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No, as I said, I haven't been invited.
Hey just an observation, Ram was anticipating and creating products for the Cyber Security Market 2 decades ago, I doubt that's changed.
Yes he did pd, but with all this Hype and Speculation running around my Brain I can't remember the Facts and Dates. LOL
When did you first read that ?
I don't know I try to say out of your mind, When not invited.
Just having fun this evening that's no put down.
As I said before Obviously! All for one and One for all.
Pd ALL - Yes Bulk Purchasing Power Saves Money.
Absolutely ! You are correct sir.
Why buy SFOR encryption??
Have you Heard of Microsoft being hacked ?
Would INTEL add Hardware MultiFactor Authentication to its Latest 7th Generation Chips if it could be hacked ?
Heard of anyone using StrikeForces Products Being Hacked ?
It takes Time for Technology to penetrate and saturate the market?
It took years for CD-ROM Writers to become a Consumer Product. In 1990 it cost $35,000K for the equipment if you wanted to Produce a CD-ROM Product unless farming the Job out to a Company that would do it for you. In 1992 the cost dropped to around $10K. More in reference below.
Industry and the Government are the first to Purchase Products such as that before the production costs are cut enough by Mass Purchasing at much higher cost in order for the Price to come down to the Consumer Level. I believe the first CD-ROM R for your PC cost $500.
Ok, so CD-ROM's R/W is a little dated so let's move up to LED Lightbulbs which have been available to the consumer for little more almost 2 decades but the same law still applies as the recently are finally begining to Dominate the market on store sleeves. Oh they were available to the Consumer prior to today say 3 or 4 years ago, but had little quanities and Shelf Space due to the Much Higher cost. In the meantime while a Government Mandated Time Table was set, for the switch from incandescent was playing out? Ever try to buy a 100 Watt Bulb in the past couple of years ?
Meanwhile Chinese mostly Made Compact fluorescent bulbs proliferated.
Ever read the Warning Labels on these things?
First the contain Murcury and should be disposed of in Hazardous Material Dumps.
2nd what are you suppose to due in an a Skyscraper Office Building where you cant open a windwow to ventilate the room if one is broken as the instructions on the packaging tell you to do. How do you comply with Government Regulations without evacuating the entire Floor until the Broken Compact Florescent mess is cleaned up. Or
Do we call out the HazMat Team ?
The Government could careless, as long as we are Conserving Energy until the Invented LED Light Bulb Technology is broght down to a Retail Consumer Price Level.
Yes everybody panics these days over Small Amounts of anything that maybe hazardous to your health. If Most consumers Office workers even know the contain Mercury.
Babyboomers use to take the Silver semi-solid Mercry from broken thermometers and play with it watching it roll around in their bare Hands.
I'm not trying to downplay the how dangerous Murcury can be to the Human Body, instead I'd like to point out that all those mostlt
Chinese made compact fluorescent bulbs we've been using for the past ten years that uninformed consumers just throw in their household Trash like they were incandescents, are filling our Trash Dumps with a lot of Hazardous Material polluting the Earth beneath it.
How many so called Environmental Nuts are doing the same as the typical consumer ?
As I've asked a few how do they like those new Energy Saving compact fluorescent light bulbs ? And what they do when with them when they do eventually burn out.
Pretty Hypocritical if you ask me.
LED Bulbs on the other hand may cost more but last about 5-7 years or more, an Investment in Cost savings down the road if you can afford the few extra bucks. Do Not Forget to take them with you when you Move.
I know most of the above due to wanting to Produce and Sell CD-ROMs after retuning from Germany in 1990 and Investing in at the time Main LED Manufacture CREE Inc in 1998 and held for two years.
Cree first brought the blue LED to market in 1989, and today Cree's XLamp® LEDs have continually exceeded industry standards for brightness and efficiency.
Just an Emerging, Disruptive, and Paradigm Shift Technology Investor.
Hello StrikeForce Technologies glad to meet you.
49'er
Ref:
CD-R recording systems available in 1990 were similar to the washing machine-sized Meridian CD Publisher, based on the two-piece rack mount Yamaha PDS audio recorder costing $35,000, not including the required external ECC circuitry for data encoding, SCSI hard drive subsystem, and MS-DOS control computer. By 1992, the cost of typical recorders was down to $10,000–12,000, and in September 1995, Hewlett-Packard introduced its model 4020i manufactured by Philips, which, at $995, was the first recorder to cost less than $1000.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD-R
Note to Pennydream, you were correct.
