![]() Faced with large, unexpected bills, voters may tell their politicians not to pay. President Trump is threatening this huge success story in important ways. This is why, for all their flaws and imbalances, the transatlantic (and transpacific) alliances have survived for decades. It is there because of bitter experience: staying out of regions that matter merely means that eventual intervention is late and costly. The United States does not have bases in wealthy European and East Asian countries out of charity. But it has a better ring to it than “ruthless Hobbesian world in which might equals right.”īut it boils down to this. The phrase, “rules-based international order” sounds a bit threadbare these days. A country that fights alone risks giving the impression that its statecraft is motivated solely by greed, vainglory, and other selfish interests. Shared sacrifices in the past, and shared ideals about the future, help make values credible at home and abroad. Building that stockpile of influence and loyalty takes years of husbandry. If you are in a world of great power competition, you had better make sure your power is as great as possible. The United States alone, as the administration is discovering, cannot. They help solve problems early and cheaply.Ī united West can put pressure – at least in theory – on China. Allies can also be useful in making war less likely. ![]() But even if their armed forces are weak or old-fashioned, they provide other things that help in military operations: logistics, real estate, and intelligence are some of them. It is bad in the most straightforward military terms. People in those countries could say the same things about the United States.īut not having allies is even worse. All that can be said by Americans of their NATO allies. They sometimes pick fights, lose their nerve, and spend money on the wrong things. They need things at inconvenient times and can fail to show up when asked. military presence on their soil, plus a 50 percent surcharge, suggests (not for the first time) that the Commander-in-Chief fails to understand his country’s strongest geopolitical asset. Reports that President Donald Trump wants to charge allies the full cost of any U.S. It is an alliance based on shared interests and values. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |