2023-10-24 17:37:00
WASHINGTON DC: Ramaswamy, the leading Republican presidential contender, said on Monday that withdrawing the US from NATO is a “reasonable idea” and that he is re-evaluating whether the United States should remain a member of the United Nations.
He was responding to reporters asking businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, the fourth-ranked Republican presidential candidate nationally and in Iowa, regarding a Rolling Stone article detailing how GOP front-runner former President Donald Trump was prepared to pull the U.S. out of the transatlantic alliance. “This is a reasonable idea that I have considered,” he said in a brief statement.
To repeated questions, Ramaswamy did not explain why he was ready for NATO withdrawal. Unprompted and following further questions on the topic, the candidate added, “I’m also open to reevaluating the U.S. involvement in the UN,” without elaborating.
The statement made it clear that Ramaswamy was considering a radical change in US foreign policy to see America withdraw from the alliances found following World War II. Ramaswamy’s position means that at least two of the top four Republicans vying for the nomination doubt whether continuing with such organizations would serve America’s foreign policy goals.
If the US is no longer in NATO, it will lose the commitment of its 30 other allies to defend it if attacked. NATO’s Article 5 was enacted following the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Leaving the United Nations would lose the United States’ veto power on the Security Council, possibly giving China and Russia, two of the five countries that hold that status, more influence on the world body.
Ramaswamy has resisted further entangling the U.S. abroad, calling for a weakening of U.S. commitments to Ukraine and Israel and urging lawmakers to vote “no” on President Joe Biden’s $106 billion aid package, which would bolster both countries’ defenses. He said on Saturday that US military aid to Israel’s fight once morest Hamas would require Israel to draw up a detailed plan for what would happen following a ground invasion of Gaza.
Ramaswamy is not trying to remove America from world affairs entirely. It has encouraged military strikes on Mexican drug cartels and warned other countries to stop the spread of fentanyl.
His comments on NATO and the United States are likely to earn him further backlash from US foreign policy traditionalists in both parties. Nikki Haley, a former ambassador to the UN and a contender for the GOP presidential nomination, has been a fierce critic of Ramaswamy, calling him a foreign policy maverick because of his stance once morest Israel.
Ramaswamy and Haley are two of three candidates who will qualify for the next Republican presidential debate in November. They will be joined by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Trump, who did not show up for the first debates, is unlikely to appear.
-PP Cherian
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