Mr. Pence said he hadn’t seen the exact context of Mr. Trump’s comments, but he said Mr. Trump’s broader position is that it’s time for US allies in treaty obligations and NATO to start paying their fair share – a point Mr. Trump has made before.
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Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves noted pointedly in a tweet that Estonia “fought, with no caveats”, on behalf of the U.S.in Afghanistan. “Look at what is happening in our country”, he said.
The reaction of Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite was one of disbelief that any US president would shirk treaty obligations. “Everyone knows it’s an election campaign”, he said.
CLEVELAND, Ohio-A top Donald Trump adviser said on Thursday that the Republican presidential nominee’s suggestion that the United States might not come to the defense of some North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member states would actually strengthen the security alliance.
Most state delegation breakfasts feature rah-rah pep talks explaining why their party’s presidential nominee is excellent in every way.
But when Trump was asked in the Times interview whether small Baltic nations and other NATO allies could count on the United States to stand by its treaty obligations to defend them if Russian Federation attacks, Trump responded: “Have they fulfilled their obligations to us?”
“I disagree with that”, said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.).
“I will not interfere in the USA election campaign, but what I can do is say what matters for NATO”, Stoltenberg said in a statement sent to AFP.
If the Baltic states failed to contribute more, “Yes, I would be absolutely prepared to tell those countries, ‘Congratulations, you will be defending yourself, ‘ ” he said.
He was referring specifically to what he would do if one of the Baltic Republics (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia) were invaded by Russian Federation.
Estonia isn’t the only Baltic country feeling the heat from Trump’s comments.
In response to this, the Wall Street Journal reported that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg issued a statement saying, “I will not interfere in the us election campaign, but what I can do is say what matters for NATO”.
In defending NATO, Ilves points to a long history of collaboration between North America and Europe, including the role the U.S. played in the fall of the Soviet Union – an event that restored independence to the Baltic states.
If he so chose, Vladimir Putin can take Estonia in less than a day.
Paul said Cruz was pursuing his own “self interest”, like all politicians, when he refused to endorse Trump in a speech at the Republican National Convention, in which he was almost booed off stage.
Campaign Manager Paul Manafort insisted Trump was misquoted by the Times, prompting the paper to publish a transcript of the conversation.
In contrast, Obama said that presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, who served as secretary of State in his first term, is supremely capable of taking over the reins of power in January.
He said Mr Trump’s comments were “an indication of the lack of preparedness that he has been displaying when it comes to foreign policy”.
World leaders reacted quickly.
But national security officials and some Republicans said abandoning NATO’s mutual defense guarantee, enshrined in Article 5 of the treaty, would abandon 66 years of US foreign policy and threaten the world’s most powerful military alliance.
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Donald Trump’s suggestion – in a New York Times interview – that he might, if elected president, abandon the alliance’s guarantee to automatically defend members, is once again surrounding him in controversy.
