US defense secretary wants military showdown with Russia: Analyst
US Secretary of Defense James Mattis is seeking to ignite a military “showdown” with Russia, American analyst Wayne Madsen says, citing the Pentagon chief’s latest remarks against Moscow.
Mattis said on Wednesday that the US and NATO were prepared to deploy military equipment to the Baltic region to deter Russia.
Two US military officials had said earlier in the day that the Pentagon was considering deploying a Patriot missile battery to the Baltic region before this summer.
Wary of the US-led NATO alliance’s military buildup near its borders, Russia is preparing for massive military exercises in its western military region in September.
The Pentagon chief criticized Russia for moving its troops nearer to its Western areas.
"Any buildup of Russian combat power in an area where they know, and we all know, they are not threatened by anything that we are doing ... is simply destabilizing," he said.
Madsen, a Washington-based author and investigative journalist, said Mattis was not the kind of defense secretary US President Donald Trump had promised American people before being elected president.
Mattis “is more like a defense secretary who would have been appointed by [former Secretary of state] Hillary Clinton,” Madsen told Press TV on Wednesday.
“We have seen Mattis pushing for a showdown with Russia in the Baltics,” he said, pointing to US-led NATO military alliance’s deployment of arms and troops on Russia’s doorstep.
The analyst further argued that Russians are outraged by the military buildup as Americans would be if the Kremlin was to send its forces to Mexico and Canada.
“I think they have every right to be concerned about their own national security,” he said. “The United States is not the only country in the world that has national security concerns.”
Last year, Russia deployed nuclear-capable Iskander-M missiles to the country’s westernmost region of Kaliningrad, near its border with the Baltic countries and NATO member states.
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