Pd - You stated same Address and Crew
Pardon me, if the subject has been discussed earlier today, as this NBS thread is the first posts I read today and I tried to read all the Replys associated.
About
Yes it shows CEO Mark Kay, Crew and Address on the Left Hand Side of the NBBI about Page.
Leadership
The Left Hand Side of the Page shows a different CEO, Crew and Address which is Located about an hours drive from Edison, NJ
Strategic Partners.
Although this most likey is Seperate Company created by StrikeForce having is own CEO.
To answer your question "Nsb created for sfor for what reason ?"
NSB or National Security Builders, may have been created to work with the Industry having a Title that more reflects the Nature of the Products and Sevices being be Sold. StrikeForce is not a name that say a Healthcare Provider would type in when doing a Google Search for a company providing a Cyber Security products and services as Security is not in its title.
Although if that is the reason, I would have named the company NCSB -National Cyber Security Builders, LLC or NCSP - National Cyber Security Providers, LLC
Perhaps some inquisitive young man might email or call Kay and ask for Answer if one has not been posted and Provided.
That's my 2 cents.
49'er
Yes RDY2ROCK, Now if we could just get those Headlines to Read
TPG and StrikeForce Technologies to Collaborate to Establish McAfee as Leading Independent Cybersecurity Company Valued at $5.2 Billion Utilizing StrikeForce's Award Winning Cyber Security Patented Technology.
Disclaimer:
Only Day Dreaming, No Basis in Reality
I would not have done that History, except for they who know not of what they speak.
Thank You zatafour, it was a Fun, Interesting and Satisfying Run.
Of course it's pretty enjoyable here too, some how I manage to get a laugh in here and there, while waiting for the inevitable run up the chart.
And while thinking about it. In the Silicon Review Article, did anyone catch the Quote from Jack Ma, Kay used ?
http://thesiliconreview.com/magazines/the-worlds-leading-provider-of-out-of-band-two-factor-authentication-keystroke-encryption-and-mobile-security-strikeforce-technologies-inc/#
If anyone knows who Jack Ma is?
The quote just emphasizes the need for Cyber Security.
Wish Kay had been part of the Financial Arm that did his IPO.
Power and Influence.
But then, SFOR has Bo and Steven Cooper
YES ! "lets be realist here"
Jaw Dropping News on R/S
http://securitysolutionswatch.com/Interviews/in_Boardroom_StrikeForce.html
Mark Kay: A Great Question Martin. Since we were awarded monies through our Phone Factor lawsuit two years back, we then paid off all of our convertible notes we borrowed and started to deal with our friendly notes we owed people.
We went from $14 million to about $7.5 million owed and stopped borrowing monies and owing any collateral deals.
Our stock outstanding hasn’t increased except for a few million where we had some preferred shares convert to common shares and definitely have no plans to do a reverse stock split for these same reasons.
"Mark Kay: Our key drivers are #1 financials.
Our financials have grown and should continue. We hope for a jump in financials throughout 2017 based on our revenue plans.
Also since we don’t owe any monies to survive, we expect our stock price to grow, especially once our revenues grow to larger numbers through the many large deals we expect to close in 2017.
Also this year we expect our lawsuits to continue and potentially grow, and now that we were awarded one lawsuit (PhoneFactor/Microsfot), we expect others to follow."
Mark Kay: One very important subject is, HAVE A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR
R/S ???
I hadn't heard....
Damn must have missed that post!
And here I thought I was keep up with everything on the board.
IC pd You got a point there !
Yeah who wants long posts, who need screenshots, Facts, Links ect.
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=129222008
When someone asks a question..
Just say "It's on Google, do a search!". Great Idea Pd !
Thanks
Damn! Man, I should have thought of that a long time ago..
Dont forget coenzyme Q10
No Pd,
I'm about burnt out, I may go for the one or two liner posts, seems to work for all most everyone else.. Besides I think the 9th Inning is about to start, time to really concentrate on the game, and make a few phone calls before they raise the prices at the Snack Bar.
Oh it's begining, Batter Up !
Could not have summed up that question any better Drifter, and in just two words no less. Straight and to the point.
Thanks for saving me from writing a post.
Sleddogs - International Patent Approval
Just to add a bit of good news to the begining of March, the International Patent for Mobile Trust should be Approved VERY SOON..
The process through the PCT takes 30 months. StrikeForce Applied in September 2014 according to the 10K.
March 2017 is 30 months.
