'Pacification' Of Europe Is Threat To Security, US tells Nato

[SAMSON123]

    
'Pacification' of Europe is threat to security, US tells Nato

Obama administration accused Europe's leaders of endangering peace because of reluctance to foot bill for adequate defence

 
Robert Gates



Robert Gates, US defence secretary. The US has told Nato that 'pacification' of Europe is endangering security. Photograph: Susan Walsh/AP

The Obama administration accused Europe's leaders of endangering peace today because of their growing ­pacifism and reluctance to foot the bill for adequate defence.

In a withering attack on what Washington sees as European complacency in the face of new security threats, Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, demanded root-and-branch reform of the transatlantic alliance, voiced exasperation with Nato bureaucracy and said it was becoming increasingly difficult for the US and Europe "to operate and fight together".

Gates told a Washington meeting of Nato officials and security experts "the pacification of Europe" had gone too far.

"The demilitarisation of Europe, where large swaths of the general public and political class are averse to military force and the risks that go with it, has gone from a blessing in the 20th century to an impediment to achieving real security and lasting peace in the 21st," he said. "Not only can real or perceived weakness be a temptation to miscalculation and aggression, but … the resulting funding and capability shortfalls make it difficult to operate and fight together to confront shared threats."

The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, joined in what was a concerted warning to the Europeans, calling for an "honest discussion" of European defence spending and complaining that the alliance was at risk of turning into a talking shop.

Gates's criticism came days after the Dutch government collapsed over a dispute about Afghanistan and announced it would start withdrawing some 2,000 troops from August. The pull-out has spurred worries that other Europeans could follow suit.

Away from the immediate priorities of the Afghan war, Gates indicated that the Nato and European predicaments were "part of a larger cultural and political trend affecting the alliance … [which] faces very serious, long-term, systemic problems".

While the Obama administration has just asked Congress for a defence budget of more than $700bn (£454bn) – almost 5% of GDP – for next year, Gates complained that only four of the 26 Nato allies in Europe spent more than 2% of GDP on defence. A recent meeting of Nato ministers in Istanbul heard that the alliance had a €640m (£561m) hole in its budget for this year.

Gates voiced impatience with years of unredeemed European pledges to procure more cargo aircraft and helicopters. "Their absence is directly impacting operations in Afghanistan ... Nato needs serious, far-reaching, and immediate reforms to address a crisis that has been years in the making," he said.

The 28 Nato countries are embroiled in an attempt to come up with a new mission statement, and there are divisions both transatlantic and within Europe over the wording. The warnings from Washington appeared to be an attempt to dictate the key components of the new doctrine.

[Soul Crusher]

More empty bs from the Obama admn as the defense budget gets bigger and bigger and bigger.

We cant afford this empire anymore period and need to let Europe fend for itself. 

[SAMSON123]

More empty bs from the Obama admn as the defense budget gets bigger and bigger and bigger.

We cant afford this empire anymore period and need to let Europe fend for itself. 

America will have no choice but to leave Europe... as you say it is too expensive to keep a wanna be empire going. Add to this I posted a thread a week or two ago showing Germany essentially telling america to GET OUT. Japan wants america out, Korea wants america out, France wants america out, pretty much wherever america is the indigenous people want them out. Over one TRILLION dollars is spent every year by america trying to maintain bases in other nations around the world. That is crazy. Europe has now involved itself with the former Soviet satellite nations (eastern europe) and now has more than enough bodies and arsenal (military might) to fend for itself, so why is america desiring to stay there?...as a way of involving itself in the affairs of other nations, be the nations friend or foe. Maybe america can take the TRILLION dollars it is wasting maintaining bases in other nations and use it to pay its BILLS AND DEBT.

[headhuntersix]

Money not withstanding, you could,as usual not be more wrong. Germany, we consolidated many of our smaller bases and had attempted to scale back operations...much of this was met with resistance by the German government...we employ waay to many people and pump a ton of cash intro their economy. The koreans are the same way. We've been trying to pull back from north of Seoul for 10 years, now we're expanding some of those bases because the South wants us to stay. They were very unhappy about our potential pull-back and our use of peninsula troops to fight in Iraq. We maintain massive wargames and manuevers with all of the former soviet states, the euro's play a supporting role but can't do what we do. We don't have troops in France. Most of these countries don't want to defend themselves.

[Skip8282]

Money not withstanding, you could,as usual not be more wrong. Germany, we consolidated many of our smaller bases and had attempted to scale back operations...much of this was met with resistance by the German government...we employ waay to many people and pump a ton of cash intro their economy. The koreans are the same way. We've been trying to pull back from north of Seoul for 10 years, now we're expanding some of those bases because the South wants us to stay. They were very unhappy about our potential pull-back and our use of peninsula troops to fight in Iraq. We maintain massive wargames and manuevers with all of the former soviet states, the euro's play a supporting role but can't do what we do. We don't have troops in France. Most of these countries don't want to defend themselves.

Very true.  IDK much about Korea, but in Germany they give pretty generous housing allowances to civilians working over there just to help the Germany economy.  And for the most part, the Germans are fairly ambilivent.  They're not big on Iraq, but they don't go out of their way to hassle you.