ANALYSIS - US Troop Boost In Germany Likely Meant As Rebuke Of Trump, Anti-Nord Stream 2 'Carrot'

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th April, 2021) President Joe Biden's decision to expand the US troop presence in Germany is likely a symbolic gesture meant to snub his predecessor and persuade Berlin to abandon its support for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, analysts told Sputnik.

On Tuesday, Berlin announced that the United States would deploy an additional 500 troops to Germany. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the deployment is meant to show Washington's support for NATO and is not meant to send a message to Moscow.

The Trump administration, in contrast to Biden's approach, punished Berlin for falling short on its NATO dues by pulling around 12,000 US troops from Germany.

"I can't imagine that 500 soldiers would make any difference to military strategy, either in Germany or Ukraine. It therefore strikes me as purely symbolic," University of Rhode Island Professor of Political Science Nicolai Petro told Sputnik.

World Beyond War Executive Director and Nobel Peace prize nominee David Swanson pointed out that Biden is also trying to restore declining US influence and prestige in Germany.

In addition, Swanson said Biden's decision, while it further raises global tensions, is also an implied rebuke of Trump.

"A very anti-Trump move as he wanted them out and Biden puts them in," Swanson said.

The troop movement is also a signal of support for Ukraine, where they may eventually be re-deployed, Swanson, author of "War is a Lie," added.

Berlin has so far defied Washington's pressure to abandon the Nord Stream 2 project. The German government has rejected US sanctions on companies involved in its construction as illegal and extraterritorial.

Swanson said Biden likely sees the small new troop deployment as "a supposed carrot for opposing the Russian pipeline."

After talks with German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer on Tuesday, Austin told reporters the US would not let the pipeline project get in the way of Washington's relations with Berlin.

Nord Stream 2 is a joint venture of Russian energy company Gazprom and five European partners, aimed at the construction of a twin pipeline that will deliver 55 billion cubic meters of gas to Germany across the Baltic Sea every year.