Monday, December 5, 2016

Memo to Trump: NATO Is Not ‘Obsolete’

Putin’s strategy is clear: Restore Russian dominance by breaking the unity of the West.
In an interview last year with this newspaper, President Obama offered a geopolitical defense of the Trans-Pacific Partnership: “If we don’t write the rules, China will write the rules in that region”—meaning East Asia. As political prophecies go, this one has turned out to be considerably above average.
Two weeks after the American people formally interred the trade pact by electing Donald Trump, a front-page Wall Street Journal headline said it all: “China Steps In as U.S. Retreats on Trade.” Momentum has intensified for the TPP’s Chinese-led alternative, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which has been under negotiation since 2011. Japan and Australia, two of America’s staunchest allies in the region, have stated their desire to conclude the RCEP as quickly as possible.
The flag of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization at 
its headquarters in Brussels. Photo: iStock/Getty Images
This seems likely to happen. And when it does, a huge 16-member trade bloc will emerge that includes the world’s two most populous countries, its second, third and seventh-largest economies, and its largest Muslim nation—but not the U.S.
No doubt east Asian and Pacific countries still will look to the American military as a counterweight to China’s growing power. Some will pursue new bilateral economic arrangements with Washington. But make no mistake: We are witnessing a hinge moment in which the U.S. surrenders the economic and diplomatic initiative to the region’s rising hegemon.
Read the rest of the story HERE.

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1 comment:

cimbri said...

NATO isjust in the ways D tethers is to countries like Turkey. The Warsaw Pact was dissolved decades ago so what's the point of NATO. We shouldn't trust these international military organizations. They could be used against us some day.