NATO obligations risk WWIII, Trump says
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump, who rattled U.S. allies at a NATO meeting last week, voiced concern in a television interview broadcast Tuesday night that sending troops from the alliance to defend an “aggressive” Montenegro could result in World War III.
Trump was asked about Montenegro, which joined NATO last year and has a population smaller than that of the District of Columbia, during a Fox News interview with host Tucker Carlson.
Carlson pressed Trump on the purpose of the alliance, which was created in 1949 to protect the United States, Canada and a host of Western European nations from Soviet incursion.
“Why should my son go to Montenegro to defend it from attack?” Carlson asked in the interview, which was recorded Monday after Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki.
“I understand what you’re saying, I’ve asked the same question,” Trump responded. “You know, Montenegro is a tiny country with very strong people. … They are very aggressive people, they may get aggressive, and congratulations, you’re in World War III. But that’s the way it was set up. Don’t forget, I just got here a little more than a year and a half ago.”
Article 5 — the provision that calls for NATO members to come to the aid of allies under attack — has been invoked only once, in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. It does not apply in cases in which a NATO member is the aggressor.
On Wednesday, Trump tweeted that the meeting was “an acknowledged triumph,” taking credit for members pledging to meet commitments.
In 2016, the chief prosecutor in Montenegro accused Russian nationalists of backing an alleged coup attempt. Russia denied involvement.
Since joining the alliance, Montenegro has sent troops to a NATO-led mission in Afghanistan.
On Wednesday, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., took to Twitter to rebuke Trump for his comments, noting that the Senate had supported Montenegro’s accession to NATO by a vote of 97-2.
“By attacking Montenegro & questioning our obligations under NATO, the President is playing right into Putin’s hands,” McCain wrote.
Wesley Clark, a former NATO supreme allied commander, was also critical of Trump’s remarks.
“Trump’s comments weaken NATO, give Russia a license to cause trouble and thereby actually increase the risks of renewed conflict in the Balkans,” tweeted Clark, who runs a consulting firm in Little Rock.