From An Angry Reader:
Subject: NATO
Maybe it’s my old age but you seem to be contradicting yourself. You explain quite correctly how useless it is and then suggest that you think strengthen it is a good idea???
Looks like trump wants to dump it knowing Germany will never pony up. Have suggested that article five only valid with paid up members😎
M
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Dear Angry Reader Michael Sanders,
I did not say that NATO was “useless.” My argument, if you were to reread it, was that NATO has expanded to such a degree that it is losing a common purpose and unity, at the very time the shared enemy of the Soviet Union disappeared. My reform suggestions were to limit membership, insist that all members immediately meet their 2 percent of GDP defense spending obligations, and to insist that all members decide on what or who are the common enemies, and then the expected contributions in wartime to prevent a rogue member like Turkey getting into a war and then demanding NATO’s help. The theme of the essay was that NATO is eroding without radical reform, and changes are necessary to save it—and that it is still worth saving it from itself.
V
