Is NATO Obsolete?


Posted On: Saturday - January 28th 2017 7:36PM MST
In Topics: 
  Trump  Pundits  Liberty/Libertarianism

Short answer: YES
Long answer: YEPPERS

I don't always agree with John Derbyshire, a long-term pundit, mathematician, and good writer, except when he's writing about immigration (when I always do). This is an excerpt from the transcript of a week-old podcast of his "Radio Derb", broadcast via VDare.com.

It seems much easier to read than listen to podcasts and the like, as, believe it or not, it's 2-4 times faster, and just more fun, for me at least. This has nothing to do with Derbyshire's voice - now if the Hildabeast had ever done a podcast that reached my ears, I wouldn't quite be myself - forever!

Here:
07 — Yes, NATO is obsolete. Last Sunday, in a joint interview with one British and one German newspaper, Donald Trump declared that NATO is obsolete.

What are we going to do with this guy? He keeps saying things that are perfectly obvious, but that respectable people just don’t say. I can totally relate to that.

Of course NATO is obsolete. It became obsolete the day after the Warsaw Pact disbanded. That would have been February 26th 1991 — 26 years ago next month. The main function of NATO since then has been to annoy the hell out of Russia, and make normal relations with that country impossible.

Hear, hear! [Break in Derbyshire quote]

Proponents of NATO argue that the U.S. military has, since WW2, been instrumental in maintaining a stable world order through alliances like NATO, and that to dissolve any of those alliances would be a step towards disorder.

I’d reply that the stability supplied by U.S. forces worldwide is not worth the antagonism it generates in other big powers, notably Russia and China; and that the best hope for stability in these next few decades is a balance of power, where each nation is assumed entitled to precedence — not wanton aggression, but precedence — in its sphere of interest.

All the big powers have pressing economic worries about automation and public entitlements in ageing, declining populations. Nobody’s looking for lebensraum; nobody’s plotting world conquest. Nobody’s got the manpower.

The greatest threat to international stability is the mass movements of peoples from failed states in Africa and the Middle East into the civilized zone. To that, NATO is irrelevant. What is the point of stationing our armies along Europe’s borders with Russia, if the nations behind them allow themselves to fill up with unassimilable Muslims and Africans?

This is Ron Paul level stuff here. Yet somehow many of the good conservatives pundits/bloggers out there just detest the libertarians. I believe each of these groups of principled people could learn something from each other.

Comments:
Moderator
Sunday - February 5th 2017 5:51PM MST
I just saw your comment a minute ago, Buck. I am glad you're in agreement, I have only one thing to add to your excellent comment. Regarding the Russians, "Russians" are not really the same as "Bolsheviks", though of course there was much overlap.

Only the Commies were bent on world domination - commies of all sorts always are, because, you know, they are right and stuff. We beat the Commies in our external Cold War, thanks to Ronnie R. and a whole bunch of mechanical and electrical engineers (oh, and a bunch of soldiers and airmen). However, we are teetering on the brink of complete annihilation in the current internal Cold War. Shit better happen fast on our end.

Have a good evening, Mr. Turgidson.
Buck Turgidson
Saturday - February 4th 2017 12:36PM MST
I say shut down NATO. Should have been shut down when its mission ended w the disintegration of the Warsaw Pact. If the Euro nations want to create something to replace it, fine. I think we should come home and let them take care of themselves. I am not really sure that Russia is bent on global domination; they have missiles but they also have a lot of poverty and I think they are more focused on trying to raise living standards. We got too damned many troops in Europe on a long expen$$$$ive supply line from the US, doing sweet FA, and living it up in Europe on the taxpayer dime. How many troops do we have at Camp Bondsteel? This is good: http://www.g2mil.com/bondsteel.htm

BRING THEM HOME. How about putting them on the Mexican border and protecting the homeland?
WHAT SAY YOU? : (PLEASE NOTE: You must type capital PS as the 1st TWO characters in your comment body - for spam avoidance - or the comment will be lost!)
YOUR NAME
Comments