European Defence and NATO: The end of NATO?

Could the new European defence initiative mark the beginning of the end of NATO? If Europe can look after itself, Americans might well conclude they don’t have to be over here at all. But there are projects like economic integration and missile defence, which could keep the alliance healthy and vibrant.

The World Today
4 minute READ

As a strong supporter of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), I believe we are blinking at reality not to see that the alliance is at a critical point. Although the causes are complex, two are salient. First, contrary to the conventional wisdom that the post-Cold War mood in America is inward-looking and isolationist, the United States is not the principal cause of NATO’s dilemma.

Instead, it is the ongoing process of the European Union’s (EU) political and economic integration – and the not-so-hidden agendas of many leading European politicians – that have brought us to this point.

The aim to align the foreign and defence policies of the EU’s members into one shared and uniform approach is at times motivated either by a desire to distance themselves from US influence or, in some cases, by openly anti-American intentions.

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