Needed: A New NATO for the 21st Century
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…
