American Allies: Are They Good For Us?

World war two was one of the most traumatic and world changing events in human history. It left Europe and Asia devastated, killed tens of millions of people, and completely changed the global balance of power. In its aftermath two states became global superpowers: The United States of America, and the Soviet Union. The United States viewed the spread of communism as the greatest threat to its security and so formed alliances with states all over the world. Most notably with the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, and South Korea. This alliance system spread, in Europe it became the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (N.A.T.O.), while in Asia it became an informal alliance system based more on the threat of the moment than a formal system like N.A.T.O. As time as wore on other states have been added to the American alliance system, Israel, Turkey, virtually all of Europe, Taiwan, Australia. Since 1945 this alliance system has formed the bedrock of international relations and global security. Its has become an institution in and of itself. But what if we ask ourselves the question, is this alliance system benefiting America?

In 2011 the Muammar Gaddafi forces were advancing on Benghazi, he was surely going to massacre the city. The U.N. passed a resolution authorizing an air campaign to protect civilian targets. The U.S. took the lead on this leading a devastating campaign on Gaddafi’s forces halting the assault. France and the United Kingdom agreed to take over with the United States becoming a supporting role. Within the month the United States had to spend millions giving smart bombs to the French and British air forces. While the both states did pay the U.S. back it raises the question: Why can’t our allies launch an air campaign against a Mediterranean state with the United States helping? France and Britain are far from weak states and control the two most powerful militaries in Europe. If any of our allies could perform such a task it should have been them. Now France has launched several peacekeeping missions in Africa over the last few years with a great deal more success than failure. However looking at states like Germany and Japan, looking at the huge cost of our forces in South Korea, and our huge presence in the Middle East even excluding our forces in Afghanistan the cost of global security and the protection of our allies adds up quickly.

Source: Globalissues.org, Military Spending

In an article in the Diplomat I read last week a novel idea. The notion was if we cut a deal with China in South Korea. We withdraw all forces from South Korea while China cuts off all support for North Korea. The idea being this causes North Korea to collapse and allows the peninsula to reunite and become a sort of Asian Switzerland. A strong state at the crossroads of powerful states that is unaligned to all of them. Now I am highly skeptical of this idea. North Korea is a dangerous unpredictable, and violent regime so I honestly have no idea how they would react to such actions from China, America and South Korea. The notion itself though is quite interesting. America withdrawing its military creating stronger states that are unaffiliated with any alliance system. The reason I am bringing all this up is because it raises the deeply troubling question. Are American alliances destabilizing the world? While our alliance with Korea I would say no, but what about Japan? Japan only spends 1% of G.D.P. on national defense and that is with both North Korea and China right next door, and being at a low point in relations with both states. Japan is currently in a territorial dispute with China and it could escalate into a dangerous confrontation at a moments notice. The Japanese government is increasingly nationalistic and does not seem to care that its actions are viewed as deeply offensive to its neighbors and allies. If the United States were to pull back its alliance with Japan what would happen. I think it would cause a full blown panic in Japanese foreign policy circles and cause a massive rearmament that would worsen relations in the region. So I would say our alliance stabilizes the region far more than it damages it.

The real question we need to start asking is can we afford to continue having such a powerful military. Our military spending makes up close to ⅓ of our entire budget, in a time of budget cuts we need states like Japan, France, and Germany to step up military spending because the United States can no longer carry the financial burden of these alliances alone, and it is not unthinkable that the next generation of foreign policy experts will begin to ask the question. “Are these alliance really worth the financial cost?”