Trump's demands for NATO is a 'very rough way to play,' a former top commander of the alliance says.
'President Donald Trump on Tuesday morning threw cold water on one of the founding principles of the NATO by suggesting the US may not defend a fellow member if it came under attack. . .
During his meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the NATO summit in London, Trump was asked by reporters if he would adhere to Article 5 — a principle described as being "at the very heart of NATO's founding treaty."
"I'm going to be discussing that today, and it's a very interesting question, isn't it?" Trump told reporters. He made the remarks in light of his assertions that some NATO members are "delinquent" in meeting a goal to each spend 2% of GDP on defense by 2024.
That part of the treaty, which has only been invoked once, after the US was attacked on September 11, 2001, requires members to "protect each other" if one is attacked and states that "an attack against one Ally is considered as an attack against all Allies."
Retired US Army Gen. Wesley Clark, a former Supreme Allied Commander Europe who oversaw all NATO military forces on the continent, warned that the potential walk-back of Article 5 could endanger the US and its allies.
"This is a very rough way to play with NATO's fundamental commitment," Clark told Business Insider. "It undercuts deterrence, encourages potential adversaries, and erodes NATO itself."
"It invites others to play the same way, as [Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan] is now doing by threatening Baltic defense plans unless he gets his way with the Kurds," Clark added, referring to the Turkish-backed offensive against the Kurds in northeast Syria in October.'>>>
https://www.businessinsider.com/nato-trump-spending-wesley-clark-treaty-article-5-2019-12
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