Final Word from Wednesday, March 13, 2024

National Security Adviser Tomáš Pojar said in Euro magazine this week that Czech soldiers won't give their lives for a country that doesn't want to defend itself and doesn't invest into its own defense. Article 5 of the Nato treaty doesn't specify how we should help a member that is attacked, he said, and the form of assistance will depend on the degree to which the attacked country is willing and able to defend itself. He repeated this at the "Our Security is not a Given" conference yesterday and added that Donald Trump is using sound logic when he states that U.S. troops wouldn't help those who don't think about their own security and defense. Army Chief of Staff Karel Řehka said six minutes later that Nato members committed themselves in Vilnius to 2% defense spending as a minimum in conjunction with meeting all other Nato commitments, esp. with regard to defense planning. "Without being concrete," he said, "I must say we are far from meeting them." The obvious question, then, is whether Pojar is pushing a Trump-like view that, taken to its extreme, could end up depriving Czechs of their Nato security guarantee. [ Czech Republic United States North Atlantic Treaty ]