For other International patents, I hope someone can find the exact date when applied and let myself and Board know. Thank You
In September 2014, the Company filed an International Patent for MobileTrust® (PCT/US20114/029905).
http://www.getfilings.com/sec-filings/141117/StrikeForce-Technologies-Inc_10-Q/#ixzz4aSO3h7PW
But this is really just the begining, before the 30th Month, from the priority date, you begin the National Phase of PCT Contracting States’ patent Offices.
It is only after you have decided whether, and in respect of which States, you wish to proceed further with your international application that you must fulfill the requirements for entry into the national phase.
These requirements include paying national fees and, in some cases, filing translations of the application. These steps must be taken, in relation to the majority of PCT Contracting States’ patent Offices, before the end of the 30th month from the priority date. There may also be other requirements in connection with the entry into the national phase – for example, the appointment of local agents. More general information on national phase entry can be found in the PCT Applicant’s Guide, National Phase, and specific information concerning fees and national requirements can be found in the national chapters for each PCT Contracting State in the same Guide.
DOLPHY,
You with 9000+ posts and investing for at least 10 years (you joined ihub in 2006) and investING in Biotech, I'm sure you have had your share of wait for news on a Phase II OR phase III Drug Trial.
Perhaps you have heard of a company Quiet Period.
Below I posted part of a post I did this morning, it was at the very bottom and perhaps you may have missed it even you began to read the post. Anyway as stated I don know, but it could be a possibility.
You of course make you own Investment decesions, and it would not matter to me if you stayed invested or not. But reading your post I thought I might pass the thought along.
Good Luck in all your Investments,
49'er
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=129213772
Again I have no Idea what the reason for all the delayed announcements on many events including a PR on Best Buy or more importantly the Deals, Customers with Intallations and testing going on...etc. we would have expected at least something to have been announced by now.
And I surly don't think Mark is lying about anything he has stated since I invested 6 months ago.
I think his use of of the words Major Major when normally just Major would do. Was more for Extreme Emphasis, rather than anything else.
Now probably not the situation at all, but the company could be in a Quiet Period perhaps in Buy Out Negotiations or even a merger with ACS as the relationship with ACS seems to be very Strong with ACS's success in its partnership efforts with Intel/McAffee on XDL ( and XDL not being Hype, and can be seen with ACS/SFOR Products being Intergrated into XDL on McAffee/Intel Web Page's, very plainly) or perhaps a Horizontal or Vertical Merger with SFOR & ACS or ACS & TPG.
This is not an attempt on my part to add hype or rah rah the Company and fuel speculation. But just as a viable opinion as to the reason for lack of the lenghy delay of ANY Announcements.
Ref: My XDL statement is at the Bottom of this WebPage
https://www.mcafee.com/us/solutions/data-exchange-layer.aspx
Need I really state the definition of the word Integrated again ?
Integrated - Combining or coordinating separate elements so as to provide a harmonious, interrelated whole:
ACS/SFOR has negotiated it's way into being Integrated into McAffee Products or Products.
Love the enthusiasm as to the possibilities but I'd like to remind you we don't know as of yet, ACS/SFOR's involvement with Intel itself.
Pennydream / All - I have taken about 30 minutes looking over the DUO and Associate Websites.
I was not that impressed with the the landing page of your link. The choice of Web page design was not that impressive, ho-hum. But that's the just Web Design Element IMO.
Yes they appear to have their Sh_t together, they also have the $$$$$$$ to spend on Website Design & Content. I'm sure SFOR could do the same in many respects, like a page where they could list every damn VPN that ProtectID works with, etc. Given DUO's Resources.
I think StrikeForce has done a good job with their recent site update
given having only about nine people in the company and available funds to spend on Website content.
Better to spend available talent pursueing Deals, making New Channel and Distribution Partners who may have more capital to do so, and aquiring a percentage of the products for themselves at the same time, who can Promote StrikeForce's Products at this stage, which seems to have been a philosophy of the Company up to this point.
Venture Capital is a wonderful thing, if you can obtain it.
Z makes some very good points in his post
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=127907391&txt2find=Venture|capital
That the companies providing DUO's VC, are watching on going events in court as well.
If I were making products X, Y and Z and was backed by VC Funds because they think one my products was the greatest thing since the invention of the Microwave Oven, and then the VC's found out that I had ripped off the patent of the company that had invented the Microwave Magnatron, they might pull my VC Funding a begin talking to the company that Patented the Magnatron.
