European Security Updates
European Security Updates
Uniting Allies, Supporting Ukraine, Shifting Threats and Committing to Defense Spending Target
UPDATES: Secretary Austin reiterated the United States' full support for the NATO Alliance and noted the importance of strengthening our collective deterrence and defense, including through investments to Allied defense industrial bases.
Cameron called on the U.S., UK, European and other allies to support Ukraine in fighting against Russia's completely unjustified aggression.
Russia is showing no signs it plans to wind down its unprovoked assault on Ukraine two years after launching a full-scale invasion — but Germans now view issues like migration and the threat from radical Islam as more immediate concerns than the menace in the Kremlin.That’s according to new research published Monday ahead of the Munich Security Conference, a gathering of top political and defense officials which kicks off in Germany on Friday.
A record 18 member countries are set to meet the defence alliance's target of spending 2% of their economic output on defence this year, Nato says.
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III at a news conference at the Pentagon in Washington earlier this month.Credit...Yuri Gripas for The New York Times (Taken form The New York Time)
Readout of U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III's Call With NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg
By U.S. Department of Defence
Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder provided the following readout:
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III spoke with NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg today on the eve of tomorrow's NATO Defense Ministerial. They discussed the positive outcomes related to today's virtual Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) meeting, the critical role NATO plays in ensuring Transatlantic security, and reviewed priorities for the Ministerial and upcoming NATO Summit in Washington.
Secretary Austin reiterated the United States' full support for the NATO Alliance and noted the importance of strengthening our collective deterrence and defense, including through investments to Allied defense industrial bases.
While acknowledging more work remains, Secretary Austin applauded today's announcement by Secretary General Stoltenberg that in 2024, NATO's European Allies will invest a collective total of $380 billion in defense. For the first time, this amounts to 2% of their combined gross domestic product. This follows an unprecedented increase in 2023, which saw a rise of 11% in defense spending across Allies.
Secretary Austin and Secretary General Stoltenberg discussed Allies' commitment to provide the full resources necessary to deter and defend against any threat and highlighted the importance of increasing transatlantic defense production. Secretary General Stoltenberg noted that in the past year, NATO has facilitated contracts worth around $10 billion to replenish Allied stocks of munitions and equipment.
Both leaders underscored NATO's importance on the global stage and its preeminence as the gold standard of Alliances – the most successful in history – and despite disagreements - Allies have always been able to unite around our core task: to defend each other and keep our people safe.
Both agreed that America's Allies are a powerful force multiplier and when NATO speaks as one, our adversaries listen.
Secretary Austin and Secretary General Stoltenberg reaffirmed their commitment to advancing NATO's work at tomorrow's Defense Ministerial in Brussels and to continued Allied unity on the road to NATO's 75th Anniversary Summit in Washington, DC this July.
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US, UK, Europe should help Ukraine for the sake of global security - Cameron
By UKRINFORM
The United States, the United Kingdom, European and other allies must show their strength and support Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression for the sake of global security.
UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said this in a column for The Hill, Ukrinform reports.
"We have proved that the dangers of escalation are illusory. Britain was the first to provide everything from anti-tank weapons to artillery, to tanks and now long-range fires like Storm Shadow missiles. Each time Putin has rattled his saber about escalation — and each time it has been empty rhetoric," he wrote.
Cameron called on the U.S., UK, European and other allies to support Ukraine in fighting against Russia's completely unjustified aggression.
He said that "our joint history shows the folly of giving in to tyrants in Europe who believe in redrawing boundaries by force." He stressed that he did not want the West to show the weakness displayed against Hitler in the 1930s, because "he came back for more, costing us far more lives to stop his aggression."
I do not want us to show the weakness displayed against Putin in 2008, when he invaded Georgia, or the uncertainty of the response in 2014, when he took Crimea and much of the Donbas — before coming back to cost us far more with his aggression in 2022," Cameron said.
The minister called for the West to show the strength displayed since 2022, as the West has helped Ukrainians liberate half the territory seized by Putin, all without the loss of any NATO service personnel.
"So let us do it. It goes to the heart of what both sides of the aisle stand for. What both our countries stand for. We fight aggression. We stand up for freedom. We stick by our friends. We show this dangerous, uncertain world that we are unbending in our will. And we win," Cameron said.
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Russia no longer perceived as top threat by Germans
Russia is showing no signs it plans to wind down its unprovoked assault on Ukraine two years after launching a full-scale invasion — but Germans now view issues like migration and the threat from radical Islam as more immediate concerns than the menace in the Kremlin.
