Whither NATO?

The Bear is once again stalking the woods. Containing that bear is NATO’s raison d’etre. So, where is the NATO response? Unfortunately, our “traditional” NATO allies have been made energy cuckolds by Putin. They will not respond. Meanwhile, the newest NATO members – the Baltic States and Poland – have joined with rebuffed NATO candidate Ukraine to stand bravely with embattled Georgia. If NATO won’t act on this, what is the purpose of maintaining the alliance? Surely not so we can have them sitting behind barriers in Afghanistan, shackled by restrictive rules of engagement.

NATO will not act. It is time for the United States to circumvent them and institute strong bilateral agreements with the Ukraine, Georgia and Azerbaijan. Then, group those three with current NATO members Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania into a Black Sea Treaty Organization. Turkey controls all of the southern Black Sea shoreline, Bulgaria and Romania control the western shore, Ukraine the north, and Georgia a large portion of the east. Together, they dominate about 7/8 of the sea, leaving just a small area in the northeast that is Russian. The United States already bases aircraft in Turkey, it should redeploy others from the non-helpful NATO allies to each of the other 5 nations (including Azerbaijan on the Caspian) in the region, and dedicate a Black Sea Squadron for permanent basing in the Ukrainian port of Odessa.

The Russians have a decided advantage in land power in the region, but they cannot match US air or naval power. Luckily for us, those are the two branches of the military that are least stretched by Iraq and Afghanistan.