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NATO Chief Praises ‘Daddy’ Trump: ‘Man of Peace’

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NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Wednesday welcomed President Donald Trump to the alliance summit at The Hague by praising him as a “man of strength,” a “man of peace,” and the “daddy” who got Iran and Israel to stop fighting like “two kids in a school yard.”

Rutte summed up the 12-Day War between Iran and Israel, saying, “They fight like hell. You can’t stop them. Let them fight for about two, three minutes. Then it’s easier to stop them. Then, daddy has to sometimes use strong language.”

The NATO secretary was making a humorous allusion to Trump’s use of profanity when he complained about Iran and Israel breaking the ceasefire he had negotiated.

“We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f**k they’re doing,” Trump grumbled to reporters on Tuesday.

Trump’s F-bomb was the most surprising bit of American ordnance to be dropped during the 12-Day War and, while the president was initially criticized for employing salty language in a public statement, he did manage to get everyone back onside with the ceasefire. (Read more from “NATO Chief Praises ‘Daddy’ Trump: ‘Man of Peace’” HERE)

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Trump Heads to NATO Summit Demanding ‘Freeloading’ Allies Pay Their Fair Share

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President Donald Trump departed for the annual NATO summit at The Hague on Tuesday, hoping to claim another major foreign policy victory as most NATO allies have already agreed to his demand to boost defense spending after the president called out the European nations for “freeloading” and taking advantage of American military protection.

NATO countries, except Spain, agreed in preliminary talks to increase defense spending to 5% of their gross domestic product, a significant increase from the previous 2% target that many allies struggled to meet.

The spending commitment is divided into two parts: 3.5% for traditional military spending, such as air defense and recruitment, while the remaining 1.5% can include infrastructure like roads and bridges that troops could use.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has resisted the spending increase, arguing that it would strain the country’s extensive welfare state.

“We fully respect the legitimate desire of other countries to increase their defence investment, but we are not going to do it,” Sanchez said. In 2024, Spain’s defense expenditure as a share of GDP stood at a measly 1.28%, the lowest of any NATO country. (Read more from “Trump Heads to NATO Summit Demanding ‘Freeloading’ Allies Pay Their Fair Share” HERE)

Ukraine Could Be Offered Automatic NATO Membership if Russia Welches on Peace Deal: Report

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Ukraine’s future membership of the NATO alliance may play the role of both carrot and stick to encourage more civilized behavior from Russia in future, a report claims.

Unfortunately for Ukraine itself, which makes a great deal of wanting to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) to guarantee itself against future Russian aggression, it now seems all but impossible as war peace talks begin. While Russia is obviously against the idea, the United States is also reluctant under President Trump, just as it was under President Biden.

Even European states, who are generally the most enthusiastic backers of Kyiv and who say they support membership one day have proven very reluctant to agree to it immediately. Several European states have argued that Ukraine isn’t ready to be a member of organisations like NATO or the European Union and that, in any case, it would be foolhardy to induct a new member that is already at war and partially occupied by a foreign power.

But that NATO question has a place in negotiations nevertheless, says broadcaster NBC, which cites unnamed U.S. talks “officials” who state it can be used as a security guarantee for Ukraine by limiting Russia’s appetite for further adventurism. As reported, under the alleged plan Ukraine would not be given NATO membership now, but a mechanism would be created that would instantly award that status on Kyiv if Russia violated the future Donald Trump-negotiated Ukraine peace deal. (Read more from “Ukraine Could Be Offered Automatic NATO Membership if Russia Welches on Peace Deal: Report” HERE)

NATO Chief Warns Alliance Not Ready for Future Threats From Russia, China

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NATO countries need to ramp up their defense spending and “shift to a wartime mindset” because the alliance is not ready to meet future military threats from adversaries like Russia and China, newly installed NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Thursday.

In his first public appearance in Brussels since becoming chief of the U.S.-led security alliance, Mr. Rutte noted that NATO members earmarked upwards of 3% of their GDP to defense during the Cold War.

“We are not ready for what is coming our way in four to five years. Danger is moving toward us at full speed,” Mr. Rutte said during a speech hosted by the Carnegie Europe think tank. “We must not look the other way. We must face it.”

