Category Archives: Europe

Britain, Defence, Europe, Government, Military, NATO, Politics, United States

UK commits to defence spending of 2 per cent of GDP for next five years…

DEFENCE SPENDING

Britain has committed in meeting the NATO target of spending 2 per cent of national income on defence, the Chancellor announced in the Budget.

Military chiefs applauded the decision although there are fears of ‘creative accounting’ – because intelligence spending could be included in the figures.

The Commons foreign affairs committee chairman, Crispin Blunt, said: ‘The pledge to meet the NATO target of 2 per cent of GDP on defence is not quite as profound as it appears.

‘The Government is apparently changing the way they measure defence spending to meet this important target by including expenditure outside the MoD budget, including £2.5 billion on the secret intelligence agencies.’

The pledge will likely be welcomed both by NATO and the US, who have both voiced concerns about the importance of meeting this target.

Whilst welcoming the announcement Admiral Lord West warned: ‘If this is creative accounting I would be very disappointed.’

George Osborne said the Government would spend 2 per cent of GDP on the military every year of this decade and raise the defence budget by 0.5 per cent a year in real terms. Until now, ministers had not committed to spending at that level beyond the current financial year – prompting pressure from backbench MPs and military chiefs.

Mr Osborne said: ‘The Prime Minister and I are not prepared to see the threats we face to both our country and our values go unchallenged.

‘Britain has always been resolute in defence of liberty and the promotion of stability around the world. And with this government it will always remain so.’

The Chancellor announced a new fund, worth up to £1.5billion a year, which will be spent on intelligence items such as cyber security.

Recent figures released by NATO revealed that Britain is line to spend 2.1 per cent of national income on defence this year. But this includes all of the £1billion cross-departmental fund known as the Conflict Pool, which is used to support fragile and war-torn states rather than military operations.

The UK is just one of four of NATO’s 28 member states who currently meet the 2% target and last month the U.S. called for billions more to be spent citing the situation in the Balkans. ‘I think it’s clearly the view at NATO that the Ukraine situation has been a game-changer,’ said Robert Bell, the U.S. secretary of defence representative in Europe.

NATO announced in June that it would be ‘naming and shaming’ the Western European countries which failed to spend more than 2% of their gross domestic product on defence, at the same time that US President Barack Obama expressed his concerns at the G7 summit that UK spending would fall.

The 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review which is taking place this year will review the threats facing Britain and its ability to tackle them. Writing in a British newspaper last month, defence secretary Michael Fallon said that the review will ‘be positive and assertive about Britain’s place in the world: ready, willing and able to act to defend our values as we always have done.’

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Economic, Europe, European Parliament, European Union, Government, Politics, United States

Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is proving controversial…

TTIP

Simmering tensions have surfaced within the European Parliament over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

Simmering tensions have surfaced within the European Parliament over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

Tensions have surfaced in the European Parliament over what could become the world’s biggest trade deal between Europe and the United States.

Jeering, booing and slow clapping were heard in the Strasbourg chamber after the controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) was suspended.

Members of the public have also been protesting against the deal, fearing it will hand more power to large corporations at the expense of ordinary citizens.

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is a free trade deal between the United States and Europe that has been under negotiation for almost two years. An agreement would see the dawn of the world’s biggest free trade zone, shaping the rules governing a quarter of all global trade.

It aims to cut red tape, making it easier to import and export goods, as well as to invest and set up new businesses abroad. The European Commission predicts that it would boost the size of the EU economy by €120bn and the US economy by €95bn by 2027. Supporters of the deal say these savings would filter back to individuals, who would also benefit from cheaper goods and greater choice.

Critics fear, however, that it will undermine democracy in Europe and the US by favouring the rights of large corporations and preventing governments from regulating in the public interest. The Corporate Europe Observatory, a research and campaign group, claims that 92 per cent of 560 lobby encounters with the commission have come from private sector companies, while just four per cent have come from public interest groups.

