Thanks to the news coverage on Trump and NATO, it is easy to formulate the belief that NATO is facing a novel challenge to its legitimacy and its current form as we know it. While this is true in some respects, Kaufman presents the argument that President Trump represents just the latest in a series of political upheavals which appeared to pose a threat to the institution that has played a key role in snuffing out the centuries-old cycle of intermittent armed conflict among the big players on the European continent.
It can be argued that while the Trumpian problem vis a vis NATO is cause for concern, the alliance has weathered worse than the bandying of bombastic language. For example, prolonged U.S. geopolitical focus on Southeast Asia during Vietnam caused a shutter among NATO members in fears that the Americans may be neglecting the Russian bear looming in Eastern Europe. It was only several decades ago that another con-man in the Oval Office attempted to coax our NATO allies into “paying up” (looking at you, Tricky Dicky). U.S. democracy also has the ability to correct itself every four years; it just so happens that the day of reckoning is only a few weeks away. Perhaps a change in administrations will result in a Harmel Report-moment for NATO and reaffirm the military partnership designed to “keep the Russians out, the Americans in and the Germans down.”
Ron,
It is difficult to deny the fact that the president has done great damage to the NATO alliance during the past four years. It began with his fundamental misunderstanding of how the Alliance works–i.e, that member states do not pay “dues,” rather they commit to a certain minimum level of defense spending. But his actions have gone well beyond the carping about defense spending (and he is actually right about some of the member states).
As we have discussed, he has no basic use for multilateralism. Rarely are even our closest allies consulted or informed before the US has taken action. And the president has spoken in disparaging terms about a number of European leaders, including especially Angela Merkel. As a result, NATO is probably the most fractious and disunited it has ever been. And now there is growing risk that two NATO members, Turkey and Greece, might actually engage in hostilities against one another; but the US is doing little, if anything, to prevent this from happening.
It will take many years of hard work and diligent diplomacy to try “to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.” But the work must start immediately because the demise of NATO would be Vladimir Putin’s most fervent wish. –Professor Wallerstein