Med flertalet före detta östblocksländer som medlemmar i Atlantpakten ett par decennier efter kalla krigets slut har gränsen mellan Nato och dess huvudmotståndare Ryssland förlängts dramatiskt, påpekas i denna översiktsartikel från tyska Der Spiegel. Detta har lett till krav, särskilt från amerikanskt håll, på snabb militär upprustning av de europeiska Nato-länderna. Spiegel-artikeln belyser, ur ett kritiskt perspektiv, vad som döljer sig bakom militärutgifterna på ömse sidor om den nya gränsen.
How Can NATO Best Address the Russian Threat? SpiegelOnline
With fears growing over potential Russian aggression in Europe, NATO is once again promoting a strategy of deterrence. But is higher military spending in response to the world’s crises the right answer?…
The situation today is altogether different. The NATO staffer points to northern Norway at the top of the map and then moves to the right, across the Baltic Sea to the Baltic states, Poland and, finally, down to Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey. It is an enormously long line stretching from the Arctic Circle to the eastern reaches of the Black Sea. Such is the external borders of the NATO alliance today – and it is a difficult one to defend…
In 1967, then-Belgian Foreign Minister Pierre Harmel drafted a paper for NATO in which he implored all member states to improve their relations with Moscow. But he also noted that this could only work if the alliance was able to simultaneously demonstrate its military strength. Today, the paper is seen as a model for the kind of détente that is currently necessary between the East and the West. Läs artikel