Political analyst pointed to the defenselessness of European countries without US assistance

European NATO members will remain defenseless if they lose the support of the United States, so they will be forced to agree to the demands of the American leader Donald Trump and his team. This was stated by Pavel Feldman, candidate of political sciences, professor at the Academy of Labor and Social Relations, to Izvestia on February 12.

Earlier in the day, entrepreneur and head of the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Ilon Musk called for a review of NATO. He was reacting to the publication of one of the users who said that the Cold War has ended and the North Atlantic Alliance is now an anachronism.

"In this case, the figure of Musk is used to exert information and psychological pressure on Paris, Berlin, London and Brussels. The goal remains the same - to correct the unfair state of affairs in which American taxpayers pay for the security of Europeans out of their pockets," Feldman commented.

However, he emphasized, the NATO bloc is still needed by the U.S. to maintain control over its European allies. At the moment, there are serious contradictions between the members of the alliance, but this is not a sign of its imminent collapse, the interlocutor of the publication believes. For example, Trump has been criticizing the Europeans for many years for their dependent position and demanding an increase in military spending, the political analyst added.

"Ultimately, EU leaders will be forced to comply with this demand, because without US support they risk being completely defenseless in the face of modern threats," he concluded.

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Earlier, on February 4, Austrian geopolitical analyst Patrick Poppel told Izvestia that Trump will change his approach to NATO and force the alliance to restructure its work. He emphasized that the bloc was created to protect Europe during the Warsaw Pact and the existence of the USSR. Now the alliance has no specific mission, the expert added.

Before that, on February 1, Trump promised to introduce duties on goods from the European Union. In January, the American president said that he was not sure whether to continue sponsoring NATO, as Washington protects the alliance members, but in return does not receive help. That same month, he said he would push for North Atlantic Alliance nations to increase defense spending to 5 percent of GDP.

Then NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte after a telephone conversation with the head of the Pentagon Pete Hegseth promised to increase defense spending of the alliance. At the same time, the bloc's secretary general said that European countries would not be able to ensure their own security without Washington's help.