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on Fri May 2 16:10:06 2014, in response to EUEUEUEUEU Olog, posted by RockParkMan on Sat Nov 12 14:58:17 2011.
fiogf49gjkf0d NY Times
Hagel Urges European Allies to Increase Military SpendingBy David S. Joachim
May 2, 2014 Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel made a forceful case on Friday for European members of NATO to increase their military spending, calling Russia’s intervention in Ukraine a “clarifying moment” for the alliance.
“In recent years, one of the biggest obstacles to alliance investment has been a sense that the end of the Cold War ushered in an end of history, an end to insecurity, at least in Europe, and the end of aggression by nation-states,” Mr. Hagel said in a speech at the Woodrow Wilson Center. “But Russia’s actions in Ukraine shatter that myth.”
Mr. Hagel’s comments, referring to Russia’s recent annexation of the Crimea region of Ukraine and efforts by pro-Russian forces since then to take control of more of the country, came as violence intensified between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian militants in eastern Ukraine.
NATO’s Eastern European members have said they are increasingly nervous about Russia’s actions in Ukraine and the alliance’s ability to counter them.
The Kremlin said the latest clashes had destroyed “all hope” of carrying out its agreement with the West to tamp down the tensions. A meeting at the White House between President Obama and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany on Friday was expected to focus heavily on the crisis in Ukraine.
In his speech, Mr. Hagel acknowledged that American defense secretaries for decades have been calling on European allies to increase their military spending. But he said that the United States’ commitment was becoming “increasingly disproportionate.”
America’s military spending is three times the combined military spending of the other 27 NATO members, Mr. Hagel said. He called on allies to send their finance ministers to a meeting of the alliance’s defense ministers to discuss military spending and “help break through the fiscal impasse.”
Mr. Hagel’s remarks added to calls in recent weeks by Mr. Obama, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Secretary of State John Kerry for NATO allies to increase their defense spending.
Mr. Hagel, as he noted the coming end to the NATO combat mission in Afghanistan later this year, invoked the 100th anniversary this year of the start of World War I and the coming 70th anniversary of the Normandy invasion during World War II, saying that if the NATO alliance had existed, those wars might have been prevented.
“Russia’s recent action in Ukraine has reminded NATO of its founding purpose,” Mr. Hagel said. “It has presented a clarifying moment.”
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