The report, completed once every four years, identifies 20 global trends that are likely to affect the alliance through 2035, ranging from artificial intelligence and accelerating technology development to climate change and growing inequality, Reuters wrote.
General Denis Mercier, NATO Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, told Reuters the report showed a higher risk of major interstate war than in the 2013 report.
Read alsoVolker on recent meeting with Surkov on peacekeeping in Donbas: A "step back"“We see a considerable increase in the risk of a major interstate conflict,” Mercier said in an interview on the sidelines of the Berlin Security Conference.
His command will release a companion report that maps out what NATO should do to respond to these trends in the spring, with both documents to inform the 2019 NATO political guidance.
“Having a global awareness is more necessary than before. We have to be ready for any kind of scenario,” Mercier said, noting that globalization meant NATO had to weigh factors outside its region, including military expansion by China and India.
Read alsoU.S. will never accept Russia's annexation of Crimea – VolkerThe report said defense spending had begun increasing after Russia’s annexation of the Crimea region of Ukraine in 2014, and projections called for further increases through 2045.
But it warned that the increases “might create a security dilemma and start an arms race, as was the case during the Cold War”.
Read alsoUkrainian observers on Zapad-2017 drills: Russian troops practiced offensiveMercier also said NATO was already working to expand its capabilities in the cyber domain, and to ensure cyber protections were baked into every weapons system and network from the outset.
