A spectre stalks Europe: of leadership, late and lamented. The disorderly US withdrawal from Nato is denting defence and deterrence and creating a vacuum in command. Without an overall plan, credibly implemented, each country will concentrate on its own security, weakening collective defence and raising the risk of war.
Since its founding, Nato has been both a funnel for American combat power into Europe and the fount of US military leadership here. Nato members do not follow their national priorities. They fit into the alliance’s defence planning, knowing that allies — fellow Europeans or the US — will fill the gaps. The “all for one, one for all” principle makes the Nato whole greater than the sum of its parts.
The Trump administration is scorching the glue that holds Nato together. The president speaks contemptuously of the alliance as a “paper tiger” and threatens military withdrawal to punish perceived political disobedience by Spain, Italy and Germany. We all pay the price.
One example is the Pentagon’s cancellation last month of the deployment to Germany of a long-range fire battalion armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles.
We European allies lack these precision strike capabilities, sorely needed to deter Russia.
