Don’t Freak Out Over the Pentagon’s Europe Plans

Filed 20h ago · Via Foreign Policy · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

Comic Hero

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Alf van Beem · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

The Pentagon is reviewing U.S. force posture in Europe, with policy chief Elbridge Colby pushing to shift primary conventional defense responsibility onto European nations themselves. The review, launched July 27 and dubbed 'NATO 3.0,' covers roughly 80,000 U.S. troops stationed across Europe, nearly half of them in Germany.

Colby has long argued the military should prioritize Asia over Europe and the Middle East to counter China, and reportedly sees an opening given Trump's longstanding irritation with NATO, compounded by anger over allies declining to join the Iran war.

The analysis notes real obstacles: Congress, the European host nations, and Trump's own inconsistent positions could all blunt any major drawdown, meaning the loudest rhetoric about 'fast and irreversible' change may run into the usual bureaucratic friction.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

Six months of review and a catchy nickname do not move a single soldier anywhere. Big announcements about faraway bases are cheap to make and expensive to walk back, and this one has Congress, NATO capitals, and the president's own mood swings all standing in the doorway. Bet on the slogan outliving the policy.

Source: Read the original at Foreign Policy → Scored: Comic Hero · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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