"NATO’s in Crisis! (Again)" Topic

"Stan Sloan, who in 1983 wrote one of the very best books about NATO says that the three oldest refrains in the West are: NATO is in crisis; deterrence is breaking down; and we need new thinking. All of which perfectly captures the furore about Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis's putative threat to NATO allies.

The New York Times headline reads "Defense Secretary Mattis Tells NATO Allies to Spend More, or Else," and the Washington Post, "Defense Secretary Mattis issues new ultimatum to NATO allies on defense spending." NATO partisans have deluged my Twitter timeline complaining that while perhaps previous American officials may have complained about allies free riding, Mattis has transgressed by publicly threatening America's allies, making our sacred vow of Article 5 mutual defense conditional for the first time. All of these complaints are misplaced. So it serves them all right that the tendentious schoolteacher in me is going to correct the record.

First, the Washington Treaty, as the NATO founding agreement is known, is not an immutable guarantee. While it absolutely does say that "an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all," all that it technically commits the signatories to do in the event of an attack is "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." This is more of an up-to-and-including-the-use-of-armed-force than an automatic use of force guarantee. The NATO guarantee has always been conditional…"
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Amicalement
Armand

this boring new and the again more boring title let me think at this moovie

Or this.

(smile)

Amicalement
Armand

Actually it happened ages ago.

Nobody noticed.

Hopefully the US will back up its commitment with an increase of pre-deployed food, bottled water, blankets and clothes.

That didn't happen too well after Katrina.