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NATO Chiefs Outline Plan for Dangerous World

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08.18.2014 at 03:57pm
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NATO Chiefs Outline Plan for Dangerous World by Adam O'Neal, Real Clear Defense

In a joint Wall Street Journal op-ed  published ahead of a NATO summit in Wales next month, top NATO officials called for a “fitter, faster and more flexible” alliance “to address future challenges, from wherever they come.”

“Instability rages to the south, with an arc of crises spreading from North Africa to the Middle East,” according to NATO Secretary General Andrews Rasmussen and U.S. European Command chief Philip Breedlove. “And Russia is resorting to a hybrid war, with snap exercises, secret commandos and smuggled missiles.” 

The two military commanders wrote that they would “take the steps needed” to address the changing geopolitical landscape.  In particular, they outlined three components of a “Readiness Action Plan.” …

Read on.

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Madhu

It’s such a dangerous world, Ukraine is still selling military equipment to Russia (From Pat Lang’s site, the comments section):

Ukraine’s new leaders have vowed to stop the flow of these defense products, which include key parts for ship engines, advanced targeting technology for tanks and upkeep for Russia’s heaviest nuclear missiles. New laws passed this week bolster their powers to do so. Kiev says helping to arm Russia is tantamount to equipping an enemy during wartime when Moscow is sending support to separatist rebels, a charge the Kremlin has denied.

But Kiev’s pleas for an end to trade ties have run into strong resistance from workers at companies like Motor Sich, here in Ukraine’s industrial heartland, where 27,000 employees build engines tailor-made for Russian military helicopters and planes. Most senior executives here grew up as part of the same Soviet military-industrial club as their Russian peers.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/ukraine-factories-equip-russian-military-despite-support-for-rebels/2014/08/15/9c32cde7-a57c-4d7b-856a-e74b8307ef9d_story.html?hpid=z6

That’s almost as good as the following:

Top Dutch auditors, backed by the government, have called on NATO to be more transparent about its finances, asserting that hundreds of millions of euros in annual spending at the military alliance cannot be properly accounted for.

The Netherlands Court of Audit, an independent organisation which reviews government spending, said on a website launched Tuesday that NATO’s financial management “is not in order” and it wanted a wider debate about its spending.

Classic. Aw, it’s okay. The American public seems to be buying it. Guess they miss the caffeine-MAD buzz of the Cold War.

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davidbfpo

Madhu,

I note your plea ‘I just want someone official somewhere to say something approximating the truth’.

Try the recent statements by British General Sir Richard Shirreff, until March 2014 was Deputy SACEUR. Here he comments on Iraq on the 12th August 2014: ‘UK government had “politicians who want to posture” but “do not have any stick”. “What we have got is this commitment-phobic government that is terrified of being seen to be putting boots on the ground at a time when they are trying to extract from everything.”

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28750491

His statements have certainly unnerved some in Whitehall-Westminster, after he gave evidence to a parliamentary committee the then Defence Minister contemptously dismissed him as a “has been”.

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