Europe reluctant to bolster militaries, despite threat

http://hamptonroads.com/2014/03/europe-reluctant-bolster-militaries-despite-threat

Europe reluctant to bolster militaries, despite threat
By Griff Witte
The Washington Post
© March 28, 2014

LONDON

After years of watching as defense cuts sliced away at the army he once led, Richard Dannatt decided Russia's thrust into Ukraine marked the right moment to start rebuilding the British military.

Dannatt, now a member of Parliament after an army career that spanned 38 years, this week sought to do just that with legislation that would have saved a brigade — or about 3,000 troops — in Britain's rapidly shriveling active-duty force.

But the modest bill was quickly nixed by the government, and on Tuesday Dannatt conceded defeat.

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President Barack Obama on Wednesday sought to coax his European allies to wake up to the renewed threat of Russia, and reinvest in militaries that have long gone fallow. But for the moment, there appears to be little appetite among European leaders to bust their recession-scarred budgets or buck their war-weary populations in order to shore up thinly stretched armed forces.