In a Tuesday night interview, President Trump once again stirred up fury among NATO nations, this time by questioning the wisdom of the alliance’s collective defense terms. He warned this was potentially risky because any small NATO member could quickly escalate the entire alliance into a world war.
Trump provided NATO’s newest member, tiny Montenegro, as an example. A nation of just 630,000 people, Trump warned “they may get aggressive and congratulations, you are in World War III.” Trump added that this was “very unfair.”
This is of course true, and not just of Montenegro, but literally any of NATO’s member nations. While Trump’s terming of Montenegrins as “very aggressive people”didn’t sit well with many, the potential for one smaller NATO member nation to provoke a war is not some new concern, but a frequent criticism of the NATO model for decades.
NATO officials were quick to criticize Trump, saying that NATO’s Article 5 provision for collective defense is “unconditional and iron-clad.” This only adds to concerns among NATO nations that Trump’s commitment to the alliance is by their standards imperfect.
NATO officials were already unhappy with Trump going into last week’s summit, and more so coming out of it. The latest comments are a reminder that the threat of World War 3 remains a serious concern for the US president, and one not easily dispelled.
Montenegrin officials were quick to fire back that they don’t intend to start any wars. Again, this misses the serious concerns of the alliance’s obligations, as NATO has no shortage of members liable to pick fights and then come running to the alliance for “defense.”
It’s not even just the current members of NATO. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has voted to express its support for “all” nations to join NATO if they want to. This means effectively any nation in the world with an axe to grind might join NATO with an eye toward using the alliance as its backup.
Trump is right in recognizing the dangers of NATO collective defense, something previous presidents have been loathe to publicly discuss. Yet in doing so he’s once again riled up angered foreign officials who didn’t like him in the first place.
A reasonable concern
I can think of 3 little NATO countries that fit Trumps description perfectly The 3 little Baltic countries that have paid their NATO defense budget in full and right on time . After they separated from the Soviet Union they tore down the statues of the Allied soldiers that freed them . They wanted new statues of NAZI soldiers . In their new democracies just freed from the communist yoke . they refuse to allow anyone to vote that can’t trace their ancestory back to before 1940 . there by disenfranchising from a 1/4 to 1/3 of their people . I would say these little Baltic countries are cruzen for a bruzen from their much more powerful neighbor that don’t like to see their relatives treated this disrespectfully .If they get in trouble with Russia and the USA sends troops to help them . The United States will be helping them alone because all of Europe knows just how independent and cocky they have treated Russia .
How about Right Sector in Ukraine? There’s an opportunity to fight the Russians we hate so much for no good reason: join forces with actual literal nazis, who hate almost everyone for no good reason.
Ukraine is not currently in NATO, of course. The Baltic states are, and they are arguably mistreating their Russian speaking minorities aka “non-citizens”. They need to knock that crap off.
Drumpf seems oblivious to the fact that Montenegro joined this pantheon of decrepitude and corruption on HIS watch.
And you missed the point that the bipartisan Senate could overrule T.rump if he vetoed that request.
So veto it and let it get overridden. No skin off his a**.
It takes a few miles to stop a speeding locomotive.
I don’t know who the “Nato official” is, that explained collective defense. If a Nato nation is attacked, each member may decide it’s own commitment to the collective defense. This may mean an armored division with air support, or, some balm for ailing bone spurs. What Nato does well is this, it establishes uniform international logistics and communication, thereby making defense cheaper for all. In a broad sense, trump critics of Nato are right, yet any military investment above what’s needed for real defense is a war threat. That is why this a BS statement, if trump wants to lower war risk, slash the US military budget, end our wars or stfu.
You sure got that right But what would the war hawks have said if Trump had asked for a military budget of 300 billion ? keep your fingers crossed As Trump has so far made good moves . Often the opposite of what he says he is going to do . His presidency is getting hilarious as he is taking apart the deep state and getting more popular and powerful every day .
So Trump didn’t ask for a $300 billion defense budget because he was concerned what the war hawks might have said? Is that why he also said he was the most militaristic candidate running? And do his “good moves” include backing out of the JCPOA and our attempt now to destroy Iran’s economy? Or escalating in Afghanistan and lessening the rules of engagement to make our killing people there a little easier? MOAB? Or bombing Syria twice based on sketchy bulls**t? Or enabling the Saudi’s to continue their slaughter of Yemen? How about moving our embassy from tel aviv to Jerusalem and the subsequent deaths that resulted in doing so? Hilarious?