I'm sure as b]Z pointed out that people are watching the Patent Lawsuit with interest.
I'm sure that DUO has
I say I say I say, that's a HINT Son, to quote Foghorn Leghorn.
Perhaps one of the reasons besides the fact that DUO has large Capital, that SFOR decided to go after DUO right away before things get out of hand any further.
Again the Company has the "appearance" to have their sheeeeet together.
But like Unicorns, the only ones that actually exist are Horses someone has graphed a Horn on its forehead.
The fact that you are out there doing research, and posting what you find gives you the credibility that some on this board don't have.
I may not agree totally on your assessment and touting how great an Outsized SFOR competitor is, I do admire that DD is in your repertoire.
But like a 7 foot tall BasketBall Player has an advantage playing one-on-one against a Player that is 5'9". I would probably bet on the Tall Guy everytime.
That is until he begins dribbling down the court, and it is plain to see that he looks like Elton John prancing around with 1 foot tall Elevator Shoes on.
Like the Emperor who has No Clothes and no one has the courage to tell him. Once he's not the all powerful Emperor anymore, people would just laugh at him and say hey buddy, you really look stupid, running around with your balls hanging down to your knees.
Pardon my somewhat anecdotal examples, used for emphasis, but things are not always as the as they first appear.
If DUO is found to be infringing, then the Emperor has no clothes, and the only way to Save Face in front of the VC Funds that backed them in the first place, to Save Face they'd have to buy StrikeForce or do a reverse merger (reverse IPO) making it easier to get a Nasdaq listing.
But then again, that's just my Opinion, and I'm sure everyone has their own.
A few on the Board seem to be Complaining about not hearing anything, not making any PR noise. I was told when I questioned the lack of announcement, I was told it would be announced on Social Media that night.
I have no idea what's going on, but my uneducated guess follows the statement on SFOR's CTO and Video below.
_________________To that end,
_________________
ST - I Sure will have a good evening, because I have tears in my eye's everytime I look at post
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=129207183
You were Correct in stating I'm (crocodile) Rockin Tonight.
That post was a Prime Example of really ROTHFLOL or LMAO
Thanks and Good Night
Correct ROCKY - I was thinking of McEwen Mining owning 49% of the the San José Mine in Argentina and 51% owned by Hochschild Mining.
http://www.mcewenmining.com/Operations/San-Jose-Mine/Overview/default.aspx
Great Point RDY2ROCK
Sleddogs - "His software programing" expertise"
Software Programing is just the begining.
It takes years in Computer Science, Engineering and Math to create what Ram Pemmaraju has done.
If you think High School Calculus gave you Nightmares, then The Next Stop The Twilight Zone. Yes it's 2am..
You know some of these whinners just clutter up the facts i.e. Financials, R/S and Clutter Up the board.. The next report will settle that Old stuff.
Major Major Deals with Major Major Players will fix what ails you.
You know it, I Know it. And those who keep Buying Millions of Shares know it.
Many will know it, perhaps a bit to late to take advantage of this PPS. But they will know it.
Although it always good to sell enough to cover you Initial Investment, a flipper stands a 50/50 chance of being on the wrong side of the coin when news is announced. Unless one maintains a large Core Position while doing so.
When Mark Kay states :
Kay stated Major Major Deals with Major Major Players.
( I Love This One )
We've got Major Players out there, which if you heard their names (which I cannot divulge at this point) you'll know WoW if your selling to these companies you got to make it Big and that's who they are selling it to.
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=129184240
And anyone can see the McAffee ScreenShots of their Web Pages as Proof of that) ACS/SFOR is partnered with McAffee/INTEL and ACS product(s) are integrated in McAffee's DXL
And when a PR is released.
At that point Financials and the PPS take care of themselves.
Yes it matters, but really does not matter as far as Viable Financials, whether Intel is or is not using SFOR's IP in their Hardware MultiFactor Authentication. That is still a debatable point until it is known.
Although I did layout some Good points that Point to it may be so.....
Again http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=129184240
But as always until we see that fact in writing, it's just a fairly Sound Theroy or Educated Guess. Not fact.
The PPS will go up on just what we can see, once it is announced.
As my post ( http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=129203520 ) shows having the Right Patents on the RIght Technology, at the Right time, and survive as a Company to be able to Capitialize on it and the REST takes care of itself.
Another point, if ACS were just your Typical Partner it would be one thing. Considering thE Fact that ACS is owned by Bo Dietl who has known Trump as a Friend for years. To that end Warren Buffet too. Among others....
