Monday, December 4, 2023
 
 

US, NATO could play a role in East Med energy security

Retired US General sees military responsibility in securing energy transport, resources

- Advertisement -

DELPHI, Greece – The United States and NATO will need to have a military presence in the East Mediterranean to protect the energy resources in the region, retired US General Charles F. Wald told New Europe.

“From a military perspective, the United States, we realise the amount of money it costs to have our military forward deployed and modern and operational in areas like the Persian Gulf or now a little bit more into the Red Sea and always the Med,” Wald, who is a senior security advisor to Deloitte Services, told New Europe in an interview on the sidelines of the Delphi Economic Forum.

“With respect to the Persian Gulf, it used to be 100 percent energy other than the Israeli issue and we could have done that from the Med and then, particularly up until the first Gulf war and even the second Gulf war to a certain extent, but terrorism and extremism has crept in as another strategic reason to be there. But for a while, the only reason the US military was in the Persian Gulf was oil,” said Wald, who retired from the US Air Force as four star general after serving over 35 years in the US military.

Wald said he also looked at Russia shutting off gas to Ukraine a few years ago. “In fact what they did was they shut off gas to Europe because the pipeline went through Ukraine and it demonstrated the vulnerabilities of the European continent to energy dependence on somebody like Russia. And the fickle nature of the fact that it becomes a geopolitical issue when you cut the energy off,” Wald said, arguing that the military ought to have a role in securing the pipelines and energy resources. “But NATO didn’t want to do that,” he said, adding the alliance thought, “It was a step too far”.

Energy and economy are national security issues of any country, he said. “Look at Greece, what happened with the economics over the past few years. Look at what happened to the nation. So if your economy is weak either of poor economic policy or poor leadership but also because of threats of disruption to the economy due to energy, for example, that’s a national security issue,” he said, adding that the situations in Turkey, Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon are all connected and the stability of the region is critical.

“Hopefully production of energy out of Iraq eventually will help ease the cost of energy globally. Hopefully the development of the East Med for Greece, Israel, Egypt and others will also help them with their economic stability,” he said.

When he was in Europe from 2001 to 2006, the US didn’t have any permanently stationed navy in the Mediterranean. “We’re going to need that because the Med is becoming more of a strategic issue,” he said, adding that NATO has more presence now because of Russia’s involvement.

Wald said NATO needs to examine from a geo-strategic standpoint, “where they want to have their forces. “Is it going to be willy-nilly and responsive or is it going to be strategic and preventive. So the gas resources in the East Med become a major strategic asset that needs to be protected,” he said.

follow on twitter @energyinsider

- Advertisement -

Subscribe to our newsletter

Co-founder / Director of Energy & Climate Policy and Security at NE Global Media

Latest

Ukraine, Middle East will dominate Cameron’s UK foreign policy agenda

David Cameron, who was made Foreign Secretary in a...

What will it take to prevent a Gaza reconstruction fiasco?

Let us be unequivocal about the current war between...

Ukraine’s persecuted mayor

Lest it be forgotten, the major thematic issue in...

Don't miss

Ukraine, Middle East will dominate Cameron’s UK foreign policy agenda

David Cameron, who was made Foreign Secretary in a...

What will it take to prevent a Gaza reconstruction fiasco?

Let us be unequivocal about the current war between...

Ukraine’s persecuted mayor

Lest it be forgotten, the major thematic issue in...

Cameron’s return as Foreign Secretary raises UK’s international profile

David Cameron, who was made foreign secretary in a...

Ukraine, Middle East will dominate Cameron’s UK foreign policy agenda

David Cameron, who was made Foreign Secretary in a surprise move by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during his cabinet reshuffle on November 13, is...

What will it take to prevent a Gaza reconstruction fiasco?

Let us be unequivocal about the current war between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas - the latter declared this war on Israeli...

Ukraine’s persecuted mayor

Lest it be forgotten, the major thematic issue in post-Maidan and pre-war Ukraine was, and continues to be, the transformation of Ukrainian society along...

Cameron’s return as Foreign Secretary raises UK’s international profile

David Cameron, who was made foreign secretary in a surprise move by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during his cabinet reshuffle on November 13, brings...

Russia’s powerful economic levers over Armenia

Armenia's relations with its strategic partner Russia are getting worse and worse and its leaders seem to desire a shift in geopolitical orientation towards the West....

Economy Minister says Kazakhstan to expand investment and diversify trade with Europe

Kazakhstan’s Minister of National Economy, Alibek Kuantyrov, spoke to NE Global in an exclusive interview about his country's relations with Europe, Astana's economic partners,...

Meeting conditions for Georgia’s EU accession is a tall order for Tbilisi

The European Commission’s provisional endorsement of Georgia’s EU chances contained a not-so-subtle message couched in diplomatic jargon: Tbilisi must forge a stronger national consensus...

New US actions against corruption and Russian malign influence in the Western Balkans

On November 16, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, known by its acronym OFAC, designated eight individuals and six...