A New NATO

by Alexander Murinson and Jonathan Snyder (September 2016)

To Our European Friends,

At no time has Trump implied—as Hillary Clinton has suggested—that he would end NATO, encourage Japan or South Korea to go nuclear, or retreat into isolationism.

As far as the “free rider” problem is concerned, Trump’s criticism has been echoed by none other than Barack Obama, Bill Gates, and Bernie Sanders, although the President later tried to walk back his remarks after it became a campaign issue.

We would like to propose to you a new realignment of American priorities that we look forward to seeing under a Trump administration. We will focus on trade policy, the prevention of terrorism and immigration.

NATO has served a critical need in the past for the common defense of democracies, yet it has underappreciated the fundamental truth that economic might underpins military might. It is time to realign NATO in recognition of this truth, because without ample military power there can be no peace.

In 2015, the US trade deficit with the Asian economies was about $550 billion² or about $1700 per citizen. It is relevant to note that our trade deficit per capita with Asia alone is approaching our military spending per capita. The major power that spends the most on its military needs to have the largest trade balance in its favor, not against.

Meanwhile, our national debt is increasing beyond $20 trillion³ or over $60,000 per citizen. Of course, the national debt is directly related to the above facts.

In contrast to the United States, the EU has done a substantially better job at managing its balance of trade. Indeed, one could argue that a primary goal of the EU being set up was to improve on the export capability and balance of trade of the member European states. We congratulate you on your successes.

The United States is rightfully proud of its role in helping shape the world in the general direction of democracy. While honestly recognizing our mistakes in this area, we can also rejoice in the general trend towards democracy around the world and in the role the United States has played in fostering democratic institutions among out various allies around the world. We fought beside the people of Europe who sought independence and freedom and we helped greatly to keep the peace.

I would argue the threat comes from a combination of factors. First, currency manipulation. Modern, powerful nations, which have no business manipulating their currency at this late date, are still doing so. This manipulation aims the arrow of mercantilism at the heart of our middle class. This must come to an end. If it does not, we must take counter-measures to protect the heart of our nation. Second, cyber-espionage has been used on the largest scale in history to access and copy critical trade secrets. This too must end. Third, globalism has led to a new elite which follows profits wherever they may lead. Lastly, yet critically, countries have had different levels of success in preparing their citizens for the new economy through education.

We have no objection to educational winners. Education is about hard work and sacrifice and we applaud any country that has beaten us in this area, and we will work hard to overcome their lead. We also recognize that as the world grows smaller, capital will tend to leap to countries in much the same manner as it used to (and still does) cross state lines within our country. Yet we argue a new patriotism is needed, one which balances capitalistic globalism against the rightful needs of each country to maintain and build its middle class and hence its economic and social order. Donald J. Trump represents that patriotism. Regarding currency manipulation and  economic cyber-espionage, we must take ample and powerful counter-measures, and we have the fundamental right to do so.

Terrorism is a scourge of all societies, free or not. We believe that to solve a problem, one must first recognize its essence and be willing to call a spade a spade. The era of political correctness must end if the world is to move properly forward. So radical Islamic terrorism is just that: radical Islamic terrorism. It helps no one to call it something else.

Donald J. Trump has often said that he wants to make our nation rich again. He does. But he wants to make it rich in all ways, not just economic. As members of NATO, we celebrate the richness of our common values, while appreciating we do not always have to agree. Let us together reshape NATO so that the defense burden will be more evenly distributed, while fighting to prevent illegal immigration humanely and fighting terrorism intelligently, for the sake of the freedom of the world.

Thank you.

 

Footnotes on Sources of Data:

(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditure_per_capita

(2) https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c0016.html

(3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_of_the_United_States
 

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Dr. Alexander Murinson is Faculty Member at BAU International University,Team Member Bahçesehir University Global Policy Institute, Vize Leiter des Österreichischen Instituts für Kaukasusstudien.

Dr. Jonathan Snyder is a math teacher and educational technologist from Baltimore, Maryland with degrees from Yale (BA in history and philosophy), UCSD (MS in cognitive science) and the Technion (Ph.D. in Education in Science and Technology).

 

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