Is NATO done?

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Politico: Merkel’s thunderbolt is starting gun for European defense drive. German chancellor sees unreliability of Trump and Britain as stimulus for next stage in EU integration.

NATO is far from being "done."

There will always be conflict between nations, even between allies.

Trump has to learn to be more diplomatic, though, and to know things like "the 2 percent of the budget requirement for defense for each NATO member does not take effect until 2024."

He just has to learn how to deal with other world leaders much better than he does. Many of them think he's a boor.

Trump is just one person. He, alone, cannot get rid of the NATO alliance, even if he wanted to.

There is always "underground diplomacy" going on between, say, Germany and the United States, which effectively blunts the Trump effect. Diplomats have long-standing relationships with other diplomats.

Trump is showing his absurdity more and more. This will be his downfall, ultimately, I believe.

Hopefully, say, four years from now, Trump will be seen as an ephemeral phenomenon, and Trumpism an ephemeral phase.

The Atlantic: The Death Knell for America's Global Leadership: In an op-ed, the Trump administration’s “adults in the room” envision America in the image of its leader: selfish, isolated, brutish, domineering, and driven by immediate appetites rather than ideals or even longer-term interests.

I see what you mean. He is diluting US prestige on the world stage. He's making us a laughingstock.

Let's up this is just a temporary phenomenon, and that we get back to sanity soon. After Trump, we should just have a clean slate again as far as international relations are concerned. We only hope that our allies will also have a clean slate.

I hope to God it's not. With Putin's star rising, I seriously believe we need a powerful counter balance in Europe to prevent a potentially new major military conflict there.

I don't get it. He simply told everyone else to contribute their fair share, instead of always expecting the US to carry the brunt of it.

What is NATO's purpose in the 21st century? It is a relic from a time when we thought the Soviet's were imminently going to be spilling over the border into Western Europe but the Soviet's no longer exist and only a handful of the bloc's members contribute their fair share. It's not just about raising their defense spending, it's the fact that they haven't met this benchmark for years if ever whereas the US has spent more than everybody combined so obviously it's an uneven relationship. If Russia is so scary like someone you people seem to think they how come these countries refuse to raise their defense spending? The fact is, Russia is not a threat the US so if Europe does not have a problem with them then neither should we. I think it's doubtful without US pressure that Europe would maintain economic sanctions since it's cutting off their nose to spite their face for them. If NATO cannot face the biggest threat to our collective security then maybe it is time for new alliances with more reliable partners.

I understand Trump wants some other nations to contribute their "fair share."

But he didn't do this right. He wasn't diplomatic about it. He acted like a stern parent. Leaders of sovereign nations aren't misbehaving kids.

Leaders of sovereign nations don't take kindly to people talking down to them in public.

Even then they still don't listen, the NATO partnership doesn't equally benefit the US and these countries obviously do not feel very threatened if they can't make minimum benchmarks. It's not fair to the US for it to have to subsidize the defense for these cradle to grave welfare states, we spend more than everybody else combined. The US isn't at threat by anyone, we do not need NATO but they need us.

It does not benefit the US to be isolationist. I believe it is essential that we be part of some sort of alliance. Being part of an alliance is not being part of a "one-world" government.

With the possible exception of the Scandinavian nations, I wouldn't call any member of NATO a "socialist" nation.