{"id":90760,"date":"2024-07-09T04:25:19","date_gmt":"2024-07-09T04:25:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/09\/as-nato-convenes-leaders-worry-about-a-hole-in-its-center\/"},"modified":"2024-07-09T04:25:19","modified_gmt":"2024-07-09T04:25:19","slug":"as-nato-convenes-leaders-worry-about-a-hole-in-its-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/09\/as-nato-convenes-leaders-worry-about-a-hole-in-its-center\/","title":{"rendered":"As NATO Convenes, Leaders Worry About a Hole in Its Center"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/07\/08\/multimedia\/08dc-biden-nato-02-kghw\/08dc-biden-nato-02-kghw-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"As NATO Convenes, Leaders Worry About a Hole in Its Center\" title=\"As NATO Convenes, Leaders Worry About a Hole in Its Center\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When President Biden and his aides planned the 75th anniversary of NATO, which opens on Tuesday evening in Washington, it was intended to create an aura of confidence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The message to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and other potential adversaries would be that a larger, more powerful group of Western allies had emerged, after more than two years of war in Ukraine, more dedicated than ever to pushing back on aggression.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But as 38 world leaders began arriving here on Monday, that confidence seems at risk. Even before the summit formally begins, it has been overshadowed by the uncertainty about whether Mr. Biden will remain in the race for a second term, and the looming possibility of the return of former President Donald J. Trump.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Trump once declared NATO \u201cobsolete,\u201d threatened to exit the alliance and more recently said he would let the Russians do \u201cwhatever the hell they want\u201d to any member country he deemed to be insufficiently contributing to the alliance. In recent days, as Mr. Trump has edged up in post-debate polls, key European allies have begun discussing what a second Trump term might mean for the alliance \u2014 and whether it could take on Russia without American arms, money and intelligence-gathering at its center.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Biden will greet the leaders in the vast Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium a few blocks from the White House on Tuesday night \u2014 the same room where the treaty creating NATO was signed in 1949, in a ceremony presided over by President Harry S. Truman. Mr. Biden was 6 years old at the time, and the Cold War was in its infancy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He is now 81 and perhaps the most vocal advocate in Washington for an alliance that has grown from 12 members in 1949 to 32 today as the era of superpower conflict has roared back. But as they gather on Tuesday evening, the leaders will be watching Mr. Biden\u2019s every move and listening to his every word for the same signals Americans are focused on \u2014 whether he can go the distance of another four years in office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Biden knows that, and said in an interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC on Friday that he welcomed the scrutiny. \u201cWho\u2019s going to hold NATO together like me?\u201d the president asked rhetorically. \u201cI guess a good way to judge me,\u201d he said, is to watch him at the summit \u2014 and to see how the allies react. \u201cCome listen. See what they say.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As they arrived, NATO leaders acknowledged that the alliance was facing a test they did not anticipate: whether it could credibly maintain the momentum it has built in supporting Ukraine when confidence in its most important player has never been more fragile.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And they know that Mr. Putin and Xi Jinping, China\u2019s leader, are watching as well.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cNATO has never been, and is not, and will never be, a given,\u201d Jens Stoltenberg, the outgoing secretary general of the alliance, said on Sunday in a wide-ranging discussion with journalists. \u201cWe have done so successfully 75 years. I\u2019m confident that we can do so also in the future. But it\u2019s about political leadership, it\u2019s about political commitment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Months before the meeting, the alliance began hedging its bets in case of a second Trump presidency. It is <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/26\/world\/europe\/nato-ukraine-washington-membership-summit.html\" title=\"\">setting up a new NATO command<\/a> to ensure a long-term supply of arms and military aid to Ukraine even if the United States, under Mr. Trump, pulls back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But in conversations with NATO leaders, it is clear that their plans to modernize their forces and prepare for an era that could be marked by decades of confrontation with Russia are not matched by commensurate increases in their military budgets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">More than 20 NATO members have now reached the goal of spending 2 percent of their gross national product on defense, making good on pledges that some made in response to Mr. Trump\u2019s demands, and others to the realities of Russia\u2019s invasion. That percentage \u2014 a goal established more than a decade ago, in an era when terrorism appeared to be the biggest threat \u2014 seems wildly undersized to the task at hand, many of Mr. Biden\u2019s aides say.