The US House of Representatives passed a bill restricting the powers of the head of the White House regarding the possible withdrawal of the country from the North Atlantic Alliance. The overwhelming majority of congressmen supported the initiative: 357 votes were cast for the vote, only 22 people voted against. 28 Republicans and 26 congressmen from the Democratic Party abstained from voting.
According to the adopted document, any attempts by the US President to direct any budget funds to exit from NATO will be blocked.
“Moreover, the initiative supports the desire of NATO members to spend at least 2% of GDP on defense and implies the allocation of significant funds to the so-called European containment initiative to counter Russian aggression,” Panetta quoted TASS.
- Reuters
- © Joshua Roberts
According to Panetta, quoted by Defense News, “relations between NATO members are based not only on financial transactions.” The politician emphasizes that "NATO membership is not the same thing as country club membership."
Democratic Congressman Eliot Engel, who voted for the bill, called the split of NATO one of the main goals of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“That’s why the fact that the US sends mixed signals about the alliance or perceives it as a burden is of particular concern and concern,” said Engel, giving a speech before the vote.
A few days earlier, Democratic Sen. Tim Kane, a senator from the Democratic Party, presented a similar initiative with the participation of his Republican colleagues. According to this version of the bill, the head of state will not be able to withdraw the United States from NATO without enlisting the support of two-thirds votes in the Senate or a special act of congress. The document also proposed to oblige the president in writing to warn the relevant committees in both houses of Congress about any efforts to suspend the membership of the United States in the alliance.
It is worth noting that with a similar initiative, Kane has already spoken in July last year, after the NATO summit in Brussels. Then, among the authors of the bill was the late Senator John McCain, who motivated the need for Trump’s “inappropriate treatment” of the law with US close allies, which caused him “doubts about the US commitment to the North Atlantic Alliance.”
However, if the head of state really decides on the withdrawal of the country from NATO, neither the congress nor the highest judicial bodies can prevent it. These conclusions came earlier edition of the American edition of The Foreign Policy, interviewing lawyers and experts.
Experts cite historical precedents - for example, the decision of George W. Bush to withdraw the Treaty on the limitation of missile defense systems unilaterally also caused his time to resist the congress. However, the legislators could not influence the White House’s decision, and this is by no means the only precedent of this kind.
This point of view is shared by the associate professor of the American Studies Department at the Faculty of International Relations of St. Petersburg State University Ivan Tsvetkov. In an interview with RT, the expert recalled that quite recently the US was actively discussing whether Trump could introduce a state of emergency to build a wall on the border with Mexico, and everyone agreed that he had such authority.
“It is very doubtful that Trump will resort to this right. With NATO, a similar situation - in theory, Trump could break the contract, but he will not go for it. Otherwise, he will simply sign in his incapacity, and the impeachment will become a reality, ”the expert explained in an interview with RT.
At the same time, the congress can indeed pass a law restricting the powers of the president, says Valery Garbuzov, director of the Institute of the USA and Canada, RAS As he explained in an interview with RT, despite the fact that any international treaties are ratified in the Senate, the president’s approval of the legislators is not required to exit the agreements.
“Congressmen are trying to close this loophole. Another question is whether the head of the White House will sign this law, but the congress has the right to circumvent the president’s veto, and such cases have already been in American history, ”the expert emphasized.
"Prefers to act right through"
Earlier, The New York Times, citing high-ranking sources, reported that over the past year the head of the White House has repeatedly stated that he wants to withdraw the United States from the North Atlantic bloc. True, these replicas sounded only in a narrow circle and were private.
However, according to NYT sources, Trump can realize his threat, since the US allies in the alliance have not yet brought their defense spending to the level recommended by NATO. According to the newspaper, the former head of the Pentagon, James Mattis and presidential adviser on national security, John Bolton, have previously made every effort to avoid even mentioning the possible withdrawal of the United States from NATO, as this "will infuse forces into Russia for decades to come."
Now fears that Trump will decide to stop Washington’s membership in NATO have been updated again, The New York Times reports.
- Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg
- Reuters
- © Paul Hanna
It should be noted that Donald Trump repeatedly openly criticized NATO. During his election campaign, the politician more than once called the alliance an “obsolete” structure and offered to disband it in order to create a new organization that would concentrate on combating terrorism.
Also, the reason for criticism was the unfair, in Trump's opinion, the distribution of financial expenses among the members of the alliance. In his opinion, the United States has to invest too much in NATO, while allies in the alliance are in no hurry to build up their defense budgets.
