President Joe Biden recently took the opportunity to again share his already expressed stance that under his leadership the United States is and will remain unequivocally committed to collective security/mutual defense obligations that are part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), in which the U.S. is a member.
NATO hinges on a mutual defense agreement that creates the expectation of an attack on any member spurring support for their defense across the alliance — again including the United States. It creates deterrence across the borders of its member nations.
“America’s commitment to Poland is ironclad,” Biden said at the White House on the occasion of a visit by leaders from that country to the United States. “We mean what we say that, you know, an attack on a single inch of soil of a NATO partner is an attack on all of us. And that’s what keeps us all safe, in my view. And I look forward to our conversation and working together the years ahead. And as Secretary Albright said, we stand together as Allies. When we do that, no force on Earth is more powerful.”
Biden’s guests included Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who after meeting with the president called out Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) here in the U.S. for the delays under his leadership around the House potentially voting on a foreign aid package for Ukraine (and others) already passed in the Senate with bipartisan support.
Biden’s commitments contrast with recent comments from Donald Trump, the former president and presumptive presidential nominee this year from the Republican Party. Trump threatened at a rally to support Russia and its authoritarian leader Vladimir Putin in a potential military confrontation between the country and NATO members if those members fail to meet claimed spending obligations. Trump misrepresents the nature of that long-term spending commitment, which involves domestic expenditures on defense rather than something like organizational dues.
