TEHRAN - Activists gather at an airbase in Germany in protest against the Air Defender 2023 war games, the largest in the history of NATO.

Hundreds of activists demonstrate in front of the Wunstorf air base in the northern German city of Hanover ahead of the Air Defender 2023 military drills, the largest air force war games the U.S.-led NATO military alliance has ever conducted. 
 
The drills, which are being hosted by Germany, and set to take place from the 12th to 23rd June have been labelled as "defensive" in nature.

However, according to officials, the war games have been designed to simulate a high-intensity conflict scenario, with participants focusing on air-to-air and air-to-ground combat, as well as air mobility and logistics. Other scenarios include working with ground troops from the air, airborne battles against enemy jets and the use of medium-range missiles by NATO fighter bombers.

The drills will see the participation of 10,000 military personnel and 250 war planes from 25 countries in a bid to show off military force against the West’s adversaries. The United States alone has dispatched 2,000 American Air Guard troops and around 100 warplanes to take part in the 12-day maneuvers.

Officials also say the U.S. military has sent F-35 war planes, NATO’s most modern fighter jet, to take part in the exercises, while the North Sea will see drills against submarines and ships. 

German and American officials have branded the war games as “a show of force” to “impress allies and potential adversaries such as Russia.”
Russia will most certainly be studying the war games carefully. 
While the NATO military alliance conducts the war games in the skies over Germany, several flight zones are set to be temporarily closed to civilian air traffic with delays to civilian flights expected.

In the largest deployment of air forces since NATO was formed, Sweden (which is seeking to become a NATO member), as well as Japan are also taking part, raising further eyebrows among anti-war activists.

People in Germany are concerned. Protesters in their hundreds, who took to the Wunstorf air base, home to the German air transport fleet (and one of the six military bases in Germany which will be used in the exercises), say it will send all the wrong signals to the outside world, in particular Russia.

The activists denounced the drills as offensive and measures that could escalate the crisis in Ukraine. They are demanding a diplomatic solution to the war along with a ceasefire. 

Among the banners seen at the demonstration displayed slogans such as “Down with weapons! No to war! Disarmament now!”

Other footage at the airbase shows the protesters marching while holding flags and anti-NATO banners, displaying messages such as “Peace with Russia and China, Out of NATO”, and “Peace in Ukraine and with Russia, Stop the War, Negotiate Now” among others. The protesters have also demanded the removal of U.S. nuclear weapons from their country.

Gerhard Biederbeck, an anti-war activist said, "This is not funny and this is not a harmless maneuver. This is about life and death; this is about calling in the danger of the third World War".

“The maneuver contributes to more rearmament,” Biederbeck added. “Right now every measure should be taken to diplomatically solve the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.”
Other activists have called on the German government to divert its foreign policy toward peace, calm, and negotiations. “NATO is calling for an air war over Germany. Germany is leading this maneuver and assumes military responsibility,” activist Ekkehard Lentz said.  

This is not the first time that anti-NATO protests have been staged in Germany. 

In the aftermath of the Ukraine conflict that erupted in February 2022, rallies against the U.S.-led military alliance have not been limited to Germany. Protests have gradually expanded to other European countries.  

Protests against NATO and rising inflation in Europe are intertwined, as experts point out. It was NATO’s encroachment on Russian borders that triggered the Ukraine crisis, which in turn saw inflation rise significantly across the West.

On Sunday, protesters took to the streets of Stockholm to voice their anger at Sweden's bid for NATO membership. The U.S.-led military alliance has been trying to bring Sweden into the fold before NATO leaders meet in Lithuania in July. 
This month also saw thousands of Romanian teachers marching in the capital Bucharest in protest over pay as they concluded a third week of strike action for the first time since 2005. Unions have said the strike action is indefinite. Other Romanian sectors such as healthcare workers and the police force have also staged protests over pay and investment, while warning of possible strike action.
Poland, a strong supporter of NATO’s moves against Russia, has witnessed a rise in support for opposition parties who oppose measures taken by the government. Earlier this month, half a million people packed the streets of Warsaw in an anti-government demonstration.

Among the many protests in June, Italian protesters across the country waged anti-NATO rallies in a number of cities on the same day the country marked its annual Republic Day.

During the demonstration, protesters signed a petition demanding the government end its weapons shipments to Ukraine. The organizers argue it is impossible to achieve peace as long as Ukraine continues to receive arms from Western countries.

In April, tens of thousands of people rallied once again in the Czech capital Prague to protest high inflation and demand the government’s resignation. 

Earlier in March a rally was organized by a new political party, referred to as PRO under an “against the poverty” banner.

Jindrich Rajchl, the head of the new party, blamed the European Union and the Czech government for soaring inflation. The demonstrators demanded the Czech Republic end its NATO membership. The protesters also condemned the government’s stance toward the Ukraine war. 

In April, people held a rally in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, to protest against NATO and its support for the Ukraine war.

These are just some of the protests that have been held over the past few months. Other protests over the past year have been witnessed across Western Europe where inflation has also sky-rocketed as a result of unprecedented sanctions imposed on Russia, in particular its energy exports.

The Kremlin says it began a “special military operation” months after failing to receive security guarantees from NATO and the U.S. that the NATO eastward expansion will not bring security risks to Russian territory.

The mass protests signal that many have had enough with the cost of living crisis as they are appealing for an initiative to end the crisis in Ukraine, but that doesn't appear to be on the minds of NATO leaders.
With the largest offensive war games in its history, the U.S.-led military alliance is sending a message to Russia that the NATO-backed war on Moscow is far from over.

NATO continues to send advanced weapons to Ukraine in a bid to contain Russia. The Kremlin says this will only prolong the suffering of Ukrainian people, who are caught in the middle.

Experts believe that the last issue in the thought process of policy makers in Washington, London and NATO headquarters is the suffering of the Ukrainian people.