NATO Is Now An Alliance With No Long Term Strategy

NATO: An Alliance Without A Strategy -- Jörg Himmelreich, Spiegel Online

The current mission in Libya is an illustration of greater problems within the NATO alliance -- the member states are no longer able to agree on a common strategy. The alliance has failed in its ability to redefine its mission in a post-Soviet world. NATO lacks ideas and unity, and Germany shares responsibility for this failure.

The NATO foreign ministers gathered in Berlin for a summit earlier this month may have worn diplomatic smiles on their faces, but the expressions seemed quite artificial -- and their ostentatious display of unity came off more like a masquerade than reality.

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My Comment: In the past, the U.S. always provided the leadership and strategy for NATO to follow. Today .... with the U.S. absent in many foreign crisis as well as having a focus that is more domestic rather than foreign .... international alliances like NATO have become adrift with competing factions now trying to establish themselves as the main "shakers" in the alliance. Unfortunately .... this new alignment is not working out.