Trump undermines NATO unity and playing into Putin’s hands, - Telegraph
US President Donald Trump continues to question the unity and reliability of NATO's defence, even as European allies increase their security spending.
According to Censor.NET, this is what David Blair, chief international affairs commentator for The Telegraph, writes about.
He says that even if all of Trump's demands are met, it doesn't guarantee stability: he might deliberately ignore reality by showing his support for Vladimir Putin. An example of this was the NATO summit in The Hague this summer, where the US reaffirmed its commitment to collective defence. However, just two months later, the Trump administration refused to fund the $228 million Baltic Security Initiative, which strengthened the defence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
The attack by Russian drones on Poland on 10 September, when NATO forces successfully coordinated their actions in the air and on the ground, was also demostrative. But Trump's response – "it could have been a mistake" – undermined the demonstration of unity and only emboldened the Kremlin, Blair believes.
Meanwhile, Russia is stepping up the pressure: after attacking Poland, three MiG-31s invaded Estonian airspace. This indicates a systematic campaign by Moscow to test NATO's defences and find weak spots.
"Every time Mr Trump describes the obviously deliberate as accidental, and every time he scales back America’s efforts to bolster the defences of European allies, he emboldens Putin to escalate Russia’s campaign," the analyst emphasises.
Despite the fact that Poland and the Baltic states spend more than 3.5% of their GDP on defence – more than America itself – they cannot be sure of Washington's unconditional support. This is precisely Putin's main goal: to divide the Alliance and make allies doubt the reliability of the United States.
"Trump does not believe in alliances and he revels in being unpredictable. That helps Putin and endangers the rest of us," Blair concludes.
