Ana Palacio, Politico: NATO Is Dying
Last December, NATO commemorated 70 years of underpinning peace, stability, and prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic. But cracks in the Alliance are deepening, raising serious doubts about whether it will reach its 75th anniversary. The time for Europe to shore up its defenses and capabilities is now.
MADRID – NATO may be “the most successful alliance in history” – as its secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, claims – but it may also be on the brink of failure. After a turbulent few years, during which US President Donald Trump has increasingly turned America’s back on NATO, tensions between France and Turkey have escalated sharply, laying bare just how fragile the Alliance has become.
The Franco-Turkish spat began in mid-June, when a French navy frigate under NATO command in the Mediterranean attempted to inspect a cargo vessel suspected of violating a United Nations arms embargo on Libya. France alleges that three Turkish ships accompanying the cargo vessel were “extremely aggressive” toward its frigate, flashing their radar lights three times – a signal indicating imminent engagement. Turkey denied France’s account, claiming that the French frigate was harassing its ships.
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WNU Editor: Turkey's regional ambitions have helped to expose the divisions that exist within the alliance. The fact that many member states are also not meeting their promised obligations on defense spending is also raising questions on the value of the alliance. But even with these divisions I do expect NATO will survive for a few more years (if not decades).
ReplyDeleteWell Das Merkel keeps stabbing NATO, so why expect that it is not dying?
ReplyDeleteI should think current members who have experienced the Soviet Union will be inclined to continue membership in NATO.
Merkel's Germany ???
NATO is dying has been heard many times before over the past many decades.
ReplyDeleteAlways somebody says "this time is different".
Will this time be the exception? This time a US President is holding Germany accountable for its lack of interest in NATO. This time the US is facing China and Russia with the former a far more formidable threat than the USSR ever was. This time the federal finances are in a shambles with debt so unsustainable the DOD will have to make severe cuts in spending.
So maybe this time NATO will die.
No Europe turned it's back on NATO.
ReplyDeleteNATO is born from cold war. This time is finished, we have to think a new alliance for the 21st century.
ReplyDelete