04-22-2016 (Photo: ‪Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during celebrations for Navy Day as it rains in‬ Kaliningrad, 2015) http://JohnBatchelorShow.com/contact http://JohnBatchelorShow.com/schedules http://johnbatchelorshow.com/blog Twitter: @BatchelorShow Russia Checks NATO Overstep. Michael Vlahos, @JHUWorldCrisis John Hopkins. IV. Conclusion “The CNAS Assured Resolve exercise convened a distinguished group of individuals and presented them with three sequential crises that built successively upon each other. The teams received emerging facts on the ground, creating the uncertainty that prompted participants to recognize the realistic nature of the scenarios. The net result was a series of stark conclusions, so stark in fact that they cannot be ignored. First, there is a significant gap in threat perception that falls along geographical lines. The alliance has grown so large, and its individual national security interests so varied, that it is increasingly difficult to reach consensus on the challenges facing these countries. Secondly, NATO is no longer as strong or resilient militarily or institutionally as it should be. Its disinvestment in force structure over the past generation, even as its core decisionmaking bodies have become calcified in their approaches to challenges, have left the organization inflexible in the face of emerging hybrid threats. Lastly, the alliance has become increasingly aware that it no longer has a coherent strategy to confront a rapidly changing world, and that the world knows it. This conveys a sense of institutional vulnerability, inviting a response. Russia’s aggression on the eastern flank of Europe and the unrest in the Middle East with its ensuing migration crisis both reflect the strategic vacuum that is Europe, drawing in conflict as a black hole draws in matter. NATO must gather its collective wisdom and present a united strategic front to the world. ,,, http://www.cnas.org/sites/default/files/publications-pdf/CNASReport-BalticTTX-160331.pdf