At a meeting of top NATO commanders, Admiral Rob Bauer called for a "whole of society approach" toward the defense of democracy. In Brussels, there is confidence EU members will keep funding Ukraine.
NATO Admiral Rob Bauer on Wednesday said Western military and political leaders must drastically overhaul their approach to assisting Ukraine as it seeks to beat back invading Russian forces.
Bauer, the chairman of the NATO Military Committee that advises the 31-member organization's civilian leadership in military matters, was in Brussels to detail plans for the largest military exercises the defense alliance has staged in Europe since the Cold War.
The joint exercises will take place this summer under the name "Steadfast Defender" and are meant to hone and showcase the alliance's military preparedness and commitment to defending allied nations.
Speaking to military preparedness, Bauer said, "In order to be fully effective, also in the future, we need a war-fighting transformation of NATO."
NATO and Ukrainian military leaders will convene as part of the NATO-Ukraine Council this week.
Bauer brushed off the popular idea that Moscow's aggression toward Ukraine is the direct result of any threat posed by NATO.
"This war has never been about any real security threat to Russia coming from either Ukraine or NATO," he said. "This war is about Russia fearing something much more powerful than any physical weapon on earth — democracy. If people in Ukraine can have democratic rights, then people in Russia will soon crave them too. That is what this war is actually about."
Bauer said Western political leaders needed to initiate a, "whole of society approach" to the challenges they face, saying, "We need public and private actors to change their mindset for an era in which everything was plannable, foreseeable, controllable and focused on efficiency to an era in which anything can happen at any time. An era in which we need to expect the unexpected."
Source: Dw
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