Everything Trump has accomplished so far is for the benefit of this country. Obomba cut our military to the bone. The Iran deal was unsigned with bribes paid by Iran out of the billion in gold Obomba gave them. We are coop with Afghan gov’t. Moab was a general’s call. We don’t tell SA what to do. Embassy move was campaign promise for which he was partly elected. Not hilarious. Not perfect like Obomba who dropped 72000 bombs on multiple countries while he was president.
Obama outspent Bush $4.1 billion to $3.3 billion on defense.
The Iran deal wasn’t with the US alone. Seems the other countries are fine with it. Trump is doing Israel’s bidding.
What does “coop with Afghan gov’t” even mean? We’re cooperating with them? And that’s why Trump escalated and lessened the rules of engagement? And Trump bragged about the MOAB and is the commander in chief whether it was a general’s call or not.
We don’t tell SA what to do? We don’t sell them the bombs they’re using to destroy Yemen? Or provide intelligence so they know where to drop those bombs we sell them? Or refuel those planes(that we also sell them) that drop those bombs that we sell them?
And saying he fulfilled a shi**y campaign promise of moving the embassy to Jerusalem doesn’t bring back any of the needlessly killed. Again, doing Israel’s bidding.
I guess Obama should be commended for simultaneously gutting our military while dropping 72000 bombs. And to quote you about Trump: “In time my friend he’s just been in 18 months”. We’ll see where he stands if he does two terms. At present pace he’ll beat Obama in both bombs dropped and drone attacks.
Too bad you’re suffering from TDS, Trump derangement syndrome. Trump is our only hope/ally to reign in the global hidden powers, deep state, that promote wars. Turn off the msm. Educate yourself about what is really happening in the world and what the real war is. Frankly this site is way too narrow and just concerns itself with one symptom of the cancer that is taking over the planet. Don’t bother to reply as I don’t have time to nurse feed people that have their heads stuck in the sand and think they know it all. Good luck. I’m outta here.
You didn’t address anything I said. And try to find anything I said to be similar to the MSM talking points. You are the one suffering from TDS. And good riddance.
“In my imagination, Obomba cut our military to the bone”
Fixed, no charge.
And the msm, George Soros and the deep state are freaking out
In time my friend he’s just been in 18 months.
If the Trump-monster gets NATO disbanded or at least the US out of it, I might actually start liking the guy. A follow-best-practices moderate democrat would never have gotten anywhere near this point, and if they somehow did would be drawn and quartered by now.
Trump is the only one in DC
talking sense about the insanity of NATO.
Putin would talk sense about NATO . If he should come to D.C ? I see another strong friendship blooming .
Now, now. Let’s not get crazy. A friendship that would lead to a safer more productive world? NOT allowed. The US political class is having fits already. Trump having a friendship such as you are proposing is verboten! Can you imagine the strokes and heart attacks in the media and elites if such were to occur?…… hmmmm…. Actually I can imagine such strokes and heart attacks. Fondly.
I agree with Eric, Putin would, indeed, talk sense about NATO; if he should come to DC (Trump invited him to visit sometime in autumn), I see another strong friendship blooming.
I don’t see how demanding that these nations pay 4% instead of 2% of their gdp into NATO is anything but another form of insanity.
Trump may spout off some decent thing once in a while about nato and blah blah but his bullying is little more than showmanship …..and it certainly doesn’t make the world any more secure or safe or democratic or at Peace
NATO should be unconditionally abolished, it’s been nothing but a lackey for US wars in the middle east and north Africa that last 20 years. I see no reason for it to exist
Re. NATO, I agree.
I am tired of protecting their fat.
However, it should be wound down over 5 to 10 years,
(abruptly leaving a vacuum is idiotic)
forcing the EUROS to become a global superpower on their own or
a group of vassal countries ripe for the pickin’s.
Their choice.
making waves But Trumps wants every body to pay in more and strengthen NATO . So he says . Trump said he was going to bring hell fire on N Korea and rocket boy Kim un . Now Trump and Kim are best buddies . I hope he pulls the same fast switch on NATO so the international community can stop going around starting wars and bombing everybody .
