An attack on one is an attack on everyone. Article 5 NATO will die if fragmented – Observer

Kaliningrad. It covers an area of ​​15 thousand square kilometers of Russian territory, but it is far from Russia. Land that was once German and is about the size of Northern Ireland is surrounded by Poland, Lithuania and the Baltic Sea. This part of Vladimir Putin’s country is very real, but it can add a little confidence. Pretend that Russian President Kaliningrad wants to build a causeway connecting Moscow. An algorithm gives the answer we want: It is a 16-hour journey (approximately 1,300 kilometers) across Latvia and Lithuania. An alternative is to cross the long-distance ally Belarus and pinch off part of Poland. In these two fictional scenes of the Kremlin advancing within NATO countries, The Atlantic Alliance’s response should be the same: an attack on a NATO member is considered an attack on everyone. Article 5 North Atlantic Treaty. But will it be?

It is easy to believe that the change in the presidency of the United States, with Biden’s election, increased security and NATO’s return to using the goal of “one for all” as opposed to what happened in the Trump administration.

During the previous US administration, uncertainty was high. Trump Said with all the letters, In 2016, in an interview with The New York Times: The United States should not automatically defend an ally in the event of an attack. If the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania-Russia are attacked, Trump will assess whether those countries have “fulfilled their obligations.”, Before giving them military assistance. Obligations are financial: The purpose of each member is to set aside 2% of its GDP for defense spending. Interestingly, the 2021 data indicate that these three countries are part of a group of eight NATO members. The cost exceeded Awake.

The same US President even said that NATO was outdated – Then, in 2017, he said he was no more – and the French president considered an alliance in 2019 The brain is dead. Emmanuel Macron’s words criticizing Turkey’s unilateral behavior in Syria upset then – German Chancellor Angela Merkel and showed the division between the signatories of the North Atlantic Treaty.

The Turkish president responded to Macron the same week, a few days before an important NATO summit: “Investigate your own brain death first”, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

The United States will only protect us if NATO nations fulfill their obligations to us: Trump

The divisions over Syria have not been resolved in NATO, and in recent days they have returned to the topic of conversation. But with the election of Joe Biden, there was a change in the school of thought in Washington and the United States returned to defend NATO’s importance in the world order. It was like boiling water, though without lasting benefit.

“I am one of those who understands that if Donald Trump had been re-elected, we would have begun to discuss the true survival of the Atlantic Alliance.” Professor Louis tells Tom Observer.

“From this point of view, those who are invited in 2018 – like Ukraine and Georgia – will not be presented,” he argues, and for Putin it will be a lesser argument, because there will be no debate. The possibility of NATO expanding to other countries was part of Soviet influence until the 1990s. “Perhaps we have begun to discuss the existence of the Atlantic Alliance.” Underscores the Director of the Department of International Relations at the University Autonomous de Lispova.