Brain-dead at 70? NATO set to ask 'wise persons' for help

[snoop1130]

Brain-dead at 70? NATO set to ask 'wise persons' for help

By Robin Emmott

 

People hold umbrellas outside NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, November 26, 2019. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

 

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO is expected to ask a group of “wise persons” to help reform the alliance after U.S. President Donald Trump questioned its relevance and French President Emmanuel Macron said it was dying.

 

At a London summit on Dec. 4 marking NATO’s 70th anniversary, leaders of the 29 member states will try to put on a show of unity but face questions about the future of the U.S.-led alliance.

 

Washington’s allies in Europe and Canada are uncertain what to expect from Trump after he criticized Germany at a NATO summit in July 2018 and mulled quitting the alliance before praising it and taking credit for promised reforms.

 

Since then, Macron has also vented his frustration, over what French diplomats say is NATO’s lack of coordination at a political level and a failure to tackle taboo subjects. In Macron’s words, NATO is “experiencing brain death”.

 

His remarks followed a U.S. troop withdrawal from Syria which prompted Turkey to launch an offensive against YPG militia in northern Syria which it sees as terrorists although they helped Washington defeat Islamic State. Ankara’s NATO allies fear the assault will undermine the battle against IS militants.

 

To address the concerns about NATO’s future, the summit is likely to adopt a Franco-German proposal to create a group of respected figures under alliance Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, diplomats said.

 

The “wise persons” would report back in late 2021, when NATO is due to hold its next summit, setting the ground for reform.

 

“We are trying to channel the electric shock produced (by Macron’s comments) to structure a political debate,” said a senior French diplomat involved in discussions.

 

The aim is to secure a “re-balanced transatlantic alliance,” the diplomat said, with Europe recognizing Washington is carrying too much weight.

 

The group would probably be small, with a mix of elder statespersons and others who can propose more radical ideas.

 

As a gesture to Trump, a summit deal is expected for U.S. allies to share more of NATO’s running costs and reduce Washington’s share of annual funding for NATO headquarters and staff from 2021.

 

Leaders are also set to meet a U.S. demand that European allies have more NATO battalions, ships and planes ready for combat as deterrence against a potential Russian attack.

 

WHAT WILL TRUMP SAY?

 

“Of course no-one knows what Trump will say,” said a senior European NATO diplomat. “But now we don’t know what Macron or (Turkish President Tayyip) Erdogan will say either.”

 

The one-day summit at a luxury golf club will be unusually brief to reduce the scope for diplomatic disputes though Britain is eager to host the showcase event as it prepares to leave the European Union.

 

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created in 1949 to confront the threat of the communist Soviet Union but found renewed renewed purpose after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.

 

NATO is now under pressure to help solve some of the world’s most intractable crises and Washington has pushed it to consider its position on China, a growing military power.

 

“The strain on the system is big,” Norwegian Lieutenant-Colonel Stein Grongstad told Reuters during training of Norwegian soldiers who will help train local government troops in Iraq under a NATO flag.

 

“It is difficult for the army to do territorial defense, training and international operations at the same time.”

 

This is sensitive for Germany, which is Europe’s biggest economy but has struggled with outdated weaponry and does not aim to meet NATO’s minimum spending target for individual nations until 2031.

 

“But the question is still whether politicians are ready to spend so much money,” a German defense source told Reuters.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-11-27

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[OneMoreFarang]

Who is the commander in chief of the biggest army which is part of the Nato?

I am not sure if his brain can be called dead. But for sure it's not working like a healthy brain should work.

[sunnyboy2018]

Is France a member of NATO?

[Tug]

Whatever you do don’t ask trump he’s dumb as a box of hammers and shallow as a puddle of water lol

[Cryingdick]

Wise persons... lol I guess they can check Linkedin for anybody looking for a temporary Magi gig.

[klauskunkel]

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

“Of course no-one knows what Trump will say,”

ask his fingers, they will tweet

[Scott]

Troll posts removed.  

 

[stevenl]

Personally I'd be happy to let NATO die and have Europe sort out a quick response force on its own right. Either from within the EU or outside of it.

[Baerboxer]

16 hours ago, sunnyboy2018 said:

Is France a member of NATO?

 

In out in out shake it all about! A sort of hokey cokey member. When on operation they want to use their own language, protocols, equipment, and work in isolation. Not the best 'team players". The spend 1.8% of GDP on defense; just shy of the 2% agreed level of spending.

 

Macron favors a EU military of course, which he sees as French HQ'd; French led; French speaking; and buying all French equipment.

 

Vive la difference!