He said Russian arms factories are churning out war equipment around the clock while China’s military-industrial base also is growing. Beijing is heavily investing in munitions, accelerating its space capabilities and expanding its nuclear arsenal.

“Our defense industry here in Europe has been hollowed out by decades of underinvestment and narrow national industrial interests. Our industry is too small, too fragmented, and too slow,” Mr. Rutte said. “According to some sources, China is acquiring high-end weapons systems and equipment five to six times faster than the U.S.” (Read more from “NATO Chief Warns Alliance Not Ready for Future Threats From Russia, China” HERE)

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Britain’s Risky Move In Ukraine That May Make Nuclear War With Russia Scarily More Likely

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Deploying British troops to Ukraine could be like a “declaration of war against Russia” and cause a “nuclear exchange”, an expert has told the Daily Express.

French newspaper Le Monde claimed that talks between the UK and France over sending soldiers to Ukraine have been reignited and that the move is not being ruled out.

A British military source said: “Discussions are under way between the UK and France regarding defence cooperation, particularly with the aim of creating a core of allies in Europe, focused on Ukraine and broader European security.”

Security and defence expert Nicholas Drummond told the Daily Express such a plan would be disastrous and could lead to an all-out war.

He added that the British Army is not even ready for conflict with Russia and warned that Vladimir Putin’s “dangerous” mindset could result in “disastrous” consequences. (Read more from “Britain’s Risky Move In Ukraine That May Make Nuclear War With Russia Scarily More Likely” HERE)

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Get Ready for a ‘Wartime Scenario’ in Europe and Be Wary of Russia and China, Top NATO Officer Warns

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Europeans must be ready to sacrifice some “luxuries” to pay to support Ukraine and to prevent a “wartime scenario” coming to the nations of the continent if they are insufficiently prepared, NATO’s most senior military officer said in a speech namechecking both Russia and China as threats.

NATO’s Admiral Rob Bauer, the Dutch naval officer who is chair of the NATO Military Committee addressed a conference of the European Policy Centre think tank on Monday, and while asserting the alliance is more ready now “than it has ever been”, delivered a somewhat pessimistic message of the need for preparedness for conflict. In a speech aimed at businesses across the alliance, the Admiral outlined that businesses had to be ready for war, but by improving their readiness they also reduced the likelihood of future fighting by improving NATO’s level of deterrence.

The scale of spending needed to keep the peace in Europe is such that ordinary people would feel the pinch in the pocketbook, Admiral Bauer said, calling on politicians to provide strong leadership to make the case this is necessary to voters. He said: “if you ramp up your deterrence and if you ramp up support to Ukraine, there will be less money to spend on other things. It will take away some of our luxuries, it will require sacrifice.”

Also implied is the extra cost on businesses, making a shift away from efficient, cost-cutting but fragile ‘just in time’ models to more robust practices to make businesses in America and Europe more insulated to shock. This itself increases the deterrence of NATO to its adversaries, he said, because knowing Western economies can’t be knocked over by the hybrid warfare of a sudden supply shock denies that weapon to those who would weaponise trade. (Read more from “Get Ready for a ‘Wartime Scenario’ in Europe and Be Wary of Russia and China, Top NATO Officer Warns” HERE)

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Trump Meets With NATO Chief Amid Promises of Massive Shakeup

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President-elect Donald Trump met with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte at Mar-a-Lago as the organization fears a shakeup following his victory.

The meeting, first revealed in a statement late on Saturday, took place on Friday. The statement said that the two “discussed the range of global security issues facing the Alliance.”

“The Secretary General and his team also met with Congressman Mike Waltz and members of the President-elect’s national security team,” it added.

In a post on X after the meeting, Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) echoed Trump’s line on the organization following his 2016 campaign.

“A strong NATO that restores deterrence and peace requires all member nations to do their part commensurate with their economic strength!” he said.

