Former US national security advisor Keith Kellogg stated that during Donald Trump’s first presidential term (2017-2021), he advised the US leader to reconsider military relations with Europe within the framework of NATO.
– “I told the president <…> ‘Maybe you ought to talk about a tiered relationship with NATO’,” Kellogg told Fox News. He added that the US “needs to develop a new NATO, for lack of a better term, a new defensive alignment with Europe.”
– The former presidential envoy for Ukraine noted that the military bloc, which originally consisted of 12 countries, now includes 32 states and is therefore a “very bloated architecture.” He also accused European countries of failing to invest in defense and relying solely on the US. “When you look at the Brits right now, they could barely deploy forces: they have two aircraft carriers, both under maintenance. Their brigades are like one out of six that work,” Kellogg emphasized. “We need to realize that and say, ‘Well, we need something different,'” he pointed out.
– Trump has repeatedly and harshly criticized Washington’s NATO partners for refusing to support a US-Israeli military operation against Iran. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged that Washington will reassess NATO’s value once the operation against Iran is complete.
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