US President Donald Trump claims the NATO summit in Turkiye has been a “tremendous success.”
Leaders of the Western military alliance have spent the last year trying to show they’re capable of decreasing their reliance on America for defence. This summit was a chance to assess how that’s going.
Washington is looking to have fewer troops and equipment in Europe – as it senses greater danger to American interests in the Middle East and Asia.
Last year, the leaders of the NATO countries agreed to increase defence spending to 5% of GDP, with a view to replacing key capabilities that Europe has previously relied on America for: like early warning systems, long range rockets, and electronic intelligence gathering.
A year later…hundreds of billions of dollars on such equipment has been spent, and the NATO Secretary General says THIS summit has shown NATO nations in Europe and Canada are well on their way to that 5% target by 2035.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said, “This summit has shown that the alliance is stronger than ever; an alliance that is united and ready to defend every inch of our territory. Here in Ankara, allies reaffirmed their iron-clad commitment to the collective defence on the Article 5 – that an attack on one is an attack on all and we will stand together.”
US President Donald Trump, who has been sceptical of the value of NATO, said he’d had a great meeting. He said, “Great summit.”
But he’s still frustrated with those he doesn’t believe are pulling their weight – like Spain – which he threatened with trade restrictions – for refusing to spend 5% of GDP on defence like the other allies.
He also repeated his desire to “have” Greenland – a massive Danish island in the Arctic – prompting fierce pushback once again from Denmark’s capital Copenhagen.
However, he had friendly words – and gifts – for Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who Trump said could expect to receive the blueprints of America’s Patriot interceptor missile system so Ukraine could build them itself – which would allow it to better defend itself from Russian attacks – which was President Zelenskyy number 1 ask at this summit.
So NATO leaders will leave Ankara largely content that their efforts have been accepted by Washington – strengthening the unity of the alliance – and therefore better deterring adversaries like Russia.
-Reporting by Stuart Smith, SABC News, Ankara in Turkiye
