Category: NATOSource

Update: NATO activities in Libya on August 16

By NATO

Panetta: Bigger defense cuts would ‘weaken’ US

By Robert Burns, the AP

From Robert Burns, the AP:  Large new cuts in defense spending would "terribly weaken" U.S. national security, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Tuesday as he and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton used a rare joint interview to argue that the nation cannot afford to keep playing partisan chicken with its finances.

The Slow Death of Europe

By Walter Laqueur, the National Interest

From Walter Laqueur, the National Interest:  With all its importance, the economic crisis is only part of our sad story—and probably not even the decisive one. For the present debacle is also one of an apparent lack of a common European identity and values, of national interests prevailing over a shared European interest.

US sends more Predator drones to Libya

By Courtney Kube and Jim Miklaszewski, MSNBC

From Courtney Kube and Jim Miklaszewski, MSNBC:  The United States stepped up its military assistance to the NATO mission in Libya slightly this week, sending in two additional Predator drones to fly combat air patrols, a senior defense official told NBC News.

NATO condemns Scud attack by Gaddafi forces

By NATO

From NATO: Excerpts from press briefing on Libya by Carmen Romero, the NATO Deputy Spokesperson, and Colonel Roland Lavoie, Operation ‘’Unified Protector’’ military spokesperson.

SACEUR: The “battlefields” have dramatically changed

By James Stavridis, Allied Command Operations

From James Stavridis, Allied Command Operations:  [T]he "battlefields” have dramatically changed and the world today requires more from us all.

Update: NATO activities in Libya on August 15

By NATO

Libya conflict: Gaddafi forces ‘launched Scud missile’

By the BBC

From the BBC:  Military forces loyal to Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi have fired a Scud missile for the first time in the country’s six-month conflict, US defence officials say.

Russia’s Arctic ‘sea grab’

By Fred Weir, the Christian Science Monitor

From Fred Weir, the Christian Science Monitor:  Russia is expected within months to claim to the United Nations its right to annex about 380,000 square miles of the Arctic.