BRUSSELS \u2014 Calls by US Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James that NATO members increase defense spending have met with support, but also criticism that the US fails to understand Europe’s economic and political difficulties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James made the impassioned plea in a June 17 keynote speech in Brussels in which she cautioned against the dangers of cutting defense budgets at a time when NATO and the West face an assortment of global security threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The UK government has been criticized over its failure to meet NATO guidelines and commit to spending 2 percent of its GDP on defense beyond the end of this financial year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While not naming any NATO or EU countries, James urged NATO members to resist pressures to cut defense spending, adding, “Indeed, rather than cutting defense budgets I would argue that spending should be increased.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
A UK government spokesman said, “When we came into government in 2010 we faced a massive budget deficit, including a \u00a338 billion defense black hole. We had to make difficult decisions to turn that around and balance the budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Britain’s \u00a334 billion a year defense budget is now the second biggest in NATO and the largest in the EU. That means our armed forces can play an active role across the world and we are investing in the latest military equipment. We are meeting the 2 percent NATO target this year. Decisions for spending in 2016\/17 and beyond are for the spending review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We can only have strong, well-funded armed forces if we have a strong economy. Our manifesto commitments will ensure the shape and power of our armed forces by maintaining the size of the regular armed forces; increasing the equipment budget by 1 percent above inflation every year; and building four new Successor ballistic missile submarines.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The UK Independence Party (UKIP), which polled 4 million votes in the recent British general election, has <\/span>criticized the US for expecting financially stricken Eurozone nations such as Greece to increase defense spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Responding to her comments, Mike Hookem, UKIP member of the European Parliament and defense spokesman for the party, said, “UKIP has said for years it is time the UK government met the 2 percent target and started adequately funding our armed forces. The British people do not want to see more of their money spent on foreign aid when our troops are poorly equipped and veterans are left abandoned after service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “However, it appears that Mrs. James, like the rest of the Obama administration, is unaware of the economically devastating effects of the Eurozone on many NATO members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “To ask Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal to increase their spending on the military when millions of their people are unemployed and their economies have collapsed shows a blindness in Washington to the devastation the EU causes to many of its member states.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hookem added: “As for richer EU countries such as Germany, the present defense minister thinks the way to build up the Army is to have soldiers work office hours and put cr\u00e8che facilities in barracks. If the EU hadn’t tried to expand its empire east and thereby rattle Mr. Putin’s cage, there would be no reason for NATO to talk about increased defense spending by NATO members.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n In her speech, on Wednesday, Mrs <\/span>James called on NATO members to share the burden of tackling a whole range of threats ranging from Russian “aggression” to Islamic State terrorism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n James said: “l firmly believe NATO can continue to be a force for peace and stability in Europe but we have to understand that peace and stability does not come free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “This is why we must invest in our security, both as individual nations and regions, like the EU.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n She told a debate co-hosted by the US missions to the EU and NATO that “I am all too aware that we all have continuing budgetary challenges and this is no different in the United States. But the security challenges facing us today, both externally and internally, mean that we cannot take our security for granted. That is why we have to come together and continue to invest in defense.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n She said the trans-Atlantic relationship was “more relevant than ever” but cautioned that NATO stood at a “crossroads.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n James told a packed audience of military experts and EU policymakers: “The security threats we face are more sophisticated and diverse than ever and that is why we need credible armed forces with the means to defend our interests. But, and I repeat, security does not come for free.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n She added, <\/span>“It is very important we stop this downtrend trend [in defense spending] and strive for the 2 percent target that I would remind you all NATO members agreed to,” she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A central outcome of the NATO summit in Wales last September was a promise for all European allies to recommit to spending 2 percent of their GDP on defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Michael Emerson, a senior analyst at the Centre for European Policy Studies, a leading Brussels-based think tank, supported James’ remarks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Mrs. James’ arguments are absolutely justified. Most of Europe seems to think that it can drift down and down in its level of defense spending, as if they lived in Kant’s dream world of ‘everlasting peace.’ Fortunately, the EU has indeed made of itself something close to that dream internally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “But its leaders seem to have dreamed on that this could apply progressively also to our neighbors, who would be getting more and more like us. Actually, we see the reverse now happening, from Putin’s Russia to ISIS in the Levant and on to its infiltrations and sympathizers in north and sub-Saharan Africa.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Geoffrey Van Orden, veteran British Conservative MEP and a former brigadier in the British Army, said, “Deborah Lee James is right to issue warnings and to insist that allies spend more on defense given the unpredictable but inevitably dangerous challenges we all face in the years ahead. But it’s time the Americans got off the fence and recognized that the EU is not going to provide the required solutions. It’s more likely to do the opposite.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Van Orden, Conservative defense spokesman, added,”The sum of the EU is not greater than its parts. In trying to create its own defense organization it fulfills a classic old Soviet aim of separating the European nations from the United States. EU defense policy distracts from revitalization of NATO. And too many European governments see the pretense of action through the EU as an excuse for doing even less.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n