Czech president Petr Pavel warned that Donald Trump’s recent comments questioning the role of Nato have damaged the alliance’s credibility more than the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has done in several years.

Pavel, a retired Nato general and former chair of the Nato military committee, also said that Trump’s criticism of the alliance over the Iran war was “to put it mildly, unfair”.

“The moment we begin to question the alliance as a single, united entity, ready to act together and very decisively then, of course, its role is lost,” he warned.

He said that Trump ‘s criticism appeared to miss the fact that Nato is a defence alliance, and “not an alliance that will automatically help in wars waged outside its territory”.

  • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    It was over with USA as being a trusted NATO partner when Trump threatened allies, first Canada as becoming part of USA, and later direct threats of invasion of Greenland that is a NATO ally, that has allowed all the American bases on Greenland they wanted.
    The latter was the nail in the coffin for many European politicians. They just generally don’t say it out loud, but are moving on without USA.

    Maybe it could have been saved if Trump had been removed for making those threats, but he wasn’t. And Trump was also not removed for threatening Iran with nuclear strikes “annihilating a great nation”.

    It is far from just Trump, it’s not even just the fact that about half the American voters voted for him. It’s also the complete lack of democratic checks and balances to remove a madman like Trump. Failure of both the people the judicial system and the political system.

    We cannot rely on a rogue criminal nation like that. And then some Americans act surprised that China is now considered a lesser danger to the world than USA.