In 2015, the US continued its efforts to integrate its allied forces in the Middle East by means of the “anti-ISIS coalition” and went about making regional allies like Saudi Arabia play greater roles through the development of capabilities. In December 2015, Saudi Arabia initiated the effort to form a counter-terrorism military coalition composed of 34 Islamic nations. This multinational counter-terrorism military coalition committed itself to protecting Islamic countries from being hurt by terrorists groups and organizations and set up a joint operations center in the Saudi capital Riyadh to “coordinate and support” military operations. In all, 33 countries including Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia and other Islamic nations joined in the Saudi Arabia-sponsored counter-terrorism military coalition of Islamic nations. Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Deputy Crown Prince and Minister of Defense of Saudi Arabia, said at a press conference that the establishment of the counter-terrorism military coalition was intended to coordinate the counter-terrorism operations conducted in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Egypt, and Afghanistan.
In 2015, the US gradually united Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and the Saudi Arabia-led GCC states by seizing the opportunity to fight against the ISIS and fend off Iran’s regional clout. A US-led loose regional alliance with the GCC as the core has taken shape in the Middle East.
C. Strengthening the NATO and Improving Solidarity within the European Union （EU） by Seizing the Opportunity to Tackle Russia in Europe
The relations between Russia and Ukraine remained tense for a rather long stretch of time in 2015. Ukraine turned to the NATO for help, and the US seized the opportunity to strengthen the NATO in order to enhance the cohesion between its European allies and jointly address the challenges from Russia.
Strategically, the NATO strengthened military deterrence and implemented political isolation.
On June 24, 2015, the NATO convened a joint meeting of defense ministers, at which the participants reached an agreement to upgrade military measures and improve collective defense capabilities and they reassessed whether it was necessary to resume sanctions against Russia.
Meanwhile, the European Parliament nullified the 1994 Russia-EU Partnership for Peace：
Framework Document and the Russia-NATO Protocol agreement and asked all EU member countries not to sign any bilateral agreement with Russia if it would run counter to the current situation. The EU’s foreign minister meeting in Luxembourg also agreed to extend the sanctions against Russia by another six months in order to “deal with Russia’s destabilizing actions in Eastern Ukraine.” The NATO and the EU simultaneously adopted hardline measures against Russia and their bilateral relations plummeted to an all-time low ever since the end of the Cold War.
Tactically, the NATO strengthened its forward disposition and enhanced rapid response capabilities. In late June 2015, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that the NATO would strengthen its forward disposition in an all-round way to defend the NATO’s border areas close to Russia, that the NATO would establish an anti-propaganda agency to disclose the “myths and lies” disseminated by Russia in Europe, and that the NATO would triple its rapid response troops so that the total force would be expanded from 13,000 to 40,000 personnel. The specific measures adopted by the NATO to strengthen its forward disposition were as follows：
Canada, Denmark, Portugal, and Belgium sent to Lithuania a reinforcement of 420 troops, 100 armored vehicles, and 8 CF-18 and F-16 fighter jets; Germany deployed 4 European “Typhoon” fighter jets to Estonia; the US, Spain, and the Netherlands sent to Poland another batch of about 30 warplanes, including F-16 fighter jets and C-130J cargo planes. At the same time, the NATO relied on Poland to establish a “Joint Lithuanian-Polish-Ukrainian Combat Brigade.” In the meantime, the US DoD initiated a program to deploy heavy weapons to Eastern European countries and planned to forward deploy a brigade of heavy armaments, including a variety of 1200 heavy armaments composed of M1A2 main battle tanks （MBTs）, “Bradley” infantry fighting vehicles （IFVs）, and self-propelled howitzers （SPHs）, etc. This was the very first time that the US deployed heavy weapons to the NATO’s forward areas ever since the end of the Cold War.
The NATO activated a new round of eastward expansion in 2015. At the February 2 North Atlantic Council meeting, the foreign ministers of NATO member nations decided to officially approve the initiation of the negotiations for Mont Negro’s entry into the NATO. Once the negotiation process goes smoothly, Mount Negro is expected to become the 29th member country of the NATO. In early 2016, the NATO officially initiated the negotiations for Mont Negro’s entry into the NATO. The latest round of expansion has directly endangered Russia’s interests and engendered intense responses from Russia. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement the same day, saying that since the foreign ministers of NATO member nations decided to approve the initiation of the negotiations for Mont Negro’s entry into the NATO, Russia saw the decision as a “blatantly defiant act”, which would bring new destabilizing consequences to the security regime in the Europe-Atlantic region.
After the Ukraine crisis, with the deterioration of the security situation in Europe, the NATO has been prepared to be in a long-term standoff with Russia. This background touched off a debate over the revision of the NATO Strategic Concept. Lithuanian Defense Minister Juozas Olekas said that the NATO had no choice but to adapt to the new security environment and that revising this strategic document was “one of the alternatives.” In June 2015, during the coffee break of the NATO meeting in Brussels, Olekas told Reuters that Russia was currently a major threat to the NATO.
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