Source:
The GuardianNato's secretary general has warned that continued disparity in US and European defence spending might lead to a "two-tiered alliance" in which American and European troops would not be able to fight effectively together.
In a Guardian interview, Anders Fogh Rasmussen echoed the fears expressed last week by the US defence secretary, Robert Gates, about the strains being put on Nato by unequal burden-sharing.
"Ten years ago US defence investment represented almost half of all defence expenditure in the whole alliance. Today it is 75%," Rasmussen said. "This increasing economic gap may also lead to an increasing technology gap which will almost hamper the inter-operability between our forces. The Americans provide … still more advanced military assets and equipment; the Europeans are lagging behind. And eventually it will be difficult to co-operate even if you had the political will to co-operate because of the technological gap."
He added: "All this may in the long run weaken our alliance."
Read more:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/15/nato-chief-warns-of-two-tier-force