President Juan Manuel Santos revealed on Friday in London that Colombia has been cooperating with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO, “since a long time”. Last June first the Colombian Executive announced that the Ministry of Defence was going to sign an agreement with NATO “to begin the process of becoming closer to NATO”.
President Juan Manuel Santos announcement over the weekend that Colombia will look for a cooperation understanding with NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) on their invitation, has irked the so called Latinamerican group of ‘anti-imperialist countries’, at a moment when relations between neighbouring Colombia and Venezuela have hit a new low.
UK Defense budget cuts are rapidly becoming a controversial issue even among members of the current ruling coalition. An article from The Telegraph by Deputy Political Editor James Kirkup points out to reactions from the Commons Defense Committee to further pruning defense which would force Britain to break its promises to the NATO alliance and put the Special Relationship with the US at risk.
United States Defence Secretary Leon Panetta starts on Friday a week-long trip to Peru and Uruguay where he will attend the Conference of Defence Ministers of the Americas, the Pentagon announced on Thursday.
The US will seek to wind down combat operations in Afghanistan during 2013, more than a year before a deadline for withdrawal, the defence secretary says. Speaking while travelling to a Nato summit, Leon Panetta said the US hoped to switch to a role training and supporting Afghan forces.
The UK contribution to the NATO operation in Libya cost £212 million pounds (333 million dollars), Defense Secretary Philip Hammond said on Thursday in London.
The UK has been without a single warship allocated to defending its shores for a month because of defense cuts and operations in Libya, the Ministry of Defense has confirmed.
Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa described the death of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi as a “murder” and strongly rejected foreign in the North African country.
The world is safer today than in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks on the United States, with global terror groups weaker than 10 years ago, senior EU and NATO officials said Monday.
The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and rebels trying to oust him said their forces had advanced to within 80 km of the capital Tripoli.