NATO looks forward

The G8 meeting taking place today and tomorrow and the NATO summit on 20/21 May were both due to be held in Chicago but at short notice the G8 was switched to Camp David, presumably for security reasons, but much to Chicago's displeasure. The NATO summit brings together representatives of its 28 member states and observers from some 20 other countries which co-operate with NATO. The main agenda item is likely to be agreement on when the substantial number of active NATO forces still in Afghanistan will be withdrawn. The United States and Britain plan departures beginning in 2014 but some countries, France among them, want to start next year. Beyond the Afghanistan commitment the Secretary General of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, has outlined plans for greater integration of member states' roles and increased expenditure on drones and other surveillance and intelligence equipment. However, many states will point to reductions in defence expenditure -- Britain by 7.5 per cent for the next four years and Germany by a similar amount. The cuts already made by Britain have been singled out for criticism by the Atlantic Council, an influential US think-tank which supports NATO, in a report saying that the UK's “special status as one of NATO's most capable members is at risk because of deep defence reductions whose effects are likely to be felt until 2020.”