At the Brussels Summit, NATO Faces a Crucial Test
NATO needs a frank discussion among the allies about Russia.
by Nikolas K. Gvosdev
2 minutes
Furthermore, the United States has, despite Trump's preferences, been leaning towards a more confrontational approach that tries to isolate Russia and put pressure on the Kremlin. The matter is complicated because the United States is not willing to trade cooperation on Russia for consideration on other issues of concern to other European allies. It would have been challenging to convince Germany to abandon the Nordstream-2 pipeline project or for France to get its energy companies to pull out of key Russian projects—certainly President Barack Obama had no such luck! But the chance that countries like France and Germany will be more willing to part company with Washington over Russia policy has increased with recent American decisions. These have included Trump's imposition of tariffs on European allies who are now deemed to be national economic security risks and the withdrawal of the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal. Moreover, America's withdrawal from the agreement threatens that U.S. secondary sanctions will be imposed on European companies doing business with Tehran.
The risk is that a contentious NATO summit gives the appearance of major fractures in Euro-Atlantic solidarity right before Trump sits down with Putin in Vienna. It may also shape the tenor of French President Emmanuel Macron's "historic dialogue" with Russia in a way that suggests that daylight is opening up in the positions of NATO allies vis-à-vis Russia. Such an outcome would not serve Western security interests.
Nikolas K. Gvosdev is a contributing editor to the National Interest. The views expressed here are his own.
Image: Reuters.
