The Strategic Consequences Of The Euro Crisis

The Strategic Consequences Of The Euro Crisis: Cracks In NATO, New Euro Map -- Aol Defense

The Euro crisis is not simply a financial dynamic. It is the end of a period of history, the confluence of several trend lines: the unification of Germany, the end of the Soviet Union, the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the expansion of NATO, the expansion of the European Union, and the creation of the single currency together constitute a unique period in modern European history.

The trend line was also defined by moving the borders of Europe eastward with the expectation that an expanded Europe would manage its own internal dynamics well and provide stability in an historically unstable region of the world.

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My Comment: What good is a military alliance when many of it's members are too broke to sustain a viable military .... and that is the heart and essence of what Europe's debt/Euro crisis has spawn for NATO. As for everything else .... the EU as we know it will change .... with the southern nations suffering an economic depression and debt crisis that will prevent them from being serious players on the European diplomatic scene for years if not decades.

Libya, War Powers Act, And NATO -- A Commentary

Libya And The Potemkin Alliance -- George Will, Washington Post

America’s intervention in Libya’s civil war, the most protracted and least surreptitious assassination attempt in history, was supposed to last “days, not weeks,” but is in its fourth month and has revealed NATO to be an increasingly fictitious military organization. Although this war has no discernible connection with U.S. national security, it serves the national interest, in three ways. It is awakening some legislators to their responsibilities. It is refuting the pretense that the United Nations sets meaningful parameters to wars it authorizes — or endorses, which is quite different. And it is igniting a reassessment of NATO, a Potemkin alliance whose primary use these days is perverse: It provides a patina of multilateralism to U.S. military interventions on which Europe is essentially a free rider.

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My Comment: I am usually in disagreement with George Will .... but in this post on Nato, the Wars Power Act, and Libya .... he is on the money.

U.S. Secretary Of Defense Gates Blasts NATO

Gates: NATO Is Risking 'Dismal Failure' -- Voice of America

Defense Secretary Robert Gates isn't going quietly into retirement.

Capping his farewell world tour, Gates warned U.S. allies in NATO that they risk "a dim, if not dismal future" if they don't begin to beef up defense operations and contribute more to military operations such as those in Libya and Afghanistan.

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More News On U.S. Secretary of Defense Gates Commenting On The Present State Of NATO

Transcript of Defense Secretary Gates’s Speech on NATO’s Future -- Wall Street Journal

Gates blasts NATO, questions future of alliance -- Yahoo News/AP
Gates parting shot warns NATO risks irrelevance -- Yahoo News/Reuters
Gates rebukes NATO allies, warns of 'dismal' future -- Yahoo News/AFP
Gates rebukes European allies in farewell speech -- Washington Post
Robert Gates on Nato's dim future -- BBC
Shaky Libya campaign shows NATO's weaknesses, Gates says -- L.A. Times
Defense Secretary Warns NATO of ‘Dim’ Future -- New York Times
Gates: NATO is risking 'dismal future' -- USA Today
Gates warns of NATO becoming militarily irrelevant -- The Hill
Nato faces 'dim future', warns Pentagon chief -- The Guardian
Gates leaves Europe with blunt talk -- Politico
Washington Day Ahead: NATO Risks Irrelevance, Gates Tells Allies -- Bloomberg
Gates Calls Others to Join Libya Fight -- Wall Street Journal
Bob Gates to NATO: US tired of doing all the fighting -- Jay Bookman, AJC
Gates blasts European allies over NATO inaction (VIDEO) -- Global Post
Gates to NATO: You guys suck -- DoD Buzz
Can NATO be saved? -- DoD Buzz

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.

Is NATO Crumbling?: Analysis

From Popular Mechanics:

How budget woes, lagging technology, a resurgent Russia and domestic politics are dissolving the power of a legacy military alliance.

There will be a lot at stake at the end of November when world leaders gather for a pivotal NATO meeting in Lisbon. The meeting is meant to hash out a new Strategic Concept, an all-encompassing document issued every decade that guides the alliance's actions and priorities. The last Concept was drafted before 9/11, before the subsequent invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and before Russia's resurgence as a regional power (and a worldwide power player).

NATO was smaller back then, as well, and has since adopted countries in the former Soviet Union that border Russia. It's a different world—and there is serious doubt that NATO will have the money and political fortitude to remain relevant.

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My Comment: The short answer is yes. Unsustainable government budgets coupled with no clear defined mission has resulted in Nato member states focusing on other priorities while leaving NATO out. Absence of a major terror strike or another war .... this "crumbling" of NATO will only continue.