NATO Quo Vadis? in the Trump Era

Once again as almost twenty seven years ago, NATO is faced with a deep-seated, soul searching existential issue or an internal threat. That’s right, not from an invasion by foes. It faces losing its very relevance or purpose as an organisation in the world.

Its survival is at stake in the present and uncertainty hovers over the military pact in the future. Here’s why. The Atlantic alliance was meant to in the words General Lord Ismay, NATO’s first Secretary General, “to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.”

During the cold war it managed to do all three. Afterwards, however, it engaged in military operations in the Balkans, central Asia (and failed to stabilise Afghanistan) and Northern Africa (Libya bombing campaign).  But in the post-cold war period its main mission of keeping the American troops in Europe, while protecting a somewhat humbled Germany, has been as challenging as maintaining a bellicose stance with the former Soviet foe. Or its current perceived rival which today is a resurgent or re-assertive Russia on the global scene.

With Trump calling for a reassessment of US commitment to NATO, the alliance is faced with an urgent need “to keep the Americans in”, while at the same not allowing for Germany to take over as the protector and guarantor of peace and stability on the continent. Naturally, Germany is relatively prosperous and can well pay its way in the Alliance. It can perhaps also be the new primus inter…

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