United States and Canada

US Chief of Defense: NATO Needs to Revisit the Meaning of Deterrence

By Martin Dempsey, Defense One

Dempsey: My personal view is that this is a moment for NATO to decide what it intends to be in the future.

Europeans Dither on Defense While Putin Laughs

By John Vinocur, Wall Street Journal

On one hand, there are European countries reasonably bemoaning years of declining American leadership and resolve.

Is Canada Pulling Its Weight in NATO?

By Roland Paris, CIPS

NATO has long called upon its members to maintain military spending at 2 percent of GDP. However, few alliance members have met this target.

US Deploying Special Forces in Baltics and Central Europe for Exercises

By John Vandiver, Stars and Stripes

U.S. special operations forces are increasing their presence in the Baltics and eastern Europe with a continuous cycle of exercises planned as part of a new effort to maintain a “persistent presence” of elite U.S. troops in a region rattled by Russia’s recent actions in Ukraine.

US General: Russia Flying Sorties Near California, Linked to Ukraine Crisis

By David Brunnstrom, Reuters

The head of U.S. air forces in the Pacific said on Monday that Russia’s intervention in Ukraine had been accompanied by a significant increase in Russian air activity in the Asia-Pacific region in a show of strength and to gather intelligence.

Hagel to NATO: We Must Summon ‘the Will to Invest in Our Alliance’

By Chuck Hagel, Department of Defense

America did not make commitments abroad “in search of monsters to destroy.” Instead, President Truman joined the North Atlantic Treaty because he said he was convinced that NATO would serve as “a shield against aggression and the fear of aggression”

US Nominates Air Force General to Lead NATO Special Operations HQ

By John Vandiver, Stars and Stripes

Air Force Maj. Gen. Marshall B. Webb, U.S. European Command’s top special operations officer, has been nominated for a third star and an assignment as commander of NATO’s special operations headquarters.

Canadian Troops in Poland for Multinational Exercise

By CBC News

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canada will send soldiers to Poland to take part in NATO exercises amid growing concerns about Russian aggression toward Ukraine.

NATO Countries Planning Comms Mission in Ukraine

By Paul D. Shinkman, U.S. News & World Report

NATO countries may be ramping up their war of words in the coming weeks in Ukraine, where Russian propaganda flows freely into the east while ill-prepared security forces can’t even talk to one another.

President Obama to Visit Europe Amid Russia Crisis, Biden Says

Vice President Tells Council: Ukraine-Russia Conflict ‘Was Born in Putin’s Mind’ President Barack Obama will visit Poland in June for the 25th anniversary of the free elections that marked that country’s exit from its era of communist rule under Soviet domination, Vice President Joe Biden said at the Atlantic Council today. Obama’s visit to Poland […]