Papa Don’t Preach—NATO Grovels to Keep Trump Onside
Flattery, photo ops, and a royal red carpet replace tough talk on Ukraine and Russia, as NATO leaders gamble the alliance’s credibility to appease a president who once called it “obsolete.”
Lavishing praise, playing the royal card and copying his slogans – NATO pulled out all the stops to keep US President Donald Trump happy and hold the alliance together at a summit in The Hague. Far from the tense meetings of Trump's first term, much of the annual summit in The Hague seemed catered to the impulses and worldviews of the Republican president whose “America First” foreign policy ethos downplays the importance and influence of multilateral coalitions. The plan came off, although it largely avoided tough topics of vital importance to NATO such as the war in Ukraine, Russia strategy and a likely drawdown of US troops in Europe. Sooner or later, NATO will have to deal with them too. As NATO boss Mark Rutte had planned, the main summit outcomes were a vow by the allies to heed Trump's call to spend 5 percent of GDP on defence – a big increase on the current 2 percent target – and a renewed US commitment to NATO's mutual defence pact. That is a far cry from a few months ago, when transatlantic ties were so tense that Friedrich Merz, now Germany's chancellor, wondered openly after his election win whether NATO would exist in its current form by the time of the Hague summit. There was nothing subtle about NATO's strategy to keep Trump on board. Rutte gushed with compliments in a message to Trump, made public by the US president as he flew to The Hague. "You will achieve something NO American president in decades could get done," the former Dutch prime minister said in his message, putting some of his words in capitals like Trump. "Europe is going to pay in a BIG way, as they should, and it will be your win." - France 24
While President Trump’s vague pledge to provide more Patriot air defense systems offered a glimmer of reassurance to some in Ukraine, it was President Zelensky’s attire that dominated Ukrainian media coverage this morning. Photos of him in a suit—tie notably absent—at the state dinner in The Hague made the rounds as a subtle symbol of diplomacy under pressure. Meanwhile, in a rare moment of empathy, Trump responded to a Ukrainian journalist whose husband is serving on the frontline, acknowledging her personal sacrifice during a press exchange
But Ukraine was mostly a side dish on the NATO summit menu: there was not even a NATO-Ukraine Council, meaning Zelensky had to content himself with attending various side events and the social summit dinner with spouses. There was no language on membership in the Hague declaration, the shortest summit statement on record - RFE/RL
The cornerstone of the military alliance is Article 5, stating that an attack on one of the 32 NATO allies is an attack on all. And despite assurances from various US officials in the run-up to the summit that the United States was totally committed to it, Trump appeared to throw a curveball when speaking to the media before jetting out to the Netherlands by stating that “there are numerous definitions of Article 5.” This made European diplomats pulses race for a while. Speaking to RFE/RL under condition of anonymity, they pointed out that there is only one definition, but that there could be different definitions of what types of “assistance” allies must provide in the event of another ally being attacked. Article 5 has only been triggered once in NATO’s 76-year history -- by the United States after the 9/11 attacks. In the end, Trump appeared to tone down his previous statement by noting in his press briefing with the secretary-general that “we are with them all the way” while referring to other NATO partners - RFE/RL
President Donald Trump’s visit to The Hague was marked not just by diplomacy at the NATO summit, but also by his unexpected overnight stay at the Dutch royal palace. Skipping the luxury hotels of Noordwijk, he accepted an invitation to reside at Huis Ten Bosch, the Dutch royal palace nestled on the city’s leafy edge. There, he met with King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima, sharing smiles and photo ops in stark contrast to the tense atmosphere of the NATO summit - Euronews
Back in 2015, during my time as spokesperson for the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, I cited UNICEF in briefings that described Ukraine as one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. Tragically, the situation has only deteriorated. According to de-mining experts, the total area of contaminated agricultural land now spans at least 138,000 square kilometers—roughly the size of the U.S. state of Arkansas. I’ll be sharing more on this critical, yet often overlooked, pillar of Ukraine’s reconstruction—especially as we approach another Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome next month.
The gas coming through the pipes to supply 10 Downing Street, the official resident of the British prime minister, is provided by a firm linked to Russian fossil fuels - TotalEnergies Gas & Power, a subsidiary of the French fossil fuel giant, TotalEnergies. And it isn’t just Downing Street it's fueling. Much of Whitehall — the administrative center of the British state — is supplied with gas for heating, kitchens and hot water via a multi-year, multi-billion pound contract with the firm, known as ‘Supply of Energy 2,’ which could see up to £8 billion in British taxpayers’ money flowing to the energy multinational. But there’s a problem: TotalEnergies also trades in Russian gas. The energy giant holds a 20 percent stake in Yamal LNG — a sprawling energy complex in the wilderness of Russia's northern Siberia region, where huge fossil fuel reserves lie beneath the earth. Majority-owned by Russian private energy firm Novatek, this is where gas is processed for shipment — in liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers — to several European Union countries that are still, more than three years after Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, importing Russian LNG to fuel their economies. According to TotalEnergies, it supplies gas from Yamal under long-term contractual arrangements — pre-dating Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 — that it it cannot break. But it’s a trade flow that remains deeply controversial. EU imports of Russian LNG — in which TotalEnergies is one of the major players — were worth up to $8.5 billion (£6.3 billion) in 2024/25 according to an estimate from the Helsinki-based think tank the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. France, Spain and Belgium are the biggest importers. The LNG trade provides revenue for Russian fossil fuel companies that in turn generates tax income for the Kremlin — and helps fuel Putin’s war machine in Ukraine - Politico
A U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency report suggests that Iran’s nuclear program has been set back only a few months after U.S. strikes and was not “completely and fully obliterated” as President Donald Trump has said, according to two people familiar with the early assessment. Trump rejected this assessment and the White House called it “flat-out wrong.” Trump also announced that U.S. and Iranian officials will talk next week, giving rise to cautious hope for longer-term peace even as Tehran insists it will not give up its nuclear program - AP
Chinese President Xi Jinping will not attend next week’s Brics summit in Rio de Janeiro, marking his first-ever absence from the gathering of leading emerging economies, the Post learned from multiple sources. According to officials familiar with the matter, Beijing told the Brazilian government that Xi had a scheduling conflict. Instead, Premier Li Qiang is expected to lead the Chinese delegation, as he did at the G20 summit in India in 2023. Chinese involved in preparations, they said, cited Xi’s having met with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva twice in less than a year – first at the G20 summit and state visit to Brasília last November, and again in May during the China-Celac forum in Beijing – as a reason for his absence - SCMP
As the summer transfer window approaches, speculation is intensifying over the future of Argentine legend Lionel Messi and whether the Saudi Pro League could be his next destination. After historic moves that brought Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, and Neymar Jr. to Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom’s top clubs are once again looking to land one of the biggest names in football. According to Saudi reports, Al Hilal and Al Ahli has emerged as a potential suitor in what could become a defining moment in the league’s rise as a global football force. Messi had previously considered joining the Saudi Pro League in 2023 before opting for a move to Inter Miami. In an interview with TIME Magazine, he confirmed: “I was thinking a lot about going to the Saudi league. I know the country... and because of the effort they are putting into creating a top competition.” Saudi Arabia’s league has become increasingly attractive to elite players, particularly following deals with Ronaldo (Al Nassr), Benzema (Al Ittihad), and Neymar (Al Hilal). Messi also serves as a tourism ambassador for Saudi Arabia - Saudi Gazette
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