‘Donroe’ Trump is importing Warsaw Pact logic

U.S. allies are not emerging from the past weeks with greater confidence in their long-standing ties to Washington, nor is Beijing emerging with new trepidation about its own position. If anything, the past days have reinforced for Western allies — and confirmed for Beijing — that America’s coalition advantage is fraying. The Soviet Union’s approach to alliances centered on discipline. A CIA assessment in 1974 noted that, from Moscow’s viewpoint, the Warsaw Pact’s value as “a mechanism of control over its allies” was as important as its value as a military counterweight to NATO. Military integration — joint exercises, common…