Category Archives: NATO

Miami Herald

AP Interview: Lithuania confident of US commitment to NATO Miami Herald Lithuania's defense minister said Thursday he is confident that all NATO allies will help protect his country from Russia despite recent concern over the U.S. commitment to European security. Raimundas Karoblis told The Associated Press that he had no ... and more »

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AP Interview: Lithuania confident of US commitment to NATO - Miami Herald

Stars and Stripes

NATO seeks to boost Black Sea presence and cyber defenses Stars and Stripes BRUSSELS NATO agreed on Thursday to bolster its presence in the Black Sea in the latest expansion of alliance forces across a strategic region where allies have steadily added ground forces and air power, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said. NATO Recommits Support for Afghan ForcesTOLOnews all 1,090 news articles »

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NATO seeks to boost Black Sea presence and cyber defenses - Stars and Stripes

New York Times

Donald Trump, NATO, Boeing: Your Thursday Briefing New York Times President Trump with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel at the White House on Wednesday. Credit Stephen Crowley/The New York Times. (Want to get this briefing by email? Here's the sign-up.) Good morning. Here's what you need to know:. and more »

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Donald Trump, NATO, Boeing: Your Thursday Briefing - New York Times

Aerial view of the wreckage of a passenger and freight train after a crash near Bettembourg, Luxembourg

Reuters

A general view of rescue workers at the scene of a train collision in Dudelange, Luxembourg

EPA

A man walks next the wreckage of a passenger and freight train after a crash near Bettembourg, Luxembourg

Reuters

People wait for news of the rescue efforts at Zubao Coal Mine after a blast in Lianyuan, Hunan province, China. A midnight explosion at the mine killed nine miners and three still missing

EPA

Former British war correspondent David Fox speaks to his lawyer as he waits in a holding cell to attend his ongoing trial at a court in Denpasar on Indonesia's resort island of Bali. Fox, who was charged along with an Australian businessman with using, possessing and transporting hashish last October, could be jailed for several years if found guilty

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Former British war correspondent David Fox (R) walks to a holding cell after arriving from Kerobokan prison with other prisoners before attending his ongoing trial at a court in Denpasar on Indonesia's resort island of Bali. Fox, who was charged along with an Australian businessman with using, possessing and transporting hashish last October, could be jailed for several years if found guilty

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US Army personnel offload military equipment at the Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base near Constanta in Romania. Soldiers and equipment from the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, arrived at the Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base as part of the ongoing Atlantic Resolve mission. The combined arms unit of the "Fighting Eagles" brings a full complement of 500 US troops, a US Army infantry battalion's M1 Abrams tanks, M2 Bradley fighting vehicles, and M109A6 Paladin self-propelled howitzers to Romania

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Kim Jong-Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has been assassinated in Malaysia, South Korean media reported

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A Greenpeace activist holds a banner which reads "EDF is bankrupt" in front of the France's state-owned electricity company EDF headquarters during the company's 2016 annual results presentation in Paris, France

Reuters

A Greenpeace activist holds a placard reading in French "Bankruptcy, Jean-Bernard, out of the nuclear" during the presentation of EDF group's 2016 results in Pari

AP

y personnel offload military equipment at the Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base near Constanta in Romania

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A building is seen submerged in flowing water at Riverbend Park as the Oroville Dam releases water down the spillway as an emergency measure in Oroville, California

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Crews work on a damaged section of the Oroville Dam in Oroville, California

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The remains of a car burnt by protesters on Monday night, in Aulnay-sous-Bois, north of Paris, France. French police say over 20 protesters were detained during an eruption of violence against police in the Paris suburbs in which a police car was torched. The violence in the night of Monday to Tuesday is a show of outrage in support of a young black man who authorities allege was sodomised by a police officer's baton

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Pakistani Security officials inspect the scene of a bomb blast that targeted a Frontier Corps vehicle near the Afghan border in Chaman, Pakistan. At least two Frontier Corps personnel were wounded when a bomb, planted on a road side, exploded as convoy of Pakistani security forces was passing nearby in Chaman

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An Israeli border policeman walks near workers lifting a housing unit with a crane during the demolition of the illegal Jewish settlement of Amona at the West Bank. Israeli police completed the evacuation of Jewish settlers from the West Bank settlement of Amona in compliance with an Israeli court order that ruled the settlement illegal

