Now Comes the True Test for NATO
Comment of the Day

September 05 2014

Commentary by David Fuller

Now Comes the True Test for NATO

Here is the opening from this Bloomberg Editorial on the summit:

As usual, the latest summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was a good one for stenographers. The gathered heads of state issued not one but two official declarations, making 122 points in all. But as NATO Secretary-General Anders Rasmussen also said: “One thing is a declaration and quite another thing is implementation.”

He was referring to the declared cease-fire in Ukraine, yet his words could also apply to the just-concluded meeting. The shared sense of purpose among the alliance's 28 leaders was impressive, and it is well and good for NATO to "reaffirm our continuing and unwavering commitment to defend the populations, territory, sovereignty, and shared values of all Allies in North America and Europe." Now it must back up that commitment.

It certainly has the incentive. The 28 countries of the alliance are increasingly under threat, with disorder lapping at their borders -- from Russian aggression in Ukraine to Islamic State’s savagery in the Middle East. What NATO lacks is a willingness to spend.

Asked, for example, to make good on their long-standing pledge to spend at least 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense, NATO’s leaders said they would “aim to” reverse the decline that has reduced their collective defense spending by 20 percent in five years, then reach the 2 percent target -- sometime in the next decade.

The horribly named Readiness Action Plan to secure NATO’s easternmost members from any potential Russian aggression was less than Poland and the Baltic states wanted, but it was nevertheless a vital step. And it will be expensive. NATO’s commanders are fired up to revamp everything the alliance does to ensure its pledge of collective defense, as well as to create and deploy the new “spearhead” force in the Baltics and Poland. They must be allowed to do so.

David Fuller's view

If Putin has read this report about the NATO summit, I do not think it will cause him to have a sleepless night.  Unfortunately, this will not be true for Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who now has to negotiate with Putin from a position of obvious weakness.  

 Stock markets are more concerned with uncertainties or immediate threats.  Many different factors can influence markets at any given time, but Wall Street’s close on Friday (weekly & daily) did not reflect concern over what happens in Ukraine or the Middle East on Monday. 

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