Page 5 - Wess Mitchell News Today

NATO’s “partner” concept is shorn of the Article 5 guarantee of collective defence against armed attack but provides defence dialogue, military-to-military planning, joint exercises, interoperability and predictability The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) – the first peacetime military alliance the United States entered into outside of the Western Hemisphere — was formed in 1949 after…

Tuesday, March 2, 2021, 1500-1700  I want to thank the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies (GCMC) for organizing this virtual event on such an important and timely topic.  I want to welcome my friends Latvian Ambassador Peteris Elferts, a proud GCMC alumni, and German Ambassador Ernst Reichel – both here in Athens – as well as my friend Dr. Andrew Michta, Dean of the George C. Marshall Center in Germany. Let me also say thank you to the speakers this afternoon from t...

US-Greece relations in the Biden era: Why the road to rebuilding the transatlantic alliance runs through Athens New Atlanticist by George Pagoulatos and Katerina Sokou A Greek flag is framed by marble pillars at the Attalos arcade in Athens February 26, 2015. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis For Europe, Joe Biden’s presidency brings high hopes for reinvigorating the transatlantic partnership. For the Unite...

As Israel heads into its fourth elections in just two years, it can be easy to be fed up with... At the beginning of the 1950s, NATO formulated a strategy involving Greece, Italy, and Turkey to integrate them into the Western defense system and contain the Soviet Union. In the post-Cold War era the phrase is still in use, but is often replaced by the “South,” which encompasses the Mediterranean Basin along with Portugal and Mauritania. Developments in Africa and the Middle East are of inter...

As the alliance tries to find ways to remain relevant and better respond to security challenges, its relationship with Jerusalem is growing closer than ever.

Will NATO miss Donald Trump? For better, for worse Some of those changes have been at least partially positive, even if they left scars on the alliances psyche. For example, while Trump did not, as he frequently misstates, prompt a reversal of allies decline in defense spending — that already happened in 2014 — it is credible that nations boosted their military budgets faster toward the NATO goal of 2% of GDP in an effort to avoid his public haranguing. "He also got [allies] talking about...

What Biden’s election means for Central Europe REUTERS/Joshua Roberts The confirmation of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory was met with deep sighs of relief in European capitals. US President Donald J. Trump’s tenure has traumatized the old continent, and many leaders are looking forward to repairing their relationships with the United States through the next occupant of the White House. While Western Europe is looking forward to the next four years, the reaction is more mixed as one m...

“Security in an Insecure World” December 17, 2020 Thank you very much Ambassador Prevelakis, and Theo, thank you for the invitation to come speak again. I want to say what a pleasure and honor it is to be on the circuit with so many old friends and colleagues. It’s great to see Jim Townsend there and also Admiral Apostolakis who gets so much credit in my mind for laying the foundation for the extraordinary military-to-military relationship we enjoy with Greece today. I also want to say it...

by Thierry Meyssan The gigantic headquarters of the largest military organization in history. Purpose? The furtherance of world tensions and possibly catastrophic war. No one challenged NATO rules during the Cold War except France. But in view of its excesses since 2001, each of its members (except Turkey) is thinking of getting out of it, including the United States for whom it is nevertheless indispensable. The internal report on what it should become illustrates its contradictions and the di...