THE COMMUNIST RED IF GIVEN FREE REIGN WOULD ROLL ACROSS THE EU WITH WILD ABANDON AS THE RUSS PUTIN SWIMS IN THE NEW WAVE OF POWER HUNGRY CREATED–AS THE NATO US ARMY COMMANDER ECHOES THE REAL THREAT–AS THE POTUS BHO STICKS HIS HEAD BEHIND AND UNDER THE PROVERBIAL SAND TRAP–IGNORING THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES WITH WARNINGS BLARING–IGNORING EVEN TO MEET THE NATO COMMANDER–AS THE PUTIN SPEARS HEAD HIS HEAD FORWARD

The commander of the US army in Europe has warned that Nato must remain united in the face of a "real threat" from Russia.

"It's not an assumption. There is a Russian threat," Lt-Gen Frederick "Ben" Hodges said.

"You've got the Russian ambassador threatening that Denmark will be a nuclear target if it participates in any missile defence programme. And when you look at the unsafe way Russian aircraft are flying without transponders in proximity to civilian aircraft, that's not professional conduct."

Gen Hodges spoke to the Telegraph on the sidelines of a military debriefing after an exercise to move live Patriot missiles 750 miles across Europe by road and deploy them on the outskirts of Warsaw.

The sight of a US military convoy crossing the German-Polish border more than 20 years after the end of the Cold War made international headlines and brought traffic to a standstill as people posed for selfies beside the troops.

The intention of such a highly visible deployment was to send a signal, Gen Hodges said.

"That's exactly what it was about, reassuring our allies," he said.

Gen Hodges pointed to recent Russian decisions to move Iskandar ballistic missiles to its Kaliningrad enclave, between Lithuania and Poland, and long-range nuclear-capable bombers to Crimea.

"I don't think a military confrontation is inevitable. But you have to be militarily ready in order to enable effective diplomacy," he said.

"The best insurance we have against a showdown is that Nato stands together."

Since taking over command of the US army in Europe last year, Gen Hodges has found himself on the front line of an increasingly nervous stand-off with Vladimir Putin's Russia.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/11547247/Europe-faces-a-real-threat-from-Russia-warns-US-army-commander.html