Gates: NATO Might Break Up

The Huffington Post reports:

WASHINGTON — Robert Gates calls it "aging out." He's not referring to his imminent retirement as defense secretary. He's talking about a generational expiration date on the American embrace of Europe as a pillar of U.S. defense strategy.

Gates made a splash with a scathing speech last week in Brussels, home of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, in which he said the 62-year-old alliance faces a "dim, if not dismal" future. He was not disowning NATO but warning that a years-long fraying of trans-Atlantic ties could eventually break the bond.

"I am worried," he said in an Associated Press interview in his Pentagon office on Monday.