EPA

Israeli settler Tamar Nizri cries after her housing unite (L) was destroyed by an Israeli bulldozer during the demolition of the illegal Jewish settlement of Amona at the West Bank

EPA

Pakistani Security officials inspect the scene of a bomb blast that targeted a Frontier Corps vehicle near the Afghan border in Chaman, Pakistan

EPA

Civil defense members work at a site hit by airstrikes in the rebel-held city of Idlib, Syria

Reuters

Military commanders salute during a meeting with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran, Iran

Reuters

People hold a sign reading "Justice for Theo" during a protest in Aulnay-sous-Bois, northern Paris, a day after a French police officer was charged with the rape of a youth who was severely injured after allegedly being sodomised with a baton

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A Serbian woman looks on as bulldozers take down a concrete wall near the main bridge in the town of Mitrovica, after the Kosovo government reached an agreement with country's ethnic Serb minority to resolve the issue of a contested wall symbolically dividing the city of Mitrovica

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Bulldozers demolish a wall following weeks of tensions between Kosovo and Serbia, in the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica, Kosovo

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Libyan coast guard police help an Illegal immigrant and a child who were rescued at sea off the coast of Libya, get off a boat in the capital Tripoli

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Afghan youth shovel snow from the rooves of houses in Kabul, Afghanistan

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Migrants warm themselves by a fire from the morning cold in an abandoned warehouse where they took refuge in Belgrade, Serbia. Hundreds of migrants have been sleeping rough in freezing conditions in central Belgrade looking for ways to cross the heavily guarded EU borders

AP

Soldiers destroy ten hectares of a marijuana plantation after the Mexican army found it, while patrolling the area in Mocorito, in Sinaloa State, Mexico

Reuters

Ukrainian servicemen patrol at the humanitarian aid center in Avdiivka, Ukraine

AP

A Ukrainian serviceman patrols at the humanitarian aid center in Avdiivka, Ukraine

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Nato chief expresses 'serious concern for the alliance' if Russian missile reports prove true - The Independent

New York Times

Kim Jong-un, Russia, NATO: Your Morning Briefing New York Times President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel discussed an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord and other issues during a joint news conference on Wednesday. By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. Photo by Stephen Crowley/The New York ... and more »

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Kim Jong-un, Russia, NATO: Your Morning Briefing - New York Times

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis Warns NATO Allies on Military Spending Wall Street Journal (subscription) BRUSSELSU.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis warned allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that they need to adopt plans to raise their military spending or risk seeing America moderate its commitment to the alliance. His speech, to a ...

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US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis Warns NATO Allies on Military Spending - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

How has the role of the world's largest military alliance changed?

AFTER the Second World War 12 countries came together to sign the agreement that formed Nato.

But, more than 60 years on what is the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, what does it do and is it keeping us safe?

Alamy

Nato, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation is an intergovernmental military alliance established in 1949.

Nato was formed with the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty in 1949 by 12 member states Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the UK and the US.

It has expanded to 28 member states, with countries including Germany, Spain, Greece and Turkey joining, andrepresents a population of more than 900 million people.

The organisation isconsidered to be the largest and most powerful military alliance in history.

Nato iscommitted to individual liberty, democracy, human rights and the rule of law with all decisions taken by consensus.

Thepermanent headquarters of Nato is in Brussels where the Secretary General chairs senior decision making bodies.

The current Secretary General is former Prime Minister of Norway Jens Stoltenberg.

Heads of government and state have met at 26 Nato summits since 1949 the latest in Poland in July 2016.

Nato aims tosafeguard the freedom and security of its members through political and military means.

It was established primarily tokeep Europe safe by deterring any attack.

In 1949 this involved stopping Soviet expansion, preventing a revival of nationalistic militarism in Europe and encouraging European political integration.

But, over time the organisationhas changed and in recent years it has become increasingly focused on peacekeeping.

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Nato is best known for Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty - in which members pledge to come to the aid of any member state under attack.

Article 5 has only been invoked once, following the September 11 attacks in America.

Nato isprimarily a deterrent. If a member state is attacked the attacker must go to war with all members, including the US.

