Daily Archives: February 7, 2017

President Donald Trump has agreed to meet the leaders of NATO at a summit in late May, the alliance said Monday -- an apparent first step in his efforts to push it to focus more on counterterrorism and for members to spend more on their militaries.

The announcement came amid doubts about Trump's commitment to NATO, an alliance he called "obsolete" days before his inauguration. Leaders of NATO's 27 other nations have been eager to speak to Trump to push for a robust and unambiguous backing at a time when those along the border with Russia are feeling increasingly vulnerable.

Trump and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg had a phone conversation Sunday evening "where they reconfirmed the importance of the alliance in troubled times," NATO said in a statement. The date of the summit is not yet set, but a NATO official said it will most likely take place either immediately before or after a summit of leaders of the Group of Seven world powers on May 26 and 27 in Italy.

NATO began training Iraqi forces in their fight against the Islamic State on Sunday, a step alliance officials said would help prove their bona fides in the effort to fight terrorism. They also point out that the major focus of the alliance in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks was a military operation in Afghanistan dedicated toward rooting out al-Qaida.

More recently, the defense alliance has returned to its Cold War roots by focusing on Russia in the aftermath of the Kremlin's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and subsequent fueling of a war in eastern Ukraine.

But Trump has sought friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a break from bipartisan caution about the Kremlin that comes after U.S. intelligence assessments that the Russian government intervened in the U.S. elections to undermine Hillary Clinton's candidacy.

Trump on Sunday declined to condemn Putin's track record of violence against his opponents, telling Fox News interviewer Bill O'Reilly "you think our country is so innocent?"

Violence has surged in eastern Ukraine in recent weeks after an extended period of relative quiet. It remains unclear what if any response the Trump administration will take.

NATO said Monday that the conversation had included a discussion of "the uptick in violence in eastern Ukraine, and prospects for a peaceful settlement."

The White House said only that the two leaders "discussed the potential for a peaceful resolution of the conflict along the Ukrainian border."

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Trump to meet leaders of NATO, a group he called 'obsolete' - Chicago Tribune

No matter the administration, NATO expansion never stops:

White House national security adviser Michael Flynn will recommend that President Donald Trump support allowing the small Balkan nation of Montenegro to join NATO, POLITICO has learned despite strong opposition from Russia.

Bringing Montenegro into NATO is a pointless move, but it is a relatively harmless one. The alliance gains nothing from making Montenegro a member, and it takes on one more security dependent that we already know wont pull its weight. Support for another round of expansion suggests that the new administration will be much more conventional in its support for NATO than Trumps campaign rhetoric sometimes hinted.

Besides the fact that Montenegro adds almost nothing to the alliance, accession does not have broad support in Montenegro:

NATO accession is a highly controversial issue in Montenegro. An opinion poll conducted in December 2016 has only 39.5 percent of Montenegrins in favor of NATO membership and 39.7 against. Other opinion polls have suggested similar margins.

It doesnt make sense to take in a new alliance member when there is no consensus in that country in favor of belonging to the alliance. NATO shouldnt be adding new members in any case, but it certainly shouldnt be taking in a country that doesnt have a majority behind the idea of joining. At best, that will make Montenegro a half-hearted, grudging member, and at worst it makes it a real liability if there is a shift in public opinion against the alliance. I dont think letting Montenegro join NATO makes any sense, but it certainly shouldnt happen if it isnt what most people in Montenegro want.

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Bringing Montenegro into NATO Still Makes No Sense - The American Conservative

US military hardware, including M1A2 Abrams battle tanks and Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, have arrived in the northern Estonian town of Tapa as part of continued US efforts to counter the alleged Russian threat.

More than 50 units of US military equipment, including four battle tanks and 15 infantry fighting vehicles, were delivered to Tapa, the Estonian Defense Forces said in a statement. The personnel of the Charlie Company of 68th Armored Regiment's 1st Battalion from the US Army 4th Infantry Division arrived in the town two days earlier, on January 30.

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The company commander, Captain Edward Bachar, said that the US troops would take part in the Estonian Independence Day parade. Earlier, Bachar also said that his company would begin its expert marksmanship training this week.

The unit would replace a paratrooper company of the 173rd Airborne Brigade's 503rd Infantry Regiment, which was deployed to Estonia in September. The paratrooper company would then go back to its permanent base in Italy.

"The movement of equipment and troops into and around Europe marks the beginning of a continuous rotation of armored brigade combat teams from the United States as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve," the US Defense Department said in a statement, commenting on the move.

"Atlantic Resolve is a demonstration of continued US commitment to collective security through a series of actions designed to reassure NATO allies and partners of America's dedication to enduring peace and stability in the region in light of the Russian intervention in Ukraine, it added.

