The Trump administration’s plan to cut 12,000 US troops from Germany will hurt NATO, undermine America’s global reputation, help Russia by reducing US troops in Germany by a third and stoking discord among key alliance members, and waste time and money.
The recent deadly skirmish between China and India in a disputed border area has fueled a necessary debate over how best to respond to an increasingly belligerent Beijing. As the only pressure that moves Beijing is when the world unites against it, it’s imperative the international community quickly organize to compel Chinese leaders to change course before they do something we all will regret.
The urgent coronavirus crisis has not eclipsed pre-existing strategic conundrums like Russian threats to Europe and NATO and the urgency of adapting the alliance to meet them. Moscow shows no sign of negotiating on Ukraine or reducing its information warfare and other threats to European security, quite the opposite.
Raphael “Rafi” Cohen, PhD, senior political scientist and the associate director for strategy and doctrine, discusses the new report — “Extending Russia: Competing from Advantageous Ground” — co-authored by a team he co-led with RAND’s Distinguished Chair in Diplomacy and Security Amb. James Dobbins — that details how the United States and its allies can “stress” Moscow with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian. Our coverage was sponsored by Boeing and Leonardo DRS.
Today, NATO advertises itself under version 3.0 — a forward-looking orientation to renewing the strength and readiness of its forces while addressing emerging challenges that confront the Alliance. If versions one and two addressed Cold War challenges and out-of-area operations, this third incarnation reinforces the solidarity of the Alliance through increased readiness, strengthened capabilities and credible deterrence to face new challenges. The Allies are engaging in new domains (space and cyber), reinvigorating the command structure and the political controls governing it, recognizing new competitors (China) and facing old adversaries (Russia) with firmness and resolve. There is much to be optimistic about in NATO’s agenda.
Keith Eikenes, the deputy director general for security policy at Norway’s Ministry of Defense, discusses Svalbard, Russia, the Arctic and NATO’s engagement in the high north with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian at the residence of Norway’s ambassador to the United States in Washington, DC. The ambassador hosted “Looking North: Conference on Security in the Arctic,” organized by the Atlantic Council think tank.
Eric Stewart, the president of the US-Poland Business Council, discusses the key strategic and industrial relationship between Washington and Warsaw with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian.
Slawomir Dębski, PhD, the director of the Polish Institute of International Affairs, discuses the new book he co-edited with Daniel Hamilton of Foreign Policy Institute, “Europe Whole and Free: Vision and Reality,” with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian at the 2019 Halifax International Security Forum. Our coverage was sponsored by Boeing and Leonardo DRS.
Stacie Pettyjohn, PhD, the director of the strategy and doctrine program at RAND Project Air Force, discusses her the report she co-authored with RAND Senior Political Scientist Becca Wasser “Competing in the Grey Zone: Russian Tactics and Western Responses” with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian. Our coverage was sponsored by Boeing and Leonardo DRS.
Bence Szabo, a desk officer at the Hungarian Defence Forces Command,
Fredrik Löfgren, a roboticist at Linköping University and CEO of Dyno Robotics, and
Nicole Davis, a student at Virginia Wesleyan University, discuss NATO Allied Command Transformation’s Young Disruptor program and driving innovation with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian at the command’s 2019 Chiefs of Transformation conference in Norfolk, Va.