Barack Obama in Monmouthshire for NATO

2nd September 2014

Monmouthshire is right at the heart of international attention  this week.
To the international press, the summit at Newport’s Celtic Manor is about two massive global security issues –  the situation in Ukraine  and the growing threat posed by IS jihadists in Iraq and Syria.

As much of the world’s media points out, the summit was initially convened as a largely ceremonial event to mark the end of international involvement in Afghanistan.

But it could now be one of the most contentious in recent history, as the thorny issue of whether to place troops permanently in Eastern Europe comes to the fore.