What the Hell, Let's Kill the Institution That Keeps Europe West of Russia Free*

Do we still need NATO?

Yes we do.  Both politically and militarily.

And if you don't think we need NATO in the Putin era after Russia invaded Ukraine and cut off chunks of that country, I don't know what could persuade you.

I honestly didn't bother to read that initial article's ten reasons why NATO isn't the structure we should rely on to defend our interests in Europe when the first reason said "Russian president Vladimir Putin actually proposed a new continental security arrangement 'from Dublin to Vladivostok,' which was rejected out of hand by the West[.]" 

As if Russian-NATO tensions are our fault. It saddens me that the role of being apologists for Russian aggression has fallen to some on the more isolationist right. But hey, until a Democrat is in the White House, at least the Democrats are on board containing Russia.

But even aside from the incredible notion that America and NATO are responsible for Russian aggression and hostility, the practical problem with Putin's proposal is so obvious I have trouble believing I have to explain it. 

We have trouble enough getting NATO allies to care about Russian threats to the Suwalki Gap. But the Western world would be stronger if it was committed to defending Russia's 19th century Far Eastern territorial gains at China's expense? Wow. Putin actually proposed that. And somehow it is a crime we rejected him. 

Nice work if you can get it, I guess. I can't blame Putin for asking. Let's not bicker and argue about who invaded who, he thought. At best we might have been stupid enough to guarantee that conquest against the threat of a rising China. At worst, fools in the West will forever bring it up as some magical lost opportunity to have stopped Putin from being a complete a-hole in every interaction with the West.

Amazing.

And if you think Europe would be the bastion of democracy that it is today without the American influence in Europe that NATO institutionalized, you are sadly mistaken. 

Keep NATO. But if The National Interest disbands I won't cry.

*Well, mostly free, as in democratic. But at least Belarus is free of Russian occupation.