NATO: debating and defending Europe

[davidbfpo]

I have seen repeated efforts in Europe to collaborate on defence projects, ostensibly to reduce costs and build capability - very few achieve that. The EU likes to make grand announcements, time will tell if this one leads to anything concrete or steel.

The project is catchily titled ‘PESCO’ - or “permanent structured co-operation; which is intended to give the EU a new method of improving their defence capabilities. One easy step would be to remove, if not reduce, the bureaucracy associated with troop movements within NATO; which is often claimed to inhibit mobilization.

There remain profound differences on security policy, not least whether NATO remains the primary method for having security. Let alone the capacity of several nations to commit money.

Hopefully this wider commentary on Europe in the FT helps:https://www.ft.com/content/ec5983aa-...3-c63fdc9b8c6c

In the UK for many it will confirm the deeply held suspicion that the EU wants to become a federal state or a "super state". Which was dismissed as ever being likely.

[davidbfpo]

Prompted by a blog article by a US Army officer on the future of NATO and the forthcoming EU cooperation, I have amended this thread's title to accommodate wider matters.

The new title is 'NATO: debating and defending Europe'.

A number of smaller threads, mainly from SWJ Blog have been merged in.

[davidbfpo]

A blog article by a US military officer, which has been published by Policy Exchange (a UK neo-con think tank and very pro-US normally). Given their position it might actually resonate inside government.

Here is a "taster":

EU defense initiatives must avoid #de-linking the EU from the US and NATO, avoid duplicating existing efforts, and not discriminate against non-EU members. Pesco fails at least two of these tests. The EU itself has announced Pesco will be discriminatory, and it will further see the de-linking of American and European defense.

Link:https://policyexchange.org.uk/an-ame...nce-from-nato/

[AdamG]

GRAFENWOEHR, Germany — It has sounded like a nonstop thunderstorm at this base for the past two weeks, during which the Army has conducted the largest artillery exercise in Europe since the Cold War.
More than 3,700 soldiers from 26 nations are participating in Dynamic Front 18 — the Army’s premier multinational artillery drill on the Continent — almost three times as many participants as last year. The exercise, which began Feb. 23, wraps up on Saturday.

https://www.stripes.com/news/us-alli...d-war-1.515391

[AdamG]

Consider this a comedy post.

BRUSSELS — In armies around the world, basic training is more than just a course in fitness, military organization and weapons skills.

It plays a crucial psychological role, taking raw recruits away from civilian life, plunging them into life in barracks, breaking down their sense of self and molding them, sometimes brutally, into a cohesive unit of soldiers.

But it may soon be significantly less brutal in Belgium, where the army is considering plans to let recruits sleep at home on weekdays during training. They already have the right to return home during the weekend.

Government officials say the change is needed to make a graying army — the average age in the Belgian armed forces is 44, more than a decade older than in France, Germany or Britain — more attractive to millennials.

As for Mr. Maram, the Legionnaire, he said: “In the French Foreign Legion, we stay in the barracks for the first five years.”

“What do you want next, the army can go on strike? You want unions in the army?” he said, bursting into laughter. “How I hate the 21st century!”

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/15/w...gium-army.html

[AdamG]

(CNN)The Russian military jammed GPS signals during a major NATO military exercise in Norway that involved thousands of US and NATO troops, the alliance said Wednesday, citing the Norwegian government.

The NATO exercise, Trident Juncture, concluded Sunday and involved some 50,000 personnel. It was labeled the alliance's largest exercise since the Cold War. Non-NATO members Finland and Sweden also participated in the exercise.
A spokesperson for the Norwegian ministry of defense acknowledged the jamming to CNN, which it said took place between October 16 and November 7, and said it would defer to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on further questions to Russian authorities

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/14/polit...ing/index.html