MELANIA THANKS BELGIUM, UK, FINLAND, FOR ‘WARM HOSPITALITY’ IN GORGEOUS BEHIND-THE-SCENES CLIP dailycaller.com/2018/07/17/melania-thanks-belgium-uk-finland/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=atdailycaller
TRUMP EXPRESSES DOUBT ON NATO EXPANSION, FOREIGN POLICY ESTABLISHMENT LOSES IT
In an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Trump seemed to question Washington’s war guarantee to Montenegro, the tiny Balkan nation of about 700,000 people that joined NATO in 2017 over strenuous objections from Russia.
“So let’s say Montenegro, which joined last year, is attacked. Why should my son go to Montenegro to defend it from attack?” Carlson asked.
“I’ve asked the same question. Montenegro is a tiny country with very strong people,” Trump responded. “They’re very aggressive people. They may get aggressive, and congratulations you’re in World War III.”
Trump was referring U.S. commitments under Article 5 of the NATO charter, which requires all member nations to come to the defense of any other which comes under attack. Because Montenegro is now a full NATO member, Washington has a treaty obligation to defend it from an attack by an outside power, Russia or otherwise.
Trump’s response to Carlson’s hypothetical was immediately condemned by prominent members of Washington’s foreign policy establishment. Many interpreted it as further evidence of Trump’s lack of commitment to the 69-year-old alliance, following a disputatious NATO summit earlier this month during which Trump publicly lambasted allies over their failure to honor defense spending pledges.
“The 7/17 @RealDonaldTrump interview w/@Tucker Carlson is extraordinary,” Richard Hass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote Wednesday on Twitter. “It is not just that the president throws Montenegro under the bus; he makes the US commitment to NATO conditional and makes clear his discomfort w Article 5 and collective security, the core of the alliance.”
https://dailycaller.com/2018/07/18/trump-expresses-doubt-on-nato/