We need to add those factors in to the equation too. Power and influence can move Mountains. Or to your point possibly DOD Contracts...!
It's 2am
I like your idea. Any techies don't miss......
Blinkee The sound of the Ocean and Waves at the beach.
Forget the part about, taking a deep breath and holding it for a minute, you should be very relaxed.
But how can you cuss in that type of environment, unless a Seagull had just made a bombing run and hit the target....
I Hope you have a Bluetooth Speaker with you.
My apologies on post 139801
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=129191093
It begins with Pd and should have read NCAR.
Please just think of Pd meaning Pretty Disturbed.
Yes NCAR is the one we should be questioning as to his reason for posting here as described accurately in that post.
Ok Blinkee,
Pd - FACT 5 is a FACT. FACT 5 points to FACT 2 Being a FACT
Ok Pennydream, Let's keep to HARD FACTS
The Short List
1) Fact: Kay has stated a few times NO future R/S planned.
2) Fact: Kay stated Major Major Deals with Major Major Players.
( I Love This One )
We've got Major Players out there, which if you heard their names (which I cannot divulge at this point) you'll know WoW if your selling to these companies you got to make it Big and that's who they are selling it to.
@ 8:45 - 9:45
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=129126533
3) Fact: Kay stated Products would be on a TV Store
@ 6 minutes
https://audioboom.com/posts/5072499-ceo-mark-kay-with-strikeforce-technologies-why-anti-viruses-are-not-working-and-what-consumers-can-do-to-become-more-secure
4) Fact: Kay Stated McAffee is selling SFOR Products.
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=129126533
Those are the Facts unless they don't become Reality in the Future.
Fact 2 is proven at minimum in part by Fact 5.
5) Fact in Existence: ACS IS A PARTNER and WORKING with McAffee and ACS PROUCTS ARE INTEGRATED INTO INTEL'S McAffee Security Solution .
Integrated - Combining or Coordinating separate elements so as to provide a harmonious, interrelated whole:
Fact 6 below Screenshots.
( Note: I've previously debunked the Ex-Intel employees statement on 2/26/17 " It is NOT "built into hardware". It simply uses utilities available in the processor to implement multi-factor authentication." )
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=129022398
6)FACT: INTEL Recently announced that it has added Multifactor Authentication in its New 7th Generation Intel® Core™ vPro™ processor-based devices also support virtual smart cards and additional factors from OEMs and hardware partners, giving you more choices for policy customization.
(It is yet to be determined who's Technology/IP is behind Intel's Multifactor Authenticaton)
_______________________
_________________
longbord, I see there was not a reply to your question.
Dear George, StrikeForce's Products are available at Best Buy Online,
Our Products will be Available on Best Buy Store Shelves later this year.
Now go tell the Wotld.
Good things come to those who have patience.
God Bless U.S. Troops Deployed Across The Globe.
While they are Protecting us here at Home, may Major Sleddogs Valiant Effort in a Massive Letter Writing Campaign to our leaders in Washington, Prevail in Protecting those very Troops Protecting our Freedoms in the United States of America.
Hand Salute to Major Sleddogs.
Freedom is never a Free Commodity it requires Sacrafice .
May God Bless those Abroad that Sacrifice for us here at Home.
Each of you, Please think of them the next time you enjoy at Dinner Out, a quick bite at McDonald's, Shopping at the Mall and getting a latte at StarBucks, going to the beach with Friends, or just relaxing at home with family and loved ones.
I salute you all, no matter what Race, Color, Religion or Political Persuasion. Thank you for your Sacrifice.
NOLAN PETERSON: PUTIN PROVOKES MILITARY BUILDUP
BY NOLAN PETERSON ON 2/23/17 AT 1:10 AM
http://www.newsweek.com/nolan-peterson-putin-provokes-military-build-559182?rx=us
Kiev, Ukraine—The Kremlin’s strategy of military aggression in Ukraine and Eastern Europe has backfired, spurring former Soviet and Warsaw Pact countries to become a de facto anti-Moscow military bloc, while NATO rearms and reinforces its eastern flank.
Altogether, Eastern Europe has become the most rapidly militarizing region on earth, which is not to Moscow’s advantage.
“I think [Russia’s military policies] have failed because they stimulated national resistance and the beginning of NATO rearmament,” Stephen Blank, senior fellow for Russia at the American Foreign Policy Council, told The Daily Signal.