Yeah, like unleashing a bull into a China shop as a way of encouraging much-needed renovations of the shop. Somehow effective but a dangerous game.
making waves But Trumps wants every body to pay in more and strengthen NATO . So he says . Trump said he was going to bring hell fire on N Korea and rocket boy Kim un . Now Trump and Kim are best buddies . I hope he pulls the same fast switch on NATO so the international community can stop going around starting wars and bombing everybody .
Without the USA, of course it would not be NATO but the Europeans could have their own defense against the “enemies” they find dangerous, not those the USA chooses to push upon them. Also, US nukes should no longer be parked on 5 NATO countries’ land- this makes nobody safer.
The actual official text of Article 5 is not ironclad and unconditional. It says, “will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force”
“As it deems necessary” is not the same as ironclad and unconditional. There is choice, judgment, discretion, about how to act.
The hawks don’t want that to be known. They pretend it isn’t so. Perhaps like the British Cabinet at the start of WW1, they can convince decision makers that conditional language is really unconditional, and no choice is really available except war. However, that is not what it really says, and it certainly is not what Eisenhower would have done.
Don’t worry Trump’s not going to get sucked into a war unlike Hilarity who would start one.
You have many aggressive states who goes mad and loose all senses because they have NATO behind them. Among these states are Montenegro, Ukraine, 3 Baltic states and most dangerous: ISRAEL.
In Israel, US/UK were behind Israel in any crisis for many decades but since 2001 other European countries have jumped onto the wagon and put their blind support behind Israel in any war mongering in the Middle East. Be it in their offensive destruction in Gaza, in Israeli showdown with Lebanon/Hizbollah or Syria, where they are actively bombing on regulary basis.
The state of Israel pose the biggest challenge and threat to the world peace – and Trump should acknowledge this fact because Israel are trying it’s utmost to drag the whole world into their dirty and inhuman wars and aggression.
Whatever he does is now wrong, but NATO really is obsolete and more of an obstacle to peace than any other purpose. Jumping in to support one another, like the ridiculous behavior of the puppets when Terrorism May started her crusade against Russia with the novichok scheme, causing hundreds of NEEDED diplomats to be sent home and the whole situation to spin out of control, as several partners also found an excuse to drop bombs on Syria.
as I see it, NATO is a bigger threat to world peace than Russia…very expansionist and aggressive in their stances and rhetoric.
& after all, a world war could start over Montenegro or Latvia – now if that isn’t absurd, I don’t know what is
If you’d been raped as many times as the Montenegrins have you’d be a little “aggressive” too. The Croats are the ones you gotta look out for. They think they’re so damn “European” that the rules don’t apply to them and that their Slavic neighbors are all a bunch of thick-browed mongrels. Bunch of Holocaust denying elitist creeps. Tito was OK, but he was a Bolshevik who didn’t believe in race.
NATO is a glorified protection racket. The US strolls in and says “Nice country you got here. It’d be a shame if something happened to it.” Then, the next thing you know, they got your daughter turning tricks and they’re moving smack out of the basement. It’s not good for anyone. America uses the Baltic nations as a human shield while they harass Russia with their war games. There’s a reason why there are so damn many Estonian anarchists. They’re tired of playing the chew toy between two pit-bulls in a tug of war.
what version of the Holocaust must one believe to NOT be labeled a denier and be jailed?
The one that f**king happened. You can dispute the body count but Nazi Germany and their fascist allies killed millions of innocent men, women, and children. And not just Jews either but communists, Roma, Serbs (the Croats favorite prey), Gays, and all manor of Slavs.
As a mentally ill queer anarchist, I would have been murdered three times over. The holocaust happened. That doesn’t mean that I don’t believe that people shouldn’t have the right to question the facts on any historical event but it takes one hell of a blind-spot to miss all those dead bodies.
Whatever he does is now wrong, but NATO really is obsolete and more of an obstacle to peace than any other purpose. Jumping in to support one another, like the ridiculous behavior of the puppets when Terrorism May started her crusade against Russia with the novichok scheme, causing hundreds of NEEDED diplomats to be sent home and the whole situation to spin out of control, as several partners also found an excuse to drop bombs on Syria.
It is so sickening that most GOP Senators and Reps go along with this neocon madness. Is it all about campaign donations? What a sick nation.
Mutual Assured Destruction is only thing preventing atomic war. Article Five is essential to MAD. Only atheists are qualified to decide such matters. Putin, Trump are both in a cult.
AI for dictator!