The dispute between the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has entered a new phase. The conflict has been at the top of the US political and executive equation since Trump took office and is now at its peak.
The dispute between the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has entered a new phase. The conflict has been at the top of the US political and executive equations since Trump took office and is now at its peak. Some US officials, such as Trump and Pompeo, explicitly mention an option called the possible dissolution of NATO ! Washington’s approach has been criticized by other NATO members.
The White House has announced that President Donald Trump will meet with Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
According to a White House statement, Trump and Stoltenberg talk about the progress that member states have made in increasing their defense budgets. Since coming to power, Trump has always been a member of NATO, especially Germany, a major economic power in Europe. The White House added that Trump and Stoltenberg will also discuss the fight against terrorism, the fifth generation of the Internet and cyberattacks. The meeting between the US President and the Secretary General of NATO will take place at a time when in an interview a few days ago, US President Emmanuel Macron said that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was dying of brain damage, referring to the US lack of coordination with Europe in its decisions and Turkey’s unilateral actions in Syria. Reacting to Macron’s remarks, German Chancellor Angela Merkel later said she disagreed, although Russia welcomed the French president’s remarks, describing them as golden words.
“We are now going through the brain death of NATO,” Macron said in an interview with The Economist. “The United States is ‘turning its back on us,’ which can be seen in the sudden withdrawal of American troops from the Northeast.” Syria’s observation without consulting NATO allies. Turkish army with so-called terrorists The Free Syrian Army launched a US-led military operation in Syria on October 8, with the aim of removing the threat of Syrian Kurdish militants from the common border. Asked if he still believed in Article 5 of the NATO alliance, the French president said: “I do not know. “But what will Article Five mean tomorrow (in the future)?”
Article 5, entitled “Collective Defense”, states that an attack on a NATO ally is an attack on all NATO countries. Macron also warned of the weakening of Europe in the wake of the election and political instability on the continent. It was unthinkable. If we do not wake up, there will be a significant threat of disappearing from the geographical scene in the distant future, or at least we will no longer be in control of our own destiny. I strongly believe in this. »
Although people like Jens Stoltenberg, the Norwegian Secretary-General of NATO, have sought to normalize the current US-NATO relationship and to emphasize the multilateral and multifaceted commitments in this regard, it is widely acknowledged that the relationship between Washington and its NATO allies It has reached the lowest possible level in recent decades. During Trump’s recent visit to Brussels, he did not send any hopeful messages to NATO leaders: On the one hand, Trump stressed the need for structural reform in NATO, and on the other, he called on North Atlantic Treaty Organization member states to limit their financial payments in line with Increase the collective costs of this collection.
The next point is that the President of the United States did not mention Article 5 of the NATO Treaty. All US presidents have addressed this issue in their speeches in the years since NATO was formed. They give. Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty states that if any NATO member is attacked, all NATO members will work together to defend the country. However, Trump did not mention this during his previous visit to Brussels! Many American media and analysts have mentioned this issue. The Washington Post writes: “It is a pity that Trump did not even explicitly state in his speech in Brussels that the United States supports (Article 5), while every other president in the United States since Harry Truman in 1949, since “This article expresses support for NATO.”
Another point that has been mentioned is the financing of NATO by the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Many European members of NATO have opposed this demand. Allocating 2% of NATO member states’ gross domestic product to collective military and defense spending in NATO is not something that is easily accepted by member states. However, Trump insisted on this demand during his numerous trips to various European countries. It is not without reason that many American media outlets have described his meetings with NATO leaders as unsuccessful.
The recent meeting between Trump and Stoltenberg is undoubtedly the highlight of the rift between the United States and other NATO members at this critical juncture. In a situation where the confrontation between Moscow and NATO has increased, and even some experts and analysts on military issues due to the conflict Trump’s confrontational approach to other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is thought-provoking. In any case, the Brussels meeting showed that the US President did not intend to back down from his position on NATO; This is an issue that NATO leaders do not have the power to deny. This will lead to a widening of the security and political divide between the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. This was also evident during Macron’s recent dispute with US and German officials.
