NATO

Canada and NATO allies asked by Rubio to increase defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP

Canada and other NATO allies were met by a request from the Trump administration to massively hike defence spending at the military pact’s meeting of foreign affairs ministers Thursday in Brussels.

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, who attended the meeting, declined to say whether she thought Canada could increase military expenditures to reach 5 per cent of gross domestic product, as Mr. Rubio requested. “I’m not into speculation,” she said in an interview.

Canada currently spends about 1.37 per cent of its annual economic output on defence and has pledged to reach 2 per cent by 2030. No NATO ally has so far committed to increasing 5 per cent, although Mr. Rubio said Thursday the United States plans to do so.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inNATO

Obama’s NATO Ambassador: Europe Capable of Running NATO Without US

As CEO of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and former U.S. ambassador to NATO in the Obama administration, Ivo Daalder is a member in good standing of the foreign policy establishment. In a recent piece on the Foreign Affairs website, Daalder, after the obligatory criticism of Donald Trump’s alleged undermining of NATO, concludes that Trump has been right all along: Europe is “fully capable of ensuring [its] future security [and] [t]he time to start is now.” NATO faces the worst crisis in its 76-year history, Daalder writes, because Trump has “questioned the two core principles” of the alliance: its shared threat perception and its commitment to collective defense.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inNATO, USA

Trump won’t kill Nato, the alliance is already dead

President Trump is considering giving up US command of Nato, held by American generals since Dwight D Eisenhower became the first supreme commander 75 years ago. This has further shaken those already panicking about the prospect that Trump might be contemplating pulling out of the alliance altogether. They are right to panic about the state of Nato – but not because of Trump.

We hear never-ending boasts that Nato is the most successful defensive alliance in history. Perhaps it was once, although that was never really put to the test.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inNATO

“Disastrous”: Report Gives Damning Verdict On German Army

It is “premature” for Germany to consider sending its soldiers to Ukraine, warns the Armed Forces Commissioner.

A new report released this week gives a damning assessment of the capabilities of the German army, highlighting its “disastrous” infrastructure, and calling it “premature” for its soldiers to be sent on a peacekeeping mission to Ukraine.

Presenting the report on Tuesday, March 11th, Eva Högl, the Armed Forces Commissioner of the Bundestag, said the Bundeswehr (armed forces) “still has too little of everything” despite a €100-billion special fund, established in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which was supposed to improve recruitment, develop infrastructure, and speed up new weapons procurement.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Ukraine - Russia", Germany, NATO

J.D. Tuccille: America steps down as the world’s policeman

Anybody clinging to the hope that the United States will continue its post-Second World War role as the world’s policeman without major changes was likely disabused of that notion during the tumultuous Feb. 28 White House meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Perhaps the most astonishing part of that clash was that Trump was — for him — relatively restrained. Vice-President J.D. Vance seemed determined to derail the meeting and Zelenskyy apparently came looking for a fight. In the end, it was clear that, going forward, the United States government will assist other countries on its own terms, and only if there’s something to be gained.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, EU, Europe, NATO, USA

Trump issues stark new warning to NATO allies: ‘If they don’t pay, I’m not going to defend them’

President Donald Trump warned NATO allies on Thursday that if they don’t pay up, the U.S. won’t come to their defense if they’re attacked.

The president, since his first term, has pushed for other members of the alliance to spend 5% of their gross domestic product on defense.

Now he’s threatening to change U.S. policy when it comes to NATO’s Article Five – which states if one member is attacked, all countries in the alliance must respond – if they don’t pony up.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inNATO, President Trump

Could Trump Exit the North Atlantic Treaty — or Just Declare That Article V Isn’t a Suicide Pact?

Fear is growing in Western capitals that President Trump will yank America out of the North Atlantic Treaty. An untested law, enacted in 2022, requires an act of Congress or approval by the Senate before such a move, but the 1949 treaty includes a loophole to abandon the alliance regardless.