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In Europe, Germany has described plans for upgrading its military capabilities to deter Russian aggression, a transformation promised by Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the weeks after the Russian invasion. But Mr. Scholz\u2019s grand plans have yet to be matched by a budget to pay for them, and the politics of bringing the public along have proved so fraught that German officials resist putting a price tag on them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Carl Bildt, the co-chairman of the European Council on Foreign Relations and a former prime minister of Sweden, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2024\/07\/01\/russia-ukraine-war-europe-politics-refugees\/#:~:text=Defense%20expenditures%E2%80%94set%20to%20reach,could%20be%20on%20the%20horizon.\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">wrote recently<\/a> that European nations \u201cwill need to double\u201d their budgets \u201cyet again in order to credibly deter threats from an increasingly desperate Russian regime.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Despite that, White House officials said on Monday that Mr. Biden would not press for new military spending targets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But the more immediate problem for Mr. Biden and Mr. Scholz is to avoid another public blowup with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine over the question of how his country\u2019s eventual accession to NATO is described.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Last year, as he headed to Vilnius, Lithuania, for the annual NATO meeting, Mr. Zelensky vented his displeasure at the lack of a timetable for Ukrainian entry into the alliance. \u201cIt\u2019s unprecedented and absurd when a time frame is not set, neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine\u2019s membership,\u201d he wrote on social media at the time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He was temporarily placated when he arrived, with a commitment from the alliance that Ukraine could skip some of the hoops other nations have had to jump through before they could join.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But for months now, NATO nations have been negotiating over language that would work around the problem, without risking allowing Ukraine\u2019s entrance while it remains at war.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In recent weeks, negotiators began to settle on a new approach: It is expected that the alliance will declare Ukraine\u2019s eventual inclusion in NATO \u201cirreversible,\u201d diplomats involved in the talks said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">While \u201cirreversible\u201d sounds definitive, it does nothing to solve Mr. Zelensky\u2019s central demand \u2014 a date when his country would fall under the protection of the NATO umbrella.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Zelensky\u2019s case is, obviously, the most dire. But it is hardly the only one.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Seventy-five years after NATO was created to deter threats posed by the Soviet Union at the dawn of the Cold War, a few current and potentially future leaders among the alliance\u2019s member states appear sympathetic to Russia\u2019s diplomatic entreaties despite Moscow\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/07\/05\/world\/europe\/orban-putin-meeting-russia-hungary.html\" title=\"\">visited Russia<\/a> the other day, and in public remarks alongside Mr. Putin he said nothing critical of its invasion, or continued attacks on civilians. He hinted at looking for an opening to peace negotiations on terms similar to Russia\u2019s demands.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The White House criticized the visit on Monday. John F. Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said Mr. Orban\u2019s visit \u201ccertainly doesn\u2019t seem to be productive in terms of trying to get things done in Ukraine,\u201d adding, \u201cIt\u2019s concerning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But to avoid any public split within NATO on the eve of the summit, Mr. Stoltenberg stopped short of criticizing Mr. Orban, noting that \u201cNATO allies interact with Moscow in different ways, on different levels.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Still, he suggested that trying to reach a settlement while Mr. Putin advances in Ukraine would not, ultimately, bring peace. \u201cWe all want peace,\u201d Mr. Stoltenberg said. \u201cIt is always possible to end a war by losing a war. But that will not bring peace \u2014 that will bring occupation, and occupation is not peace.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/07\/09\/us\/politics\/nato-summit-biden.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When President Biden and his aides planned the 75th anniversary of NATO, which opens on Tuesday evening in Washington, it was intended to create an aura of confidence. The message to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and other potential adversaries would be that a larger, more powerful group of Western allies had emerged, after [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":90761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/07\/08\/multimedia\/08dc-biden-nato-02-kghw\/08dc-biden-nato-02-kghw-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[12162,78037,8303,6118,7410,3215],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90760"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90760"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90762,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90760\/revisions\/90762"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}