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Soldiers of the Kosovo Security Force stand in front of the American and NATO flags after the army formation ceremony in Pristina, Kosovo, in December.CreditCreditLaura Hasani/Reuters

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In April, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will celebrate its 70th birthday. Founded in the earliest years of the Cold War, it is just as relevant today, when many feel that the international order is shaken again. In fact, if NATO did not exist, those in favor of a free world would have to invent it.

While NATO’s key purpose remains to guarantee the security of its members, it has never been a purely military alliance. It is a political alliance as well, based on the common aspirations of its members who, as the NATO Treaty says, “are determined to safeguard the freedom, common heritage and civilization of its peoples, founded on the principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law.”

These principles are under assault today.…  Seguir leyendo » “The World Still Needs NATO”

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This is the year for newsworthy military exercises. President Trump’s surprising cancellation of the annual U.S.-South Korea maneuvers in June hinted at how important such exercises can be in geopolitical and diplomatic relationships. In September, as Dmitry Gorenburg explained here at TMC, Russia’s sprawling Vostok-2018 exercise along its eastern borders showed off how well the Russian armed forces’ different branches could coordinate operations. And by cooperating with a Chinese military contingent, Russia signaled that the two superpowers could develop a closer strategic relationship. That operation built on Russian exercise Zapad-2017, which probably garnered more news headlines, some of them hyperbolic, than any such event in recent memory.…  Seguir leyendo » “Today, NATO begins a huge military exercise”

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Tras desembarcar en puertos del oeste de Suecia, destacamentos militares de varios países de la OTAN llenan las calles suecas, lo que obligó a la policía a emitir alertas de tránsito. Van camino a Noruega, donde unos 50 000 soldados, aviadores y marinos se reunirán en el mayor ejercicio militar de la OTAN en años. La operación, bautizada Trident Juncture, tiene un objetivo claro: demostrar la capacidad de la alianza para defender a Noruega de un agresor extranjero.

No hace falta nombrar al potencial agresor. Obviamente no es Suecia ni Finlandia (que contribuyeron soldados para el ejercicio). Durante la Guerra Fría, hubo ocasiones en que Finlandia estuvo bajo presión soviética, cada vez que el Kremlin intentó aumentar su espacio de maniobra; pero siempre se mantuvo firme en su compromiso de defender su identidad nórdica y occidental.…  Seguir leyendo » “El fin de la no alineación escandinava”

Bernd von Jutrczenka/picture alliance via Getty Images President Donald Trump with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Brussels, July 11, 2018

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In the run-up to July’s NATO summit in Brussels, President Trump prompted a flurry of concern within the US liberal establishment by voicing doubts about NATO’s continuing usefulness. He also attacked European countries for their trade policies, and called the alliance’s other members “delinquent” for failing to pull their financial weight. Then, in the wake of the meeting, he publicly questioned whether the US would come to the aid of Montenegro, the alliance’s newest member, in the event of a clash with Russia.

This was no way to treat what The New York Times editorial board, on July 8, called “the most successful military alliance in history,” “the core of an American-led liberal world order.” Alexander Vershbow, a former NATO deputy secretary general, worried that Trump was “turning at least his base, and maybe other Americans, against NATO and against US global leadership.” Nicholas Burns, a former US ambassador to NATO, observed on July 11 that “it has been shocking to see how far from grace the United States has fallen in the eyes of its allies,” and that “a dangerous breach has opened in the trans-Atlantic alliance.”

Behind Trump’s bullying and bluster, though, the core message he delivered in Brussels was not that different from those given by previous administrations.…  Seguir leyendo » “NATO and the Myth of the Liberal International Order”

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Igual que en el ajedrez, hay jugadas geopolíticas con las que un país puede encerrarse a sí mismo sin darse cuenta. Iniciar un debate sobre el desarrollo alemán de armas nucleares es una de esas jugadas. Pero es exactamente lo que algunos alemanes propusieron hace poco. Los partidarios de nuclearizar a Alemania sostienen que la protección nuclear de la OTAN perdió toda credibilidad con las declaraciones del presidente estadounidense Donald Trump.

Hay al menos tres buenas razones por las que considerar la opción nuclear es una idea temeraria. Para empezar, Alemania renunció a ello en reiteradas ocasiones, primero en 1969 al firmar (y luego ratificar) el Tratado de No Proliferación de Armas Nucleares (TNP), y después en 1990 al firmar el Tratado “Dos más cuatro”, que sentó las bases de la reunificación alemana.…  Seguir leyendo » “El peligroso coqueteo de Alemania con las armas nucleares”

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¿Qué queda de la OTAN y del orden transatlántico después de la tumultuosa semana del presidente norteamericano, Donald Trump, en Bruselas, el Reino Unido y Helsinki, donde defendió al presidente ruso, Vladimir Putin, contra acusaciones de una guerra cibernética de las propias agencias de inteligencia de Estados Unidos?

Si miramos cómo se desarrollan los acontecimientos con lentes color de rosa, podríamos pensar que la alianza estratégica más importante de Occidente está más o menos bien, o inclusive que se está volviendo más fuerte. En verdad, la OTAN está en peligro, y su destino hoy está depositado en las manos desdeñosas de Trump.…  Seguir leyendo » “¿El fin de la OTAN?”

