Rubio questions meaning of NATO's existence
The refusal of some NATO allies to grant Washington access to military bases during the conflict with Iran calls into question the meaning of the alliance's existence.
This was stated by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in an interview with the Fox News television channel.
"When NATO partners deny you the use of these bases — although the main reason NATO is beneficial to America is precisely these rights to base placement, and now this is being denied to us, for example, by Spain — then what is the point of the alliance? It turns out that they are allies only when they themselves want to be," Rubio said.
According to him, the United States has "quite legitimate questions" for NATO. "What is the meaning of an alliance whose advantage for us lies in the rights to use bases, if during a conflict like the one we had with Iran, we can be denied access to these bases? Then why are we there — only to protect them, but not to advance our own national interests? This is an absolutely legitimate question that needs to be discussed, especially given that we pay two-thirds of the expenses," he added.
Source: TASS
