'I think that's over': Retired general declares death of key U.S. alliance

Retired General Barry McCaffrey said he thinks that after 76 years, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, known as NATO, is "over."

Speaking on an MSNBC panel of foreign policy experts about President Donald Trump blaming Ukraine for Russia invading their border, McCaffrey lamented that he fears war is coming.

"Unfortunately, my own view is the damage is done," he said of Trump's failures in foreign policy. "It's now irrevocable. There's not a shred of rational argument among European powers to trust the United States' commitment to NATO and Article Five."

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He remarked that NATO has served as "a deterrent organization" and "kept the peace for four generations."

"I think that's over," he confessed. "So, I think right now there's a scramble among all the European countries to include the Finns and the Swedes and others and who are borderline states, the Baltic states, Poland, etc., that they think they're under the gun."

He also said that he wouldn't be surprised if, in private, "they haven't basically committed themselves to wiping out any U.S. assurances."

While the U.S. has nuclear capabilities, he said "fortunately, both the French and the Brits" do as well.

"Otherwise, the nuclear assurance that the U.S. grants to our allies in Europe would be gone also," he continued.

Another thing he mentioned is that he noticed Trump's determination to invade and take Greenland doesn't make any sense, given U.S. forces are already there as part of a NATO base. Without NATO, however, U.S. troops wouldn't be there.

"There is a series of, sort of, psychobabble announcements coming out of the U.S. government that has the global leadership confounded. But they think we're gone, I think, in Europe, for the Trump administration period."

MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace asked what that means for the world.

"Well, I think it increases the likelihood of war," he said.

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