The New York Times: Blunt U.S. Warning Reveals Deep Strains in NATO

[PCS]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/11/world/europe/11nato.html

Blunt U.S. Warning Reveals Deep Strains in NATO

BRUSSELS — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates sharply criticized NATO nations on Friday for what he said were shortages in military spending and political will, warning of “a dim if not dismal future” and “irrelevance” for the alliance unless more member nations contribute weapons, money and manpower.

In his final policy speech, Mr. Gates issued a dire warning that the United States, the traditional leader and bankroller of the alliance, is exhausted by a decade of war and its own mounting budget deficits and simply may not see NATO as worth supporting any longer.

“The blunt reality is that there will be dwindling appetite and patience in the U.S. Congress — and in the American body politic writ large — to expend increasingly precious funds on behalf of nations that are apparently unwilling to devote the necessary resources or make the necessary changes to be serious and capable partners in their own defense,” Mr. Gates said.

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[Larry]

But, without NATO, who will rubber stamp us when we want to engage in the next war of choice?