It’s ‘spectacular’ all over again, only worse: US President Donald Trump’s recent intervention at the FIFA and his renewed address to Copenhagen over an anticipated annexation of Greenland.
And then there is his participation in the NATO Summit in Ankara, the two-day event delivering food-for-thought’ arguments as to the future of NATO, and NATO Europe in particular. Arriving on his Qatari-gifted Jumbo Jet, the President of the world’s largest economy and military power continued with his old familiar catchphrases and accusations, complaining that Britain, France, Germany and Italy did not do enough to support the United States in its war against Iran. Calling for increased commitments by the European allies – and urging them to pay for their security – he further commented during a bilateral meeting with the Turkish President and leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in his presidential complex that “the US won’t rush to defend NATO countries if they don’t spend more on military.” Trump repeatedly emphasised his friendship with Erdoğan and reiterated his conviction that he had come to Ankara for that reason alone.
Even though the Europeans tried to appease him with promising figures on increasing defence spendings – with European NATO states planning to invest considerably more money in long-range weapons, airborne early warning & control systems and counter-drone systems. Germany alone plans to invest 124.7 billion Euros this year. It remains to be seen whether NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte’s arguments will bear fruit. Media coverage has been relentless, with sources in some countries in ‘old NATO Europe’ speculating on the dramatic changes that may or will occur very soon. Even though Trump really ought to have heard or even read about Canada’s multi-billion-dollar investment in acquiring German submarines, he stuck to the rhetoric we already know from his first term in office (2017–2021). And wasn’t there also Germany’s desire to purchase long-range weapons from the US at great cost – a move that he, or rather his administration, promptly rejected? Former President Joe Biden had long since agreed to such a deal with Berlin. Now, Trump wants nothing to do with it and is once again admonishing Germany to spend more on its security. A topsy-turvy world of diplomacy under friends. Isn’t it?