Scott Desjarlais came to Donald Trump’s defense Thursday saying “it’s expensive to police the world”.
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“You can’t forget the bills”, Trump said. (One of the countries that does is Estonia, whose president noted that Estonian forces participated in the only military action ever triggered by Article 5 – the war in Afghanistan that followed the 9/11 attacks on the United States.) The U.S. has called for other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member states to increase their contributions, and President Obama earlier this year complained about “free riders” in the alliance.
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”.
“Many NATO nations are not making payments, are not making what they’re supposed to make”, Mr. Trump said, according to the transcript.
At a time of growing tensions with Moscow, the idea that the U.S. might become an unreliable ally is a nightmare for Nato’s European members.
The seasoned lawmaker also offered the expected paeans to NATO: The U.S. will fulfill its promise to defend the alliance’s members the way they’ve helped Washington go after the perpetrators of September 11; the group has a storied and successful history.
Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves also didn’t allude to Trump by name, but declared on Twitter that his nation met his defense spending obligations and supports all member nations.
Republican nominee Donald Trump hinted the USA may revisit NATO’s longstanding policy of defending its allies against possible Russian aggression if he becomes president, saying that some allies aren’t holding up their end of the bargain.
In addition to its defense spending, Estonia sent soldiers to Afghanistan in 2003.
For example, he said it might not be necessary to station American troops overseas, though he agreed it’s preferable.
Ilves’ fellow Eastern European leaders sought to calm the furor.
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite expressed confidence that the United States would always stand by its allies. Kalnins noted that it was unclear whether Trump was talking about the spending commitments or about generally being helpful to the United States.
We still don’t know whom he consults on geopolitical matters, but one clue comes from Gov. Christie, who said Trump recently asked him about China’s development of islands in the South China Sea. So it was a bit jarring to hear Bolton, a former member of the George W. Bush administration, criticize Trump, who will accept the GOP’s presidential nomination Thursday night.
As such, they will be music to the ears of adversaries like Vladimir Putin – above all Mr Trump’s refusal to provide an unconditional assurance the USA would come to the defence of the Baltic states, Nato’s newest members and under mounting pressure from Russian Federation.
Unless NATO could prove itself, Gates warned, a new generation of Americans and political leaders who grew up after its Cold War heyday would begin to seriously question whether the USA should preserve its commitment to the alliance.
The campaign for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton was among the first to pounce on Trump’s statements.
Trump supporters succeeded in preventing a reference to arming Ukraine from getting into this year’s platform, but the manifesto is demonstrably not pro-Russia.
All of this indicates Trump would be willing to let Vladimir Putin exert and expand his hegemonic impulse across Eastern Europe – and even further – in order to preserve American resources. “It accuses “current officials in the Kremlin” of eroding the “personal liberty and fundamental rights” of the Russian people”.
“We will meet the return of Russian belligerence with the same resolve that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union”, it says.
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First, Trump frequently asserts the United States can not continue to be the “world’s policeman”, thus challenging the belief held by both Democrats and Republicans that the United States remains the world’s “indispensable nation”.
