The Strategika Podcast: Peter Mansoor on NATO, Past and Future

 

Mansoor-PeterIn the newest installment of the Strategika podcast from the Hoover Institution, I’m talking with retired Army Colonel Peter Mansoor (former executive officer to General Petraeus in Iraq), now the General Raymond E. Mason, Jr. Chair of Military History at Ohio State University. In this first of three podcasts on the future prospects for NATO, Professor Mansoor takes us through the alliance’s history, how it’s adjusted to the post-Cold War world, and what its prospects for survival are given the threats from Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Listen in below or subscribe to Strategika through iTunes or your favorite podcast player.

Published in Foreign Policy
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  1. Aaron Miller Inactive
    Aaron Miller
    @AaronMiller

    Interesting.

    Should treaties be considered like business contracts? “We will do [x], but only if you do [y].” Or is the agreement to protect NATO members more like a promise? “We will do [x] regardless of whether or not you do [y].”

    If we are not willing to protect member nations which fail to honor their agreements to contribute money and other resources, then we should make that known long before they might need our protection. Otherwise, the world will doubt us rather than them.

    • #1
  2. Ricochet Contributor
    Ricochet
    @TitusTechera

    Aaron Miller:Interesting.

    Should treaties be considered like business contracts? “We will do [x], but only if you do [y].” Or is the agreement to protect NATO members more like a promise? “We will do [x] regardless of whether or not you do [y].”

    If we are not willing to protect member nations which fail to honor their agreements to contribute money and other resources, then we should make that known long before they might need our protection. Otherwise, the world will doubt us rather than them.

    There is something to what you say, but you could take immorality a few steps further. If your rulers decide to take foreign policy seriously, it will not be difficult to show mankind that people who counted on your alliance played you for suckers & turned out to be the suckers instead-

    • #2
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