How Trump’s NATO ‘Clean-up’ Could End American Power

There are many reasons that many do not think Trump has been a good choice for President by the Americans.  We have a range of articles where we have shared our reasons and we will share our concerns further as well.

For now, I wanted to share something that to me is a very dangerous scenario.

One of the rants that candidate Trump had – which his followers loved – was that other countries have taken the US for granted in groups like NATO.  That he didn’t like NATO much was obvious in his first speeches.  Over time he did tone down his rhetoric though, but his main peeve remained.  Why don’t the other nations pay for their share in NATO, and why does US have to pay its own share.

If you look at things purely economically, sure it sounds very biased and unfair.  But there are reasons and needs for something like NATO.

What made Trump’s call comical was that along with his intention of bringing down NATO and other organizations, he was also simultaneously calling it the way to “Make America Great Again”.

Of course, the question that no body has asked is – when was US last a great nation?  It is answer to this question that will provide you insight into what vision Trump has of US.

With respect to NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) – the beginnings of this organization (April 1949) are rooted in the experience of World War II.  WWII was a reminder of how a strong European nation could become rogue in the hands of a nationalist who wants his vision on the world.  The aftermath of what that one guy unleashed on the world started a process initiated by the US – and other Western nations – to create mechanisms where they functioned as one.

This one group with US as the ring-leader ensured that they would have one concerted direction on how to handle issues and powers in the world.  One of which – the important one – was USSR and Cold War.

Atlanticism: Hegemony of US and Western Europe

This promotion of – what has been known as Atlanticism – US and Western European world view has been undertaken in many forums other than the known formal ones.  For example, the relatively unknown Bilderberg Club (established in 1954) – which is a close group of elite in US and Western Europe – 120-150 of whom meet annually by invitation to discuss the world as per the stand-point of US and Western Europe states.  The participants include political elite, experts from industry, finance, academia, and the media.  Its agenda is simply stated as “better understanding between the cultures of the United States and Western Europe to foster cooperation on political, economic, and defense issues”.  Its website says the following:

Throughout the years, the annual meetings have become a forum for discussion on a wide range of topics – from trade to jobs, from monetary policy to investment and from ecological challenges to the task of promoting international security. In the context of a globalised world, it is hard to think of any issue in either Europe or North America that could be tackled unilaterally.

Please notice that the idea is not to stop wars or create a better world in the entire idea of Atlancism.  But to create a mechanism where many powers who may have been otherwise opposed to each other, come together to jointly institute hegemony for Atlantic powers.

Lies and limited takeaways has not stopped the Atlantic powers from entering Iraq or creating dictatorships and backing them for their own benefit.  What these organizations have done is provide a sense of collective agreement and legitimacy if other powers – like Russia or China – dispute such decisions.  Something that happened in case of Iraq.

Now, break the Atlantic alliances apart and have all of these countries do their own version of Brexit and you have some very powerful countries whose need to create smart and advanced weaponry had been bottled up – suddenly come alive.

Unleashing Multiple Global Power Centers and End of US Super-power

If we think that having a world with just two power centers (China and Russia) apart from US take over the limited resources and assets in the world – whether it is in Asia or Africa – is bad.  Imagine having multiple powers wanting a piece of the pie based on their own articulation of nationalist vision than one collective vision.  Imagine, in short, a world with Germany, France, UK, Russia, China, Japan, US and India – all vying for the piece of the pie!

If Trump’s US can do a Cost-Benefit Analysis of being in NATO, so can others!!

Mind you, all of these are strong powers in their own right and can become a threat to the hegemony of a collective Atlantic group, with US as the ringleader.

So, lets go back to the oft-repeated Trump slogan – “Make America Great Again”.  Think again, by paying disproportionately what was US trying to achieve in NATO or UN?  They were vehicles of American hegemony and a way to “dumb down” powers like Germany, France, UK and Japan.  For the unleashing of any one of these could severely undermine the world order which allows for American hegemony.

And, if Trump does a Cost-Benefit-Analysis in an economic way, guess what?  So will others.  We aren’t the most intelligent beings on the planet in US dealing with utter nincompoops in other countries.  They know economics too.  Probably better than the Americans.

Organizations like UN and NATO weren’t easy to create.  After all UN’s precursor – the League of Nations formed after WWI was undermined and its partly contributed to the WWII.

Is Trump America’s Gorbachev?

We are opening a Pandora’s box.  People like Milo Yiannopoulos – the racist Breitbart columnist who calls Trump his “Daddy”are part of an ultra right movement in US and Western Europe where its activists – including Steve Bannon (the Chief Strategist of the Trump White House) – have clearly denounced the groups like EU, NATO and UN.  They are predators of the love for the individualism – which shows up as ultra nationalism in national polity – who use the need to grow and prosper and link it to globalization.  Little realizing that these global platforms are what have kept the world safe and economies growing!

When Trump’s election is so decisively impacted by the Russian government and its hackers, then one needs to sit back and think.  Is this Putin making US and West pay for the break up of USSR and its Bloc?  Is Trump the American Gorbachev?

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