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Sweden became the newest member of NATO earlier this month, joining 31 nations in the security alliance, including the United States. Well, make that 49 of the 50 United States.
Because in a quirk of geography and history, Hawaii is not technically covered by the NATO pact.
If a foreign power attacked Hawaii – say the US Navy’s base at Pearl Harbor or the headquarters of the Indo-Pacific Command northwest of Honolulu – the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization would not be obligated to rise to the Aloha State’s defense.
“It’s the weirdest thing,” says David Santoro, president of the Pacific Forum think tank in Honolulu, who added that even most Hawaii residents have no idea their state is technically adrift of the alliance.
I read the article and get the general idea that technically Hawaii is not in the North Atlantic region, which I guess includes the Mediterranean Sea, Baltic Sea and Black Sea for NATO purposes. It means that Article 5 of the NATO treaty is not automatically invoked if an attack on Hawaii (or Guam, US territory) were to occur. So other NATO countries would not automatically be involved in the defense of the USA in event of an attack on Hawaii (or Guam).
I wonder if the same also applies to Alaska, which like Hawaii was a US territory when NATO was founded. Alaska is also pretty far from the North Atlantic region. Puerto Rico is another US territory that is pretty far south to be part of the North Atlantic region.
In other news, I doubt California is covered by NATO either, or any of the other 48 US states, all of which would be defended by the US military if subect to attack from hostile foreign powers.
So now it continues … and deepens into international nonsense chatter
Quote:
Russia Takes Aim at America's Achilles Heel (Hawaii)
A prominent Russian academic has suggested his county should aim to "capture" the one U.S. state that is not covered by NATO's Article 5 collective security guarantee, in an apparent reference to Hawaii.
In other news, I doubt California is covered by NATO either, or any of the other 48 US states, all of which would be defended by the US military if subect to attack from hostile foreign powers.
Well, maybe not New Jersey.
Darn. I was all ready to invade New Jersey too. These things always happen to me. Now I'll have to take out the one bullet that was willed to me by Barney Fife.
The Russians need to go over American history a bit, especially the part of Pearl Harbor. The results of that were several including atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Anyone that thinks the USA invading Russia will be like the time Napoleon Bonaparte attempted it, go right ahead and think that. Ahem…
Considering that the U.S. is constitutes the brunt of capable NATO forces, this is a big nothing burger.
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