Faced with a near-term threat to their security, NATO’s European allies can establish a framework for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of their defence acquisition system. ELN network member Tom McKane outlines what elements this should contain.
Around the political NATO Summit in the Hague last week, with its limited ambition to make Donald Trump happy again, a less visible and much more productive summit occurred, writes ELN Senior Network Member Nicholas Dungan. Concentrating on what Europe needs to do to increase European deterrence, efficiency, and resilience, it produced sound thinking and actionable proposals.
This week’s NATO summit will go down in history, not only for all but one of the Alliance’s members agreeing to spend 5% of their GDP on defence, but also for Mark Rutte, the Alliance’s Secretary General, referring to President Trump as “Daddy”. ELN Senior Associate Fellow Ilana Bet-El breaks the summit down with two Big Women Leaders who were recent ambassadors to NATO: Kerry Buck of Canada and Muriel Domenach of France.
NATO’s upcoming Summit in The Hague comes at a key point in the Alliance’s history; Russia’s continued aggression against Ukraine, American impatience with European underspending on defence, and European fears of American withdrawal from collective defence all represent major threats. Former NATO Assistant Secretary General for Operations, Stephen Evans, and ELN Senior Associate Fellow former UK Ambassador to NATO, Sir Adam Thomson, argue that NATO’s history demonstrates it is capable of combining strength and flexibility in times of crisis. They argue for a ‘back to basics’ approach to ease internal tensions, strengthen partnerships and move towards a state of ‘managed co-existence’ with Russia.
China has long contrasted itself with the United States, and the West more generally, as offering trade and aid to developing nations, without subjecting partners to moral lectures on democracy and human rights. President Trump, on his recent visit to Saudi Arabia, announced that the US would no longer tie aid and trade to democracy and human rights, signalling a further retreat from the post-WW2 order and posing an unexpected challenge to China’s no-strings-attached global strategy. ELN Senior Associate Fellow Ilana Bet-El explores this with Dr Ivana Karásková.
The turmoil and changes of the past five years — from the coronavirus pandemic to the second Trump administration — make clear one basic fact: the post-Cold War era is over. To explore the meaning of this term, as well as the reality of living through it, ELN Senior Associate Fellow Ilana Bet-El is joined by Professor Marci Shore.