Category Archives: NATO

Future Leaders Summit: Future NATO and Dynamic Transformation with Gen. Jean-Paul Palomros, SACT

By: AtlanticCouncil

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Future Leaders Summit: Future NATO and Dynamic Transformation with Gen. Jean-Paul Palomros, SACT - Video

Obama and Cameron visit Newport school ahead of NATO summit
David Cameron and Barack Obama have visited a school in Wales ahead of the NATO summit. The Prime Minister and the American president sat in on a lesson with some of the pupils at Mount Pleasant...

By: TD World News

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Obama and Cameron visit Newport school ahead of NATO summit - Video

NATO Wales Summit - Young Future Leaders Forum opening, 04 SEP 2014
Opening remarks by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen at the Atlantic Council of the United States #39; Future Leaders Summit in Newport, Wales, 4 September 2014. Ladies and Gentlemen,...

By: NATO

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NATO Wales Summit - Young Future Leaders Forum opening, 04 SEP 2014 - Video

Paris At NATOs biannual summit that opened in Wales today, leaders are expected to pledge to increase their spending on defense, a key political issue that has dogged the alliance for years.

The US has argued with European nations over inadequate defense spending for years, and the breakthrough seems to have come with a sense of urgency, as complex threats have multiplied in the Middle East and Russia.

But the pledge is non-binding, and experts say that instead of simple quantity all members are required to spend 2 percent of GDP on defense the benchmark should related to better outcomes: more and cheaper collaboration, focused on specific plans to show members where their money goes and why.

I think the 2 percent goal is a blunt instrument, and like all blunt instruments it has effect, but I think it would better to have a precision-guided theory about the spending, says retired Adm. James Stavridis, dean of The Fletcher School atTuftsUniversity and former Supreme Allied Commander at NATO.The key is spending intelligently and doing it in a way that does not duplicate a lot of effort around the alliance.

Europeans together account for just a third of NATOs annual budget, with the US funding the rest a sore point for many in Washington. Only four members met spending standards last year: the US, UK, Greece, and Estonia.

And even for those that have met targets, like Greece, the money is not always spent in the right way. Too often budgets are dominated by salaries or pensions, or large standing formations and heavy tank units that dont match the nimble, deployable forces that NATO envisions for its future.

You may spend a lot of money on defense, but if you spend it wrong, your armed forces are a lot less relevant for your allies, saysVivien Pertusot, head of the Brussels office of the French Institute of International Relations.

Stavridis says that NATO could give countries specific spending targets on key items, like high-tech interoperable systems, cyber capability, or special forces. Indeed, according to The Wall Street Journal, the recommitment to defense spending includes a pledge to spend 20 percent of the budget on investment, at Germanys pushing.

ChristianMlling, a research fellow at theGerman Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin, would welcome such a shift in message. He calls the 2 percent target an American-driven illusion, one that many pacifist European nations bridle at. You have to make a business case, and the Americans are not making a business case by saying 2 percent, says Mr. Mlling.

For example, were Germany to increase defense expenditures to 2 percent of GDP immediately, it would amount to 20 billion euros. Mlling says this is unthinkable for Germany, one of Europe's most militarily reticent countries. But by saying we have a problem in the East and the only way to neutralize it is by doing A, B, C, I think the Germans would do it.

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Can NATO spend smarter?

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Editor's note: Sen. Kelly Ayotte, a Republican representing New Hampshire, is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The opinions expressed in this commentary are hers.

(CNN) -- As Moscow escalates its invasion of eastern Ukraine and NATO convenes this week in Wales, the United States, NATO, and free nations around the world confront a pivotal moment of truth.

If the international community, led by the United States, fails to respond in a strong and unified manner to Moscow's blatant aggression in Ukraine, the ramifications will be both serious and far-reaching.

By now, it should be clear to all objective observers that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not impressed by starkly worded statements and declarations, and if that is the only outcome in Wales, it could represent a historic failure of the alliance at a time when NATO's foundational purpose has renewed relevance.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte

As NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen confirmed last week, Russian forces have "engaged in direct military operations inside Ukraine," including firing on Ukrainian forces from inside Ukraine itself. According to NATO, in addition to the Russian-backed separatists, there are now more than a thousand Russian military forces in Ukraine.

This latest escalation follows Russia's illegal annexation of the Crimea region of Ukraine, as well as months of instigating and perpetuating the crisis in eastern Ukraine. Even after the Russian-backed separatists apparently launched a missile that murdered 298 people on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, Putin has continued to provide separatists with tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, rocket launchers and anti-aircraft weapons.

In short, Putin has brushed aside U.S. and European warnings, as well as initial sanctions, and has invaded eastern Ukraine.

The pre-eminent question now is what will the United States and NATOand nations around the world that value democracy, freedom and the rule of lawdo about it?

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NATO's moment of truth?

BBC 14 Russian Invasion and NATO Expansion
New BBC Interview 08/30/2014.

By: Michael Slobodchikoff

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BBC 14 Russian Invasion and NATO Expansion - Video

No to NATO demo held ahead of Wales summit
Newport is on high alert. 12 miles of security fencing, thousands of extra police drafted in from across 43 forces in an operation described as #39;unprecedented #39;. This is life for a town...

By: PressTV News Videos

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No to NATO demo held ahead of Wales summit - Video

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Bushmaster MOE Dissipator 5.56mm NATO Rifle Pictures - Video

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Entreprise Standard Rifle 7.62 x 51mm NATO Rifle Photos - Video