READ MORE:Lithuania & Estonia sign milestone deals on status of US troops on their soil

The deployment marks a new phase of the Operation Atlantic Resolve, which began in April 2014, following the Crimean referendum to split from coup-stricken Ukraine and join Russia. Atlantic Resolve is perceived by Washington as a demonstration of continued US commitment to the collective security of Europe in the view of alleged Russian assertiveness.

In January, 2,800 pieces of US military hardware, including US Abrams tanks, Paladin artillery, Bradley fighting vehicles and 4,000 troops arrived in Europe as part of the operation. These forces subsequently moved to Poland to participate in military drills in late January, and then were deployed across seven countries, including the Baltic States, Bulgaria, Romania and Germany. A headquarters unit is stationed in Germany.

In July 2016, NATO members agreed to the biggest reinforcement since the Cold War, posting four multinational battalions to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

In addition to American troops going to Poland, NATO members Germany, Canada and Britain are also contributing to the significant NATO forces buildup in Eastern Europe and are sending battalions of up to 1,000 troops each to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

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Apart from the military buildup on Russian borders, the US and NATO strategy also includes conducting continuous, enhanced multinational training and security cooperation activities with US and NATO partners in eastern Europe. Since the Operation began, these military exercises have been conducted in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary.

In mid-January, Estonia and Lithuania also signed agreements with the US regulating the status and deployment framework of American soldiers and hardware on the territory of the two Baltics states, which were dubbed first of its kind.

The agreements provided a legal framework for the presence of US military personnel and their family members in the two Baltic States, as well as the use of the local military sites by American troops. They also enable a range of joint defense-related activities.

While NATO members continue to point toward perceived Russian aggression, calling it a source of instability, Russia has consistently denied that it poses any kind of threat. Moscow has also expanded its own military training and increased its strategic capabilities in areas such as Kaliningrad, its western exclave.

Russia also tried to ease tensions by proposing enhanced cooperation with NATO on multiple levels in August. The proposal covered such fields as combatting terrorism and cooperation to avoid incidents at sea and in the air in border areas with NATO countries.

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US tanks, infantry fighting vehicles arrive in Estonia amid NATO ... - RT

President Donald Trump pledged to reinvest in the "depleted" U.S. military and voiced support for NATO on Monday in an address at U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Florida.

"You've been lacking a little equipment, we're going to load it up. You're going to get a lot of equipment," Trump said.

Throughout the campaign, Trump pledged to grow the military while shrinking most other aspects of government. He told senior U.S. commanders that the military has been "depleted" and that the Navy "is at a point almost as low as World War I" -- a likely reference to the number of ships currently in use.

Trump pledged that the U.S. would remain committed to NATO after rattling European leaders by suggesting during the campaign that America could retreat from the alliance. But he warned other nations need to increase their contributions.

"We strongly support NATO," Trump said Monday. "We only ask that all of the NATO members make their full and proper financial contributions to the NATO alliance, which many of them have not been doing."

The president won applause for declaring he would keep out those who want "to destroy us and destroy our country," though he did not directly address his executive actions restricting travel from seven Muslim majority countries. He also accused the media of not reporting on terror attacks.

Trump opened his remarks by referencing the support he received from the military in 2016.

"I saw those numbers. And you like me and I like you," Trump said.

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Trump Pledges to Rebuild 'Depleted' Military in CENTCOM Speech - NBCNews.com

President Trump arrives for a visit to MacDill Air Force Base.

10News Staff , WTSP 4:07 PM. EST February 06, 2017

President Trump speaking at MacDill AFB in Tampa PHOTO: First Coast News

TAMPA, Fla. -- President Donald Trump is pressing the need for more stringent screening while his immigration order is on hold by the courts.

Trump says in remarks at the U.S. Central Command at the MacDill Air Force base in Florida that, "We need strong programs" so that "people that love us and want to love our country and will end up loving our country are allowed in" and those who "want to destroy us and destroy our country" are kept out.

He says, "Freedom, security and justice will prevail."

Trump is also warning that the Islamic State group "is on a campaign of genocide, committing atrocities across the world."

He's delivering a message: "To these forces of death and destruction: America and its allies will defeat you."

The president also told the military personnel at MacDill, "we strongly support NATO."

The president praised the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in a speech at U.S. Central Command at the MacDill Air Force base in Florida.

Trump's comments follow his conversation Sunday with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. A White House statement said the two "discussed how to encourage all NATO allies to meet their defense spending commitments," as well as the crisis in Ukraine and security challenges facing NATO countries.

Trump agreed during that conversation to attend a NATO leaders' meeting in Brussels in late May.

Trump once dismissed the trans-Atlantic military alliance as "obsolete."