The organisation, which is credited with the escalation of theCold War, carries out its own military missions using the troops of member states.

In 1995 ithelped to end the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina and in 1999 worked to stop mass killings in Kosovo.

Nato has been in Afghanistan on counter-terrorism missions since 2003 and in 2011 moved to protect the people of Libya.

Nato has been providing support as Europe copes with the refugee and migrant crisis.

Defence spending was revealed to have dropped below the Government's two per cent target last year,respected think tank the International Institute for Strategic Studies said.

But Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon insisted 2.1 per cent had been spent, with the new report blaming the shortfall on not keeping up with the growing economy.

The embarrassing dip comes after it was revealed just two countries in Nato met the defence benchmark -Estonia and debt-riddled Greece.

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Jeremy Corbyn sparks outrage with call for NATO to step down from Baltic border in order to avoid new Cold War

Vladimir Putin MUST be put in his place during Donald Trumps first 100 days as US president, ex Nato chief demands

War with Russia imminent unless Britain and NATO heed Trumps warning to increase military spending, defence chiefs warn

Vladimir Putin fleet drives off Nato sub using attack helicopters in the Mediterranean as Moscow flexes its muscles

Nato sends 300,000-strong defence force to the frontline with Russia amid claims Putins hordes could overwhelm Europe in less than 180 days

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What is Nato, what does Nato stand for, how does it keep Europe safe and what is Britain's defence spending? - The Sun

US troops arrived in Bulgaria on Wednesday, with armored vehicles and heavy equipment to be shipped by the end of the week as part of NATOs significant buildup in Eastern Europe, the Bulgarian Defense Ministry has said.

Around 120 US servicemen from Fort Carson, Colorado were accommodated at the Novo Selo military base in the east of the Black Sea country, according to Bulgarian officials.

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Joint drills and training at Novo Selo training range will be increased this year. The US army troops will be rotated for the drills, the defense ministry said as cited by Reuters.

On Tuesday, tanks and hardware accompanied by another 500 American troops arrived in Romania.

The deployment is part of Atlantic Resolve, the operation to reassure NATOs allies in the region following Russias reunion with Crimea and accusations of Moscow being involved in the Ukrainian conflict.

Russia has denied the claims.

Last summer, NATO members agreed to boost its NATO presence in Eastern Europe and the Baltic region to levels not seen since the Cold War - posting four rotating multinational battalions to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.

In January, 2,800 pieces of US military hardware, including Abrams tanks, Paladin artillery, and Bradley fighting vehicles, and 4,000 troops arrived in Europe as part of the operation.

READ MORE: Spain plans to send 6 tanks & 350 troops to Latvia as part of NATO buildup reports

The forces took part in drills in Poland and were then deployed across seven countries, including the Baltic States, Bulgaria, Romania, and Germany.

American troop deployment accelerated in the last months of the President Barack Obama's presidency as his successor, Donald Trump, announced plans of mending relations with Moscow.

However, Trumps rhetoric towards Russia has changed since he took office, with White House spokesman, Sean Spicer, saying on Tuesday that the new president expects the Russian government to de-escalate violence in Ukraine and return Crimea to Kiev.

READ MORE: 'No incidents over Black Sea': Russian MoD denies 'unprofessional & unsafe' flyby of USS Porter

On Wednesday, the new US Defense Secretary, James Mattis, who was on his first European visit, warned NATO allies that America will moderate its commitment to the alliance if other members dont increase their financial contribution.

No longer can the American taxpayer carry a disproportionate share of the defense of western values, Mattis said.

But the Defense Secretary assured President Trump's strong support for NATO, calling the block a fundamental bedrock for the United States and for all the transatlantic community.

Moscow has criticized the expansive NATO military buildup on its borders, saying it increases the risk of incidents and poses a threat to Russian national security.

This deployment is, of course, a threat for us, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksey Meshkov said last week, adding that it is obvious that the steps by NATO gravely increase the risk of incidents.

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US troops deployed to Bulgaria as NATO boosts Eastern European presence - RT

In Washington and at NATOs headquarters in Brussels, the view is that alliance members spend far too little on defense. Despite repeated cajoling from U.S. defense secretariesand now from U.S. President Donald Trumpfor European allies to spend more, many European finance ministers are opposed to opening their purses to their defense counterparts.

