As violence surges, nations seek U.S. pacts
Some Americans are being wary
From around the world, they come to the halls of power in Washington seeking one thing: a commitment from the U.S. government to protect their countries in a time of rising geopolitical crises.
In recent months, leaders and diplomats from a growing number of nations have signed security pacts with the United States, upgraded military ties and weapons purchases or have begun negotiating potential new defense treaties and arrangements.
The countries include Ukraine, at war with Russia; Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, eager to stave off Iran; and Japan, South Korea, Australia and the Philippines, anxious about China's and North Korea's military ambitions. Frightened by Russia's aggression, Finland joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in April, while Sweden is on the brink of membership.
The Biden administration is surging munitions to Israel for airstrikes in the Gaza Strip and has sent two aircraft carrier groups to the eastern Mediterranean. Israel and the United States have a series of agreements on military aid.
The push around the world for the United States to be all things to all partners in terms of defense is stronger than at any time since the end of the Cold War. But many Americans are resisting having their nation play that role, at least partly because of the political impact of the disastrous U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
And critics say the devastating attacks by Hamas on Oct. 7 that killed about 1,400 Israelis underscore the fact that defense agreements do not create a real foundation for peace and deterrence.
That opposition to the United States being what President Joe Biden and other U.S. officials call “the indispensable nation” — they mean the security guarantor around the world — has some roots in traditional liberal anti-war values but is also tied to surprising ideological shifts of recent years. Many Republican voters, once proponents of a Cold War and anti-terrorism global military footprint, now support isolationist and pro-Russia politicians — notably, former President Donald Trump.
Some Republican lawmakers are now trying to halt aid to Ukraine, and progressive Democrats have denounced the ongoing Israeli airstrikes that have killed thousands of Palestinians. All of that sets up a potential battle over a new White House request for $105 billion of military aid that would go mostly to Ukraine and Israel.
Democratic senators have also raised doubts about the Biden administration's efforts to negotiate a defense treaty with autocratic Saudi Arabia that would resemble the agreements the United States has with Japan and South Korea.
Despite the signs of U.S. opposition, countries across Europe, the Middle East and Asia still consider the United States the most — and perhaps the only — viable guarantor of their security. And U.S. officials say the alliances remain a pillar of what they call the “rulesbased international order.”
Biden has reinforced that notion, most recently in a speech Oct. 19 in which he made the case for military aid to Ukraine and Israel.
“American leadership is what holds the world together,” he said. “American alliances are what keep us, America, safe. American values are what make us a partner that other nations want to work with. To put all that at risk if we walk away from Ukraine, if we turn our backs on Israel, it's just not worth it.”