Beltway Insider: NATO Summit; Iraqi ISIS/ISIL Syrian; Ebola Numbers; Al-Qaida Operative Dead

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President Obama traveled to Wales, United Kingdom, for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Summit where he met with world leaders from the twenty-eight member nations to discuss the challenges and direction of the 65 year-old organization.

 

According to Gallup, President Obama’s job approval, over the past week dropped two percentage points to 40% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness as President increased two percentage points to 51%. 

Wales NATO Conference

President Obama attended the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Summit this week to confer with member nations as to the direction of the North American European Alliance as global priorities shift and global concerns are challenged and change.

Hosted by the United Kingdom, the conferee was held in Wales by British Prime Minister David Cameron and NATO Secretary General Andres Fogh Rasmussen.

Birthed out of the devastation of World War II and the dominance of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany, NATO, joined America, the United Kingdom, Canada and the strongest European nations Belgium, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway and Portugal to survive the reign of terror.

Obama, during the three day summit, ensured his current global agenda was presented in its fullness which allowed for each hotspot to be presented, discussed and voted on in accordance with the procedures of the alliance.

NATO has become the newest global organization to back President Obama determination to hold Russian President Vladimir Putin responsible through sectorial sanctions, primarily in energy, defense and  financial, for the continued violations of territorial sovereignty of neighboring Ukraine.

“The United States and Europe are finalizing measures to deepen and broaden our sanctions across Russia’s financial, energy and defense sectors.  At the same time, we strongly support President Poroshenko’s efforts to pursue a peaceful resolution to the conflict in his country.  The cease-fire announced today can advance that goal, but only if there is follow-through on the ground.  Pro-Russian separatists must keep their commitments and Russia must stop its violations of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the President said.

In addition to a complete and unanimous agreement on Ukraine’s sovereignty, Russia’s responsibilities, the current uprising of ISIS/ISIL, Syria, Iran, the Middle East and a determined and concerted effort to end terrorism.

“There was unanimity over the last two days that ISIL poses a significant threat to NATO members.  And there was a recognition that we have to take action.  I did not get any resistance or pushback to the basic notion that we have a critical role to play in rolling back this savage organization that is causing so much chaos in the region and is harming so many people, and poses a long-term threat to the safety and security of NATO members.  So there’s great conviction that we have to act as part of the international community to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL.  And that was extremely encouraging,” the President said.

NATO Resolutions

President Obama closed the summit by announcing to the American media the successes of the summit explaining five key points of member nation bonding status, foreign policy goals and considerations, opening the Alliance to nations who may wish to join and all nations had affirmed a unified global direction to “ensure our collective defense and to protect our citizens.”

All nations reaffirmed the essential key point in NATO’s charter which states unequivocally “that an armed attack against one shall be considered an attack against them all.”

Additionally, NATO confirmed its dedication by reiterating the remainder of the five articles:

Second, we agreed to be resolute in reassuring our Allies in Eastern Europe.  Increased NATO air patrols over the Baltics will continue.  Rotations of additional forces throughout Eastern Europe for training and exercises will continue.  Naval patrols in the Black Sea will continue.  And all 28 NATO nations agreed to contribute to all of these measures -- for as long as necessary.

Third, to ensure that NATO remains prepared for any contingency, we agreed to a new Readiness Action Plan.  The Alliance will update its defense planning.  We will create a new highly ready Rapid Response Force that can be deployed on very short notice.  We’ll increase NATO’s presence in Central and Eastern Europe with additional equipment, training, exercises and troop rotations.  And the $1 billion initiative that I announced in Warsaw will be a strong and ongoing U.S. contribution to this plan.

Fourth, all 28 NATO nations have pledged to increase their investments in defense and to move toward investing 2 percent of their GDP in our collective security.  These resources will help NATO invest in critical capabilities, including intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and missile defense.  And this commitment makes clear that NATO will not be complacent.  Our Alliance will reverse the decline in defense spending and rise to meet the challenges that we face in the 21st century. 

Fifth, our Alliance is fully united in support of Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity and its right to defend itself.  To back up this commitment, all 28 NATO Allies will now provide security assistance to Ukraine.  This includes non-lethal support to the Ukrainian military -- like body armor, fuel and medical care for wounded Ukrainian troops -- as well as assistance to help modernize Ukrainian forces, including logistics and command and control. 

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO defines its mission simply as collective defense, crisis management and cooperative security.

Applying those principals broadly to the 28 member nations, on two continents, that comprise the current NATO structure, results in NATO decisions. That when defined constitutes the expression of the “collective will of all 28 member countries since all decisions are taken by consensus.”

