Ted Galen Carpenter
Security, Europe
NATO’s European members fret about Russia but don’t take the actions necessary to strengthen their militaries.
NATO’s European members, especially the newest members in eastern Europe, incessantly fret about the threat that Vladimir Putin’s Russia poses to their countries and the continent. Their worries were noticeable even before the eruption of the Ukraine crisis in 2013 and 2014. Moscow’s 2008 military intervention in Georgia to support South Ossetia’s secessionists alarmed those countries. So, too, did Russia’s gradual but significant military restoration and modernization programs.
But it was Putin’s reaction to the overthrow of the pro-Russian government of Ukrainian …read more
Source: The National Interest
