NATO Takes Steps in Response to the "Arc of Insecurity and Instability"

By Teri Schultz

Teri Schultz has been covering the European Union, NATO and the BeNeLux region since 2007, reporting regularly for National Public Radio and CBS Radio News. She writes for the monthly "Security Europe" and frequently for Germany's Deutsche Welle Radio.  Schultz covered the State Department for FOX News Channel from 2000-2006. You can follow her on Twitter @terischultz. 

Moving ahead with what President Barack Obama calls the “most significant reinforcement of our collective defense [at] any time since the Cold War,’’ NATO allies approved over the weekend upgrading and expanding their air, land, sea, and cyber capabilities to face unprecedented challenges coming from all directions — including from within.

Brexit dropped a bomb on Europe last month, and NATO did not escape unscathed. Though NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg had optimistically declared that Britain’s vote to leave the European Union (EU) may actually be a boon to NATO —Britain’s departure removes any notion of the EU having a competitive defense capacity, and London will be looking to NATO as a more important platform for its European engagement — it’s not the outcome any European leader wanted, and it hung heavy over the summit.  British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond was reported as saying there had been virtually no other subject discussed any time he sat down at a table with his counterparts.

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