NATO Summit: a change in security strategy

Since its last summit in Wales in September, 2014, NATO has deployed its biggest plan to strengthen collective defense after the Cold War. But this plan was insufficient to reassure NATO leaders, who hope the group will adopt a new security plan at this Summit.

A new security plan

Prior to the Summit NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO has become more powerful with increased combat readiness but still needs to increase its military presence on its eastern borders. 

Speaking at a press conference in Brussels on July 4 Mr. Stoltenberg said NATO will deploy 4 multinational battalions of approximately 4,000 troops to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. 

NATO will also increase its military presence in southeastern Europe by deploying a multinational battalion to Romania, increasing cyber security, and reinforcing its combat readiness and defensive capability to prevent ballistic missile attacks.     

A new security plan was discussed by the foreign ministers of NATO members in Brussels 2 months ago. The plan is considered a change in NATO’s strategy, focusing more on Eastern Europe. NATO has withdrawn troops from Kosovo, Libya, and Afghanistan to reinforce the national defense of its members. 

NATO has not been directly involved in, only provided support for, the fight against Islamic extremists. NATO’s current priorities are its members in Eastern Europe, members on the Baltic, Barents, and Black Sea, and particularly Poland. 

NATO’s recent exercises in Poland were a test of its ability to move troops and military equipment and a move to make Poland’s military port on the Baltic Sea NATO’s biggest multinational command center in Eastern Europe.

NATO’s security strategy and related issues

The Summit takes place with Britain poised to leave the EU. Analysts say British Prime Minister David Cameron will want to prove that Britain will continue to shoulder the Lion’s share of the burdern of Europe’s defense. 

But the June 23 referendum will greatly affect NATO’s defense spending as the US reduces its own commitment. The emergence of presidential candidate Donald Trump has stoked fears of a new US isolationism. 

Worth noting is that many key Western leaders attending the Summit in Warsaw including Prime Minister Cameron and President Obama will soon conclude their term of office while others like French President Francois Holland and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will face an election in 2017.

NATO members are observing Russia’s strong reaction to NATO’s security shift. Russia has deployed missiles, tanks, and troops to Kaliningrad, which borders Poland and Lithuania. 

NATO members are worried that Russia might deploy short-range nuclear weapons in Kaliningrad following their summit in Warsaw. Commenting on Russia’s new foreign policy on June 30, President Vladimir Putin said NATO’s presence near the Russian border represents an anti-Russia direction. He said NATO is making its relations with Russia confrontational.

A new security plan is expected to be adopted at the summit but NATO leaders will have to consider how to implement it without sparking military confrontations with Russia or increasing tensions in Europe.