Allies to beef up NATO security

[unhappycamper]

http://www.fayobserver.com/military/allies-to-beef-up-nato-security/article_1096a11d-9a55-5d40-9f19-a22f1f0870c8.html

Allies to beef up NATO security
By Julie Pace
Posted: Tuesday, September 2, 2014 7:28 pm | Updated: 7:05 am, Wed Sep 3, 2014.



WASHINGTON - Confronted by a Kremlin-backed military offensive in Ukraine, President Obama and Western allies will approve plans this week to position at least 4,000 troops and military equipment in Eastern Europe, bolstering NATO's security commitments to member states near the Russian border.

~snip~

Russia's months-long conflict with Ukraine comes at a time when members of the NATO defense alliance have been cutting military spending and reassessing the organization's role after years of peace in Europe. While Ukraine is not part of NATO, alliance members in Eastern and Central Europe fear they could be Russia's next targets, prompting the 28-nation bloc to seek a more robust response.

"The current situation shows that the principle of collective territorial defense hasn't gone away - on the contrary," Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said Sunday.

The U.S. has long provided troops for a NATO response force. Beginning Oct. 1, about 600 troops from the 1st Brigades, 1st Cavalry Division, based at Fort Hood, Texas, will be part of that effort.

[pscot]

1. Shoring up NATO

and mending our frayed European alliances would be a good project for the President's last couple of years.