NATO also has partnerships which are formed with countries willing to work with NATO although these nations are not given the same privileges as member nations.

Iraqi ISIS/ISIL Syrian Update

President Obama also used the NATO Summit to reiterate his Iraqi/ISIL agenda which was also unanimously agreed upon as the NATO commitment to Afghanistan is slowly ending.

As the thirteenth anniversary of September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks near this week, the determination of terrorists is only limited to the amount of leeway the world gives these hate organization to build, constant, diligence and equal determination to destroy them must be the mandate of the United States.

President Obama is expected to deliver similar remark to the nation this week as he sets his agenda forward explaining the developments in the ISIS/ISIL Syrian situation

Four 747’s all departing from the east coast airports, fully fueled with West coast destination points were commandeered early on September 11, 2001. By 8:48am Tower 2 was hit, minutes later Tower 1 suffered a direct hit, almost simultaneously, a third jet flew into the Pentagon, with only one plane missing its target, generally believed to be the White House, as a brave group of passengers deciding it was fight or die and freedom was worth it. The passengers took the plane, and before United Flight 93 could be stabilized it crashed Shanksville, PA killing all on board. 

The region is still volatile with the shift to Syria and Assad’s support of ISIS/ISIL making the determination of NATO to continue to monitor the region. The most recent concern is the defection of western citizens traveling to join the ISIS/ISIL and fight beside these terrorists.

This increases of the potential of trained terrorists making their way to facilities and countries outside the region to further the cause and terror mission is a very real threat. 

“The goals of those two missions, the goal of the mission from last year was aimed squarely at the Assad regime and was in response to the intel assessment that they had used chemical weapons against innocent civilians. The situation a year later is markedly different.  What we’re talking about now is confronting a terrorist group that has sought a safe haven in Syria.  This is a group that poses a threat to Americans in the region and could potentially, down the line, pose a broader threat to American interests and our allies around the globe,” said White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest.

 

Ebola Numbers Worse

The Ebola epidemic is growing faster than originally anticipated causing local West African governments to take counter and drastic preventive measures in an effort to stop the spread of the deadly disease.

As the number of documented total cases in Sierra Leone alone has been readjusted jumping to more than 2000 infected the government has decided to initiate containment measures in the hopes the action will slow the diseases movement across the borders.

Sierra Leone is now the third West African country to institute border restrictions, closing land borders to any persons whose current residence is the country of origin. Senegal has closed its sea borders to any traffic.

Emeritus and British Airways have both cancelled all flights to Sierra Leone and Liberia. Air Cote d’lvoire has also rounded flights.

Nigeria, the largest of the West African nations with over 21million people, has declared a State of Emergency as documented cases have increased 100%.

The World Health Organization, (WHO), has voiced concerns over the drastic actions initiated by these governments indicating the action may do more to spread the diseases than to slow, stall or stop the spread.

The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, Sylvia Mathews Burwell, has yet to make an official recommendation or set up public precautionary guidelines for American citizens in dealing with the potential pandemic.

President Obama has also failed to respond to the continuing Ebola spread.

 Al-Qaida Operative Dead

The manhunt for al-Shabaab operative, Ahmed Godane, an Osama bin laden loyalist, ended this week with a targeted strike in Somalia.

Al-Shabaab, under the leadership of Godane, admitted publically their responsibility in the Nairobi Westgate Mall attack that killed and injured dozens over the four days siege.

The terror organization, one of many al-Qaida loyalists groups, has claimed responsibilities or is believed to be the mastermind behind dozens of attacks throughout Kenya, Uganda, Somali and Mogadishu.

“In recent months, al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in Djibouti that killed a Turkish national and wounded several Western soldiers as well a car bomb at the Mogadishu airport that targeted and killed members of a United Nations convoy.   Al-Shabaab was responsible for the twin suicide bombings in Kampala, Uganda, on July 11, 2010, which killed more than 70 people, including one American. The group has also been responsible for the assassination of Somali peace activists, international aid workers, numerous civil society figures, and journalists. In February 2012, al-Shabaab and al-Qaida announced their formal alliance through a statement in which Godane swore allegiance to al-Qaida and promised to follow “the road of jihad and martyrdom in the footsteps that our martyr Osama bin Laden has drawn for us,” the statement from the White House Press Secretary read.

For more information on President Barack Obama: www.whitehouse.gov

Sources: Whitehouse.org, Wikipedia.com, Nato.int