Gastar más en defensa Sí, pero europeamente

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Más que encuentros, el presidente estadounidense Donald Trump y sus socios europeos están protagonizando una larga lista de desencuentros. La cumbre anual de la OTAN celebrada en Bruselas hace unos días tenía todos los visos de engrosar dicha lista. Recordemos que, en la cumbre del año pasado, Trump renunció a apoyar explícitamente la piedra angular de la Alianza Atlántica: el principio de defensa colectiva consagrado en el artículo 5 del Tratado del Atlántico Norte. Por si los precedentes —incluyendo también el reciente descarrilamiento del G7— no fuesen suficientemente desalentadores, la reunión que iba a mantener posteriormente Trump con el presidente ruso Vladimir Putin añadía el enésimo elemento de tensión.…  Seguir leyendo » “¿Gastar más en defensa? Sí, pero europeamente”

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Desde antes incluso de convertirse en el 45 presidente de los Estados Unidos de América, Donald Trump ha venido criticando el escaso gasto en Defensa que hacen sus aliados de la OTAN. En un lenguaje al que se está muy poco acostumbrado en el mundo diplomático, ha llegado a decir que Europa debe mucho dinero a EE.UU., que –según dice– soporta más del 70 por ciento del gasto de la Alianza. La semana pasada publicó un mensaje en su cuenta de Twitter en el que llamaba literalmente morosos a varios países europeos. ¿Es eso cierto? ¿Hemos dejado de pagar aquello a lo que estábamos obligados?…  Seguir leyendo » “La OTAN, Trump y Europa”

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After many weeks of claiming, dishonestly, that European allies “owe us a tremendous amount of money for many years back” — in fact, Europeans spend far more money on European defense than does the United States — and after referring to NATO members as “delinquent” and worse, President Trump appears to have handed America’s European allies an ultimatum Thursday: Pay up, spend 2 percent of gross domestic product on the military, do it fast — or the United States will pull out. We can “go it alone,” he told them, by some accounts.

During the news conference he gave afterward, Trump even claimed Europeans had caved in to his demands: They had agreed to reach the 2 percent target faster, he said, and they could possibly increase it to 4 percent in the future.…  Seguir leyendo » “Europe needs to start planning for a future with no U.S.”

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Existe la preocupación, entre políticos y analistas, de que la Cumbre de la OTAN que se abre hoy en el nuevo cuartel general de Bruselas, sea escenario de otro desacuerdo entre el presidente norteamericano Donald Trump y sus socios europeos, e incluso de que estemos ante el comienzo del fin de la Alianza Atlántica. Se teme que Trump aproveche la ocasión para atacar a europeos y canadienses por los acuerdos comerciales y los niveles de gasto militar y que llegue incluso a negarse a respaldar la declaración final, que pretende resaltar la coherencia de la OTAN y el propósito común de los países miembros.…  Seguir leyendo » “Una crisis distinta a las anteriores”

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El Tratado de Washington suscrito el 4 de abril de 1949 es el texto jurídico fundacional de la Alianza Atlántica. Desde entonces, durante casi siete décadas, la OTAN ha sido un factor esencial en el mantenimiento de la paz y la estabilidad en la zona euroatlántica. Con la incorporación de Montenegro el 5 de junio de 2017, son veintinueve los países miembros de la Alianza, que además tiene países socios en Europa, Asia y África en el marco de tres iniciativas aliadas. En la Asociación para la Paz participan veintiún países; en el Diálogo Mediterráneo, siete, y en la Iniciativa de Cooperación de Estambul, cuatro.…  Seguir leyendo » “Los desafíos de la OTAN”

President Trump was greeted by Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg as he arrived at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday.CreditDoug Mills/The New York Times

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Not so long ago, Europeans believed that despite Donald Trump’s harsh words, Washington would never endanger its Cold War alliances. “Do not read his tweets, follow his actions,” senior American officials told their European colleagues when the conversation turned to the future of the trans-Atlantic relations.

How wrong we were to believe them. It was the tweets that really mattered in the end.

Within hours of the religiously anticipated NATO summit in Brussels today, President Trump was castigating Germany, historically one of America’s closest allies, claiming, ridiculously, that it is “captive” to Russia and calling NATO countries “delinquent.”

Clearly, Mr. Trump is ignoring European Council President Donald Tusk’s appeal: “Dear America, appreciate your allies.…  Seguir leyendo » “Sorry, NATO. Trump Doesn’t Believe in Allies.”

Donald Trump stands in front of the Warsaw Uprising Monument on Krasinski Square on 6 July 2017 in Warsaw, before delivering a speech where he argued that the future of Western civilization is at stake. Photo: Getty Images.

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Robin Niblett talks to Jason Naselli about the key fault lines between the US president and his allies, as President Trump heads to the NATO summit, a visit to the United Kingdom and a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Is NATO fit for purpose? This question has been around since the end of the Cold War, but with continuing disagreement over defence spending and burden-sharing, the alliance is appearing increasingly dysfunctional. What is the path forward?

