Ivo Daalder and US General Ben Hodges on Trump's "National Security Strategy"

For the first sixty plus years of my life the cornerstone of the defence strategy of Britain and all other NATO members was the alliance with the United States of America, based on the belief, perfectly reasonable until this year, that the United States is a reliable ally.

I didn't doubt this during the first Trump administration. Despite his sometimes scary rhetoric and often chaotic way of running things, in his first term President Trump appointed some very smart and knowledgeable people and often listened to them.

Talk of "America First" it not necessarily in itself a problem. Any government of every nation has to put the safety and wellbeing of the people for whom it is responsible first, and most governments do. This is not incompatible with a policy that maintaining a strong network of alliances and treaties is immensely helpful to your national security and a conviction that this means treating your allies in particular and other countries with which you deal in general with honour, respect and decency.

Unfortunately in Trump's second term those qualities have been in short supply. I was horrified by the treatment of President Zelensky in the Oval office, and disturbed by a tariff policy which, apart from being the economics of the madhouse, included the President describing as so outrageous that no reasonable person could have signed up to them treaties which he himself had agreed in his first term. The atrocious 28-point surrender plan which the administration tried to press on Ukraine would have been the most foolish act of appeasement since Munich. And now the US Administration has published a National Security Strategy which, in the words of an analysis by Ivo Daalder,

... "makes clear that the United States no longer believes in an alliance based on common interests, values, and threats. It represents the end of the transatlantic relationship as we have known it for the past 80 years."

When this document came out, a senior retired American general, Ben Hodges, a former commander of the US Army in Europe told the BBC and Channel 4 News that the person who would be most pleased by it would be Vladimir Putin and indeed the Kremlin has said that the document is not inconsistent with their aims.

This is what Ben Hodges said on Channel 4, interviewed by Mat Frei

 “This is the giant middle finger to uh, to that Europe, by this administration. I think the happiest person in the world with this document is vladimir putin, because this strategy cedes Europe to the Russian sphere of influence. 

And this is out in the open now. It's not, there's no nuance, it's out in the open. And I think that Europe better, number one, ensure that Ukraine does not fail. And number two, it it better be ready because if Ukraine does fail, there will be a full-on global full war between Russia and Europe very soon.”

Matt Frei: “The way you put it, Ben Hodges, makes it sound historic and alarming. Is that what it is?”

Ben Hodges: “Well, historic in terms of American failure, turning our back on, not only our allies of over 80 years, but also damaging ourselves. 

I mean, for all these years, our European allies have given us access with bases, intelligence sharing, we've served together in so many different theaters. We've we've stood shoulder by shoulder in diplomatic circles. 

And now, this is the giant middle finger to that Europe by this administration. 

Understandable, making a priority defense of the homeland in Western Hemisphere and Indo-Pacific, that's that's not new. 

What's new is clearly this is about spheres of influence. And for the Trump administration, Europe is not going to be that sort of strategic interest to us anymore.”

Ivo Daalder's article concludes:

"The new National Security Strategy is a deeply unserious document—befitting an unserious president. But it is no less important—or dangerous—for that.

It at once throws our longstanding allies (who, even the document admits, can help America achieve some of its goals and are needed to help deter threats to American interests) under the bus.

And it does away with a broad, bipartisan consensus—developed in no small part by the first Trump administration’s policies—of the need to compete politically, technologically, militarily, and economically with China. It is silent on the increasingly threatening ties between China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.

And it abandons any thought that the values and ideals that made America great and respected need to be held up, protected, and advanced.

In short, this document will deeply alarm America’s allies and strongly encourage its adversaries."