The NATO military alliance between the U.S., Canada and European states is suffering `brain death,’ French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview published on Thursday.
Speaking to British magazine The Economist, Macron cited NATO member Turkey’s operation against the Western-allied, Kurdish-led forces who had defeated the Islamic State group in Syria.
“You have partners together in the same part of the world, and you have no coordination whatsoever of strategic decision making between the United States and its NATO allies. None,’’ Macron said.
The U.S announced its withdrawal from the Kurdish held region in October, clearing the way for Turkey’s action against its erstwhile local allies, after a phone call between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and U.S President Donald Trump.
Macron said NATO still worked well operationally at the military level: “But strategically and politically, we need to recognise that we have a problem.’’
Asked what that meant for the cornerstone of NATO, the guarantee in Article 5 of its founding treaty that it would come to the aid of any member under attack, Macron said: “I don’t know, but what will Article 5 mean tomorrow?’’
The U,S remained a great ally for Europe, with shared values, Macron said, adding that he valued that relationship and had invested a great deal in it with President Trump.’’
But,he warned, “we find ourselves for the first time with an American president who doesn’t share our idea of the European project, and American policy is diverging from this project.’’(dpa/NAN)