Washington has recently revived concerns about the ultimate purpose of the European Union (EU)’s nascent defense plans, avowing these could undermine NATO and transatlantic solidarity if US officials don’t keep a “close eye” on them.
This is bombast. Officially, such concern may appear to rest on political, strategic, or military imperatives about NATO’s cohesion, but the real reason can only be one of two things: either dawning economic worry or ignorance about what is really at play—and possible—in Brussels on the opposite side of town from NATO.
