Trump’s Meeting At NATO Was Cordial and Contentious (VIDEO)

President Trump met with fellow NATO leaders today in Brussels and, according to reports, the atmosphere was a little chilly. Let me use the tweet storm by former US NATO ambassador, Ivo Daalder as a point of departure.

1/ President Trump addressed NATO today in Brussels, and it did not go well. #thread https://t.co/3TURgpRalT

— Ivo Daalder (@IvoHDaalder) May 25, 2017

2/ After calling NATO “obsolete” Trump needed to say what every predecessor since Truman has said: The US is committed to Art 5

— Ivo Daalder (@IvoHDaalder) May 25, 2017

3/ He didn’t. This is a major blow to the Alliance. At the core of NATO is the unconditional commitment to collective defense

— Ivo Daalder (@IvoHDaalder) May 25, 2017

4/ Instead of reaffirming this core commitment, Trump lectured NATO about spending more on defense

— Ivo Daalder (@IvoHDaalder) May 25, 2017

5/ He’s right. They should. And they are. 23 countries increased defense spending last year. 8 countries will spend 2% on military next year

— Ivo Daalder (@IvoHDaalder) May 25, 2017

6/ All allies committed in 2014 to spend at least 2% on defense by 2024. They did so because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

— Ivo Daalder (@IvoHDaalder) May 25, 2017

7/ Trump could have thanked allies for increasing their spending and urged them to accelerate the timetable by a few years

— Ivo Daalder (@IvoHDaalder) May 25, 2017

8/ Certainly, the threat from Russia warrants increased spending. NATO countries see Russia as the greatest threat to their security

— Ivo Daalder (@IvoHDaalder) May 25, 2017

9/ So, by the way, does the top US general https://t.co/VTFQU5xoYf

— Ivo Daalder (@IvoHDaalder) May 25, 2017

10/ But Trump said barely anything about Russia, focusing instead on threat of terrorism and immigration on which allies are divided

— Ivo Daalder (@IvoHDaalder) May 25, 2017

11/ Trump’s first NATO meeting was an opportunity to unite the Alliance. Unfortunately, NATO today is more divided than ever. || end

— Ivo Daalder (@IvoHDaalder) May 25, 2017

These are my thoughts.

First, not stressing Article 5 is a major missed opportunity. The Baltic States and Poland are really interested in the mutual defense part of the Treaty and they are putting their necks on the chopping block by hosting US armored forces and building up their internal defense capacity. Both Estonia and Latvia have very large ethnic Russian populations and they are afraid the same thing will happen to them that happened to Ukraine if there is no US skin in the game.

Pushing the NATO allies, particularly Germany, on defense spending was the right thing to do. They might not have liked to hear it but they needed to hear it. Reaching a 2006 spending target in 2024 is not a major commitment to European defense by Europeans.

Trump now admonishing NATO leaders, like class of truants that didn’t do their French homework. They must “meet their financial obligations”

— HansNichols (@HansNichols) May 25, 2017

Trump should have talked Russia because Russia was the 800-lb gorilla in the corner at the NATO meeting but Trump was right to talk about things like terrorism and immigration which are the major real-world threats facing NATO. Both of those factors are inextricably linked to the Russian ability to make mischief.

Overall, this was a subpar performance. I think he hit on differences when he could have focused on commonalities and he did little to dispel the anxiety that his campaign rhetoric caused in Eastern Europe.

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