The speeches by US Ambassador to NATO Victoria Nuland which feature in this issue of Défense nationale et sécurité collective are unusual, because they represent a clear U-turn in US policy towards a European defence identity. They need to be explained and put into perspective. That will allow an understanding of why the ‘Brusselist’ approach⁽¹⁾ (both NATO and the EU) is taking over on both sides of the Atlantic and how it should be consolidated in the coming months.

Reasons for the U-turn

Two kinds of reason for this change of direction can be discerned—military and political.

Military Reasons

The first factor which has pushed Washington to change its strategic line obviously follows from the difficulties encountered in Iraq, and even more so Afghanistan. Certainly, under the leadership of General David Petraeus, the Iraqi situation has improved. This is due, of course, to new counter-insurgency (COIN) techniques, agreements with the Sunni tribes and the Shia political machine and a separation of religious areas (which we cannot call ethnic cleansing because that is unacceptable). However, the US Army has learned the hard way in Mesopotamia that technical superiority is not enough, and that the real issue is stabilisation.