Tipping Point Quick Hits (10.27.22)

U.S. troops near Ukraine, Netanyahu's chances, and the Evangelical vote

“Combat Deployment” for U.S. Troops Near Ukraine

As Mark Hitchcock mentioned in yesterday’s Tipping Point Show, the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division has been deployed to Europe for the first time since World War II. Known as the “Screaming Eagles,” these 4,700 soldiers from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, are now positioned three miles away from Romania’s border with Ukraine.

Currently they are “conducting joint ground and air assault exercises with Romanian forces meant to simulate battles that Ukrainian forces are waging against Russian invaders,” according to one report.

That sounds like a description of training exercises, but this is more than training. The personnel are working with live tank and artillery rounds near the Black Sea. Across that body of water is Crimea, where Russia has taken territory from Ukraine.

Military leaders describe this deployment in serious terms: