re: "Gates to Europe/NATO: Pull it together, people"

David Kenner at The Cable ("Reporting Inside The Foreign Policy Machine") touched on some of SecDef Gates parting shots.

Money quote(s):

"Gates told an audience at the Security and Defense Agenda, a Brussels-based think tank, that there was a "dwindling appetite and patience" among American taxpayers to expend resources, especially during a time of extreme fiscal constraints, "on behalf of nations that are apparently unwilling to devote the necessary resources ... to be serious and capable partners in their own defense."

This prospect led the outgoing defense secretary, who spoke following a meeting of NATO defense ministers, to warn of "a dim, if not dismal future for the transatlantic alliance."

Gates has long griped about insufficient European contributions to NATO, though rarely in such a sharp words. In a February 2010 speech, he said the "demilitarization of Europe...has gone from a blessing in the 20th century to an impediment to achieving real security and lasting peace in the 21st." "

CAA loves him some NATO allies, both back in the bad old Cold War days and abroad in the MND-CS. Of course, some of the bad-guys on the Warsaw Pact side of the Iron Curtain had morphed into good-guys by the time we invaded Iraq. Which I appreciated, although I had occasional bouts of cognitive dissonance when I'd see former Soviet equipment rolling around and remind myself it was on our side now.

"Gates's frustrations stem from three issues: Europe's low defense spending, a lack of coordination of resources that encourage wasteful expenditures, and the inadequate contribution of some NATO members to the war in Libya.

Increases in European defense spending are likely off the table for the foreseeable future. With the continent still in the throes of a financial crisis, most countries are looking to make further cuts in their military budgets, not add to them. The British government, long considered the most robust U.S. ally in Europe, announced an 8 percent cut in defense spending over four years in October, and British officials have signaled that they are also considering further reductions. Germany also plans to slash the size of its army from 220,000 soldiers to 170,000.
Gates also criticized European countries, which spend a combined $300 billion on defense per year, for not better coordinating their acquisitions. "[T]he results are significantly less than the sum of the parts" when it comes to European defense spending, he said."

Planned British and German cuts come on top of over 20 years of "peace dividend" reductions. They are not a good thing.

"(C)oordination has not been sufficient to allow European countries to play a significantly larger military role"