“But there is no threat to Russia,” Blank added, underscoring how NATO and Ukraine are building up their militaries as a defensive move, which is not a bellwether for any offensive action against Russia.
In 2014, Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula after a hybrid warfare invasion. Russia subsequently launched a proxy war in eastern Ukraine, which is still ongoing and has so far killed about 10,000 Ukrainians.
Since 2014, Russia has also ratcheted up military provocations against NATO forces across Eastern Europe. Russian warplanes have made provocative flybys of NATO ships and aircraft. And Moscow has deployed new military hardware to its Kaliningrad exclave, a territory nestled between the Baltic countries and Poland, which are all NATO members.
02_21_Putin_Buildup_01
A soldier of the Bundeswehr, the German armed forces, looks at Marder light tanks loaded onto trains for transport to Lithuania on February 21, 2017 in Grafenwoehr, Germany. Nolan Peterson writes that, anticipating a potential war with Russia, former Soviet and Warsaw Pact countries have undertaken a crash-course military buildup. Accordingly, the Baltic countries of Latvia and Lithuania have had the two fastest-growing military budgets in the world since 2014, according to IHS Jane’s.
SEAN GALLUP/GETTY
“These are definitely not made for TV operations, but major military actions and threats of larger ones against Ukraine and the Baltics,” Blank said, referring to Russian aggression.
Russia has also conducted cyber warfare attacks on the electoral processes of multiple NATO countries, including, but not limited to, the U.S., Germany and France.
“Russia is likely to continue its military provocations against NATO members since the image of an unpredictable [Russian President Vladimir] Putin serves Moscow’s interest in fueling fears of another war in Europe,” Daniel Szeligowski, senior research fellow at the Polish Institute of International Affairs, told The Daily Signal.
By casting doubt as to “whether NATO is capable of defending its members in case of aggression,” Szeligowski said Russia is trying to reassert influence over what it considers its “near abroad”—essentially the territory of the former Soviet Union.
Yet, Russia’s gambit appears to be backfiring.
“Russia’s aggression against its neighbors has changed the threat perception of many NATO members, many of whom have finally taken steps to increase defense spending,” said Daniel Kochis, policy analyst in European affairs at The Heritage Foundation. “This is something that decades of haranguing by multiple U.S. administrations has failed to do.”
NATO Still Matters
Anticipating a potential war with Russia, former Soviet and Warsaw Pact countries have undertaken a crash-course military buildup.
Accordingly, the Baltic countries of Latvia and Lithuania have had the two fastest-growing military budgets in the world since 2014, according to IHS Jane’s.
Despite the military buildup, however, Eastern European countries are, for the most part, not looking to freelance their own national security outside of NATO’s collective defense umbrella. In fact, Russian aggression has increased NATO’s clout in Eastern Europe since 2014.
“Regional security cooperation between countries on NATO’s eastern flank leads to greater coordination and capacity development, and thus should be further strengthened,” Szeligowski told The Daily Signal.
“However,” Szeligowski added, “it needs to be seen as complementary to NATO, since it cannot replace U.S. security guarantees within the alliance.”
Despite not being a NATO member and therefore not enjoying NATO’s collective defense guarantee, Ukraine has also turned to NATO as a hedge against Russian aggression.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has ordered Ukraine’s military to adopt NATO standards by 2020. And when combined Russian-separatist forces launched an artillery and rocket blitz on the eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka at the end of January, Poroshenko announced plans to hold a national referendum on NATO membership for Ukraine.
NATO will not accept a Ukrainian bid for membership while the country is at war. But Poroshenko’s move highlights how invoking the possibility, however slim, of NATO membership is a way to deter, or antagonize, Russia.
“Since Russia’s aggressive actions began three years ago, NATO has stood by Ukraine— this will not change,” NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller said during a February 9 joint press conference with Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman.
NATO, Redux
Russian aggression has spurred NATO to rearm and adopt a more aggressive posture toward Moscow.
The Western military alliance (originally conceived to oppose the Soviet Union) has collectively pledged to boost military spending while it follows through on plans to deploy its forces eastward toward Russia’s borders in ways unseen since the Cold War.
“Russia is working to undermine NATO solidarity, to create fractures and exacerbate differences within the alliance,” Kochis said. “It’s essential NATO members retain a united front to withstand these tireless efforts.”
At a gathering of defense ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Monday, U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis pressed for all NATO countries to meet the alliance’s minimum defense spending target of 2 percent of gross domestic product.
