True to form, instead of working toward de-escalating the war in Ukraine to avoid a civilization-ending nuclear war with Russia, Stoltenberg appeared ready to tie the alliance into potential future conflicts in Asia, risking war with nuclear-armed China.
NATO has no business in the Indo-Pacific region. The alliance should instead stick to its North Atlantic mandate and avoid stoking powder kegs on the other side of the world.
The North Atlantic Treaty, the foundational basis of the alliance, explicitly covers only the North Atlantic region. Article 5, which includes the crucial language about “an attack against one … shall be considered an attack against them all” applies specifically just to Europe and North America.
This means that attacks on members’ vessels, aircraft or territory outside those regions will not automatically merit an alliance response. North Korea could strike Hawaii or Guam and NATO would not be obligated to strike back.
Stoltenberg’s visit not only went beyond NATO’s geographic mandate but was also an attempt to drag South Korea and Japan into the West’s inflammatory “democracies versus autocracies” paradigm.
Author
