Will NATO survive Donald Trump?

Will NATO survive Donald Trump?

WASHINGTON. Concerns about the future of the Western military alliance are increasing before the summit today in Brussels

Protests against Trump's participation at the NATO summit in Brussels

Letters mark, stands in front of his supporters against the allies and meets after the NATO summit from today. demonstrative with Vladimir Putin. The concern for the future of the Alliance is growing on both sides of the Atlantic.

Kay Bailey Hutchison spreads confidence before the NATO meeting in Brussels. "It will be a very substantial summit, with a lot of flesh on the bone," predicts the US ambbadador of NATO. "NATO does a lot of things that the president has demanded," she said.

In fact, there is every reason for Trump to be satisfied. Thanks to the joint efforts, the 29 partner countries have considerably strengthened their defense preparations in recent months. Slowly but surely, members are moving towards the 2014 goal of increasing their share of defense spending to two percent of GDP within ten years. But the reality is different. The soothing words on both sides of the Atlantic face tangible fears of the Brussels summit. "Will the Trump of NATO survive?" The Washington Post summarizes the generalized uncertainty.

A security problem

Trump, badure NATO diplomats, gave no instructions to prepare a strategic coup for Brussels. But it is obvious that there is a contradiction between this rebadurance and the president's rhetoric.

Trump gave a glimpse of his thought. A few days after the US media reported a withdrawal of the 35,000 US troops from Germany and letters of complaint about the amount of the contribution to NATO in Berlin and in other capitals, the US President has publicly questioned the security guarantees for Europe. He told Angela, "I can not guarantee you, but we protect you." Once again, the president read Germany because of its low expenditure for the defense of the Levites. And then linked to his complaint about the allegedly unfair trade of what he considers to be safe parasitism. "They kill us in the trade … they kill us with NATO."

The experts point out that this trial had already been raised by other US presidents. What's new is the way Trump uses the subject to actively undermine the Alliance. The US president took the optimists on the wrong foot last month at the G7 summit. This time, there are threats to European security if Trump makes concessions to Crimea at the next summit with Putin.

The former Italian ambbadador to NATO, Stefano Stefanini, expresses what many fear. "Linking security and trade can destroy the basis of NATO". (spang)

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