TRUMP URGES PUTIN TO ATTACK NATO ALLIES, DRAWING REBUKES FROM WORLD LEADERS AND FORMER NATO COMMANDER

NATO forces fought in Afghanistan to protect the U.S. after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, but Trump made clear he would not defend our NATO Allies

By Miriam Raftery

Photo (cc by SA) --  The Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington D.C. caused NATO to invoke its collective defense article for the first time.

February 12, 2024 (San Diego) — Former president Donald Trump said Saturday that if reelected, he would not defend U.S. allies under the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance, or NATO, unless they paid at least 2% of their gross domestic product on defense. He claimed to have told the leader of a major ally that if Russia were to attack that nation, “No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want.”

Trump’s comments during a South Carolina rally sent shockwaves around the world, drawing strong rebukes from NATO and world leaders.

Retired General Wesley Clark, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, called the remarks “treasonous,” in a CNN interview.

Earlier, he issued this statement:  “On 9/11, when America was under attack, NATO nations all mobilized to come to our defense and fought alongside us to crush al Qaeda. They didn’t ask us for money. They didn’t put strings on it.  That is the kind of iron-clad commitment that has kept western democracies—including our own—alive for 75 years.”

General Clark added, “For Donald Trump to publicly signal to Vladimir Putin that he can take as much of Europe as he wants, and we will sit by and cheer him on, isn’t just breaking the promise the United States has made, and it isn’t just threatening Europe. It is encouraging World War III, which will hit our shores and cost American lives....The lives of every American, both in uniform and civilian, are at severe risk if Donald Trump wins this election.”

Photo, left: General Wesley Clark, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander

NATO is not an alliance based on dues: it is the largest military bloc in history, formed to face down the Soviet threat during the Cold War, based on the collective defense that an attack on one is an attack on all – a principle enshrined in Article 5 of NATO’s founding treaty.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also sharply criticized Trump’s comments, stating, “Any suggestion that allies will not defend each other undermines all of our security, including that of the U.S., and puts American and European soldiers at increased risk.”

Photo, right, via U.S. Air Force:  British solders, part of NATO forces from many allied nations fighting in Afghanistan to support the U.S. after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, a war that lasted 20 years until after Osama bin Laden was killed.

Trump’s comments came amid rising tensions in Europe following Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. European leaders fear that if Russia is not defeated in Ukraine, Russian president Vladimir Putin will next order invasions of other European nations.  Yet Trump has opposed further U.S. aid to Ukraine.

“We have a hot war at our border,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Sunday, voicing concerns about whether the United States will show “full solidarity with other NATO countries in this confrontation that promises to last for a long time with Russia,” Associated Press reports.

President Joe Biden’s campaign issued a statement noting that his own administration has worked with allies to build a NATO alliance that is “bigger and stronger than ever and stands in defense of democracy against Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian aggression,” adding, “Serving a Commander in Chief is the ultimate responsibility... Donald Trump’s admission that he intends to give Putin a green light for more war and violence, to continue his brutal assault against a free Ukraine, and to expand his aggression to the people of Poland and the Baltic States are appalling and dangerous... Freedom and democracy are on the ballot in November.”