NATO Exists to Deter Russia, Not Appease Trump
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- NATO defense ministers met June 18 and the Secretary General visited Washington ahead of the July 7-8 Ankara summit, with the author arguing these efforts have made appeasing Trump appear to be the alliance's main purpose rather than deterring Russia.
- The United States has helped Russia repeatedly under Trump, including hosting Putin at a US summit in August (the first since 2007), pressuring Ukraine to cede territory, and relaxing sanctions on Russian oil during the Iran war.
- Washington has launched a six-month review expected to lead to US force withdrawals from Europe and accused European NATO allies of 'disloyalty' for refusing to join the Iran war.
- NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte disclosed that 4,000-5,000 American warplane flights departed US bases in Europe during the Iran war, roughly 500 from Italian bases, triggering a parliamentary furor in Italy over complicity.
- The United States maintains 40+ military bases across the UK, EU, and Turkey that function as a fleet of aircraft carriers enabling American global power projection, making those bases at least as valuable to Washington as US membership is to Europe.
- The Joint Expeditionary Force, a 10-country command structure (UK, four Scandinavian members, three Baltic states, the Netherlands) headquartered in Britain, should be expanded and funded as a military structure insulated from US interference, the author argues.
Why it matters: If European NATO members accept the author's argument, they would shift resources and political capital away from managing Trump's grievances at the Ankara summit and toward building an independent deterrence architecture via the Joint Expeditionary Force — a reallocation that gains urgency given the announced six-month review of US force deployments in Europe and the loss of America's nuclear-deterrent credibility under Trump.
