NATO has the right strategy toward Russia

Bernd Riegert
9.7. 2016, DW (Germany)
If NATO is rattling its saber then it’s doing it very softly. In military terms, the four battalions it has agreed to station at its eastern border are not really a threat to Russia’s much stronger forces. Moscow is unlikely to be impressed by this increase in NATO’s capabilities. Nor is that something anyone in NATO had expected. It was much more a matter of demonstrating unity - and about showing the Baltic states, which were once occupied by the Soviet Union, and the former countries of the Soviet-forged Warsaw Pact that NATO understands their concerns.

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Nato: Assessing the Russian threat

Editorial
11.7. 2016, The Irish Times (Ireland)
Article Five allowed Nato leaders at their weekend meeting in Warsaw to deploy small, unthreatening battle groups of only 800 soldiers in Poland and the three Baltic states; Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Their role is not even to suggest aggressive intent or physically to prevent or defeat a Russian invasion, but to deter one. Russia knows that if its forces touch even a hair on the head of, say, a Norwegian battlegroup member it will bring down on itself the full might of the Nato alliance. The point, however, is never to have to fight.

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Nato summit: a refreshed alliance for troubled times

Editorial
10.7. 2016, The Guardian (United Kingdom)
But whatever one may think of Nato’s record, it is hard not to see that the alliance has taken several years to draw comprehensive, concrete conclusions from Russia’s behaviour in Ukraine and, before that, Georgia. If recent Nato military exercises in central Europe risk seeming provocative, it is worth remembering that Russian military exercises in neighbouring regions have involved up to three times more troops. Nato is now gearing for the long haul. In Warsaw, the 28-member alliance has underlined its willingness to pursue dialogue with Moscow, and a revival of confidence-building measures.
But a show of strength had to come before the outstretched hand.

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Obama leaves final NATO summit with work unfinished on both Afghanistan and Russia

Michael A. Memoli
9.7. 2016, The Los Angeles Times (USA)
The White House billed the summit announcements as a testament both to the strength of the military alliance, even as its European members face an uncertain future with Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, and to Obama’s role in forging that unity. „We talk about NATO unity a lot every time there’s a summit,“ said Elissa Slotkin, the acting assistant secretary of Defense for international security. „But I think it was a particularly poignant message today, a few weeks after ‚Brexit,‘ and particularly because it’s both President Obama’s and [British] Prime Minister [David] Cameron’s final summit.“ Obama declared the outcome as a fulfillment of his overarching foreign policy goal: to strengthen America’s alliances.

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Nato show of unity masks domestic divisions

Sam Jones and Henry Foy
10.7. 2016, The Financial Times (USA)
Amid the dozens of public pledges of unity that punctuated the Warsaw summit — the first full gathering of Nato leaders since 2014 — there have been growing signs of division over relations with Moscow. Two days of formal meetings in the Polish capital have produced a range of technical documents and policies setting out Nato’s new military posture, but the real effort here from diplomats has been to try and hold the 29-state bloc firm amid a bewildering array of security threats and political shifts that are shaking the foundations of the European order.
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Less NATO talk, more action

Editorial
10.7. 2016, Toronto Sun (Canada)
If Trudeau actually wants Canada to play a useful role as a peacekeeping nation, it will require deeds, not words. Latvia is a start. Meeting NATO’s spending commitments, the next step.
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NATO leaders took 3 key decisions about Afghanistan in Warsaw summit

9.7. 2016, Khaama Press (Afghanistan)

Mr. Stoltenberg highlighted three key decisions made. „First, we agreed to sustain our Resolute Support Mission beyond 2016, through a flexible, regional model. Second, we received firm national commitments to continue funding Afghan security forces through 2020. And third, we reaffirmed our support for a long-term political partnership and practical cooperation with Afghanistan,“ he said. „So our message is clear: Afghanistan does not stand alone; and we are committed for the long haul,“ he added.

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The NATO Summit’s Winners and Losers

James Stavridis
11.7. 2016, Foreign Policy (USA)
Every two years, the heads of state and government of the venerable NATO convene to deal with the crucial issues facing the 28-member organization. These NATO summits are always important, and they always produce both winners and losers. The recently concluded event in Warsaw, Poland, has been no exception.

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NATO Backs a Free Ukraine. Only France Is Out of Step

Nolan Peterson
11.7. 2016, Newsweek (USA)
Russian aggression, radical Islamist terrorism, the refugee crisis, Brexit, Afghanistan. The list of challenges NATO leaders faced at the biennial summit in Warsaw, Poland, over the weekend was diverse, highlighting what some consider to be a post–Cold War moment of truth for the alliance to prove it still matters.