NATO: R.I.P., b.1949 - d. 2026?

NATO is dead, or in the process of dying. NATO was born when the United States stood alone militarily and economically as the West's  power while Europe was weak. Europe is no longer weak, but it certainly acts that way. If if it had the will, Europe would be capable of defending itself. Hence the founding predicate of NATO no longer holds.

The proximate cause of NATO's demise was President Trump's announcing his willingness to seize Greenland by force from NATO ally Denmark earlier this year, (See:Shulmaven: Donnie Does Davos* and Mayhem in Minneapolis ) his failure to consult on his war plans to attack Iran, and most important the the obstruction of NATO allies Spain, France and Italy to deny their respective airspaces to the U.S. Air Force's efforts to to attack Iran. Indeed they even denied access to the U.S. air bases in those countries. It is one thing for them to be passive, it is far another thing to actually obstruct the U.S. military. 

It is not as if NATO has no skin in the game in the Persian Gulf. Indeed their economies are suffering far more from the rise in the price of oil than the U.S. I don't know what, if anything, President Trump will say tonight on NATO, but the clock is ticking on its demise. Further it will require congressional approval for the United States to withdraw from NATO. Of course, the only winner in this will be Russia's Putin

Greenland Compromise: Rent, not Buy

Yesterday I wrote about how Trump is following in the footsteps of Hitler and Stalin over his demand to buy Greenland from Denmark. (See: https://shulmaven.blogspot.com/2026/01/history-rhyming-with-trump-and-greenland.html ) Today Trump said he would not use force to takeover the island, but he certainly did not rule out other forms of coercion. 

My sense is that Trump's art of the deal is aiming for de facto, but not de jure, control of Greenland. Denmark has been very adamant that Greenland is not for sale. Denmark has not commented on whether or not it could be rented. Remember, Trump is a real estate guy. So here goes my idea as one way that Trump could get what he wants.

Instead of purchasing Greenland, the U.S enters into a 99-year lease arrangement with Denmark. The lease terms would give the U.S. full operating control over the island in exchange for an annual lease payment amounting to X- $ billions.  That would more than fund Denmark's current obligations to the 56,000 member Greenland community and then some. Thus Denmark would still retain nominal sovereignty over the Greenland and the island would still fly the Danish flag. 

This result is not pretty, but that is the way negotiations could end up.

What the 2020 Election is all About

To hear the Democrats on the campaign trail you would think that the 2020 election is about Medicare for All, the Green New Deal and seemingly open borders. It is nothing of the sort. The 2020 election is not about remaking America, but rather it is about healing America.

What the next president has to do is to restore the idea of America as the land of the free and the home of the brave, not a witch’s brew of hostile identity groups. It means an America that lives up to E. Pluribus Unum, out of many one. It means forsaking the identity politics of both the Right and the Left to seek common ground. I know that will be a difficult task, but it has to be done.

The election will also be about restoring America’s position in the world where allies once again trust us. Who would ever thought that the U.S. president would have shouting match with Denmark, yet here we are. It also means that if we are going to have a trade dispute with China, we had better do it with allies. I would also note that most of the paragons of the global trading system we benefited from over the past 70 years were Democrats, namely Truman, Kennedy and Clinton. If only one Democratic candidate returned to those roots.

In 1920 after suffering from the disruption of World War I, the influenza epidemic, a rash of labor strikes and a “red scare” under the auspices of a Democratic president, Republican Warren Harding was elected on the slogan of “a return to normalcy.” Now 100 years later the Democratic nominee could do no worse than adopting a similar slogan after dealing with the chaos of Trump’s presidency.