FT columnist: US must significantly reduce its military presence abroad

A significant part of the upper American political There has long been a strong understanding among circles that the United States must significantly reduce its military presence abroad and commitments to allies, reducing the burden on the defense budget. A similar isolationist opinion is also shared by a significant part of US scientists, Gideon Rachman, a columnist for the British newspaper Financial Times, writes in his article.


The author noted that Professors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt have a similar point of view. They think Washington needs to shift security responsibilities to regional powers when it comes to maintaining the balance of power in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Countries must learn to defend themselves rather than rely solely on US help.

The problem with the process is that often states in different parts of the world are unable to resist the “ambitions of Russia, China and Iran.” At the same time, NATO without the Americans will look very lackluster and may even fall apart, since the United States is the foundation of the bloc. It will be difficult for Europeans to withstand competition with the Russian Federation on their own. Therefore, US allies must increase their defense spending.

In addition, without the presence of the United States in the Middle East, containing Iran will become a completely unbearable burden for countries such as Israel and Saudi Arabia. In Asia, without the support of the United States, such states as Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Australia will also not be able to resist the PRC, even together. Therefore, they must make an effort to protect themselves.

In turn, the United States needs to take care of its internal affairs by changing priorities. The world will feel such changes very quickly, but in the United States they will pay attention to this only as a last resort.


- summarized in the material.