Currently, only five countries—the U.S., Estonia, Greece, Poland and the U.K.—meet the 2 percent mark.
“Americans cannot care more for your children’s security than you do,” Mattis said during a speech at the meeting.
As a response to Russia’s military actions in Ukraine, NATO has plans to send four 1,000-troop-strong battalions toward Russia’s borders; one for each of the three Baltic countries, and one for Poland.
Additionally, NATO’s Very High Readiness Joint Task Force comprises about 5,000 troops. The unit is meant to “respond to emerging security challenges posed by Russia, as well as the risks emanating from the Middle East and North Africa,” according to a statement on NATO’s website.
Overall, the U.S. has about 35,000 military personnel in Europe, including two Army infantry brigades. To deter Moscow, the U.S. has recently deployed an additional heavy brigade to Poland, comprising about 3,500 troops and 87 tanks, as well as a unit of 500 troops to Romania.
The U.S. also has troops in Ukraine conducting a training mission for Ukraine’s armed forces.
“The U.S. has restated its commitment to NATO and Article V, and Russia should recognize that those security guarantees remain rock solid,” Kochis said. “Any deviation only invites aggression and miscalculation.”
The Big Picture
NATO’s eastward deployments are still just a fraction of Ukraine’s military buildup near Russia’s border, underscoring how the overall military balance of power in Europe has shifted since 2014 due to Russian aggression.
Ukraine now has about 60,000 combat troops, supported by heavy artillery and armor, forward deployed to the Donbas—Ukraine’s embattled southeastern territory on the border with Russia. That’s a force of 60,000 combat troops near Russia’s border that wasn’t there prior to 2014.
“Russia’s actions in Ukraine are first and foremost about domestic Russian politics,” Kochis said. “A stable, economically prosperous Ukraine on Russia’s borders is seen as a threat to the survival of the Russian regime.”
In the months following Ukraine’s February 2014 revolution, Russia launched a hybrid invasion of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, ultimately annexing the territory.
Russia followed up the seizure of Crimea with a proxy war in the Donbas. A combined force of pro-Russian separatists and Russian regulars was on the march in eastern Ukraine in 2014, and there were worries then that Ukraine could be split in two, or that Russia might launch a large-scale invasion.
A ceasefire called Minsk II has kept the war at bay since February 2015. But the fighting never really stopped. Today, the conflict is static, mostly fought from fixed positions in trenches with long-range, indirect fire weapons, such as artillery and rockets.
Today, about 3,000 to 5,000 regular Russian troops remain in the Donbas, along with about 40,000 pro-Russian separatists, according to Ukrainian military estimates.
The war in eastern Ukraine has killed about 10,000 Ukrainians and displaced about 1.7 million people, according to estimates by humanitarian groups.
Do or Die
Prior to 2014, the Ukrainian military had been gutted by corrupt government officials who pilfered weapons and supplies for sale to arms dealers.
Yet, in the past three years, and while fighting a war, Ukraine has rebuilt its military into the second largest in Europe (behind Russia), comprising about a quarter-million active-duty troops and about 80,000 reservists—that’s a jump of at least 25 percent from its pre-2014 manpower levels.
Additionally, Ukraine increased its military budget by 23 percent the year after the war began. Ukrainian defense spending is scheduled to increase by 10 percent each year going forward, according to IHS Jane’s.
Ukraine has also revamped its military-industrial complex. In 2015, Ukraine was the world’s ninth-largest weapons exporting nation. In 2016, Ukraine’s arms exports contracts jumped by 25 percent from 2015 levels, totaling about $750 million.
Poroshenko, Ukraine’s president, has called for Ukraine to rank among the world’s top-five weapons exporting nations by 2020.
Ukraine’s military revival has been meteoric, and it would never have happened without Russia’s takeover of Crimea, or its proxy war in the Donbas.
Ukraine’s strategic military doctrine now identifies Russia as the country’s top security threat. Resultantly, Kiev is rebuilding its military with the specific objective of defending against a Russian invasion.
Ukraine’s military center of gravity used to be in its western regions, a carryover from the Cold War when the Red Army massed its strength on the Soviet Union’s western borders to oppose a NATO invasion from that direction.
Today, however, Ukraine’s military forces have moved eastward, digging in to defend against Russia.
Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine has also sparked a cultural backlash among the Ukrainian people. Ukrainians share a common language, religion and cultural history with Russia. And many Ukrainians have friends and family living in Russia.
