*Ø* Blogmanac | NATO allies fall out on EU defence

The Irish Times, 17 October

"NATO: The US and European states clashed at NATO over ambitions by a pioneering few in the European Union to build an EU military structure independent of the Atlantic alliance, diplomats said yesterday.

"The heated exchange at a meeting of NATO envoys on Wednesday came as Washington stepped up pressure on its closest European ally, British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair, to block the quartet of EU states pushing for closer co-operation on defence. One diplomat said US Ambassador Mr Nicholas Burns lambasted the initiative as the 'most serious threat to the future of NATO' ...

"France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg -- Europe's fiercest critics of the US-led invasion of Iraq -- agreed at a summit in April to set up a military planning headquarters in the Brussels suburb of Tervuren for EU crisis management operations.

"Mr Burns has criticised the proposal as both wasteful duplication of NATO's capabilities and a challenge to the US-dominated alliance's 'pre-eminence'."
Source

Meanwhile:

"In my view it will not be long before space becomes a battleground"
Lieutenant General Edward Anderson, deputy commander of US Northern Command
Story

What is it with these people? They like to line up their wars 20 years in advance? Yes, it's depressing and I'm sticking to posting light entertainment for a wee while, if I can! - N