The Times has reported that next month the UK will to deploy 20,000 military personnel across eastern Europe as part of the NATO exercise Steadfast Defender. They will be accompanied by one of the Royal Navy’s two aircraft carriers, eight other warships and F35 fighter jets.
The article quotes Grant Shapps, the UK Defence Secretary, as warning that the world had moved to a ‘prewar’ phase as global conflicts escalated. He urged NATO allies to increase their defence spending to meet the alliance’s target of 2 per cent of gross domestic product in what h says is ‘far more dangerous world.’
Shapps argues that the war in the Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East have the foundations of world order have been shaken ‘to their core.’ He states that the ‘peace dividend’ enjoyed by the west since the end of the Cold War is now over and ‘the foundations of the world order are being shaken to their core.’
Britain is also part of the Joint Expeditionary Force along with the three Baltic countries [Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania], the five Nordic ones [Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden] and the Netherlands. According to a Times column by Edward Lucas, these 10 countries have a combined GDP and defence budget greater than Russia.
However, they lack plans, stocks of munitions and a clear political decision making process. Also, Poland, the strongest military power in the region is absent.
War and Security 