“The United States plans to cut the number of personnel stationed at several key NATO command centers, which could heighten concerns in Europe about Washington’s commitment to the alliance.”, — write: www.pravda.com.ua
NATO flag. Photo by Getty image Source: Reuters with reference to three sources familiar with the matter, “European Truth”
Details: As part of the move, which the Trump administration has told some European capitals, the US will cut about 200 positions in NATO structures that oversee and plan the alliance’s military and intelligence operations, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
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Britain’s NATO Intelligence Fusion Center and Allied Special Operations Command in Brussels are among the agencies to be affected, sources said. Portugal’s STRIKFORNATO, which oversees some naval operations, will also be cut, as will several other similar NATO units, the sources said.
The sources did not specify why the US decided to cut the number of personnel performing NATO functions, but the moves are broadly in line with the Trump administration’s stated intention to redirect more resources to the Western Hemisphere.
These changes are minor compared to the size of US forces stationed in Europe, and do not necessarily indicate a wider US withdrawal from the continent. About 80,000 servicemen are stationed in Europe, almost half of which are in Germany.
However, the moves are likely to heighten European concerns about the future of the alliance, which are already high due to US President Donald Trump’s intensified campaign to wrest Greenland from Denmark, raising the prospect of an unprecedented territorial aggression within NATO.
When asked to comment on the situation, a NATO representative said that changes in US personnel are not unusual and that the US presence in Europe is larger than it has been in years.
“NATO and the US authorities are in close contact on our common position – to ensure that NATO’s strong deterrence and defense capabilities are maintained,” a NATO spokesman said.
US President Donald Trump, summing up the first year of his second term, said that did more for NATOthan anyone “living or dead”.
It will be recalled that earlier the American president admitted that the United States “may have to choose“ between the realization of the ambition to seize Greenland and the preservation of NATO.
They also wrote that former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that time of flattery against US President Donald Trump has passed, and his threats against Greenland have become the biggest challenge to the Alliance since 1949.
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