FINANCIAL TIMES Nato chief Mark Rutte praises Donald Trump for making Europe ‘pay in a BIG way’ US president releases flattering message that also hails ‘truly extraordinary’ Iran strikes Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte has praised Donald Trump for making Europe “pay in a BIG way” on increased defence spending, in a private message that the US president shared on his social media platform. “Donald, you have driven us to a really, really important moment for America and Europe, and the world,” Rutte wrote ahead of a Nato summit that begins on Tuesday, referencing the US president’s demand that all allies commit to raising defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP. [full article] P.S. I was laughing so hard while creating this thread I farted by accident.
Yeah, that's true and could be said about all people in a position of power. What I find interesting though is the manner in which this kind of communication has been changed... in some part by modern tech, in large part by the current US president's manner. IOW, I always expected world leaders to praise each other at a NATO summit. But, previously, I never would have thought that someone like Mark Rutte would say "Europe is going to pay in a BIG way". Which may lead to the more substantive issue... it seems NATO is now celebrating increasing budgets. If I'm not mistaken, that's a big turnaround to the way things used to be.
Nato set to agree big spike in defence spending at 'historic summit' Presumably this should bode well for one of my positions.
How toxic can you be to publish private messages between world leaders? Is there any way to measure that? Trump behaves like a teenager.
Rutte likes the money (I guess), nonetheless his thoughts weren't a big secret. It's business and trading as usual.
if you want another point of view... In Europe the story is like: "Look how Rutte is licking Trump's ass" And by the way, this thread deserves to be on the front page. No chit-chat for ya
The Europeans (especially Spain & Italy) will stubbornly refuse to increase defense spending to > 3%. When the Russians start bombing them, then they will increase to > 10% or 20% or even more. By then, it is too late. Despite having bombed and bombed Ukraine, Russia still have tons and tons of bombs (and also nuclear bombs).