Trump Discussed Pulling U.S. From NATO, Aides Say Amid New Concerns Over Russia

[Sirius_]

Why do any of you think this is a good idea? What benefit does it do to not have allies?

[Sirius_]

NATO may protect western 'corporate' interests (whatever that means) by proxy of defending Western interests, but aboveall it is a collective security organization, built to prevent the sort of 'creeping' aggression which caused the Second World War. The fundamental premise is that if powerful countries (like France or the United States) join their own security at the hip to the security of weak nations (like Czechoslovakia or Estonia), then potentially dangerous aggressive nations (such as Germany or Russia) can be effectively deterred from taking even minor aggressive steps. If anyone in this thread thinks for a moment after the examples of Georgia and Ukraine that the people of the Baltic states would be living in relative freedom and prosperity today had NATO been disestablished at the end of the Cold War, they are deluded. Further, if anyone in this thread believes that the cost of stationing barrier troops in Europe to shore up the alliance is not worth the liberty of Europeans or preventing the potential cost of global conflict, they are both deluded and have a seriously misaligned moral sense. The only reasons anyone would have to support U.S. withdrawal from NATO is either a fundamental lack of understanding of the way the international system works or a vested interest in the advancement of Russian autocratic influence in Europe, or both.

Man, that's beautifully crafted. Thank you.