Campaigners in Europe think EU regulations on areas such as food safety, employment rights and the environment could be watered down. ‘TTIP is a huge threat to hard-fought-for standards for the quality and safety of our food, the sources of our energy, workers’ rights and our privacy,’ says a Green Party spokesperson. For example, it fears that by harmonising food standards, the UK would be forced to allow chemically washed poultry, livestock treated with growth hormones, and genetically modified crops – which are all allowed in the US. More than two million people have signed an online petition against the deal, describing it as a ‘threat to democracy, the environment, consumers and labour standards’.

Opponents say the guarantee of market access effectively outlaws state monopolies, which could pose a risk to government-run services such as the NHS. Critics have serious concerns about transparency and a clause called the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), which they claim would allow corporations to sue governments in private. 38 Degrees, an activist group campaigning against the deal, says its details are being ‘worked out in secret’ and will allow big corporations to take governments to court behind closed doors.

EU officials behind the negotiations insist TTIP would uphold current EU standards and leave governments free to run public services as they wish. Negotiators are being ‘as transparent as possible’ and have published fact sheets explaining every chapter of the TTIP, they say. Negotiators also want to tighten up existing ISDS regulation for settling disputes between foreign firms and governments, with public access to hearings. But judging by the ongoing campaigns against TTIP, it appears many don’t entirely trust the EU’s claims.

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Europe, Government, Military, National Security, NATO, Russia, Society, United States

Russia announces its intention of bolstering its nuclear arsenal in 2015…

AN EMERGING NEW COLD WAR

The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has pledged to add more than 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles to Russia’s nuclear arsenal in 2015, sending a clear warning message to NATO amid escalating tensions with the West.

Mr Putin made the announcement during his opening address at the Army-2015 Expo, an international military forum based near Moscow.

Mr Putin said that ‘more than 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) able to overcome even the most technically advanced anti-missile defence systems’ would be added to Russia’s nuclear arsenal this year.

The Army-2015 fair is held to show off and parade the latest developments in Russian military hardware, and Mr Putin promised his generals an array of other new weapons – including the advanced Armata tanks that were shown off at a Red Square ceremony last month.

The president also announced that the military was beginning testing a new system of long-range early warning radar ‘to monitor in the western direction’.

Few countries in the world are known to possess land-based missiles capable of crossing continents. The US operates 450 Minuteman missiles across three bases, while Russia’s existing arsenal is believed to be slightly greater. Russia’s pending upgrade will alarm the West as stipulations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) are specifically aimed at reducing arsenals.

ICBMs are needed to deliver nuclear warheads over long distances, and some are capable of delivering more than one. Though Russia is less than open about its military stockpiles, it is thought to possess more than 8,000 warheads in total.

Mr Putin’s announcement, which included a general pledge to continue Russia’s ‘massive’ military rearmament programme, comes amid the worst tensions between the West and Russia in decades.

Russian defence ministry official General Yuri Yakubov has said that US proposals to bolster an allied army on Polish soil would be ‘the most aggressive step by the Pentagon and NATO since the Cold War’.

He said: ‘Russia will have no option but to build up its forces and resources on the Western strategic front.’

18 June, 2015

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia would have to defend itself if threatened, adding that NATO is ‘coming to its borders’.

At a meeting outside of Moscow with Sauli Niinisto, his Finnish counterpart, Mr Putin said: ‘If someone puts some of our territories under threat that means we will have to direct our armed forces and modern strike power at those territories, from where the threat emanates.’

After being asked about Moscow and NATO both boosting their firepower in the region, Mr Putin said: ‘As soon as some threat comes from an adjoining state, Russia must react appropriately and carry out its defence policy in such a way as to neutralise a threat against it… It’s NATO that is coming to our borders and not us moving somewhere.’

But he added that observers should not ‘blow anything out of proportion’ with regard to the perceived threat from NATO.’

‘Of course we will analyse everything, follow this carefully. So far I don’t see anything that would force us to worry especially.’

The earlier announcement by Mr Putin that Russia will boost its nuclear arsenal by more than 40 intercontinental missiles this year was slammed by NATO as ‘sabre-rattling’.

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