Does NATO membership bind the US to attack?

+ what is a heat dome? US Edition - Today's top story: Joining NATO binds countries to defend each other – but this commitment is not set in stone [View in browser]( US Edition | 18 June 2024 [The Conversation] [The Conversation]( Top headlines - [Bringing modern medicine to space]( - [Slavery continues to shape US law today]( - [Excavating data from digs done decades ago]( Lead story Donald Trump doesn’t shy away from inflammatory remarks – and we certainly don’t cover every time he says something provocative. In February, Trump said that if he is reelected president, he would tell Russian leader Vladimir Putin to do “whatever the hell they want” with NATO members that don’t pay the typical amount countries pledge to when they join the military alliance. The remark rattled some foreign policy experts and also caught the attention of Dan Reiter, a political science scholar at Emory University, and Brian Greenhill, a political science scholar at the University of Albany, SUNY. Trump and others scoff at military alliances like NATO and international organizations like the United Nations, saying that the U.S. spends too much to keep them afloat. But actually, being part of [NATO doesn’t necessarily oblige the U.S. and other nations]( to jump to member countries’ defense if they are attacked. “It is possible for the U.S. and other Western countries to stay out of a conflict that involves a NATO country without having to break their alliance commitments. The NATO treaty’s language contains loopholes that let member countries remain out of other members’ wars in certain situations,” Greenhill and Reiter explain in today's lead story. [ [Readers like you support our work to bring trustworthy information to the public, without a paywall.]( ] Amy Lieberman Politics + Society Editor The national flags of some NATO countries fly during an Air Force exercise in Germany on June 11, 2024. Marcus Brandt/picture alliance via Getty Images [Joining NATO binds countries to defend each other – but this commitment is not set in stone]( Dan Reiter, Emory University; Brian Greenhill, University at Albany, State University of New York NATO’s treaty has loopholes that give member countries, including the US, power over whether or not they want to intervene in a particular conflict. Politics + Society - [US laws created during slavery are still on the books. A legal scholar wants to at least acknowledge that history in legal citations]( Justin Simard, Michigan State University Since 2020, a team of legal researchers has collected more than 12,000 cases involving enslaved people and more than 40,000 cases that cite those cases. Science + Technology - [Digital public archaeology: Excavating data from digs done decades ago and connecting with today’s communities]( Emily Fletcher, Purdue University Archaeologists preserve records of their excavations, but many are never analyzed. 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International - [Mauritius’ next growth phase: a new plan is needed as the tax haven era fades]( Pritish Behuria, University of Manchester There is a danger that if offshore sector revenues dry up, the Mauritian economy will soon face economic turmoil. Trending on site - [Modern-day outlaws, ‘sovereign citizens’ threaten the rule of law]( - [Is Earth really getting too hot for people to survive? A scientist explains extreme heat and the role of climate change]( - [Abortion bans are changing what it means to be young in America]( Today's graphic 📈 [Top U.S. cities for future apartment conversions include Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington D.C., followed by Dallas, Cleveland, Baltimore, Detroit and Kansas City, Missouri.]( From the story, [Cities with empty commercial space and housing shortages are converting office buildings into apartments – here’s what they’re learning]( - - More of The Conversation Like this newsletter? 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