Monday, April 07, 2008
Derbyshire on NATO
Over at NRO, John Derbyshire questions the continued value of NATO. He concludes:
"If China makes a grab for Hawaii, how will Albania be able to help? Someone please tell me."
(Actually, since the Charter only obligates other allies to assist if there is an attack on the United States in the north Atlantic area, Albania doesn't have to help at all.)
An interesting counterpoint is the forthcoming essay by Marcel van Herpen that will appear in the next issue of The National Interest, on the French attitudes to NATO. Nicolas Sarkozy does provide some answers. NATO exists primarily as a security organization for Europe; it is primarily a military group; there is no sustainable basis for turning it into some global alliance of democracies. It is, perhaps, a "limited conservative" as opposed to a "big-government" conservative view of the alliance.
"If China makes a grab for Hawaii, how will Albania be able to help? Someone please tell me."
(Actually, since the Charter only obligates other allies to assist if there is an attack on the United States in the north Atlantic area, Albania doesn't have to help at all.)
An interesting counterpoint is the forthcoming essay by Marcel van Herpen that will appear in the next issue of The National Interest, on the French attitudes to NATO. Nicolas Sarkozy does provide some answers. NATO exists primarily as a security organization for Europe; it is primarily a military group; there is no sustainable basis for turning it into some global alliance of democracies. It is, perhaps, a "limited conservative" as opposed to a "big-government" conservative view of the alliance.