Yet, 72 percent of Ukrainians have an unfavorable opinion about Russia, and 77 percent consider Russia to be a threat to its neighbors, according to a recent poll by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation, a Ukrainian think tank. That’s a sharp change from 2011, when 84 percent of Ukrainians had a favorable opinion about Russia.
Ukraine is, bit-by-bit, purging itself of all things Russian, and all reminders of the Soviet Union.
In 2015, Ukraine’s parliament passed a series of “decommunization” laws, which outlawed all symbols of the Soviet Union, including the hammer and sickle flag, and statues of Vladimir Lenin. Even the Soviet national anthem was banned.
Towns and cities with Soviet-era names were also renamed. The city formerly called Dnipropetrovsk—Ukraine’s fourth-largest city—is now simply called “Dnipro City.”
The excised “petrovsk” referred to communist leader Grigory Petrovsky, for whom the city was named in 1926 by Joseph Stalin.
Inevitability
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania—which are all former Soviet states and current NATO members—are now building up their militaries at a faster pace than any other countries on earth.
The Baltic countries increased their collective spending on new military equipment from $210 million in 2014 to $390 million in 2016, according to a report by IHS Jane’s. By 2020, the region’s defense budget will be $2.1 billion, up from $930 million in 2005.
“This growth is faster than any other region globally,” Craig Caffrey, principal analyst at IHS Jane’s, said in the report.
Poland, also a NATO member, has doubled its military spending since 2006, reaching $9.2 billion in 2016. Polish military spending has increased in eight of the past 10 years, with an 18 percent jump in 2015.
Even Sweden and Finland, countries that stayed mostly neutral during the Cold War, have started to build up their militaries due to the Russian threat.
According to a February 13 report from the Independent, a British newspaper, Finnish authorities have mulled blocking some foreigners from purchasing property near military sites. The move was a response to worries that Russians were acquiring land, which could be used to garrison troops or stage attacks during an invasion.
Grassroots Defense
The militarization of civilian populations across Eastern Europe offers a chilling barometer of how seriously those countries consider the possibility of a war with Russia.
Throughout the region, civilian paramilitary groups—a throwback to partisan units that fought against both the Nazis and the Red Army in World War II—are training for a guerrilla war against Russia.
In Lithuania, the government recently issued a guerrilla warfare manual for the country’s 3 million citizens. Estonia’s standing army comprises about 6,000 troops out of an overall national population of 1.3 million. However, the country’s Defense League—a civilian paramilitary group—has 25,400 volunteers who train for war on the weekends.
Civilian militias in Poland are also preparing for war against Russia. And in Ukraine, civilian paramilitary groups are widely credited with stopping the advance of combined Russian-separatist forces in 2014, during the early days of the war when Ukraine’s regular army was on its heels.
“We can see that Russia is going in the direction of restoring the influence it had at the time of the Soviet Union,” Tomasz Siemoniak, Poland’s former minister of national defense and deputy prime minister, said in 2015.
“If that is the case then the situation is not over by any means with Crimea,” Siemoniak said. “It will move on to the territories of other countries, that will either be targeted by aggression, or by some other measures taken by the Russian federation. So we have to be ready.”
Priorities
Many analysts compare the current tensions between Russia and NATO as a new Cold War. They see the conflict through a bipolar lens—NATO on one side, Russia and its proxies on the other.
Yet, the current security environment in Eastern Europe is not so easily reducible to the Cold War paradigm. The region is no longer a geopolitical no man’s land between East and West. Rather, a multipolar, regional power struggle has emerged.
For the time being, however, NATO’s eastern members remain committed to NATO.
“For Poland, NATO with its Article V is, and will remain, at the core of security policy,” Szeligowski said. “Therefore, Polish authorities will seek closer ties with the U.S. and call on European NATO members to increase military budgets.”
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There is, however, a lack of a consensus among NATO countries (within their domestic politics, especially) about the alliance’s top threat.
Some officials from Western European NATO countries, and some from the U.S., too, believe terrorists infiltrating from the battlefields of Iraq and Syria are the alliance’s biggest menace. However, among the alliance’s Eastern European members, Russia is, without a doubt, the top security concern.
“While terrorism and instability emanating from the Middle East and North Africa are threats to NATO member states, only Russia poses a true existential threat to the alliance,” Kochis said.
Nolan Peterson, a former special operations pilot and a combat veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, is The Daily Signal’s foreign correspondent based in Ukraine.