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His trip to Tampa comes after a weekend of demonstrations over his controversial plan. On top of the crowds that protested in Tampa over the weekend, thousands protested near his Palm Beach Mar-a-Lago estate with signs and chants that rebuked the presidents anti-immigration stance outlined in his executive order.

President Trump has said before that he supports immigration, but concerns over terrorism have forced him to be more forceful with protecting the countrys borders.

( 2017 WTSP)

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Trump talks immigration, NATO while at Tampa's MacDill AFB - Firstcoastnews.com

President Trump has talked a lot about getting other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to pay their fair share when it comes to defending one another.

Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty the 1949 pact that established the NATO alliance says that an attack against one ally is considered an attack against all allies and that member states are committed to come to one anothersdefense.

To ensure that allies are equipped to do that, NATO recommendsthat member states spend the equivalent of at least 2% of their gross domestic productannually on defense, including personnel, military equipment and research.

Besides the U.S., only four of the 28 NATO members meet that threshold: Estonia, Greece, Poland and the United Kingdom. None of them spend more than 2.38%.

At 3.61%, the U.S. spends more than any other country an estimated $664 billionlast year, or more than double the rest of all NATO countries combined. (NATO uses 2010 prices to trackspending as a share of GDP over time. By that measure, the U.S. spent an estimated $608billion on defense last year.)

Even if all NATO countries met the guideline, together theyd only be spending about two-thirds of what the U.S. spends.

By comparison, in 2015 non-NATO countries China and Russia spent1.9% and 5.4% of GDP,respectively, or $215 billion and $66 billion, on defense, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

On the campaign trail in 2016 and since his election, Trump argued that the U.S. shoulders an unfair share of the military burden when it comes to collective defense. He also called NATO obsolete because it was old and wasnt taking care of terror.

I said a long time ago that NATO had problems, Trump said last month in an interview with the Times of London and the German publication Bild.No. 1 it was obsolete, because it was, you know, designed many, many years ago. No. 2 the countries arent paying what theyre supposed to pay.

Such remarks have worried European leaders, who have begun to take measures to make their nations more self-reliant in their defense.

Theyre worried about the mood in Washington, said Nick Witney, a senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

In November, the European Union proposed a plan, yet to be considered by member states,to start spending approximatelyhalf a billion dollars out of the E.U. budgeton defense each year after 2020.The money would support research on defense technologies, such as encrypted software and robotics.A second componentof theplan would raise $5.4 billion annually from member countries to develop and buy hardware.

At a December meeting in Brussels, the European Council which includesthe heads of state of each E.U.member country concludedthat Europeans must take greater responsibility for their security and comply with NATO spending guidelines.

Total military spending by Western Europelast year grew for the first time since 2009,according to Janes Defence Budgets Report, an industry publication.

Baltic Statesupped their defense budgets faster than any other region in the world.Latvia and Lithuania were poised to join Estonia in surpassingthe 2% mark by 2018.

If every NATO country, including non-European Union countries, were to increase its defense spending to the recommended level, total defense spending by the alliance would go up from $890 billion to just over $1 trillion.

But experts say they dont expect that to happen anytime soon, if ever.

I dont think theres an appetite to go to 2%, said Dan Jenkins, a defense and security researcher at RandCorp. Europe. Theres so much pressure on the whole of budgets across Europe.

Many European Union countries face a competing mandate to reduce their budget deficitsa goal that would be difficult to reach while also significantly increasing military spending.

Take Italy, for example. Ithas the eighth-biggest economy in the world, but is still recovering from the 2008 recession and only spends 1.1% of its GDP on defense.

Spain, too, has suffered from a sluggish economy and a budget deficit well above the limit set by the European Commission. And although the German economy is stronger, going up from 1.2% to 2% of GDP would entail a $30-billion jump.

Still, NATO countries are expected to increase their spending gradually in the next five to 10 years, having signed a declaration at a 2014 summit in Wales that they would do so.

Once the spending levels do go up, a good chunk of the moneywill go toward personnel a category that eats up more than half of each countrys military budget, on average.

NATO guidelines also recommend that member countries spend 20% of their defense budgets on major equipment including items like Lockheed Martins F-35 fighter jet.

But how much of that money Lockheed orother U.S. companies are likely to get remains unclear.

Two-thirds of European defense budgets are so small that theyre never going to be able to procure the high-end equipment thats for sale in the U.S., said Jenkins.

And those that do have the resources, mostly in Western Europe,will probablybuy local, said N.R.Jenzen-Jones, director of Armament Research Services, a consultancy.

nina.agrawal@latimes.com

Twitter: @AgrawalNina

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President Trump wants other members of NATO to pay their fair ... - Hartford Courant