Darrell Castle talks about whether or not the United States should leave NATO and whether that decision would bring about a new U.S./Iran order in the Middle East.
Transcription / Notes:
THE END OF NATO
Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 10th day of April in the year of our Lord 2026. My beat today is once again war but I am so tired of war each week that I have decided to carve a niche out of the unexpected results of our current war and that is NATO and its possible end for the United States.
I’m sure you all know what NATO is but as a refresher it is a treaty (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) in which the U.S. along with the other members agreed to come to each other’s aid if attacked. The purpose was to prevent and protect against a Soviet attack in Europe like the NAZI’s had done.
Everything worked fine when there was a Soviet Union to fight and to protect against. The cold war justified the massive defense spending by the U.S. which allowed Europe to rebuild from the war’s devastation and to provide generous welfare benefits to its citizens. The fall of the old enemy, the Soviet Union, triggered a crises in NATO because there was no longer a justifiable reason for its existence.
The collapse of Russia and with it, communism, put the alliance under tremendous strain especially when rising debt levels in the U.S, caused economic hardship. People would ask why are American forces still deployed in Europe. Why can’t Europe protect itself from perceived threats. Why do our families have to bear the brunt of Europe’s defense. NATO continued to exist although the reason for its formation no longer existed.
The reason smells like the Military Industrial, Intelligence, Security Complex and I am sure that was a lot of it, but some vehicle of justification had to be found for NATO’s continuation and so found it was. NATO still exists today, and American troops are still deployed in Europe today although the reason is now obsolete. Moving the alliance to the borders of Russia along with a coup that replaced Ukraine’s government of pro-Russia elected officials with anti-Russia officials might justify its existence. Who knows, maybe a new war could be started that would require hundreds of billions in new spending.
That is exactly what happened and the Obama, Biden, and Trump administrations have handled it the same way. Pour money and weapons into Ukraine to fuel its war against Russia. Make the war last longer and be much worse than it otherwise would be. Perhaps if Ukraine were allowed to use American weapons to attack deep inside Russia then Russia would be provoked enough to attack outside Ukraine but so far that has not happened.
Meanwhile back to present day and we find that although the U.S. poured hundreds of billions into Ukraine ostensibly for the defense of Europe, when President Trump decided to launch a stupid, pointless, unprovoked attack against Iran Europe seemed to want no part of it. Trump seemed to think that Europe should have been willing to support the U.S. out of gratitude for all the money and all the graves of America’s sons scattered across Europe. NATO was much weaker than when the U.S. and Europe saw Russia as an existential threat. The Ukraine war, despite all the bluster and propaganda, proved that Russia could not even conquer that small corner of Ukraine on the border of Russia.
My theory, then, is that Europe no longer feels threatened by Russia despite all the rhetoric to that effect but it does feel threatened by the millions of Muslims it has invited into its countries and who now live among European populations. So, Europe offers no help in Trump/Israel’s war against Iran. Shockingly, even with our long special relationship with the UK, Prime Minister Starmer would not allow the U.S. to use bases in England, which the U.S. at least partially paid for, to refuel and rearm aircraft used against Iran.
Many U.S. administrations, including the Trump Administration, have criticized Europe for not bearing more of the expense and sacrifice for its own defense, Trump has said that this is not 1949 which was the year NATO was founded and Europe is perfectly capable of defending itself. This hostile rhetoric back and forth along with the changing political climate in Europe in which the European general outlook was fast becoming one of subservience to the new global world run or at least managed by the bureaucrats in Brussels.
Trump, J.D. Vance, and Marco Rubio have all made it clear that the U.S. would not follow that path so Europe says no help in Iran. Even the European effort to keep the Strait open is virtually nonexistent. There is nothing in the NATO charter that requires member states to support the U.S. efforts in Iran. The U.S. was not attacked which would have triggered the article 5 common defense clause so there is no Charter obligation in their eyes. How about just friendship and gratitude as Trump would put it.
I suppose the Europeans say that friendship doesn’t extend that far and in fact we don’t even like you because you are crass and won’t play by our globalist playbook so why should we anger all the Muslims in our countries. Supposedly, Iran has missiles that could reach Berlin and possibly even further and they have proven that these missiles are still there and they cannot be stopped if fired in volume.
So, I understand why Europe does not want to support the U.S. in its attack on Iran, but I don’t understand why the U.S. remains in NATO. I am very onboard with Trump’s constant threats to leave NATO because the time is long passed when that should have been done. Unfortunately, I don’t think it will happen because leaving NATO would require congressional approval and I don’t think there is nearly enough support in congress to leave. Of course, another aspect is that the U.S. created NATO and accepted the defense of Europe not as a protection racket but as a strategy to keep European nations from building armies and invading each other which lead to two world wars.
To me, this NATO issue along with the two-week ceasefire in Iran represent the best possible chance for a new order to emerge from the chaos. Not a new world order as traditionally talked about but an order in which the U.S. adopts a foreign policy designed to truly benefit the U.S. and its people. That would mean ending the special relationship with Israel and the beginning of treating it like we treat any other country.
Ending the special relationship with Israel is job number one if Trump truly wants to extricate the U.S, from the Iranian war, and I think he does. Israel and its American lobby obviously do not want the war to end even if the Strait remains closed and the global economy suffers. It appears that he is not any more grateful than NATO for U.S. help. If that is the case and Trump constantly threatens to leave NATO because “they have been of no help to us “then why doesn’t he threaten Israel with abandonment.
The answer to that question would certainly explain a lot. The two-week ceasefire brokered by Pakistan, apparently, was something that had great promise for a new U.S./Iran agreement that could have remade the Middle East. The idea of joint U.S. and Iranian control of the Strait makes sense to me and I saw it as a way to pay for the rebuilding of Iran by charging all those European and Asian tankers a toll for passage.
Before the war about 127 ships per day on average passed through the Gulf and now it is 6. If each of 127 ships was charged an average of $100,000 for passage that’s roughly $355 million per month using my crude math. That money would go a long way toward rebuilding Iran from the rubble it now is. Reports say that the U. S. alone has dropped some 32,000 bombs on Iran since the attacks started and that figure doesn’t include what Israel has dropped. In any event the U.S. taxpayer pays for all of it and we are U.S. taxpayers and therefore responsible.
This is a free country right or at least that’s how much of the world views it so since we are a “democracy” we the people are responsible for its actions. That sounds good in theory but in fact we have no real way to change anything and when we are given the illusion that we can all we seem to do is make a terrible situation worse. My toll charge system probably would not work because it would increase the price of everything but for the U.S. I’ll wager its cheaper than war.
Here in the real-world Trump reportedly told the Iranians that they have a chance to be Persians again. That is a tremendous offer and it shows he does understand at least some of the history of the Persian people. Iran was created by Great Britain from ancient Persia after World War 1 and Trump is offering them an olive branch they could use to regain control of their oil and shipping from Lloyds of London and the English banking system. Why not leave NATO for a new order in the Middle East.
Why not, well I’m glad you asked. The answer is Israel, its American lobby, and the neo-con globalist war party that seems to own everything including all our lives. It is probably more than a coincidence that J.D. Vance is going to Pakistan to continue the very intense negotiations that brought this cease fire to life. J.D. is probably the least neo con of anyone in the administration. Could this really end in 5 weeks. Vietnam 15 years, Afghanistan 23 years, Iraq 18 years approximately so we’ll see.
Finally, folks pray this cease fire accomplishes more than the neo con war party wants it to accomplish and pray for peace.
At least that’s the way I see it,
Until next time folks,
This is Darrell Castle,
Thanks for listening.
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