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Written by Rondi
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Sunday, 12 June 2011 08:48 |
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Good for him -- he calls out the Europeans on their lameness and on the fact that they still expect the U.S. to carry the weight. (The latter would be alright, in my opinion, if they wouldn't then turn around and accuse the Americans of being bullies and war-mongers for doing just that.) If you want a "multi-lateral" world, you had better provide some multi-lateral help. Remember Rumsfeld's comment about "old Europe" and how ticked everyone got? He was correct.
To illustrate his concerns about Europe's lack of appetite for defence, Gates noted the difficulty NATO has encountered in carrying out an air campaign in Libya.
"The mightiest military alliance in history is only 11 weeks into an operation against a poorly armed regime in a sparsely populated country, yet many allies are beginning to run short of munitions, requiring the U.S., once more, to make up the difference," he said.
His comment reflected U.S. frustration with the allies' limited defence budgets.
"To avoid the very real possibility of collective military irrelevance, member nations must examine new approaches to boosting combat capabilities," he said.
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