NATO SecGen, “Europe Needs the US”
…France surrenders.
NATO’s Rutte says Europe can’t defend itself without US; France balks
By Rudy Ruitenberg
PARIS — Europeans are “dreaming” if they think the continent can defend itself without the United States, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said in a meeting with members of the European Parliament on Monday, citing the costs of going it alone and the need to build up a nuclear capability.
“If anyone thinks here that the European Union or Europe as a whole can defend itself without the U.S., keep on dreaming,” Rutte said. “You can’t. We can’t. We need each other.”
Rutte’s remarks come as Europe questions whether the U.S. is still a reliable ally following tariff threats by President Donald Trump against NATO allies over Greenland and a national defense strategy prioritizing homeland defense and the Western Hemisphere. Last year’s U.S. National Security Strategy called on Europe to take primary responsibility for its own defense.
The NATO chief prompted pushback from France, the European Union’s only nuclear power, with Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot saying Europeans need to take their own security in hand through a European pillar within NATO.
Several security policy analysts said Europe has no choice, because the U.S. can no longer be trusted to come to its aid.
“No, dear Mark Rutte. Europeans can and must take charge of their own security,” Barrot said in a post on X. “Even the United States agrees. This is the European pillar of NATO.”
European Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius earlier this month called on countries to consider how they would create a European pillar in NATO if the U.S. does shift from Europe, and what would replace the 100,000-strong American standing military force on the continent.
NATO was founded in 1949 to counter the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies. Since neither actually exist some long-needed changes are coming, and the EU is nervous.
So the real questions, how much longer will America pony along these open-border Euro-socialists by covering their defense costs, and does the US need NATO at all? I’d be nervous too.
Category: NATO
