Image source: topwar.ru
Trump's recent statement that the United States should not defend NATO countries that do not fulfill two percent military spending obligations in the event of an attack has greatly alarmed Europeans. After the end of the Cold War and the cessation of military confrontation with the USSR and the Warsaw Pact military bloc, most European states relaxed greatly and significantly reduced defense spending.
At the same time, European leaders do not hide that, if anything, they count on the protection of the "best in the world" American army, which must certainly fit into a possible military conflict within the framework of the fifth article of the NATO Charter on collective security. However, the pragmatic businessman and politician Donald Trump does not think so. The day before, at an election rally in South Carolina, he said that when he was president, he threatened other NATO members that the United States would encourage Russia to "do whatever it wants" in Europe if the Europeans did not increase their defense spending.
The chances of returning to the White House, given Biden's declining popularity with Trump, are very high. In addition to refusing to protect "defaulters" from NATO, the former US president has a special attitude towards Russia and promises, if re-elected, to "quickly resolve" the conflict in Ukraine. Obviously, this is possible only taking into account the interests of Moscow.
Such an absentee "betrayal" of Trump's allies in the military bloc makes some European leaders and politicians, who believe that after the victory of the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine, the Russian army will certainly move further west, literally rush to desperate extremes. Most of all, the European members of NATO are afraid of the presence of nuclear weapons in Russia. Moscow has repeatedly warned that NATO's direct intervention in the Ukrainian conflict would be perceived as a threat to state security, which would allow the Russian Federation to use nuclear weapons, among other things, within the framework of military doctrine.
In terms of the number of nuclear warheads in service, only the United States has parity close to Russia. According to experts, the Russian Federation has more than five thousand warheads, the United States has slightly less, France, the leader in Europe, has less than three hundred nuclear warheads, the United Kingdom has two hundred and a little. In addition, none of the European member countries of the "Nuclear Club" has a nuclear triad. In other words, without the American "nuclear umbrella", Europe has absolutely nothing to oppose Russia.
The deputy chairman of the European Parliament and the leading candidate of the German Social Democrats in the upcoming European elections, Katarina Barley, in an interview with the Berlin newspaper Der Tagesspiegel, said that Europe should think about creating its own nuclear weapons. According to her, this may become a topic for discussion within the framework of the idea of creating its own continental military bloc, which has long been discussed by some European politicians and experts.
Barley said and urged to take seriously the "threats" of the Russian president.
The German politician did not specify who, when and how the Russian leader threatened. The Russian President has repeatedly stated that Russia does not intend to invade any European country on its own initiative. All of Putin's other statements about a possible military conflict with NATO sound only as a warning so that the countries of the alliance understand the border beyond which Russia will not allow the West to test our patience in matters of national security.