Under any kind of normal circumstances, the presence of a power like the United States, particularly post-1991, ought to cause 'balancing' behaviors all the world over - states banding together to limit American influence, presumably around a Russian or Chinese nucleus. 5/20
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NATO, which essentially takes a fifth of the global GDP 'off the table' in this way, obviously serves a purpose within that framework, even if it did nothing else (and it can, in fact, do other things for all its members)... 16/20
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None of which is to say that the USA, NATO and the USA's other security partners shouldn't be having a hard rethink about what the relationship is for and how it should best be structured for that new reality. Of course we should.... 17/20
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But I'd say that NATO provides value worth the cost even when it does *nothing at all.* Now that's a hard sell for the American voter, to be sure. But I don't think it is an impossible sell - should someone want to sell it, and I'd like to see it tried... 18/20
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Alternately, we can stick with the current plan, which is 'under/mis-inform the American public, conduct security policy in obscurity wherever possible, and act surprised when we get a fool-isolationist who objects to policies we never bothered to build public support for.' 19/20
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...a plan on vivid display with the recent Afghanistan papers. Or, maybe we can try coming up with a overall strategy, explaining it *clearly* to the voters and congress, getting approval for it, so that regular folks understand what something like NATO is for. end/20
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I come off harsher than I mean to sound to the Net Assessment podcast folks - their discussion is, I think, well informed and very useful - I am heartbroken that
@ConsWahoo is leaving the podcast. Do give it a listen, link at the top of the thread. end+1/20.Näytä tämä ketju
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