Posted on 12/14/2023 2:33:03 PM PST by algore
Congress has approved legislation that would prevent any president from withdrawing the United States from NATO without approval from the Senate or an Act of Congress.
The measure, spearheaded by Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), was included in the annual National Defense Authorization Act, which passed out of the House on Thursday and is expected to be signed by President Biden.
The provision underscores Congress’s commitment to the NATO alliance that was a target of former President Trump’s ire during his term in office. The alliance has taken on revitalized importance under Biden, especially since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“NATO has held strong in response to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s war in Ukraine and rising challenges around the world,” Kaine said in a statement, He added the legislation “reaffirms U.S. support for this crucial alliance that is foundational for our national security. It also sends a strong message to authoritarians around the world that the free world remains united.”
Rubio said the measure served as a critical tool for congressional oversight.
“We must ensure we are protecting our national interests and protecting the security of our democratic allies,” he said in a statement.
Biden has invested deeply in the NATO alliance during his term, committing more troops and military resources to Europe as a show of force against Putin’s war. He has also overseen the expansion of the alliance with the inclusion of Finland and ongoing efforts to secure Sweden’s full accession.
Trump, the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, has sent mixed messages on the alliance ahead of 2024.
The former president’s advocates say his tough talk and criticisms of the alliance served to inspire member-states to fulfill their obligations to reach 2 percent of defense spending, lightening the burden on the U.S.
Since they never pass budgets, couldn’t Trump just divert money from the NATO & U.N. to elsewhere?
Rubio is not POTUS material. He couldn't negotiate his way out of a paper bag. Unfortunately, he just won another 6 year term.
I do not know what “authorization” was needed to join NATO.
Was congress involved in that decision?
Yes, that is the process for entering into treaties. Withdrawal from treaties is a different and trickier question. I believe that presidents have in the past asserted the authority to unilaterally abrogate treaties.
Also, the treaty consent power rests with the Senate and requires 2/3. This Rubio move involves the House in the process via a regular act of Congress. That is one aspect of this that looks sketchy to me.
what the hell?.......we have no good guys anymore....
I don’t remember Trump exactly being against NATO, but he did want the other members to spend what they are supposed to spend on defense. Only the UK does but it still doesn’t have a lot of forces.
If a POTUS doesn’t want to deploy troops, or does not want US forces to participate in any joint exercises, no force on earth can force him to do so.
No matter what the treaty says.
See post #47
See the following Articles (emphasis mine):
Article 10The Parties may, by unanimous agreement, invite any other European State in a position to further the principles of this Treaty and to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic area to accede to this Treaty. Any State so invited may become a Party to the Treaty by depositing its instrument of accession with the Government of the United States of America. The Government of the United States of America will inform each of the Parties of the deposit of each such instrument of accession.
Article 11
This Treaty shall be ratified and its provisions carried out by the Parties in accordance with their respective constitutional processes. The instruments of ratification shall be deposited as soon as possible with the Government of the United States of America, which will notify all the other signatories of each deposit. The Treaty shall enter into force between the States which have ratified it as soon as the ratifications of the majority of the signatories, including the ratifications of Belgium, Canada, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States, have been deposited and shall come into effect with respect to other States on the date of the deposit of their ratifications.
Article 13
After the Treaty has been in force for twenty years, any Party may cease to be a Party one year after its notice of denunciation has been given to the Government of the United States of America, which will inform the Governments of the other Parties of the deposit of each notice of denunciation.
Article 14
This Treaty, of which the English and French texts are equally authentic, shall be deposited in the archives of the Government of the United States of America. Duly certified copies will be transmitted by that Government to the Governments of other signatories.
The United States has been established as the custodians of the treaty. The spectacle of the United States withdrawing from the treaty by notifying itself, and then depositing the withdrawal into an archive that it will no longer maintain is comical at worst.
Like it or not, it appears that by treaty, the United States owns NATO, manages its processes, and therefore cannot withdraw itself from it without the whole thing falling apart entirely.
The United States withdrawing from NATO would be the western equivalent of the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain. It would be synonymous with the fall of the Soviet Union.
-PJ
Or Afganistan
Gotta keep that GRAVEY/DEATH/MONEY TRAIN running at full speed you know!
They know Trump is going to be #47.
They are freaking out.
Trump shoulda kept his mouth shut on this topic.
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