The U.S and a number of its NATO allies are locked in a disagreement over security. The U.S defense secretary, Robert Gates couldn't hide his anger at the Washington meeting of NATO officials and security experts.
Robert Gates spoke about the existence of some sort of European pacifism which has gone too far, saying that while the White House has requested the Congress to allocate 5 per cent of the country's GDP for the next fiscal year for defense needs, only 4 out of the 26 European members of the military alliance spend more than 2 per cent of their GDP on defense. A few days ago, former Prime Ministers, Jean-Luke Dean and Guy Verxofetadt, and former foreign ministers, Lois Michel and Willy Klass, speaking in Belgium had demanded that the 240 American nuclear warheads deployed in Europe should be removed. They stressed that the Cold War was over, arguing that the tactical weapons therefore no longer have any relevance. Members of the ruling Social-Democratic Party had earlier demanded the removal from Germany of the American atomic weapons. Commenting on these developments, Vladimir Batuk of the Institute for American and Canadian studies said, Tape.
Many people in Western Europe frown at the presence of American nuclear warheads on the continent, believing that their deployment is not in harmony with the spirit of the times and is in conflict with the logic of the several statements by U.S President, Barack Obama, expressing Washington's desire for a nuclear-free world. The German foreign minister has said that the removal from Europe of American nuclear weapons is important for Berlin and he is backed by many other European politicians.
These various statements are in consonant with the refusal by several European countries to fork out extra money to finance the NATO military programme. It does seem that the present disagreement within NATO can trigger a political reform of the military alliance. It is clear that haven lost its original objectives and direction, NATO needs a fresh orientation, an advice which many experts, including Russians have repeatedly given NATO for free. Until and unless a new direction for the alliance is agreed, the differences within NATO will snowball.
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