# Hard Euro budget crunching



## MarkOttawa (9 Jun 2010)

How much stomach or money for much more in Afstan?  Want to bet our government will really be able to fund its "Canada First Defence Strategy"?

Further to these stories on SecDef Gates trying to deal with Pentagon budget,

Gates: Cuts in Pentagon bureaucracy needed to help maintain military force
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/08/AR2010050802495.html?wpisrc=nl_cuzhead

Pentagon Told to Save Billions for Use in War
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/04/us/politics/04pentagon.html?ref=todayspaper

and to this topic,

British budget troubles
http://forums.milnet.ca/forums/threads/81956.0.html

the vice is tightening all over:

NATO allies poised to slash military budgets; Gates urges other cost savings
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/08/AR2010060804299.html?hpid=topnews



> LONDON -- European allies are bracing for their deepest cuts in military spending since the end of the Cold War, fueling concerns in Washington that an already wide gap in military power between the United States and the rest of NATO will grow.
> 
> On Monday, the German government said it is looking to reduce its 250,000-member military by at least 40,000 troops; the defense minister has suggested that a whopping cutback of 100,000 might be necessary.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (12 Nov 2010)

One way of dealing with things:

'Weapons of War'
Germany Considers Loosening Arms Export Controls
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,728844,00.html#ref=nlint



> "Eurofighter," "Leopard," Submarine Class 214: Germany is the third largest weapons exporter in the world, despite restrictive guidelines. Now the federal government wants to make arms sales abroad even easier to make up for defense budget cuts at home.
> 
> It all started with the French. Years ago, the Defense Ministry in Paris presented an official plan promoting arms exports. The German response? Self-imposed limits. Arms exports should be "restrictive," according to the "Federal Arms Exports Guidelines" from the year 2000.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (7 Feb 2011)

One place where the US is still a dominant superpower--what about NATO members doing more in the way of military specialization?

Is Europe Headed For Security Irrelevance?
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3a516e5fd1-58fb-4ec4-b991-2fc98e247956



> The growing imbalance between the European and U.S. contribution to NATO is once again in the cross hairs.
> 
> NATO Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, made the issue his central theme during the speech he gave at the annual Munich security forum.
> 
> ...



Perhaps we in Canada should pay attention to that last para above:
http://forums.milnet.ca/forums/threads/99004/post-1015036.html#msg1015036

Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (15 Feb 2011)

Continuing the theme:

Cuts in European defense budgets raise concerns for U.S., NATO
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/14/AR2011021403542.html



> First, Germany announced it would suspend its draft, ending one of the touchstones of its post-World War II society. Then Britain and France, frequent rivals since at least the Norman Conquest, announced plans to share military equipment and research. And smaller countries across Europe are cutting defense budgets and shrinking militaries that were never large to begin with.
> 
> European policymakers say the cuts are necessary given their financial straits, and that training, not sheer numbers, is what matters in a post-Cold War world.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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