U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter testifies before a House Armed Services Committee hearing on U.S. Policy and Strategy in the Middle East, accompanied by U.S. Joint Chiefs Chairman General Martin Dempsey (R), on Capitol Hill in Washington June 17, 2015. Reuters/Carlos Barria
Reuters: Pentagon chief to push U.S. allies to ditch 'Cold War playbook'
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter will urge NATO allies to "dispose of the Cold War playbook" during a trip to Europe this week, as the alliance adapts to a new kind of threat from Russia in the east and Islamic State to the south, U.S. officials said.
Carter heads first to Berlin, where he is expected to call for a more muscular global security role from Germany, Europe's largest economy. Germany remains hesitant to deploy troops abroad, seven decades after the end of World War Two.
"He will encourage Germany, under the firm leadership of the minister of defense, to increase their security role in the world, commensurate with their political and economic weight," a senior U.S. defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
WNU Editor: With a few exceptions (Yugoslav civil war, the conflicts in the Caucasus, etc.) Europe has experienced a period of relative peace and stability that is unusual when one looks at its long history of war and conflict .... and the reason why is/was simple .... the rules and understandings after the fall of the Soviet Union that kept the peace were understood and followed. But I do understand that we live in a different world today .... the crisis in Ukraine is making that point crystal clear right now .... and the collapse of the Post-Cold War order is something that will be a part of President Obama`s legacy whether he wants it or not. Unfortunately .... because of President Obama, Putin, and the mess that is still ongoing in Ukraine .... we are not in a better world because of it. As to the Pentagon admitting that the old "Cold War playbook" does not hold .... this is an admission that events have changed, and what has kept the peace in Europe since the early 1990s no longer holds. Being one who knows what it is like to live in a a "Cold War" .... this is a prospect that I do not look forward to.
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