MOSCOW, July 15, Renat Abdullin. At the NATO summit, we agreed on new arms supplies to Kyiv. This, as always, is not enough for Zelensky, but they dealt with not only Ukrainian problems. The political future of the United States is unclear, and this is very worrying for the collective West.
European DilemmaThe recent Biden-Trump debate has attracted worldwide attention. Both sociologists and politicians awarded victory to the Republican. The EU is seriously worried.
US President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump during the presidential debate
< br>
As several American publications reported simultaneously, at the NATO summit European leaders tried to “build bridges” with Trump — through people who worked on his team and could join the new administration.
In particular, according to the Financial Times (FT), on the sidelines, EU representatives “wooed” former Secretary of the National Security Council Staff Keith Kellogg and former Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo. “We had a number of meetings with prime ministers, national security advisers, secretaries of defense, foreign affairs and ambassadors,” Kellogg said.
It is not without reason that he has attracted the interest of Europeans. It was Kellogg who was among the authors of the report on how Trump (if elected) intends to force Moscow and Kyiv to sit down at the negotiating table. The Republican promises peace even before taking office, that is, before January 20, 2025.
Foreign embassies in Washington are also increasingly focusing on establishing contacts with a potential Trump administration. Diplomats are taking into account the experience of the 2016 elections: then no one fully believed that the Republican businessman would win, and after he entered the White House, they had to quickly change tactics.
Explicit and vague hints At the same time, Kellogg clarified to Reuters: he participated in negotiations with the Europeans not as a representative of the Trump campaign headquarters (and the likely administration), but on his own.
Three other former officials involved in foreign policy under Trump, admitted that European delegations approached them with a proposal to meet during the NATO summit. It didn’t work out, mostly due to scheduling conflicts.
Joseph Keith Kellogg
Nevertheless, the head of the government of North Macedonia, Christian Mickoski, spoke with Richard Grenell, former acting. O. Trump's Director of National Intelligence. The prime minister himself published a joint photo on social networks.
Trump’s main complaint against his NATO partners is the failure of many of them to fulfill their financial obligations. The United States invests the most in the alliance, he noted, this needs to be reconsidered.
On the opening day of the summit, Trump (who was not present at the event) demanded that European countries allocate $100 billion to Ukraine to “restore balance.” “Rogue Joe never even asked to do this,” he was once again outraged by Biden’s behavior.
In this regard, EU leaders at the NATO summit focused, among other things, “on explaining to ordinary American taxpayers that the military alliance is worth its money «, emphasizes The Guardian.
«There is a debate in the United States that the United States is doing a lot to support Ukraine, and Europe is not doing enough. If you look at the numbers, the picture is actually different. Europe is doing more than the United States: financial support, military support, which we «Everyone's impact so far has been enormous. <…> We take security and defense seriously,» Latvian President Edgars Rinkević said during a speech alongside former CIA director Leon Panetto. He, however, held responsible positions under democratic administrations (Clinton and Obama), so he is unlikely to convey the Latvian message to Trump.
Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur tried to play on Trump's famous hobby. «When you pay your dues at a golf club, you can play. It doesn't matter how big your wallet is,» he noted.
Again, it is unknown whether Trump will hear this. His protégé, House Speaker Mike Johnson, has promised that Congress will pressure Europeans to spend at least two percent of GDP on defense, as required by the rules. “NATO needs to do more,” he explained. “Not everyone is fulfilling its obligations. It is possible that it will need to get closer to the level of the Cold War.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson talks to reporters after a meeting with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky
Insurance against TrumpTalk about the danger of the anti-European Republican returning to the White House is not new. Back in April, NATO leaders discussed the possibility of agreeing on an aid package for Ukraine that Trump, if he came to power, could not cancel.
This topic was also raised at the recent summit. The new Prime Minister of Great Britain, Labor Party member Keir Starmer, noted that it is necessary to secure financial obligations to Kiev in such a way that no US administration could block them.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer
Some, however, considered Trump's statements about peace and a possible reduction in aid to Ukraine as bravado. “We must respond to actions, not words,” said, in particular, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski.
“I firmly believe that US President Donald Trump also wants to be the leader of the free world and he will not allow Ukraine to lose, because a lot is at stake,” emphasized Estonian Minister Pevkur.
New hopes and threats Bloomberg sources report that Biden's speech at the summit inspired those present and convinced that losing the debate to Trump does not mean final defeat.
“I saw a strong president,” rejoiced Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof. “He— the president, the person with whom we do business.»
Some observers believe the «threat» of Trump's return is a useful boost to Washington's NATO partners. “It is in Europe’s interest to make its defense independent and act on the basis that the United States has other, more urgent national security priorities,” said Dan Caldwell, a policy adviser at the Defense Priorities think tank who served in the Trump administration.
U.S. President Joe Biden at a press conference following the NATO summit in Washington
And we are not just talking about arms supplies to Ukraine. Politico, citing sources, writes: Europe is concerned about Trump’s intentions to reduce the exchange of intelligence. Unnamed officials learned about this just during consultations on the sidelines of the Washington summit.
This could weaken Europe's ability to confront Russia, they say. And they refer to the fact that it was the United States that was the first to warn about the inevitability of the NWO. Whether this is true or not is an open question, but under Biden, information sharing has indeed reached unprecedented levels. We have developed a new strategy, with Russia at the center. In addition, they began to monitor more closely not only Eastern Europe, but also, for example, African countries.
What, if any, is included in Trump’s plans is not clear. During his first term, his administration complied with all data-sharing obligations with NATO and the Five Eyes intelligence-military alliance (Australia, Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the United States). The threat is probably exaggerated; Trump will only cancel Biden’s innovations.
If he goes further, then Europe may refuse. Then both sides will lose. Therefore, for now, all this looks more like a hoax so that the EU understands: more needs to be invested in NATO, otherwise the alliance will lose its meaning.