Washington Post editorial: Trump is bent on wrecking NATO. Prepare for catastrophe.
U.S. AMBASSADOR to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison says “the overall theme” of this week’s summit meeting in Brussels “is going to be NATO’s strength and unity,” which is what it ought to be. There is considerable good news to celebrate: The alliance has substantially beefed up defenses of its eastern flank, facing Russia; it is recommitting to vital missions in Afghanistan and Iraq; and every one of its members is increasing defense spending — the biggest buildup by U.S. allies in 25 years. The summit is due to adopt an ambitious new plan that would allow NATO to deploy 30 battalions, 30 squadrons of planes and 30 ships within 30 days — a resource that could considerably bolster the ability of the United States to respond to crises.
Unfortunately, Ms. Hutchison cannot predict the potential behavior of the commander in chief, President Trump, who has kept security officials across Europe sleepless in anticipation of a possible blowup like he initiated at last month’s Group of Seven meeting. Behind closed doors in Quebec, Mr. Trump berated the alliance as “as bad as NAFTA” and defended Russia’s annexation of Crimea. He also dispatched letters to the leaders of Germany, Canada and several other nations, scolding them for failing to spend still more on defense.
The fear is not only that Mr. Trump will spoil the “unity” of the summit with harangues before flying to Helsinki for a far friendlier meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. It is that, having shrugged off the strong support for NATO among his national security team, he is bent on wrecking a multilateral organization he regards as obsolete and a means for European nations to freeload at the expense of the United States.
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WNU editor: Getting NATO members to live up to their commitment is not wrecking NATO .... I see it as an attempt to save it. It is intolerable that countries like Germany have allowed its readiness to deteriorate to the point that all its submarines, half its tanks and most of its warplanes are not ready for duty .... while at the same time declaring that Russia is a threat and criticising Presdient Trump's outreach to Russia (while ignoring their own massive natural gas pipeline agreement with Russia). One can disagree with President Trump's approach to NATO, but in my book it is governments like Merkel's Germany or Trudeau's Canada (to name a few) who are failing in their security obligations and who are undermining and wrecking NATO. I have mentioned this on a number of occassions .... a debate is now needed on what is the purpose and future of NATO, because from my vantage point I see a majority of NATO countries only giving it lip service, promises to increase the defense budget far away in the future, or making token deployments to places like the Baltics or elsewhere in Europe while at the same time declaring that these "bold" actions make-up for their low defense budgets and commitments.