Trump Questions NATO Commitment to Defend Montenegro
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| Donald Trump at the White House in Washington. Photo: EPA-EFE/MICHAEL REYNOLDS. |
Donald Trump questioned the United States’ obligation to defend NATO allies such as “tiny” Montenegro during an interview aired late on Tuesday on Fox News.
Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson pointed out that membership of NATO obligates states to defend any other member that has been attacked.
“Let’s say Montenegro, which joined last year, is attacked. Why should my son go to Montenegro to defend it from attack?” Carlson asked.
Trump responded by casting doubt on this key pillar of the Western military alliance.
“I understand what you’re saying. I’ve asked the same question,” Trump said.
“You know, Montenegro is a tiny country with very strong people… they might get aggressive, and congratulations, you’re in World War Three,” he added.
Article 5 of the Atlantic Treaty requires all members to help defend fellow member nations that have been attacked.
The only time Article 5 has been invoked so far was when NATO states joined the US military in Afghanistan in response to the 9/11 attacks.
Trump gave the interview to Fox News at the end of a European tour that saw him criticised for appearing to accept Russian President Vladimir Putin’s insistence that Moscow did not interfere in the 2016 US elections.
As well as meeting Putin, he also attended the NATO summit in Brussels, where he pressed NATO member states to spend more of their annual budgets on defence.
Montenegro has been a NATO member since last June. It joined the alliance despite the strong objections from Russia and opposition from the large Serbian community in the country.
A public opinion survey conducted by the prominent CEDEM monitor in May suggested that 47 per cent of Montenegrins are against NATO membership, while 45 per cent said it was good for the country.
Since joining, the number of NATO opponents appears to have risen. In December, CEDEM’s poll suggested that 42.5 per cent of Montenegrins were pro-NATO while opponents had 38 per cent support.
The large Serbian community is especially opposed, owing to NATO’s role in bombing Yugoslavia in the late 1990s in air strikes aimed at forcing Serbia to withdraw its forces from its then province of Kosovo.
Traditional ally Russia, whose ties to Orthodox Christian Montenegro date back to the reign of Peter the Great, has also vocally opposed Montenegrin accession to the alliance.
Montenegro accused Russia of being behind the failed coup attempt last October which the government claimed was intended to topple the pro-Western government and derail NATO accession. Moscow denied the claims.
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