The role of NATO

NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: International security.

Last week, NATO marked 75 years of military alliance among 32 nations in the West as a counterweight to the Soviet Union and its successor, Russia.

But Russia is not the only threat facing the West. Here’s Jens Stoltenberg. He’s NATO’s secretary general.

STOLTENBERG: China has become a decisive enabler of Russia's war against Ukraine through its no-limits partnership..

REICHARD: It was President Joe Biden’s news conference that received the most attention. Biden argued that he’s responsible for bringing together a coalition of nations to supply Ukraine’s defense against Russia…while claiming former president Trump would not defend NATO allies if he returns to office.

BIDEN: I've got to finish this job because there's so much at stake.

EICHER: Joining us now is Brad Bowman of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He’s head of the think tank’s Center on Military and Political Power.

REICHARD: Brad, good morning!

BRAD BOWMAN: Good morning. How Are you?

REICHARD: Great and so glad you’re here!

Well, we will get to events in Washington, but let’s start with what happened in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday. Former President Donald Trump’s life just spared from bullets fired by a man on a roof. We’ve heard the reactions of American politicians. How does this look to our allies and enemies abroad?

BOWMAN: I think in the Kremlin and in Beijing this looks like an opportunity. This looks like an opportunity to continue their long-standing information war against Americans. The primary target of the information war of China and Russia is their own people, right? To try to manipulate the information flow to them so they can retain their autocratic and authoritarian grip on power. But the second most important target for these, these three adversaries, in particular, is the United States and Americans. And they're doing all kinds of things, but one of the things they want to do is they want to divide us and pit us against one another. So that they're loving this. They love this, and they see it as an amazing opportunity. The question is whether Americans will wittingly or unwittingly help our adversaries divide us and do their dirty work for them. As you can tell, my vote is that we—that we not play that game.

REICHARD: Well, how does this all look to our allies, then?

BOWMAN: Yeah, you know, it's a great question. Just just this month, we had the 75th-Anniversary Summit in Washington and those allies understand that America has played and needs to continue to play a central leadership role in the alliance. And so many of the leaders that came to Washington are concerned about President Biden's physical state, and they see some comments coming from former President Trump, with respect to NATO and Ukraine and Russia that they find concerning. And then when you layer on top of that, this horrible attempt on Donald Trump's life, you know, I think I know a lot of our allies are very, very concerned. And this is honestly a period of great uncertainty, just at a time, frankly, when we need to be unified.

REICHARD: As we mentioned earlier, NATO was formed to counter the Soviet Union and communism in Europe. So how would partnerships among Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea change NATO priorities?

BOWMAN: It's a great question. Exactly right. Kind of the foundational purpose for NATO was, you know, as as Lord Ismay, who later became the first Secretary General of NATO, said, was one of the three main things he identified was keeping the Russians out. And, you know, I'll, I'm old enough to remember that a decade or two ago, people saying, oh, you know, hey, you know, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, maybe NATO is kind of looking for a mission here. So maybe we need to go out of area to just area to justify our existence. Well, those days are long gone. Following what Vladimir Putin did in Crimea in 2014 and his invasion in 2022, NATO's fundamental purpose is its foundational purpose, and it's more relevant than ever. They need to deter aggression against the alliance. The number one thing we from need from NATO is to deter aggression, and that's why I’m so happy to see some of the major developments coming out of the summit this month from Washington.

REICHARD: Well, the assassination attempt took over news coverage over the NATO summit, understandably so. But I’ll ask you, is there anything else you think we should be paying attention to related to the summit?

BOWMAN: Yeah, I think, you know, there were several positive things. I'll run through them quickly. So one thing I'd highlight is that we've had a problem in the past with many NATO members not investing sufficiently in their own defense, and this was a big point of contention for former President Trump, and in 2014 only three members of the alliance were paying were spending two percent of their gross domestic product on defense, which means their militaries aren't as ready. Their industrial bases are not what they should be, and they can't help Ukraine and others and operate as effectively along the United States. Well, that number grew to six in 2021. Well, this year it's 23 of 32 so that's amazing progress, but it's still not all of them. So significant progress on spending, but not quite there yet. I'd also flag on the positive columns, dramatically increased posture, military posture in Eastern Europe. The number of battle groups that we have in Eastern Europe have doubled in the last few years, and most of them are not American. They're European. So increased combat power, deterring aggression. And all 32 members of the alliance were unambiguous that Ukraine, in the future, will be a member of NATO, but they were a little less clear on the timing, saying that that will happen when allies decide and their requirements are met, which is pretty ambiguous. So, on balance, I'd say this was a successful meeting, but it was kind of  overshadowed a bit by questions about President Biden. But you know, again, I would come back to our adversaries are more aligned than ever, and Americans need NATO more than ever, and NATO needs America, and so at this decisive moment, I was glad to see America hosting it. And frankly, I'm cautiously optimistic that regardless of who wins the election, that in the end, America will continue to lead this alliance, which, frankly, is one of our great, grand strategic assets.

REICHARD: Brad Bowman is senior director of the Center for Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Brad, thanks for your time.

BOWMAN: Thank you!

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