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In a recent
interview for a German magazine, then President-Elect Donald Trump called
NATO obsolete. Trump is absolutely correct, NATO is obsolete. Cue neocon and
other interventionist heads exploding in 3, 2, 1"
Trump's statement has caused the predictable hysteria among foreign policy interventionists
that is to be expected anytime someone drifts outside the tight confines of the
reigning orthodoxy, but let's examine the issue.
NATO is the epitome of the kind of entangling alliance that George
Washington and Thomas Jefferson warned us about. It is a tripwire for a potentially
catastrophic conflict. Plus there's that whole nuclear weapon's thing. The idea
that an attack on any NATO member is an attack on all is absurd on its face and
the kind of thing that only a globalist stooge could believe. I'm sorry, but
from the standpoint of the U.S., an attack on Latvia is not the same thing as
an attack on Omaha, and any treaty arrangement that obligates us to treat them
the same is foolish.
Even if you concede that NATO was necessary during the Cold War to counter an
expansionist Soviet Union, which I don't but that's for another article, it
became obsolete the instant the Soviet Union collapsed. Unfortunately,
following the fall of the Soviet Union, NATO chose to expand to include some of
the old Soviet Bloc countries rather than disband. This was clearly not a
defensive move. It was an attempt to expand Western (and primarily U.S.) hegemony
in the face of Russian weakness.
Disagreements about Russia's intentions aside, how Russia might act in the event of NATO disbanding is not really the fundamental issue. The fundamental issue is why should the U.S. be responsible for the defense of the relatively affluent and populous nations of Europe? Last I checked the United States was made up of 50 states. The purpose of the U.S. military is to defend those 50 states, not countries on another continent a large ocean away.
I am under no delusion that Trump is committed to a doctrinaire non-interventionist foreign policy to the degree that I describe above, but his willingness to question the wisdom of our current alliances is a refreshing step in the right direction. I believe Trump sees the U.S. role in the world through the lens of our national interests instead of the lens of an ideological commitment to a U.S. led and maintained "liberal" world order which is what guides the foreign policy Establishment left, right and center. Trump's foreign policy threatens the consensus which is why it makes all the pundits hysterical, and it is why the deep state is going to such extraordinary means to undermine his presidency.
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