NATO = the U.S.+ Lightly-Armed, Reluctant Friends

Writing at War on the Rocks, Finnish Lt. Col. Jyri Raitasalo writes that NATO is basically an empty suit, a fig leaf almost entirely reliant on the U.S. military for muscle. He cites a Pew Research Center study we saw recently which surveyed individuals in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Poland, Spain, France, Italy, and Germany. It reports:

Roughly half or fewer in six of the eight countries surveyed say their country should use military force if Russia attacks a neighboring country that is a NATO ally. And at least half in three of the eight NATO countries say that their government should not use military force in such circumstances.

The three countries where more than half answered "don't use force" included France, Germany, and Italy. Together they constitute the bulk of Western Europe, and NATO members act by consensus.

Col. Raitasalo concludes most NATO countries would not take timely aggressive action in the face of  Russian armor coming over the border of Latvia, Estonia, or his native Finland. It explains why the Finnish government recently sent a heads-up letter to their military reservists (basically the entire male population between 18 and 50), reminding them where to report in a mobilization.

Finland's national defense closely resembles that of Switzerland. Both aim to emulate "porcupines," conquerable only at an unacceptably high cost to the attacker. Having recently visited there, it appeared to me the Finns support this aim. I wish them well.