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AN ANGRY ANGELENO - It will NOT include the United States. That's the whole point. The Trump Administration has jumped into bed with Russia's Putin and made it clear that it's about America First. Also, Elon Musk, owner of a one-armed salute, has campaigned in Germany's Election. At the minimum: No longer can our Allies trust that we will come to their rescue. OR they may think even worse of us under Trump.
Established after World War 2, in 1949, NATO was created to protect member countries from the Soviet Union, and later protected them from Russia, among other threats. NATO currently has 32 members, 29 from Europe, Turkey (which has a small part in Europe), and the United States and Canada. The 30 European are: Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and United Kingdom (aka the UK). Finland joined in 2023 and Sweden joined in 2024 because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It was clear during that process, and because of Ukraine's efforts to join, that Hungary under the leadership of Viktor Orban, is a problem in NATO. Turkey as well, to a lesser degree. Turkey however is geographically important and convenient and is a leader in drone tech.
The main nuclear powers are the United States and Russia, because of the decades of “Cold War” between the US and the Soviet Union. Within NATO, the UK and France also have nuclear weapons (they could and should have more, but they've relied on the protection of the United States thus far). Outside of these countries, China, an aggressive worldwide threat (especially to Taiwan), has nukes, as do India and Pakistan, as does Israel and North Korea.
Before winning the election, (according to Politico on February 21 in article entitled “Europe Targets Homegrown Nuclear Deterrent as Trump Sides with Putin”), “Germany's [Friedrich] Merz says Britain and France may need to “share” their nuclear weapons as America can't be relied on to defend NATO.”
After Germany's election, with Merz victorious, Politico came out with “Germany's Merz Vows 'Independence' from Trump's America, Warning NATO May Soon be Dead” on February 23 (yesterday). Some quotes: “The Trump Administration does not care about Europe and is aligning with Russia, said Merz...The continent, he warned, must urgently strengthen its defenses and potentially even find a replacement for NATO – within months.” and “...Merz suggested it was time to explore nuclear cooperation between France, the UK and Germany (and others) to replace the American nuclear umbrella...”
In a Firstpost article today (Monday) entitled “A Ukraine Vote Tussle in UN Today: Europe's Terse Proposal Against Russia vs Softer Resolution by US” you can see the vast difference between the views of Europe and the Trump Administration not just towards Ukraine, but towards Russian (and, really, any country's military aggression towards traditional American Allies) military aggression in general. The Ukrainian resolution to be voted on by the 193 member UN General Assembly, and “backed by European nations”, “is demanding Russia's immediate withdrawal”, while the resolution from the Trump Administration, headed to the 15 member UN Security Council, “calls for a swift end to the war but avoids naming Moscow as the aggressor.”
Also from the Firstpost article, “...Trump described Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a “dictator”, accused Ukraine of starting the war, and warned that Zelenskyy “better move fast”...or risk losing his country. Zelenskyy...accusing Trump of living in a “disinformation space”...” The Ukrainian resolution is “co-sponsored by all 27 European Union members.” Ukraine's proposal “also calls for Russia's “immediate, complete, and unconditional” withdrawal, and stresses that any territorial acquisitions by force will not be recognised. It also raises alarms over...North Korean troops...fighting alongside Russian forces...”
So what would NATO 2.0 look like? It would include the current NATO countries, except the United States and Hungary. Turkey is a maybe. Germany has historically been very strong financially compared to the other countries in Europe, so it could provide a lot of the money for the weaponry needed. It also makes a lot of non-nuclear weapons. The Europeans can produce fighter planes and submarines and may consider buying weaponry from the US to be a risky undertaking while Trump is in power. So, not only would the US be out of the Alliance, Trump may not get the weapons sales he was hoping to get. Many European countries make modern weapons. Ukraine would also be part of NATO 2.0. The UK would be the military leader of NATO 2.0, and the UK and France would provide the nukes. Other US Allies that feel threatened by Russia and China could join, probably worrying that Trump will abandon them too. Taiwan, a financial powerhouse, might be allowed to join, although that would enrage China. The positive from that is it would immediately force Trump to show if he'll step up to defend Taiwan. Japan, a financial and manufacturing powerhouse, might join. Israel, which maintains a good relationship with Trump, and was not a strong supporter of Ukraine, would not be part of NATO 2.0. South Korea is a maybe, depending on how Trump treats them. S Korea is also a financial powerhouse and weapons manufacturer. Australia and New Zealand could join.
Well, you get the idea.
(The Angry Angeleno” is the nom de plume of Yuval Kremer. Yuval is a Registered Democrat; a Cali-Camp, Harvard-Westlake (pre-merger), USC, and Loyola Law School Alum; and a former ballot candidate for Mayor of LA (failing to prevent Mayor Garcetti's reelection) and LA County Supervisor (ran against Sheila Kuehl, Katy Yaroslavsky's former boss). The opinions expressed by Yuval are his and his alone (not those of CityWatchLA), but will likely be yours soon!)
