Self -reliance … the best strategic option for Europe

NATO depends on the commitment to mutual assistance to members in accordance with the fifth article of the Constituent Charter, and this article is deterred by the enemies because the attack on one of the alliance members is an attack on everyone. For this reason, the record of US President Donald Trump, the volatile, was destabilized.

The leaders of the “NATO”, who gathered their annual summit in The Hague, last week, were satisfied with hearing the American president saying “with you to the end”, and this was a stronger confirmation of the goal of the alliance, who made it the previous day, and when Trump was asked about his commitment to the fifth article, he dodged, saying: “It depends on your definition.”

This ambiguity calls on Russia to continue to test the threshold, by escalating the sabotage and provocation campaigns on the eastern border of the alliance, and at the sea, but the American president does not see in the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, a opponent, and he spoke warmly about their phone calls, and does not recognize Putin’s responsibility for the war in Ukraine, and he has expressed his willingness to mediate a peace agreement there, on conditions that would be a victory for the Kremlin, as he resists his administration Imposing more severe penalties on Moscow.

On the other hand, most European delegates at the “Summit” believe that Moscow’s strong hostility to the West is the most urgent strategic challenge for them, in light of Putin’s speech and the governmental propaganda machine that promotes his hostile agenda fiercely.

Ukraine’s experience indicates that it is not wise to ignore this language, as an empty threat, at a time when the Russian economy appears to be prepared for war, and Europe needs to modernize its defense systems and deter them in response.

To this end, the NATO members pledged to spend 5% of GDP by 2035, and this is an investment in maintaining the participation of the United States, as much as it is a plan to compensate for the deficit, if Trump’s support declines.

Former US heads expressed their frustration with what they considered a free European exploitation of Washington security guarantees, but none of them threatened to withdraw from the coalition, as Trump did in 2018.

This fluctuation proved that it is not reliable, as a tool to force European leaders to do something that was recognized that they needed him anyway, and the Secretary -General of the NATO, Mark Rawat, praised the American president for his catalyst, and said: “Dear Donald, I have made this change possible.”

The method of tenderness may be required when dealing with an arrogant president, but this same necessity reveals a visible fragility in the unit through the Atlantic, that Trump’s vanity is not a secondary personal weakness that can be addressed to courtesy, but rather is the result of his inability to imagine real mutual partnerships between countries, as he looks at other members of “NATO” as they are affiliated with him, and he does not feel any permanent commitment to them, nor does it have no friendliness or respect for democracy He feels comfortable away from the leaders of democratic states, but it also possesses the military power on which European democracies depend to ensure their security, and will continue to depend on it for some time.

There is no easy solution to this tension, in light of the dependence on the United States, and the insecurity of the president who is inherent, but there is an increasing clarity among European democracies that it must expect a greater responsibility for its collective security, it is a difficult and cost -effective path, but the costs and risks of not taking it are definitely greater. On the “Guardian”

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Article Five

The parties in the NATO Treaty agreed, in Article Five of the Alliance Charter, that any armed attack on one or more of them in Europe or North America is an attack on all of them, and thus agree that in the event of such an armed attack, each of them must exercise the right to individual or collective self -self Immediately necessary, individually, in coordination with other parties, including the use of armed force, to restore security in the North Atlantic region, and the Security Council immediately informs any armed attack of this, and all measures taken as a result of it, and these measures end when the Security Council takes the necessary measures to restore and preserve international peace and security.

• Former American presidents expressed their frustration, but none of them threatened to withdraw from the alliance, as Trump did in 2018.