美国国家安全顾问罗伯特·奥布赖恩表示，德国和其他北约国家在国防方面“没有支付其应得的份额”，这比土耳其最近入侵叙利亚对联盟造成的伤害更大。
9月份接替约翰·博尔顿担任唐纳德·特朗普总统国家安全顾问的奥布赖恩对包括法国和德国在内的北约盟国之间的内讧做出回应，称美国仍致力于成立有29个成员国、70年历史的北大西洋公约组织。奥布赖恩对德国的“公平份额”批评正值北约国家之间日益扩大的裂痕和公众对不平衡的抨击。
奥布赖恩和其他北约领导人表示，他们希望在下周的国家元首和政府首脑会议上纠正这些问题顶点在伦敦。
周日，奥勃良回应特朗普的频繁抱怨，即美国支付的国防开支大约是其他北约成员国的两倍，后者在2014年设定了2%的国防开支目标，但很少有人成功达到这个目标。尽管奥布赖恩确实批评了北约成员国土耳其最近购买俄罗斯国防武器，但他明确表示，对北约未来最不利的是不公平的国防开支裂痕。
“北约对我们来说是一个重要的联盟，但我认为联盟中出现的裂痕是因为我们的联盟成员没有支付他们应得的份额。没有在国防上花钱，”奥布莱恩告诉记者面向国家。
特朗普将于本周在华盛顿接待北约秘书长延斯·斯托尔滕贝格，以“讨论北约盟国在增加国防开支和确保更公平的负担分担方面的进展”。“据报道，特朗普对北约的经常是相互矛盾的公众意见在今年早些时候达到了一个危机点他建议道将美国从北约完全撤出。批评者认为此举是为了安抚俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京。
2018年7月，特朗普表示，美国不会被北约盟国“利用”，并表示欧洲从北约中获得的好处比美国多得多。
特朗普对北约脆弱的立场促使法国总统埃马纽埃尔·马克龙告诉《经济学人》本周，北约正遭受“脑死亡”，因为缺乏美国的支持和保持团结的决心。马克龙对美国领导的联盟的安全协议表示怀疑，该协议认为对一个国家的攻击将被视为对所有成员国的攻击。马克龙对北约未来的负面看法促使德国外长海科·马斯警告法国或任何其他持不同意见的盟国破坏北约。
“如果我们削弱北约，那将是一个错误。没有美国，德国和欧洲都无法有效保护自己，”马斯写道在一篇由明镜周刊杂志。
奥布赖恩的确谴责了土耳其上月对叙利亚库尔德人的袭击，并表示，在土耳其从克里姆林宫购买了一套S-400防空导弹防御系统后，俄罗斯的军事采购“在北约中没有一席之地”。但他继续特别抱怨国防支出缺口。
“美国纳税人和八个北约国家的纳税人在国防上花了2%，我们花了4%以上，他们在做正确的事情，”奥布赖恩继续说。“但包括德国和其他一些国家在内的许多国家没有支付它们应得的份额。美国纳税人不得不保护这些不想保护自己的国家是不对的。”
奥布赖恩表示，自特朗普2017年1月上任以来，北约已经在新的国防支出上花费了1000亿美元。他再次斥责道面向国家主持人玛格丽特·布伦南问土耳其是否是削弱联盟的国家。
“土耳其是北约成员。土耳其对我们在欧洲的朋友和我们自己来说，都扮演着非常重要的地缘政治角色...失去土耳其的盟友对欧洲和美国都没有好处。
德国总理安格拉·默克尔在每周的视频播客中重申，北约是该国防御的核心基础，并敦促其他欧洲国家加强维护安全联盟的责任。她说德国正在帮助制造新的飞机、作战坦克和武器系统。
NATO ALLIANCE BREAKING UP BECAUSE GERMANY 'NOT PAYING THEIR FAIR SHARE,' TRUMP NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER SAYS
U.S. National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien said Germany and other NATO countries "not paying their fair share" in defense has hurt the alliance more than Turkey's recent incursion into Syria.
O'Brien, who replaced John Bolton in September as President Donald Trump's national security adviser, responded to infighting among NATO allies including France and Germany, saying the U.S. is still committed to the 29-member, 70-year-old North Atlantic Treaty Organization. O'Brien's "fair share" criticism of Germany comes amid widening cracks and public sniping about imbalance between NATO countries.
O'Brien and other NATO leaders say they hope to rectify such issues during next week's Heads of State and Government summit in London.
On Sunday, O'Brien echoed Trump's frequent complaint that the U.S. pays about twice as much as other NATO member nations who established a 2 percent defense spending target in 2014 -- but few have managed to hit that mark. And while O'Brien did chastise Turkey, a NATO member, for recently purchasing Russian defense weapons, he made it clear that it was the unfair defense spending rift that was most damning to the alliance's future.
"NATO is an important alliance to us, but I think the cracks that have formed in the alliance are because we have members of the alliance that aren't paying their fair share. That aren't spending money on defense," O'Brien told Face the Nation.
Trump is set to host NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Washington this week to "discuss the NATO allies' progress on increasing defense spending and ensuring more equitable burden-sharing." Trump's often conflicting public opinions of NATO hit a crisis point earlier this year after it was reported that he suggested withdrawing the U.S. from NATO altogether. The move was seen by critics as one to appease Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In July 2018, Trump said the U.S will "not be taken advantage of" by NATO allies and said Europe gets a lot more from the alliance than the U.S.
Trump's tenuous stance toward NATO prompted French President Emmanuel Macron to tell The Economist this week that NATO is suffering a "brain death" because of a lack of American support and resolve to stay together. Macron placed doubt on the U.S.-led alliance's security agreement that an attack on one nation would be viewed as an attack on all member countries. Macron's negative outlook on NATO's future prompted German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas to warn France or any other dissenting allies of undermining NATO.
"It would be a mistake if we undermined NATO. Without the United States, neither Germany nor Europe will be able to effectively protect themselves," Maas wrote in a column published online by Der Spiegel magazine.
O'Brien did condemn Turkey's attacks against Syrian Kurds last month and said "there no place in NATO" for Russian military purchases after Turkey bought an S-400 anti-aircraft missile defense system from the Kremlin. But he continued complaining specifically about the defense spending gap.
"The United States taxpayer and the taxpayer of eight of the NATO countries that are spending their 2 percent on national defense, we spend over 4 percent, they're doing the right things," O'Brien continued. "But there are a bunch of countries including Germany and others that aren't paying their fair share. It's not right for the American taxpayer to have to defend these countries that don't want to defend themselves."
O'Brien said $100 billion has been spent on new NATO defense spending since Trump took office in January 2017. And he again rebuked Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan's question of whether or not Turkey was the country chipping away at the alliance.
"Turkey is a member of NATO. Turkey plays a very import geo-political role for our friends in Europe, for ourselves...Losing Turkey as an ally is something that is not good for Europe or for the United States.
In her weekly video podcast, German Chancellor Angela Merkel reiterated that NATO is a central foundation of the country's defenses and urged other European countries to step up responsibilities in upholding the security alliance. She said Germany is helping to create new aircraft, battle tanks and weapon systems.