“We are facing the biggest challenges in a generation for our security. Now is not the time to question the value of the partnership between Europe and the United States, ”the publication said.
However, taking the office of the head of state, Trump noticeably softened his rhetoric on the issue of NATO. Already in April 2017, speaking at a joint press conference with the Secretary General of the Alliance, the US president said he was satisfied with the changes that were made to the work of NATO, allegedly influenced by his criticism.
"I complained about this a long time ago, and they made changes - now they are fighting terrorism," Trump said. - I said that it is outdated. It is no longer obsolete, ”quotes the policy of The Washington Post.
The issue of financing the military bloc that bothered Trump was partially settled at the summit of the alliance in July last year. Then the American leader managed to convince partners of the need to increase defense spending.
Since recently the American leader has said many times that he is not going to withdraw the United States from NATO, the activity of the congress to prevent a hypothetical withdrawal of a country from the alliance may be purely political motivated, experts say.
“The speech of the congress has a very clear reason - the Democrats have come to power in the lower house, and now they will put pressure on Trump's“ corn ”. And the theme of his attitude towards NATO is one of such “red rags” in the political game. This legislative initiative should be viewed as a manifestation of political fuss between Trump and the Congress, ”Ivan Tsvetkov emphasized.
Valery Garbuzov adheres to a similar point of view. The expert explained that with his actions Trump is annoying not only Democrats, but also Republicans - therefore, the bills against the head of the White House are signed by members of both parties.
“Trump is acting atypically for an American politician. In the US, it is customary to seek a compromise, initiatives should be discussed in Congress, then the parties can make concessions to each other - this is a well-established mechanism. But Trump just misses this stage and prefers to act right through, it is shocking to both Republicans and Democrats. Republicans are also looking forward to when Trump leaves the arena and stops shaking the political field, ”Garbuzov explained in an interview with RT.
According to the analyst, the congress will take new steps in an attempt to block Trump’s initiatives, and this year the relationship between the head of the White House and representatives of the legislative power is likely to be even more tense than before.
"Dissatisfaction with the Allies is growing"
At the same time, analysts note that the differences among the members of the North Atlantic alliance are not limited to financial issues. There are contradictions in the military-political line. For example, Turkey over the past years has actively criticized Washington for supporting the Kurdish militia on the territory of the SAR - Ankara classifies Kurdish formations as terrorist organizations and considers them a direct threat to security.
- US military personnel during a NATO exercise in Latvia
- © Ints Kalnins / Reuters
Unhappy with the actions of the United States and in Europe. We are talking about the upcoming withdrawal of the American side from the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles. Washington promised to suspend its participation in the agreement starting February 2.
According to Reuters, back in October, the US allies in NATO called on the American administration to continue negotiations with Russia in order to keep the INF regime.
Against this background, the European Union is preparing to create its own army - such an initiative was put forward earlier by French President Emmanuel Macron, and she found support in European countries. The possible appearance of an alternative military alliance in Europe, Trump did not like. Instead, the American president offered European colleagues to invest more resources in NATO.
In the opinion of Sergey Yermakov, head of the regional security sector at the RISI Center for Military-Political Studies, although Trump is sometimes quite sharp, in fact, he expresses the general mood of the United States. If we take out the internal political struggle between Trump and his opponents, then there are no major contradictions on the issue of NATO within the United States, the expert says.
“Dissatisfaction with the allies of the alliance has long been growing in the United States. Americans are no longer willing to bear all the burden of responsibility for the security of the European continent. This is a very common opinion, ”Yermakov explained in an interview with RT.
This year, the anniversary NATO summit should take place, at which the prospects of the alliance will be discussed. It is also possible that a number of important documents will be adopted. According to Yermakov, not only the leadership of the bloc can be updated, but also its strategic concept, adopted in 2010.
“The problems that NATO faces are objective, and it is impossible to solve them all at once,” explained Yermakov. “At the same time, Trump’s entire rhetoric is not at all aimed at destroying NATO. The president seeks not only to force the allies to increase spending on defense, but also to help the organization return to its roots and restrain its eastern neighbor, Russia. ”
At the same time, political opponents of the current president pose a threat to the efficiency and effectiveness of the North Atlantic alliance, experts say.
“The Alliance responded to Trump’s threats, and many participants did indeed meet his demands. True, after he leaves the White House, everything will return to the same rut. NATO is an American project, and European participants will do their utmost to reduce their participation in it, ”concluded Tsvetkov.