U.S. Secretaries of Defense and State Headed to NATO Headquarters Over Ukraine Crisis
The Defense Department announced on April 8 that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was to leave today to consult with civilian and military leaders in Israel, Germany, NATO headquarters in Brussels and Great Britain.
Topics to be discussed include international defense relationships, burden sharing and “enduring trans-Atlantic security.” The last is a reference to NATO.
In Israel he’s to meet with his opposite number, Defense Minister Benjamin Gantz, and with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In Germany he’s scheduled to meet with Minister of Defence Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and Chancellery Foreign and Security Policy Adviser Dr. Jan Hecker to discuss what the Defense Department website describes as bilateral military cooperation with “one of our closest NATO Allies.” The Pentagon press release also states Austin and the German officials will deliberate over “combatting the malign influence of our shared strategic rivals.” That can only mean Russia and China.
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After emergency visit to Ukraine, Polish foreign minister calls Nord Stream 2 pipeline “present danger to peace in Europe”
After emergency visit to Ukraine, Polish foreign minister calls Nord Stream 2 pipeline “present danger to peace in Europe”
In the whirlwind of diplomatic activity in Europe and the U.S. related to the upsurge in fighting in the Donbass region of Ukraine, the coming and going of government and military officials in the Ukrainian capital can provide revealing insights. The head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s Military Committee was in Ukraine on April 6 and 7 and the foreign minister of Poland was there the following day.
Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau returned to Warsaw on April 9, summing up the purpose of his visit as to “reaffirm our policy that Ukraine is not alone in defending its sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the inviolability of its borders.” Poland is not a member of either of the two negotiating arrangements established in 2014 to resolve the armed conflict in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine, the Normandy Format and the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine.
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