Stars and Stripes
January 30, 2015
NATO: 2014 was a ‘black year’ for European security
By John Vandiver
STUTTGART, Germany: If 2014 was a “black year” for European security, the year ahead will test NATO’s ability to respond to new challenges in its own back yard, the alliance’s top official said Friday.
“2014 was not a good year for European security. In fact, it was a black year,” Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said during a news conference in Brussels following the release of the organization’s 2014 annual report. “So our security environment has fundamentally changed.”
Going forward, NATO will be focused on a series of new measures, including a continuous presence in a series of eastern European countries, to respond to Russia’s intervention in Ukraine as well as growing concerns about Islamic radicalism along NATO’s southern flank, Stoltenberg said.
The first order of business comes next week when NATO defense ministers meet for two days of talks at the 28-nation alliance’s Brussels headquarters. They are expected to make decisions on a new “Readiness Action Plan” that calls for the formation of a rapid reaction force expected to involve several thousand NATO troops.
“We will also decide on the size and the composition of our new Spearhead Force,” Stoltenberg said. “And setting up NATO command and control units in six of our eastern allies. “This will be the biggest reinforcement of our collective defense since the end of the Cold War.”
Small teams will deploy to Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland and Bulgaria as part of a command and control unit, which will operate in support of the new spearhead force, Stoltenberg said.
“[T]he crisis in Ukraine has breathed new life into the Cold War alliance, which has been ramping up its presence in eastern Europe as part of an effort to reassure allies along Russia’s periphery who have been rattled by Russia’s actions.
…
On Tuesday, the U.S.’s top diplomat for European affairs, Victoria Nuland, called on allies to expedite the installation of new command and control posts in eastern Europe, underscoring the sense of urgency that has emerged within Europe.
“We must install command and control centers in all six frontline states,” said Nuland, a U.S. undersecretary of state, during a talk at the Brookings Institution in Washington. “NATO is a defensive alliance. Our goal is deterrence of aggression. But if that fails, we have to be ready.”
…
Source