country into action on purpose, which is always a possibility, or another possibility is one that we pointed out last week, and that is the Saudi's are pressuring the US to get rid of Assad. If the US accommodates that request from its good friend Saudi Arabia, then a direct conflict with Russia would be imminent, as Russia has made it very clear that the US isn't to take Assad out militarily. If the US knows it is going to go ahead and topple Assad at the behest of the Saudi's, then it would make sense to have an already established force surrounding Russia's border to deter any immediate action.

Whatever the reason for the build-up, we will be watching closely to see how this ultimately plays out." skriver Zero Hedge.