Nearly two weeks after Turkish forces and its proxies launched a military operation against Kurdish fighters in northeast Syria, Vice President Mike PenceMichael (Mike) Richard PenceGOP lawmaker: Trump administration 'playing checkers' in Syria while others are 'playing chess' Clinton trolls Trump with mock letter from JFK to Khrushchev White House officials work to tamp down controversies after a tumultuous week MORE flew to Turkey and struck a deal that pauses Ankaras campaign and facilitates a peaceful Kurdish withdrawal. In the meantime, the United States and its European partners continue to deliberate on a punitiveresponse.

The Trump administrationhas sanctionedthree Turkish ministries and two senior officials (per the agreement, those sanctions will be lifted once the Turks end their operation). France, Germany, Finland and the Netherlandshave suspendedarms sales. The Pentagon is even evaluating plans forthe removalof the 50 nuclear gravity bombs stationed at the Incirlik Air Base.

However, the most significant idea discussed bymembers of Congress,commentators,and European officialswas the termination of Turkeys membership in NATO. Defense Secretary Mark EsperMark EsperTrump: 'We have secured the Oil. Bringing soldiers home!' Amash rips Trump over move to send troops from Syria to Iraq Defense chief says US troops leaving Syria will go to western Iraq MORE suggested the Turkish incursion against the Kurds in Syria couldjeopardize its relationswith other NATO states.

Unfortunately, it is unlikely NATO could kick Turkey out of the alliance even if it wanted to. Whether or not Ankara should in fact be removed is up for debate. But going beyond Turkeys unique situation, the general question of introducing a punitive clause to the NATO charter is very much a legitimate one to consider. Indeed, it is a discussion that should have taken place at the end of the Cold War.

There is no mechanism to remove a NATO member. While Canada proposed an expulsion provisionin discussionsleading up to the establishment of NATO, the British were hesitant about the idea because it could send a message to the Soviet Union of NATO infighting.

Testifyingto the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1949, Secretary of State Dean Acheson commented that including an expulsion provision in the North Atlantic Treaty would cause considerable doubt among members before they were even inducted into the alliance.

Such a decision was logical at the time, when NATO was competing with a Soviet Union that threatened to dominate the European continent. But to state the obvious: The world changed dramatically between 1949 and 2019.

The Soviet Union has been dead for nearly 30 years. Europe has been a center of peace and prosperity for two decades. NATO has ballooned from 12 founding membersto 29, stretching as far East as Montenegro. And modern-day Russia, while prolific in asymmetric and covert operations, is an economic basket case that spends aboutone-tenthas much as the U.S. on its defense.

The only potential peer competitor today is China, a nation that is playing a much more sophisticated and multidimensional game than the old Soviet apparatchiks played during the Cold War.

NATOs charter, however, has remained stagnant. Much like the alliance itself, the charter has not changed with the times. It is as if the world is still stuck in the year 1949, with the one big difference being that NATO has expanded far beyond its original intent, incorporating small, geopolitically insignificant countries that either have meager defense budgets or militaries so small that they dont contribute to NATOs combat power. The larger NATO has grown, the more unaccountable its members have become.

Presidents for years have rightly decried the wide disparity in defense spending and military capacity between the United States and the rest of the alliance. Washingtons share of NATOs total defense expenditures isnearly 70percent, with only 7 of 29 member states meeting their 2 percent of GDP defense spending obligation.

The problems bleed into capability as well. Germany, for example, would be lucky to muster a brigade on short notice. Those forces that are deployable could very well be unprepared and under-equipped. European militaries in general have atrophied, with budgets only recently getting out of the red after years of cuts. If a conventional conflict occurred in Europe, the United States would be doing most of the fighting and suffer most of the casualties.

Much of this goes to the lack of accountability within NATO as a whole. As it stands, there is no mechanism in the North Atlantic Treaty to enforce compliance with NATOs Article 3 commitment, which calls for all members to maintain and develop their individual and collective capacity to resist armed attack. Wealthy nations have shirked their responsibilities and Washington has enabled this bad behavior by picking up their slack.

If there were ever a time when all 29 members should address what has turned out to be the most glaring omission in NATOs founding document, it is now. Letting the status quo continue, where the only way an offending member can be removed from the privileges NATO offers is by the offender removing it, is unsustainable and breeds further unaccountability.

No change will be easy. Reform is likely to cause friction internally. Member statespursuing policies that run counter to the alliances core tenants (like Turkey) will fight any formal amendments to the NATO charter in order tospare themselves the punishment.

In Turkeys case, it would be simpler for individual members to take unilateral but coordinated action against the Erdogan government by withholding security guarantees for as long as Ankara is in violation of the letter and spirit of the treaty.

Whatever the form, business as usual is not an option.

The sooner NATO ministers engage in the difficult conversations required to keep everyone honest, the sooner the free-riding and malign behavior can be punished and contained.

DanielR.DePetrisis a fellow at Defense Priorities.

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NATO ministers need to have difficult conversations to keep everyone honest | TheHill - The Hill