(Read more from “Trump Meets With NATO Chief Amid Promises of Massive Shakeup” HERE)

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Blinken Assures NATO Biden Will Funnel Billions to Ukraine Prior to Trump Return

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Outgoing Secretary of State Antony Blinken began a farewell visit to the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels, Belgium, on Wednesday in which he repeatedly insisted that President Joe Biden would “push every dollar out the door that we have at our disposal” to Ukraine.

Blinken met with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and Ukraine’s newly minted foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, asserting that the Biden’s administration secured $8 billion in Ukraine spending in September and would continue to find way to supply Ukraine with “the air defenses it needs, that has the artillery it needs, that has the armored vehicles it needs” to fight Russia.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 shortly after Biden lifted sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, which would have dramatically increased Russian natural gas exports to western Europe, particularly Germany. President-elect Donald Trump sanctioned the pipeline project during his first term as a means of depriving Russian strongman of the funds necessary to conduct more belligerent activity in eastern Europe; Putin initially invaded Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and colonized it in 2014. Biden’s move to rescind the sanctions prompted shock and condemnation in Kyiv, where President Volodymyr Zelensky declared himself “very unpleasantly surprised” by the news.

Biden has supported the funding of the Ukrainian military since the full-scale invasion to the tune of tens of billions of dollars, but has done little to support negotiations with the aim of ending the conflict. Trump, in contrast, vowed to end the fighting as soon as possible to prevent the further destruction of the Ukrainian state. Zelensky enthusiastically welcomed the news last week that Trump would return to office and was among the first world leaders to congratulate him and speak to him directly following the election. (Read more from “Blinken Assures NATO Biden Will Funnel Billions to Ukraine Prior to Trump Return” HERE)

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NATO Summit Swirls With Rumors of Foreign Leaders ‘Alarmed’ and Embarrassed by Biden

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The annual NATO summit this week was marred by multiple reports of anonymous diplomats fretting that its host, President Joe Biden, was mentally incapable of running the country and would soon vacate the presidency of NATO’s most important country.

Unnamed European officials described themselves as to Politico journalists as “alarmed” in a report published on Thursday, while Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group, cited rumors that Biden had an episode in which he did not recognize someone he was believed to know well and would repeat himself often in interactions with other world leaders.

The reports preceded rumors published in the D.C. outlet Axios that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a premier guest at the NATO summit, was watching with mounting concern the increasingly frenetic debate in America about Biden’s capacity to fulfill his duties. The report preceded Biden referring to Zelensky as “[Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin” in a public engagement on Thursday.

Later that night, in a press conference American media described as a “big boy” press conference as he was expected to take questions, Biden referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump,” again concerning onlookers.

Prior to those gaffes, however, NATO summit attendees were already speaking candidly of “alarm” surrounding Biden’s mental state. (Read more from “NATO Summit Swirls With Rumors of Foreign Leaders ‘Alarmed’ and Embarrassed by Biden” HERE)

It Took a War for NATO Members to Actually Take Their Obligations Seriously With Biden at the Helm

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Despite President Joe Biden’s claims that he helped strengthen NATO, a transatlantic alliance critically reliant on the U.S., it wasn’t until a war broke out in Eastern Europe that alliance members started taking its defense spending commitments seriously.

Biden has boasted on numerous occasions that he made NATO more powerful than former President Donald Trump did, helping to expand the alliance and restore its reputation on the global stage. But NATO members were spending less on defense under Biden until the Russia-Ukraine war broke out, prompting the alliance to finally increase spending, according to official alliance documents.

Biden claimed during a debate against former President Donald Trump on Thursday that NATO was “strong” under his administration and bragged about how he got “50 other nations around the world to support Ukraine,” warning that Trump would pull out of the alliance if reelected.

His comments echo remarks made weeks and months earlier, in which he claimed his administration was responsible for NATO’s success.

“Trump wants to eviscerate NATO. He thinks NATO is useless,” Biden told Time in an interview in June. “NATO is considerably stronger than it was when I took office. I put it together. Not only did I reestablish the fact that it was the strongest alliance in the history of the world, I was able to expand it.” (Read more from “It Took a War for NATO Members to Actually Take Their Obligations Seriously With Biden at the Helm” HERE)

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