Needed: A New NATO for the 21st Century by Harlan Ullman, United Press International
… Against the background of the 2008 financial crisis and struggling economies that mandated defense cuts, the 2010 biannual NATO heads of government and state summit in Lisbon agreed on a new strategic concept. Three core tasks were approved: collective defense; crisis management; and cooperative security. Since then NATO expanded its partnerships with non-alliance members and intervened in Libya precipitating the end of the Gadhafi regime.
The Obama administration would shortly announce a "strategic pivot" to Asia. That pivot distressed, frightened and perplexed NATO allies, worried Asian allies and angered China. Along with the pivot, the United States reduced its ground forces in Europe, augmenting its naval forces and arguing that this rebalancing wouldn't alter the U.S. commitment to the continent…
Comments
Of course China doesn't like it... They want to start in that area when they decide to make their more overt moves.
Of course Europe doesn't like it... It means that EU countries are going to have to increase spending on defense, which means higher taxes, which means no more 5 hour work days, full medical benefits even when you contribute etc. Why, they might not have as much free time... The horror, the horror.
But they better do it or face losing what little relevancy they have left. Frankly speaking why worry about them. At one time Europe was a buffer from the Russians. But do we need them for that?
When will those European countries pull their fair share of the weight? With the exception of the UK, the rest are not worth our time or trouble and certainly or dollars.