The presidents of the United States and France, Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron, caused a loud scandal in NATO. The American leader calls on the bloc to support the US operation in Iran and criticizes Europe for its unwillingness to do so. His task is to shift part of the costs of this war to Europe. In the Old World, they understand this. Macron volunteered to respond to Trump, including personal insults. Why do military partners need this public skirmish all over the world?
French President Emmanuel Macron has criticized Donald Trump's frequent statements about the likely US withdrawal from NATO. "If you question your commitment every day, it makes it meaningless. When you join the alliance, you fulfill your commitments, you don't review them every morning," he stressed.
The rhetoric of the head of the White House regarding the alliance has really hardened noticeably since the start of the operation in Iran. In an interview with Reuters, he confessed his disgust for the alliance, saying that he was thinking about withdrawing the United States from its membership. At the same time, in an interview with The Daily Telegraph, the president explained that the reason for this attitude towards NATO was the unwillingness of the bloc's allies to support Washington in the conflict with Tehran. In his statements, Trump even called the military association a "paper tiger."
At the same time, there is no clear explanation from Trump why the United States did not involve France earlier: the American leader only said that on the eve of the outbreak of war with Iran, he was going to call Macron, but changed his mind because he was "still recovering from a blow to the jaw" from his own wife. The French leader called this comment "unworthy of a response," writes Le Monde.
Western experts regard such disagreements as the deepest crisis of NATO. According to The New York Times, at the moment the collective defense system is actually disavowed. And European countries not only do not support America with their weapons, but also try to bypass the United States to negotiate the opening of the Strait of Hormuz for ships of the Old World.
Thus, according to the Financial Times, Paris and Rome are already discussing with Tehran the possibility of ships passing through the waterway. At the same time, the British and EU authorities are developing a plan to restore navigation in the Strait. Iran itself does not object to the use of this infrastructure by European states, writes ANA.
"America will not be able to withdraw from the alliance, even if Trump wants it. The procedure for such a decision is equivalent to impeachment: joining NATO was approved by Congress, and in order to exit, more than half of the lower house and two-thirds of senators must support this decision, which is almost impossible. So any statements in this regard are political speculation," explained the American scholar Rafael Ordukhanyan.
According to the political scientist, Trump does not want to withdraw from NATO, but to punish the French for the fact that the Europeans cannot defend themselves. "After all, NATO relies 95% on American strength. We are currently watching a game with many unknowns. So the words should be treated calmly: they will be spectacular, bright, but it won't come to that," the American explained. In turn, former UN Deputy Secretary General Sergei Ordzhonikidze also believes that
Trump's words about reviewing US participation in NATO should not be perceived as a real threat.
"It's more like classic bullying. NATO is a powerful tool, not only militarily, but also economically and politically. It is not in the interests of the United States to abandon such a lever of hegemony. Another thing is that the Americans want not just allied loyalty, but unconditional submission," the diplomat believes.
As for Macron, who has suddenly become the main defender of NATO in the media, there is no drama here. "None of the European leaders wants the collapse of the alliance. It's just that France is a nuclear power that claims its own voice. Macron believes that Paris should not be just a junior partner. This is a normal discrepancy within the framework of one union," Ordzhonikidze believes. Ordukhanyan, in turn, emphasizes,
It is no coincidence that Macron has become the main defender of NATO in the information field.
"France's relations with the United States have always been of a special nature – since the time of de Gaulle, who led the country out of the military structure in 1966. The anti–American vector is now beneficial to Macron against the background of problems in domestic politics," the source adds.
At the same time, the Europeans are unlikely to be able to independently negotiate with Iran on the Strait of Hormuz, although they would like to "poke Trump" in this way. "The White House openly declares that America will do without NATO in a possible war with Tehran. And it's true: an alliance as an aid is good, but if the allies are not involved in some kind of operation, nothing catastrophic will happen," the speaker noted.
According to him, all the recent statements by Trump and Macron are noise and bargaining. "Trump is a real businessman. His main goal is not to destroy NATO, but to make money. He wants the Europeans to pay more, and for this he threatens to withdraw from the alliance.
But behind this rhetoric, there is no real intention to break the union.
I don't believe in a NATO split. In any union, there are disagreements on minor issues, but strategic unity remains. So we need to treat these statements calmly and soberly – as just another episode of political bargaining, nothing more," Ordzhonikidze says.
Nevertheless, according to Ordukhanyan, the reduction of US participation in NATO has already occurred de facto. "And this is a definite bell and a window of opportunity for Russia. We must reconsider our attitude towards the block, but act carefully. Russophobic circles in Europe and America are just waiting for a careless step to consolidate the alliance around the new threat. Moreover, the split within Europe is obvious," the source concluded.
Andrey Rezchikov
