Robin Wright, New Yorker: What Does NATO Do, Anyway?
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or nato, the largest and most powerful military alliance in history, is not usually fodder for election-year politicking. But in an interview with the Times earlier this week, Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump said that the United States should not automatically honor nato’s core principle of mutual defense, specifically if Russia invaded several newer members of the alliance, the three strategic Baltic states and former Soviet republics—Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. In a sharp rebuke, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Thursday that the principle of mutual defense is “ironclad.” He told reporters, “There should be no mistake or miscalculation made about this country’s commitment to the transatlantic alliance.”
nato’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned, “We defend one another. . . . Two world wars have shown that peace in Europe is also important for the security of the United States.” Solidarity among allies is “a key value for nato,” he said, in a statement. Trump’s comments came under fire from fellow-Republicans, too. “Statements like these make the world more dangerous and the United States less safe,” Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, tweeted.
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WNU Editor: Donald Trump has been raising this issue during this election cycle .... and the media/pundits/ and many in Europe have condemned him for it. But as the above New Yorker post reveals .... the debate on what should be the role of NATO is starting.
4 comments:
The idea that the US is responsible for the security of half the planet, and in perpetuity, is galling. Even the notion of discussing the issue has angered people. Trump is not part of the establishment, so he questions these ridiculous concepts. I expect him to lose the election but am glad a more common sense type of viewpoint is having his voice heard.
NATO...a classic example of bureaucratic inertia.
Yup, that's why all the Allied WWII cemeteries and war memorials are absolute crumbling shitholes that nobody ever visits.
Mr. Trump is absolutely correct that America's position in NATO needs to be renegotiated. I've rdcognized this since 1998. It's gratifying to see that someone with a chance to actually do something about this is on the scene.
While I've predicted here and elsewhere that Mr. Trump will be the next POTUS and I stand by this prediction, even if he does not win and assuming the USA survives a Hiliary presidency (an iffy prospect at best that America could survive her presidency)BIG changes are coming to American policy. Agsin, assuming the nation survives where there is one Donald Trump today there will be 10 espousing his positions in the next POTUS electoral cycle.
If I were a NATO member, I'd work under the assumption that Mr. Trump is going to be the next POTUS and act accordingly and even if this turns out not to be the case (which it won't) assume US involvement in NATO will only last another 5 years, at most, and plan accordingly for your defense needs.
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