[Eric Loh]

Who will benefit with all this disunity among Europe allies. Ask Trump. 

[jany123]

12 hours ago, Cryingdick said:

Wise persons... lol I guess they can check Linkedin for anybody looking for a temporary Magi gig.

You mean like the way the Divided States found Navarro by searching Amazon?

 

[Fortean1]

I worked the Allied Forces South commcen in Naples- Italy 1/77 to 1/80.  Yes- the French military participated in war games.  One of customers was the FMM or French Military Mission.  A French admiral in charge of the FMM.  The French received teletype messages except for those marked NOT RELEASABLE TO THE FRENCH MILITARY MISSION or a similar caveat.  One day we received a service message from the French Navy in Marseilles.  We figured out the French words were stating the separate teletype circuit through Italian Telephone and Telegraph was out of service.  Of course this was stapled to a large sheet of paper and sent to the Command Center.  The French by treaty were not to have a separate teletype circuit and to only use the NATO teletype circuits.  They got chewed out by Admiral Shear or was that Admiral Turner.  I highly recommend a book by Clarke; a Brit; "1-000 Years of Annoying the French".  It gives an inside history of British and French wars and more over the years.  The French never lost a battle!

 

Terry in Thailand

[billd766]

17 hours ago, Tug said:

Whatever you do don’t ask trump he’s dumb as a box of hammers and shallow as a puddle of water lol

Come on Tug. Be fair.

 

At least a bag of hammers are useful.

[Cory1848]

Subhead from the original article, WHAT WILL TRUMP SAY

 

<sigh> It will be a blessed day, hopefully not much longer now, when I no longer have to give a hoot what Trump says.

[car720]

19 hours ago, Tug said:

Whatever you do don’t ask trump he’s dumb as a box of hammers and shallow as a puddle of water lol

Now what did hammers and water ever do to deserve that sort of insult. 

[car720]

4 hours ago, stevenl said:

Personally I'd be happy to let NATO die and have Europe sort out a quick response force on its own right. Either from within the EU or outside of it.

Agreed.  The second war was long ago now.  Time for some new thinking.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 11/28/2019 at 12:21 AM, snoop1130 said:

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created in 1949 to confront the threat of the communist Soviet Union but found renewed renewed purpose after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.

 

NATO is now under pressure to help solve some of the world’s most intractable crises and Washington has pushed it to consider its position on China, a growing military power.

 

“The strain on the system is big,” Norwegian Lieutenant-Colonel Stein Grongstad told Reuters during training of Norwegian soldiers who will help train local government troops in Iraq under a NATO flag.

 

They didn't have a problem during the cold war. NATO lost it's reason to exist when the cold war ended, IMO, and European nations cut military funding to invest in loony social projects.

Now the US isn't willing to pay to protect them for free, the chooks are flying home to roost.

Shame on every British government that has emasculated a once great military machine, reducing it to playing a bit part in Iraq. The Brits can't even make their own warplanes any more, as the fiasco with the new aircraft carrier proves.

[Tug]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

They didn't have a problem during the cold war. NATO lost it's reason to exist when the cold war ended, IMO, and European nations cut military funding to invest in loony social projects.

Now the US isn't willing to pay to protect them for free, the chooks are flying home to roost.

Shame on every British government that has emasculated a once great military machine, reducing it to playing a bit part in Iraq. The Brits can't even make their own warplanes any more, as the fiasco with the new aircraft carrier proves.

I beg to differ with the russan federation pushing in Ukraine the Middle East and South America with China pushing everywhere I think the worlds democracy’s need now more than ever to show a united front

[thaibeachlovers]

3 hours ago, Tug said:

I beg to differ with the russan federation pushing in Ukraine the Middle East and South America with China pushing everywhere I think the worlds democracy’s need now more than ever to show a united front

I agree 100% but the democracies of the west won't do anything. Europeans, IMO, won't stand up to Russia as they need the gas, and they won't stand up to China because they don't have the will to spend the necessary money to build a military capable of opposing the Chinese military. Meanwhile the Chinese use the democracies money to build a mighty machine that can defeat anyone. 

I'm sure the Chinese commanders don't have a problem with soldiers taking photos of dead enemies ( or innocent civilians that were in the wrong place at the wrong time ).

 

In any event, can anyone imagine the soft western kids of today actually fighting a world war type battle? The Chinese kids are not softies though.

The Chinese have a million men ( or something like that ) in their army, how many do we have.

Unless we are prepared to use nukes, I think we are screwed.

 

Personally, I think we are at the same stage as the Romans just before the mercenaries they hired took over. Too corrupt and soft to resist a determined and ruthless enemy.