Paying dues: Trump was right in telling NATO allies to pay up

President Donald Trump had some strong words for European leaders last week: Pay up or else. His tongue-lashing of NATO officials for not paying their fair share of the cost of maintaining military order in that part of the world left them stone-faced.

We don't agree with everything Trump does. But in this case he was right on the mark.

America has shouldered the lion's share of the cost of fending off enemies of democracy for far too long, and it is time for those European countries to reach into their pockets for a change and pay their rightful dues.

We cannot be expected to carry the burden of policing the Western world by ourselves, and sometimes it feels like that is exactly what we are doing.

So we applaud Mr. Trump's bold statements about our alliance with the other members of NATO. The organization was created to defend western Europe from threats from Russia. The countries who

benefit from that protection must chip in to pay the costs or find a new international policeman. And we haven't noticed anyone else applying for the job.

Published in Editorials on May 29, 2017 9:09 PM