Only a handful of NATO alliesBritain, Estonia, Greece, Poland, and the United Statesspend 2 percent or more of their GDP on defense. And thats out of an alliance of 28 members. No doubt therell be more cajoling at the annual Munich Security Conference when scores of leaders and hundreds of diplomats along with defense and security officials gather in the Bavarian capital on February 17.

By spending more on equipment and training and sending 5,000 troops to Poland and the Baltic states, NATO aims to reassure its more vulnerable members and show Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, that the alliance is taking collective defense seriously. But something of fundamental importance is missing from the spending plea and the deployment of troops: institutional memory, or what collective defense and deterrence used to mean in substance and in practice.

During the Cold War, NATO was in top gear. Training and coordination, doctrine and capabilities, strategy and preparedness were taken as given. Collective defense was ingrained in the theory and practice of the alliance.

The nature of the threat was never underestimated, either. Just take a look at a fascinating report written by the alliances military committee in 1966. The Overall Strategic Concept for the Defense of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Area is worth reading for one main reason: it set out the strategic goals of NATO and those of its adversary, the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact.

The year 1966 cannot be compared with 2017. The Warsaw Pact is defunct. In that sense, the conventional definition of the Cold War no longer applies today. But Russia is still intent on weakening or dividing NATO. The alliances demise remains Moscows goal. Russias determination to hold on to its immediate western neighborsBelarus, Georgia, and Ukraineand maintain a strong influence over Armenia and Moldova has already been tested by Moscows invasion of eastern Ukraine and its annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in March 2014.

Page 4 of NATOs 1966 report states clearly that Soviet policy toward NATOa policy that Putin is replicating todaywas based on economic means, political means, propaganda, subversion, and military power. With a brief interlude in the early 1990s, the Kremlin hasnt discarded these instruments.

This is NATOs Achilles heel and the reason why the debate over the 2 percent spending goal could be a red herring. During the 1990s, the alliance lost its raison dtreand understandably. Many of its members assumed Russia would embark on a different kind of cooperation or coexistence with the West. However, NATOs bombing of Serbia in 1999 and Russias staunch opposition to that mission only reinforced Moscows Cold War perception of NATO.

The alliance, meanwhile, slowly lost the tools that underpinned territorial defense: coordination and strategic thinking. In 2001, NATO went off to Afghanistan, where crisis management and counterinsurgency eroded what the alliance was established for in the first place. The strategic pendulum is swinging back from crisis management to deterrence and collective defense, a top NATO diplomat told Carnegie Europe on condition of anonymity.

The problem is that on the ground, NATOs European allies are singularly ill equipped for deterrence and collective defense. Again, there is a lack of institutional memory. We lack the generals who knew what deterrence and collective defense were about, another NATO diplomat said.

Just as crucially, NATO today lacks the necessary infrastructure. During the Cold War, NATO had strong bridges, aircraft, roads, and a railroad network to transport troops quickly and in large numbers. True, there were tens of thousands of NATO troops at the ready. But that infrastructure also included energy supplies and logistics, the availability of housing and food, and the ability to cross borders without bureaucratic delays. All these have been largely eroded. If NATO is serious about deterrence and collective and territorial defense, it has to remake this infrastructure.

As the 1966 report stated, to be fully effective against an attack with little or no strategic warning forces should be provided with adequate combat and logistic support, possess the necessary tactical mobility, and be deployed forward with appropriate echeloning in depth in suitable tactical locations.

NATO cannot revive this depleted institutional memory. A whole generation of military, diplomatic, and security personnel has been replaced. That is why the 2 percent spending issue will become a red herring unless NATO realizes what it has lost and what Russia has retained.

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NATO's Red Herring - Carnegie Europe

Trump Puts NATO Allies in the Crosshairs Over Military Spending Wall Street Journal Last month, Germany began deploying an army battle group to Lithuania, the first of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops to arrive to bolster the defenses on the alliance's eastern border with Russia. It isn't an overwhelming display of force ...

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Trump Puts NATO Allies in the Crosshairs Over Military Spending - Wall Street Journal