Updates on the NATO Summit: Trump says the Alliance is "delinquent" on military spending

Heads of State taking care not to mislead Mr. Trump, Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, became the most prominent and virulent critic of the continent against the President .

Tusk, one of the leaders of the European Union, has no formal role in NATO, but the two groups overlap widely. On Tuesday, they signed a declaration of cooperation.

Tusk has made it clear that he is very attentive to the summit, that he has a megaphone and that he is not afraid to use it. By adjusting and refuting Mr. Trump, often slyly and sometimes very directly, his comments are widely seen as reflecting what other European leaders think but do not want to say publicly.

The United States "has not and will not have a better ally than the EU," whose members have spent more on defense than Russia, it has tweeted on Wednesday I hope you have no doubt that this is an investment in our security. "

In June, after Trump's angry exit from the summit of Group of 7 and his spokesperson Justin Trudeau, Canadian Prime Minister Tusk tweeted, "There is a special place in heaven for Jonathan Trudeau."

He used lighter language in May, after Mr. Trump withdrew from the agreement with Iran and announced trade sanctions. Mr. Tusk tweeted "with friends like that who need to be in business. enemies. "

The inches in the air? The meeting rooms will be a free area of ​​Twitter

Mr. Trump likes to send barbed wire to his opponents, but he will be retained during the NATO summit

In the new NATO building, in the high-tech meeting room, no mobile phone n & # 39 is allowed – not even a president. Even if they were allowed, they probably would not work, because NATO blocks signals in the building to prevent eavesdropping or hacking.

So, at least for the hours spent with other leaders, Mr. Trump will be under the silence.

million. Trump will have to wait until he is outside the NATO building to get to his Twitter account to rebadure his many followers that he stays on the @realdonaldtrump . – Steven Erlanger

A demonstration of solidarity with Ukraine

NATO leaders must meet with their Ukrainian counterparts on Thursday to demonstrate their solidarity with Kiev, facing the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014 and in Moscow. maintaining military support for rebels in eastern Ukraine

The meeting reminds the West of the principle that a nation must not violate territorial integrity of another, before the meeting of Mr Trump with Mr Putin in Finland. Discussions on the resolution of the conflict in Ukraine have for the most part stagnated and Western diplomats are not expecting any significant progress on the issue at the Helsinki summit

. NATO must also meet on Thursday the leaders of Georgia. support to Tbilisi against Russia, which has occupied parts of Georgia since 2008.

Ukraine and Georgia will be invited to discuss their progress on security and defense and their cooperation with the 39; NATO. In 2008, at a summit in Bucharest, NATO promised Ukraine and Georgia to join the alliance, inflaming Mr Putin. These plans have been put on hold. – Steven Erlanger

After NATO: The Queen, Theresa May and Vladimir Putin

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