A German Army Leopard II tank, assigned to 104th Panzer Battalion, moves through the Joint Multinational Readiness Center during Saber Junction 2012 in Hohenfels, Germany, Oct. 25. The U.S. Army Europe’s exercise Saber Junction trains U.S. personnel and 1800 multinational partners from 18 nations ensuring multinational interoperability and an agile, ready coalition force. (U.S. Army Europe photo by Visual Information Specialist Markus Rauchenberger/released)
What will it take for Europe to take responsibility for its own defense? At the Cato Institute, my friend Justin Logan, and his associate Joshua Shifrinson call for “a post-American Europe,” and I wholeheartedly agree. Logan and Shifrinson conclude:
The ideal moment to have shifted responsibility for Europe back to Europeans would have been soon after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, when NATO’s raison d’être disappeared, but the current moment will do. It may seem counterintuitive to suggest reducing the United States’ role as Europe’s sentry as the continent faces its biggest war since World War II. Paradoxically, however, the costs of and responses to the conflict in Ukraine make a clear-eyed strategic adjustment workable.
Russia’s intent may be malign, but its capabilities constrain it. Other European states also lack the capacity to make a play at charging across the continent. Ukraine has proved that motivated defenders can block aggressors even under adverse conditions. These are favorable circumstances for the United States. Moreover, the massive advantage Europe possesses in latent power suggests that Washington would have ample time to decide whether and when it might have to swoop back in to counter a hegemon.
Today, calls for the United States to cling to leadership in Europe ignore the opportunity and direct costs involved and Washington’s increasingly important interests elsewhere. The United States is staring down $35 trillion in debt, a $1.5 trillion annual budget deficit, a growing challenge in Asia, and pronounced political cleavages that make solving these challenges more difficult. With no indication that the fiscal picture will improve or evidence that domestic pressures are abating, policymakers need to reassess the United States’ foreign obligations. Given that the United States has accomplished its central goal in Europe, the moment has come to follow through on what the framers of its postwar strategy there intended. It’s time to take the win.
Read more here.
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