That’s according to new research published Monday ahead of the Munich Security Conference, a gathering of top political and defense officials which kicks off in Germany on Friday.
While Russia was perceived as the number one threat in Germany in last year’s Munich Security Index, it has now slipped back to seventh place in the annual report.
The pattern is replicated across the G7 group of countries — the threat posed by Russia was cited as the top concern in surveys conducted in late 2022 for the 2023 Munich Security Index, but has dropped to fourth overall a year later.
The findings come at a crucial moment in the war, as Ukraine seeks to shore up European support as the United States’ commitment to the war effort falters due to continuing Republican opposition in the U.S. Congress.
The European Union agreed a €50 billion aid package for Kyiv earlier this month, but there's already evidence it’s insufficient as Ukraine’s financial needs grow by the day.
The survey’s conclusion that the German public is less concerned by the Russian threat than it once was is a sign of the shifting priorities in Europe as the intractable war enters its third year.
While Ukraine has inflicted significant damage on the Russian army since the war began, its 2023 counteroffensive made slow progress. In a bid to reset his country’s military strategy, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy replaced his top general Valery Zaluzhny last week with Oleksandr Syrskyi, and embarked on a wider leadership reshuffle.
The war in Ukraine is expected to dominate this year’s Munich Security Conference. Though it has not been confirmed, Zelenskyy himself is widely expected to make an appearance — two years after he flew to Munich to make a desperate plea for international help at the conference just days before Russia's full-scale invasion began.
The Munich Security Index 2024 also reveals how the war in Ukraine is competing with other geopolitical threats and priorities.
Concern about mass migration and radical Islamic terrorism now top the list of threats in Germany — a turnaround from the previous year.
The threat posed by radical Islamic terrorism jumped to second place, compared to 16th last year. Mass migration as a result of war or climate change, which came in second last year, now ranks sits at number one. The authors of the report attribute the trends to the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, noting the survey was undertaken in October and November last year.
“As in many other countries, the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7 appears to have prompted a spike in German concern about radical Islamic terrorism,” the report notes, adding that “Germany now has the highest level of concern about migration among the countries surveyed.”
The survey, which interviewed 12,000 people last fall, also provides a bleak insight into the thinking of many of the world’s wealthiest countries. Large parts of the populations in G7 nations believe their countries will be less secure and wealthy in 10 years’ time, the report states. But the prospects for the so-called BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — are judged more positively by their populations.
A whopping 72 percent of the world's population now lives in autocracies, compared to 46 percent a decade ago.
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Nato says record number of allies hit defence target
By Alys Davies/BBC News
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said it was a marked increase from 11 out of Nato's 31 members a year ago.
Germany is due to meet the threshold for the first time in decades.
Nato's announcement came after former US President Donald Trump said he would "encourage" Russia to attack Nato members that were not spending enough.
Nato leaders agreed in 2014 to commit at least 2% of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defence, after Russia's Vladimir Putin seized Crimea from Ukraine and Russian proxy forces occupied large areas of eastern Ukraine. At the time it was less than 1.5%.
While Ukraine is not a member, many of its neighbours are and Nato countries are committed to helping one another defend themselves should they come under attack.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz declared on social media on Wednesday that his country would have the "highest defence budget" in Europe and would maintain the 2% target "in the decades to come... for safety and reliability".
Estonia has already said its defence budget will surpass 3% of its economic output this year, and that 0.25% of GDP will be provided in military aid to Ukraine. Estonian intelligence chief Kaupo Rosin warned on Tuesday that Nato could face a "Soviet-style mass army in the next decade".
Jens Stoltenberg told reporters on Wednesday that the number of countries expected to allocate 2% of economic output on defence this year was "another record number and a six-fold increase from 2014 when only three allies met the target".
He said that, overall, European nations and Canada will have spent an extra $600bn (€560bn; £477bn) on defence since the 2% target was set 10 years ago. He added, however, that while "real progress" was being made, "some allies "still have a way to go" in hitting the target.
Nevertheless, the Nato chief suggested the rise in expenditure showed that members were committed to spending more on defence, appearing to rebuke comments made by Donald Trump last week, in which he insinuated some Nato allies did not spend enough on defence.
Speaking at a rally on Saturday, Mr Trump said he had once told a Nato leader he would not protect a nation behind on its payments, and would "encourage" the aggressors to "do whatever the hell they want".
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