Quote:
Originally Posted by SackAttack
Talk about giving Russia carte blanche to keep reeling in those former SSRs.
Okay, look. NATO isn't just "a treaty." Its purpose was three-fold.
1) prevent the rise of aggressive nationalism in Europe from occurring again
2) serve as a bulwark against Russian/Soviet aggression. And in that sense, it kind of went hand-in-hand with the Marshall Plan - give east/central Europe an alternative to the Russian/Soviet sphere of influence.
3) Install the United States as a superpower counterweight to the USSR and put an end to the isolationism of the first half of the 20th century. By obligating the US to the defense of Europe, the idea was that aggressor states would be less likely to initiate conflict because the United States wouldn't sit out the first 2-4 years of the war as it had done twice before. And, unlike 1916 and 1939, the United States had The Bomb. An extension of the nuclear umbrella to protect non-nuclear European states.
With the end of the Cold War, #2 went away for a while. But that's essentially what it was - the United States guaranteeing Europe's peace. "Look to the West, and don't fear the Russians."
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We are not the same country as we were back then. Treaty needs to be updated. Get other countris to pull more weight. It's a great plan.