Biden accuses Trump of not understanding what it means to be a NATO member

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday accused Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump of not understanding that being a member of NATO means mounting a group defense for any ally who has been attacked.

In remarks in Riga, where he traveled to reaffirm Washington’s commitment to the security of the Baltic states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, all NATO members Biden, a Democrat, once again challenged Trump’s criticism of how NATO operates.

The vice president said he did not think that the magnate who has said several times that, as president, he might make U.S. military support dependent on whether a NATO ally has met its financial obligations to the alliance understands Article 5 of the alliance treaty, according to local media.

That is the article that establishes that an attack on any NATO member is viewed by the bloc as an attack on all.

Trump has repeatedly said that the alliance is “obsolete” and has questioned the validity of reciprocal defense, as well as saying that if he is elected in November he would obligate the other NATO members to increase their financial contributions to the bloc.

Biden said that “The fact that you occasionally hear something from the presidential candidate of the other party, it’s nothing that should be taken seriously because I don’t think he understands what Article 5 is,” adding that a clear bipartisan majority of Americans favor maintaining Washington’s commitments to the Atlantic Alliance.

“I want to make it clear, absolutely clear to all the people of the Baltic States, we have pledged our sacred honor, the United States of America, our sacred honor to the NATO Treaty and Article 5,” said Biden. “We are absolutely, thoroughly, 100 percent committed to our NATO obligation.”

The vice president was responding to the basic demand of the three former Soviet Baltic republics to explain and reaffirm Washington’s commitment to its NATO allies whose territory borders on Russia.

At the NATO summit in Warsaw in July, bloc members approved the creation of four multinational battalions to be stationed in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland to improve security on the alliances eastern flank against potential aggression by Moscow.

Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and its support for proRussian rebels in eastern Ukraine have sparked uncertainty among the NATO members bordering Russia and motivated them to demand a clear signal of support from their alliance partners.