The US Secretary of State called on allies to rethink NATO

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking before congressmen, said that NATO needs to be rethought – although he hastened to assure that America is not abandoning the Alliance.

Source: “European truth” with reference to The Guardian

Details: According to the US Secretary of State, NATO must change, and European partners must radically increase their investments in defense capabilities. This is necessary so that they can play a meaningful role, and not just provide a “small” deployment of forces that still need support and insurance from the US.

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“The reason why his (NATO) needs to be rethought, not that its purpose needs to be rethought, but that its capabilities need to be rethought,” Rubio said.

As an example, he cited the discussion of security guarantees for Ukraine.

“These security guarantees basically involve the deployment of a small number of European troops, mostly French and British, and then US support. But really the security guarantee is US support. And I’m not downplaying the fact that some European countries are willing to deploy troops to post-war Ukraine. I’m just pointing out that without US support, it doesn’t matter,” Rubio said.

The reason the Europeans need such strong support from the US, he says, is that they have not invested enough in their defense capabilities over the past 20 to 30 years. He expressed hope that this will change.

“NATO will be stronger if our allies are more capable… And the stronger our partners in NATO are, the more flexibility the United States will have to ensure our interests in different parts of the world. This is not a rejection of NATO, this is the reality of the 21st century, and the world is changing,” the US Secretary of State added.

Prehistory:

• US President Donald Trump, summing up the first year of his second term, said that he had done more for NATO than anyone “living or dead”.
• Earlier, the US president admitted that the US “may have to choose” between pursuing its ambitions to seize Greenland and preserving NATO.

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