The irony is that NATO is increasingly fit for purpose as a military alliance. But the political alliance it is meant to represent is being called ever more into question.…  Seguir leyendo » “Trump Is Heading to Europe for an Ideological Battle”

A new Russian frigate, the Admiral Makarov, is prepared for joining Russia's Black Sea fleet. Photo: Getty Images.

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The NATO summit in Brussels on 11-12 July is likely to be highly political. The Atlantic alliance is increasingly polarised due to disagreements over burden-sharing arrangements, national contributions and transatlantic solidarity. But NATO members cannot let these disagreements get in the way of addressing the ‘Russian challenge’ – the increasing tensions with Moscow as the Kremlin explores the boundaries of escalation with the alliance and tried to destabilize it.

Prospects for improving relations with Moscow are minimal, especially in light of recent developments. The latest meeting of the NATO–Russia Council on 31 May (the first since October 2017) and the meeting between the chief of staff of the Russian armed forces, Valery Gerasimov, and the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Joseph Dunford, on 8 June achieved very little.…  Seguir leyendo » “NATO Needs a Strategy for Countering Russia in the Arctic and the Black Sea”

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Scruffy, yellowish-brown buildings are bunched around a long courtyard; portable toilets and generators have been set up on the dusty ground beside. Inside, military-grade laptops, the kind that don’t break if you drop them, are arrayed along a series of tables, their cables spooling off onto the floor. Men from different countries, some dressed in camouflage, talk in low voices. A large map of Europe’s Baltic coast has been projected onto one of the walls, with different colored markers scattered across it.

This, dear readers, is the transatlantic alliance. But this is not the transatlantic alliance in theory, the one people are discussing right now, with so much concern, from Washington to Tallinn to Montreal.…  Seguir leyendo » “NATO is once again practicing for the worst”

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The commander of Allied Joint Force Command Naples and US Naval Forces Europe and Africa, James Foggo, speaks with Jason Naselli about how military intervention is changing and how NATO is preparing for future threats.

Are the days of large-scale Western military interventions over?

No I don’t think they are because we can’t predict with 100 per cent accuracy what the next threat will be, or work out where the next war will be. So what’s important, as [the NATO] alliance, is that we remain strong.

The motto that I grew up with in the alliance came from my time with Admiral [James] Stavridis [former supreme allied commander Europe].…  Seguir leyendo » “Admiral James Foggo on the Future of Intervention”

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Los ministros de Defensa de los países de la OTAN se reunieron en Bruselas los días 14 y 15 del pasado mes de febrero. La adaptación de la estructura de mando de la Alianza, el reparto de las cargas entre los aliados y los esfuerzos de la OTAN para proyectar estabilidad centraron la atención de los reunidos. Entre las decisiones tomadas por los ministros, destaca la relativa a la modernización de la estructura de mando para adaptarla a los cambios producidos en el entorno estratégico, prestando más atención a la seguridad marítima, a la movilidad logística y militar, así como a la defensa cibernética.…  Seguir leyendo » “OTAN-UE, la unión hace la fuerza”

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Toda violencia contra las mujeres traiciona la promesa fundamental de igualdad de derechos y dignidad para las mujeres establecida en la Carta de Naciones Unidas. Es una de las principales razones por las que las mujeres se mantienen en una posición subordinada respecto a los hombres en la mayor parte del mundo.

En nuestras diferentes funciones hemos visto que aquellos conflictos en los que el cuerpo y los derechos de las mujeres son objeto de abuso sistemático duran más, causan heridas más profundas y son mucho más difíciles de resolver y superar. Poner fin a la violencia por razón de sexo es por consiguiente una cuestión vital para la paz y la seguridad, así como para la justicia social.…  Seguir leyendo » “La OTAN, arma contra la violencia sexual en conflictos armados”

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All violence against women betrays the fundamental promise in the UN Charter of equal rights and dignity for women. It is one of the prime reasons why women remain in a subordinate position in relation to men in most parts of the world.

When this violence is committed as an act of war it tears apart families, creates mass displacement, and makes peace and reconciliation far harder to achieve. In fact, it is often designed expressly to achieve those goals as part of a military strategy.

Despite being prohibited by international law, sexual violence continues to be employed as a tactic of war in numerous conflicts from Myanmar to Ukraine and Syria to Somalia.…  Seguir leyendo » “Why Nato must defend women’s rights”

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Partisanship and contentiousness typically dominate Washington news. In the clamor, it’s easy to overlook the national consensus on a significant issue: the need to revitalize America’s most crucial security alliance, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

I was nominated as United States ambassador to NATO by President Trump in late June. As I made my rounds of congressional offices before my confirmation hearing, I found near unanimity from Republicans and Democrats alike on NATO’s future.

There is no appreciable difference of views among the president, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and senators of either party on the need to revitalize NATO so it can meet today’s security needs while maintaining the fundamental principle of Article 5 of the organization’s founding treaty — that an attack on one is an attack on all.…  Seguir leyendo » “Washington Remains United Behind NATO”