Why Do We Need NATO?

American Thinker ^ | November 22, 2016 | Bruce Walker

[Kaslin]

As President-Elect Trump begins to form his governing team and to review the involvement of America in the world, it makes sense in the revolutionary change in American politics to look anew at almost everything. Trump has taken some hits for suggesting that our contribution to NATO has been disproportionately large. I will suggest what many of us may think but Trump may be too coy to openly state: America does not need NATO.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created at the instigation of an American superpower trying to find a means of containing global communism, led by the Soviet Union, by bringing together those nations in Europe who needed to be reassured that a Warsaw Pact invasion of West Germany would be resisted using conventional forces by those nations whose collective unity could cause the Soviets not to attempt a lunge through the Fulda Gap or other weak spots. This collection of allies included nations outside Europe – America, Turkey, and Canada – and although the language of the alliance did not specify the Soviet Union, that was the sole threat the alliance envisioned.

The alliance succeeded in preventing war in Europe, and once America began trying to win the Cold War, the whole structure of the Soviet Empire dissolved, first with the unification of Germany, then the liberation of all the other Warsaw Pact allies, then the independence of the non-Russian nations within the Soviet Union, and finally with the overthrowing of the communist overlords of Russia.

NATO was part of a grand system of alliances that America created to contain communism. CENTO, the Central Treaty Organization, included Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan, Britain, and America. SEATO, the South East Asia Treaty Organization, was a similar organization of regional partners and America, France, and Britain.

[Krosan]

“IMHO we should withdraw from NATO, if by doing so we can get some foreign policy shifts from Russia.”

Withdrawing from NATO has a finality to it. Russian promises on the other hand last exactly as long as they care to keep them. Might be broken the next week as was the case with Jalta agreements of allowing free elections in the territories under their control. Russians have shown they don’t value keeping their word.

[Ax]

I wasnt aware that we still had nukes deployed to Turkey. I knew JFK pulled them out a half-century ago, but with cruise missiles able to decimate most Russian cities, who needs ‘em?

[FreedomPoster]

Not on IRBMs. Bombs that can be loaded on, say, an F-15E.