From Nicholas de Larrinaga, Jane’s:  Business as usual is no option for NATO, Norway’s new defence minister said on 3 October in the run-up to the meeting of the alliance’s defence leaders in Brussels. . . .

[S]ome of Europe’s larger spenders on defence have been less enthusiastic in their take-up of NATO ‘smart defence’ initiatives, fearing a loss of independent sovereign capability. Norway’s Defense Minister Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen warned against such an approach, noting that "if such cuts are not considered in the context of the alliance as a whole, the process can only lead to substantial gaps in NATO’s collective defence capability."  (photo: NATO)