Final Word from Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Donald Trump doesn't believe in fighting fairly, and he makes this abundantly clear. His National Security Strategy states openly: "The United States must retain overmatch - the combination of capabilities in sufficient scale to prevent enemy success and to ensure that America's sons and daughters will never be in a fair fight." The Pentagon also has a new mission statement: "The mission of the Department of Defense is to provide a lethal Joint Force to defend the security of our country and sustain American influence abroad." A mission statement that implies use of lethal force to sustain influence could be interpreted as a violation of the Nato charter: Nato members vow not to threaten to use force in any manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations. Trump has changed the rules of the defense game. The CR is still playing by the old rules, which almost inevitably means that it will be overmatched in Nato matters. Nato needs its own Visegrad. [Czech Republic Four European Union North Atlantic Treaty]