Foreign Policy by Proxy: NATO

Vox makes the case that NATO is a problem, not a solution.

It is said that every organization which outlives its purpose seeks to preserve itself by finding a new mission. This is indubitably true of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, as even its moniker betrays how far beyond its initial purpose are its current actions and deliberations. Once a defensive treaty between the U.S. and Western European countries to defend those nations from an aggressive and expansive Soviet Union that had rolled over Eastern Europe and was actively threatening West Germany, NATO has become an aggressive, expansive entity in its own right

This has consequences.

The danger of NATO is that the United States is putting not only the fate of its armed forces and its economy in the hands of petty politicians from petty nations, but it is also outsourcing its geopolitical strategy to those same individuals. It's not a question of whether foreign leaders are small-minded or great-hearted, because not even the wisest and most insightful foreign leader can possibly share the national interests of Americans living on the other side of the world.

Georgia is a warning to Americans of a real danger posed to them – not by Russia, but rather, by the member-states of NATO

Earlier I had thought that our State Department had blown the call in Georgia. After all, we have an ambassador there, who SHOULD have been working to control the Pipsqueak President in that country.

Day's editorial raises the possibility that it's even worse than that. Despite the "U S Government" signature on the paycheck of our ambassador, it's possible that the poor fool thinks he's working for NATO.

That confusion is dangerous.