William Molinié, edited by Laura Laplaud 06:52, June 30, 2022

At the NATO summit in Madrid, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that the Alliance would increase its high-readiness forces to 300,000 men.

An announcement that raises many questions, because in fact, it seems "impossible to send to a field of war, in an emergency" so many soldiers in less than 15 days.

Did NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg make a premature announcement?

NATO's strategic concept was adopted on Wednesday at the Madrid summit.

The Alliance wants to beef up its military presence on the eastern flank and has announced that it will increase its high-readiness forces to 300,000 men.

In the event of aggression by one of the member countries, they would be supposed to be able to intervene at short notice.

A figure that raises many questions, because until now only 40,000 soldiers could be deployed in these conditions.

Intox or significant increase?

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According to a senior French officer, "it is impossible at this stage to send 300,000 soldiers from 30 different nationalities to a field of war as a matter of urgency", and this in less than 15 days.

Without counting the equipment, the logistic support, the transmissions.

Asked about the subject, the Élysée affirms that it does not see it very clearly and refers to the General Secretariat of NATO, which promises a detailed list country by country during the day.

A communication war

The announcement of these 300,000 soldiers is more a labeling rather than a real mobilization of the theoretical forces in reserve and which would rotate regularly between the Member States.

To this should be added the contingents prepositioned in the countries of Eastern Europe, up to 5,000 per brigade.

“Pay attention to the figures”, warns, cautiously, a military source.

Washington also flexed its muscles on Wednesday by announcing the presence of 100,000 American soldiers on European soil.

By way of comparison, this figure represents half the number of active soldiers in the French armies.

War is also a communication war and numbers are a deterrent.