Follow the money: Can NATO afford another Cold War?
President Donald Trump’s NATO policy is confusing. Regardless of the administration’s evolving National Security Strategy, United States’ role in Europe is in transition. Trump’s March 17th meeting with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel reiterated his America First emphasis at home, and an insistence that other NATO members “pay their fair share” abroad. A picture a "Perfect Storm" of Russian military resurgence, European Union instability skating on thin politico-economic ice and a 20 trillion dollars US cold front. This Trans-Atlantic ice age is capable of putting the freeze on any potential “warming” of the Alliance’s regional security efforts. To make the move from a more measured Western European Allied Assurance (2014 Wales Summit) to greater Russian Deterrence (2016 Warsaw Summit) NATO will require greater operational funding. With "Great Recession" contagion and an anaemic economic growth the question we should be asking is whether NATO can afford another Cold War. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Yet the cold, hard truth comes down to cold, hard cash.
April 18, 2017 - Scott Carlson