NordenBladet – On Thursday afternoon, United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin arrived in Estonia to meet with Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and Minister of Defense Hanno Pevkur (Both Reform).
During his visit, Austin* is set to discuss support for Ukraine, defense cooperation between the U.S. and Estonia, as well as issues related to NATO.
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* Lloyd James Austin III (born August 8, 1953) is a retired United States Army four-star general who, since his appointment on January 22, 2021, has served as the 28th United States Secretary of Defense. He is the first African American to serve as the United States Secretary of Defense. Austin previously served as the 12th commander of United States Central Command (CENTCOM) from 2013 to 2016.
Austin was the 33rd vice chief of staff of the Army from January 2012 to March 2013, and the last commanding general of United States Forces – Iraq Operation New Dawn, which ended in December 2011. In 2013, Austin was appointed as the first Black commander of CENTCOM by President Barack Obama. He retired from the armed services in 2016 and joined the boards of Raytheon Technologies, Nucor, Tenet Healthcare, and Auburn University. On December 7, 2020, he was nominated for defense secretary by then-President-elect Joe Biden. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on January 22, 2021, by a vote of 93–2.
During the Russian war against Ukraine, the U.S. sent tens of billions of dollars in missiles, ammunition and other items to Ukraine. Austin said that he wanted to see “Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine”. The New York Times reported that U.S. military may be providing real-time battlefield targeting intelligence to Ukraine. Austin said he “does not” believe that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will result in a nuclear war.
Featured image: Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin (Wikipedia/CC BY 2.0)