Mr. Trump’s latest salvo against stalwart American allies came in a joint interview over the weekend with The Times of London and Bild, a German newspaper. Mr. Trump said NATO was obsolete because it had failed to resist terrorism, and he repeated earlier charges that some of its members were not paying their fair share. He described the European Union as “basically a vehicle for Germany” and predicted that other European nations would probably follow Britain’s lead by leaving it. Mr. Trump seems eager to help unravel the rules-based international order. Mr. Putin will almost certainly try to persuade Mr. Trump to withdraw American support for NATO’s plans to reinforce its defenses against a newly assertive Russia.

Source: New York Times January 18, 2017 01:59 UTC