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NATO: Dangerous Dinosaur
Donald Trump's presidency has triggered a growing debate on both sides of the Atlantic about the future of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and U.S. policy regarding the alliance. In NATO: The Dangerous Dinosaur, Ted Galen Carpenter outlines how NATO in its current form has outlived its purpose, and burden sharing is only part of the problem. Continuing to expand NATO eastward, encroaching on Russia, will only endanger the alliance.
192 pages, Paperback
Published August 2, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 12, 2022
the pluses and minuses of Carpenter's NATO series through amazon reviews
I tend to think that Carpenter has some weaknesses, but there's still interesting material in his work, and much better are most of the books on NATO where he is just the editor and has selected a pretty interesting variety of opinions.
Basically, if you're a Fox News Republican or Ron Paul fan you'll probably be reading Carpenter before John Mearsheimer.
I just find it interesting that most of the Realists were Democrats, and now there's a bunch of Republican Realist fans now with Foreign Policy falling apart after the Cold War, usually with pretty big mistakes by Democrats and Republicans both.
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Amazon review
Definitely worth a read
This is a very good unbiased realist approach on why interventionist policies do more harm than good for state security in addition to how great power politics works even to this day. It is clear that the other review by Georgia in this section, that they do not know much of the topic for them to even leave a credible review. Would highly recommend reading to understand the current crisis happening in Ukraine.
Adriano marcoccia
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Superficial, evil, immoral…
Obviously, author lacks historical knowledge, education and expertise to write about topics he considers himself expert at. That’s why he promotes Hitler-Stalin type of world, where few criminal gangs divide world and kill people, like Hitler and Stalin did after Molotov-Ribbentrop pact that started WW2 and killed millions in fights and more than 6 million Jews in concentration camps.
Carpenter writes (exact quote): “NATO is an institutional dinosaur, and as Washington foolishly labors to expand the alliance eastward, antagonizing Russia and adding mostly small and vulnerable allies that are strategic liabilities rather than assets, it is now a dangerous dinosaur”.
This is exactly Putin’s rhetoric and ideology – the KGB criminal’s dream, who came from the evil world best described by the KGB insider Victor Sheymov in his “Tower of Secrets”.
Basically, what Carpenter says, it’s somehow ok, if somebody abuses weak, defenseless, elderly; it’s not big deal if authoritarian regimes, like Putin’s one, exterminates whole nations like Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Georgians, etc.; as long as these are small and vulnerable, who cares if they completely disappear; it’s ok to betray friends and allies if they are not strong.
Listen to what he says: “it’s foolish to protect vulnerable… it’s a liability”. HA??? But this is not what America is about! Americans are exact opposite of this: they help friends, allies, vulnerable, oppressed, persecuted! They are very good people! They don’t say – like Neville Chamberlain or this author – “we don’t care!”. They don’t say “it’s foolish to help a friend!”. U.S. was always standing and will stand with Israel, despite its smallness. NATO didn’t say: “Who cares, if all Bosnians are exterminated!” - it intervened and saved thousands of Bosnians from Milicevic’s and Mladic’s ethnic cleansings (although, it took time and criminal regime managed to kill more than 8,000 Bosniaks).
I want to tell to the author: “Listen, big chance is that you also (and if not you, then your ancestor) came to America from a smaller and vulnerable nation. And, if decent people shared your and Putin’s views, and if not people like Americans, you wouldn’t be writing this book now!”
George N. Sharia
I tend to think that Carpenter has some weaknesses, but there's still interesting material in his work, and much better are most of the books on NATO where he is just the editor and has selected a pretty interesting variety of opinions.
Basically, if you're a Fox News Republican or Ron Paul fan you'll probably be reading Carpenter before John Mearsheimer.
I just find it interesting that most of the Realists were Democrats, and now there's a bunch of Republican Realist fans now with Foreign Policy falling apart after the Cold War, usually with pretty big mistakes by Democrats and Republicans both.
---
Amazon review
Definitely worth a read
This is a very good unbiased realist approach on why interventionist policies do more harm than good for state security in addition to how great power politics works even to this day. It is clear that the other review by Georgia in this section, that they do not know much of the topic for them to even leave a credible review. Would highly recommend reading to understand the current crisis happening in Ukraine.
Adriano marcoccia
---
Superficial, evil, immoral…
Obviously, author lacks historical knowledge, education and expertise to write about topics he considers himself expert at. That’s why he promotes Hitler-Stalin type of world, where few criminal gangs divide world and kill people, like Hitler and Stalin did after Molotov-Ribbentrop pact that started WW2 and killed millions in fights and more than 6 million Jews in concentration camps.
Carpenter writes (exact quote): “NATO is an institutional dinosaur, and as Washington foolishly labors to expand the alliance eastward, antagonizing Russia and adding mostly small and vulnerable allies that are strategic liabilities rather than assets, it is now a dangerous dinosaur”.
This is exactly Putin’s rhetoric and ideology – the KGB criminal’s dream, who came from the evil world best described by the KGB insider Victor Sheymov in his “Tower of Secrets”.
Basically, what Carpenter says, it’s somehow ok, if somebody abuses weak, defenseless, elderly; it’s not big deal if authoritarian regimes, like Putin’s one, exterminates whole nations like Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Georgians, etc.; as long as these are small and vulnerable, who cares if they completely disappear; it’s ok to betray friends and allies if they are not strong.
Listen to what he says: “it’s foolish to protect vulnerable… it’s a liability”. HA??? But this is not what America is about! Americans are exact opposite of this: they help friends, allies, vulnerable, oppressed, persecuted! They are very good people! They don’t say – like Neville Chamberlain or this author – “we don’t care!”. They don’t say “it’s foolish to help a friend!”. U.S. was always standing and will stand with Israel, despite its smallness. NATO didn’t say: “Who cares, if all Bosnians are exterminated!” - it intervened and saved thousands of Bosnians from Milicevic’s and Mladic’s ethnic cleansings (although, it took time and criminal regime managed to kill more than 8,000 Bosniaks).
I want to tell to the author: “Listen, big chance is that you also (and if not you, then your ancestor) came to America from a smaller and vulnerable nation. And, if decent people shared your and Putin’s views, and if not people like Americans, you wouldn’t be writing this book now!”
George N. Sharia
September 29, 2022
Non-nonsense overview of the untenable nature of NATO from a US perspective. It's overall very logically sound, though sometimes low on detail. For example, the parts that discuss NATO's involvement in Serbia and Libya are quite short, though there's definitely a lot gained from the brevity of this book in general. Another element that could have been developed further is the military industrial complex's involvement in keeping NATO alive. Still, a very interesting read, especially in the context of the conflict in Ukraine.
January 1, 2023
Ted Galen Carpenter's book is likely very unpopular today among the foreign policy establishment as war rages in Eastern Europe - but it's insight into some of the factors that progressed that state affairs is invaluable, and worth a read for anyone who cares about how to prevent future conflicts.
December 29, 2024
Ted Galen Carpenter's book is likely very unpopular today among the foreign policy establishment as war rages in Eastern Europe - but it's insight into some of the factors that progressed that state affairs is invaluable, and worth a read for anyone who cares about how to prevent future conflicts.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews