Yuri Grips / Epa
Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte and US President Donald Trump, in the White House Oval Room
Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte tore this Thursday at the White House Donald Trump of praise. The president of the United States did the same: he also ripped himself from self-compliance.
In the middle of the White House, this Thursday, Mark Rutte repeatedly praised the host Donald Trump.
But I didn’t need to. As it has been an impression, the US President has fulfilled the task of self-compliance; and even complained the laurels for the strengthening of NATO.
At a meeting preceded by Trump’s threats that the United States would not defend NATO allies that did not meet the Goals of Military Expenses, Rutte, former Wtword-Minister, gave merit to the US President for the largest investment of allies in defense, in the current term and also in the previous (2017-2021): “It’s amazing what happened in the last two weeks”.
Trump responded by recalling how he pressured members of the Atlantic Alliance, assuring them that he would not defend them in case of attack (which would violate article 5 of the organization), and that Thanks to him “the swim became strong”.
Precisely, two weeks ago the European Union (EU) pledged to increase its military expenses by.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine three years ago led the countries of East of Europe, Baltic and Scandinavia to increase their investments in defense, fearing to be Moscow’s next target.
NATO has established as an objective that each member should spend at least 2% of their GDP in defense, a goal that eight of the 32 countries of the NATO have not yet met, case of Portugal.
Rutte said allies want to work with Trump: “Allies want to work together with the next summit preparation [que terá lugar na cidade holandesa de Haia, em junho]to ensure that we have a nato actually reinforced under your leadership, ”he added.
Many compliments… and Granelândia
Despite the compliments, the NATO leader did not get rid of an embarrassment before the US President.
Trump reiterated that for “security reasons” wants to attach Grolândiaautonomous territory of Denmark, an ally of the NATO.
“I think this will happen (…) you know, Mark, we need this for international security. We have our usual thieves to wander close to our backs and we have to be careful. We will talk to you again about it, ”said Trump, in an apparent reference to Russia and China.
“I don’t want to drag the born to this issue”answered the ’embarrassed’ Mark Rutte.
Still, the secretary general of NATO considered that, “with regard to the Arctic and the extreme north, President Trump is absolutely right ”.
“The Chinese are now using these routes. We know that the Russians are rewarding themselves … So it is very important that the seven countries of the Arctic, taking Russia, working together on this issue, under the aegis of the United States, to ensure the safety of this region, ”said the maximum responsible of the Atlantic alliance.
