With only four countries in the bloc — the United States, Japan, Australia and India — and with dissension in the ranks, it’s unlikely that a NATO-style alliance will ever emerge in the Eastern Hemisphere. It cannot work without consensus.

Since the late 1990s, China and Russia coordinated their diplomatic efforts to serve mutual interests and simultaneously oppose US global hegemony. A ‘Eurasian’ worldview began to concretize after the NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. In response to NATO and US unilateralism, China and Russia became more concerned with protecting concepts of sovereignty and territorial integrity within the rules-based international order.

The SCO, which is jointly led by Beijing and Moscow, has become the most prominent Eurasian regional security organization. Even so, its defense and institutional capabilities lag behind those of NATO.

Trump’s antics have frayed the transatlantic alliance.

Put simply, President Trump thinks that Europe and other allies have profited too much at the US’ expense and that the US should stop being such a sucker. That view will shape trans-Atlantic relations for the duration of this presidency.

Soft power can reach goals through attraction and persuasion rather than threats of coercion or offers of payment. Information warfare can be used offensively to disempower rivals, and this could be considered “negative soft power.” By attacking the values of others, one can reduce their attractiveness and thus their relative soft power.

Physically, THAAD serves as an Iron Curtain to intercept incoming missiles from North Korea. Separate national security interests have supplanted Cold War ideology, but THAAD could influence competing alliances and block cooperation among the countries involved in the “Six Party Talks.”

The Trump administration has been surprisingly brusque with demands that NATO allies meet their financial defense targets quickly. However, the US push for more military spending by European allies is less about European security than about freeing up more of Washington’s own resources to deal with issues in Asia.