Originally published July 13, 2023 4:44 pm PDT
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a move to bolster the ongoing ‘Operation Atlantic Resolve,’ President Joe Biden has officially authorized the mobilization of members of the Selected Reserve and the Individual Ready Reserve to active duty.
The decision was announced in an official White House briefing on Thursday.
Citing the necessity “to augment the active Armed Forces of the United States for the effective conduct of Operation Atlantic Resolve in and around the United States European Command’s area of responsibility,” President Biden has invoked sections 121 and 12304 of title 10 of the United States Code, effectively granting him the authority to call upon reservists.
In a declaration that outlined the specifics of this major decision, Biden stated, “I hereby authorize the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Homeland Security with respect to the Coast Guard when it is not operating as a service in the Navy, under their respective jurisdictions, to order to active duty any units, and any individual members not assigned to a unit organized to serve as a unit of the Selected Reserve, or any member in the Individual Ready Reserve mobilization category and designated as essential under regulations prescribed by the Secretary concerned.”
Under this authority, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security can order up to “3,000 total members at any one time, of whom not more than 450 may be members of the Individual Ready Reserve,” to active duty as they see fit.
They also have the power “to terminate the service of those units and members ordered to active duty.”
This order is expected to have significant ramifications for the operational strength of the United States Armed Forces in Europe, providing them with manpower to meet their objectives in the ongoing Operation Atlantic Resolve.
However, the White House made it clear that “this order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.”
On Feb 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, which was for the proclaimed purpose of protecting pro-Russian populations in Ukraine “who, for eight years now, have been facing humiliation and genocide perpetrated by the Kiev regime,” according to Putin.
“To this end, we will seek to demilitarise and denazify Ukraine, as well as bring to trial those who perpetrated numerous bloody crimes against civilians, including against citizens of the Russian Federation,” the Russian president said.
The Biden administration has been resolute in its readiness to send tens of billions of U.S. dollars as well as advanced military weaponry to Ukraine.
However, Ukraine was not invited to join NATO during the global body’s Wednesday summit, which was attended by Ukrainian President Vlodymyr Zelensky.
Such a partnership would not bode well for Putin, who sees NATO as a great enemy.
President Putin has emphasized that his country’s “biggest concerns and worries” are the result of “the eastward expansion of NATO, which is moving its military infrastructure ever closer to the Russian border,” he said when announcing the launch of Russia’s “military operation” against Ukraine.
He goes on to characterize NATO’s slow spread toward Russian borders as one the “fundamental threats which irresponsible Western politicians created for Russia consistently, rudely and unceremoniously from year to year.”
The intergovernmental military alliance will reportedly invite Ukraine to become a member “when allies agree that conditions are met,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said during a news conference with Zelensky.
If Ukraine were to join NATO, becoming a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization would mean that an attack on Ukraine would be considered an attack on all 31 allies, as outlined in Article 5 of the Washington Treaty.
In addition to the U.S., NATO members include Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom.
Putin believes this “so-called collective West” has been “actively supporting separatism and gangs of mercenaries in southern Russia.”
He considers major elements in the West to be actively seeking “to destroy our traditional values and force on us their false values that would erode us, our people from within, the attitudes they have been aggressively imposing on their countries, attitudes that are directly leading to degradation and degeneration, because they are contrary to human nature.”
“This is not going to happen,” Putin vowed. “No one has ever succeeded in doing this, nor will they succeed now.”