“Get us out of NATO,” the Utah Republican, Senator Lee, wrote Saturday on X. In a December post, he called the alliance “a great deal — for Europe,” responding to a graph showing that America pays 70.5 percent of the alliance’s total.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inNATO, USA

Elon Musk Suggests America Should Leave NATO as the Alliance’s Members Rally to Zelensky During London Summit

Elon Musk is calling on America to leave the North Atlantic Treaty Organization altogether following President Trump’s public fight with President Zelensky in the Oval Office, which led many of the alliance’s leaders to reaffirm their support for Ukraine. Neither Mr. Trump nor Vice President Vance are attending the European summit of NATO leaders at London this week.

Late Saturday night, Mr. Musk wrote on his social media platform X that America should exit the alliance, which includes 30 European countries, Canada, and the United States.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Ukraine - Russia", NATO, WTF?

Former Nato commander warns end of alliance could be ‘days away’

Nato could be in its final days, a former Supreme Allied Commander has warned, as America’s commitment to the transatlantic alliance wavers.

Admiral James Stavridis, who served as Nato’s Europe commander from 2009-2013, said we could be witnessing the “last days” of the alliance and the start of a new “European Treaty Organisation”.

Donald Trump’s insistence on European leaders increasing their defence budgets, combined with his falling out with Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office, has sparked concern among members of the alliance.

NATO Secretary General calls for Zelensky to ‘restore relationship’ with Trump following Oval Office clash

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte called on March 1 for President Volodymyr Zelensky to mend relations with U.S. President Donald Trump following a tense exchange in White House a day prior.

Zelensky left Washington early without signing a mineral deal with the United States following a tense argument in front of journalists between the two leaders. Trump later reportedly ordered his officials to tell the Ukrainian delegation to leave the White House, despite protest from the Ukrainians.

Speaking to the BBC, Rutte said that it was “important that President Zelensky finds a way to restore his relationship with the American president and with the senior American leadership team.”

h/t XC

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Ukraine - Russia", NATO, President Trump

The end of the transatlantic alliance

Europe has lost its way

There is no longer any doubt that Europe and America are parting ways. The death of the transatlantic relationship was foretold many times, but at the Munich Security Conference this weekend, it finally ended.

The great American-European divorce has played out in three areas — Ukraine, free speech, and trade. Last week, Donald Trump blindsided the Europeans with his announcement of peace talks with Vladimir Putin. (He said he would do this during his election campaign, but Europe’s leaders were clearly not paying attention.) Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, told the Europeans on Saturday that they will not be included in high-level peace negotiations.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inEurope, NATO, USA

U.S. says all NATO members should meet 2% defence spending target by June

The White House said Thursday that it expects all NATO members to be spending at least two per cent of their GDP on defence by the alliance’s next summit — four months from now.

The demand further ramps up pressure on allies like Canada — which has long missed the spending target and doesn’t plan to meet it for another seven years — from U.S. President Donald Trump, who is pushing for drastic defence spending increases and reducing reliance on U.S. security.

Goodbye NATO?

‘NATO Is Dead’ Might Be an Overstatement, but Markets Are Behaving as If It Were True

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inNATO

Europe’s Leaders, Dazed by an Ally Acting Like an Adversary, Recalculate

Faced with undisguised hostility from the Trump administration, Europeans are preparing for what is shaping up to be a go-it-alone era.

For years, European leaders have fretted about reducing their dependence on a wayward United States. On Monday, at a hastily arranged meeting in Paris, the hand-wringing gave way to harried acceptance of a new world in which Europe’s most powerful ally has begun acting more like an adversary.

President Trump’s plan to negotiate a peace settlement in Ukraine with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, with neither the Ukrainians nor Europeans invited to take part, has forced dazed leaders in capitals like Berlin, London and Paris to confront a series of hard choices, painful trade-offs and costly new burdens.

So the emerging consensus narrative is to smear President Trump’s administration as “adversarial” for asking fellow NATO members to pony up their fair share if they want a seat at the table.

No pay no play was inevitable and they’ve known it for years.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inEurope, NATO, President Trump, USA