Time for a European defense pact

Donald Trump is doing Europe a favor with his notorious statement that Russia "can do whatever the hell they want" with any NATO member that Trump may think "owes" protection money to the United States. The past president and likely candidate for the presidency sees the Western Alliance as a mafia operation where the Godfather demands subservience and cash - or something unpleasant happens to a careless client.

Trump is not bothered by the detail that what the Alliance wants is that member-states spend at least 2 percent of their GDP annually on their defense, not that they send a "subscription" to some American head office for protection. That is why Trump (a world-class delinquent, as his legal adventures suggest), claims that member-states "owe" money to the United States - to "me," as he puts it. And, as is well known, what Trump says, Trump tries to achieve. It is not a...