On January 7, US president Donald Trump promised to withdraw the US from 35 international organizations and 31 UN agencies:
The Memorandum orders all Executive Departments and Agencies to cease participating in and funding 35 non-United Nations (UN) organizations and 31 UN entities that operate contrary to U.S. national interests, security, economic prosperity, or sovereignty.
Unverified: then the White House deleted the announcement from their website (personal note: I did receive 404 on it for a while).
Correction: announcement is still up or has reappeared. An archived copy is also available in case they change their mind.
Your implication is that NATO being gone is a shrug.
My argument is that it is not so simple. Getting the components of NATO back (particularly the coordination of the common defense.) would take time, time that would create a vulnerability other powers will exploit.
And yet here you are arguing for escalation and use of nukes. The only reason MAD has worked is no one has yet call one’s bluff (or rather has with Russia constantly reminding they have an arsenal and totally will use it, and yet here we are.)
Maybe you don’t buy MAD, but actual (rather than potential, never-to-pass) use was never mentioned. That just feels like straight up putting words in my mouth, please take it back.
Which other powers are you worried about? Russia is busy and struggling, China is far enough away from Europe it’s hard to picture them directly fighting each other. My own country uniquely has exposure to both China and the North Atlantic, but China won’t invade here anytime soon, while the US is a very real threat.
If that was conveyed, it wasn’t meant. Again, there’s no really good options in a world where the US is sliding into fascism, and no option where NATO lasts past the medium term, anyway. It’s just a question of what order things break in.
It’s not that I don’t buy MAD. It’s just that for it to work someone has to be the first to push the button
I would need to double check but I believe China’s arsenal does have the range to hit Europe if it wanted to. (Thankfully China is adopting a strategy of only moving in when there is no competition and local leaders that can be put in charge with the illusion of sovereignty.).
Indeed hence rearming got pushed up the priority.