
RubinKazan
759 posts

RubinKazan
@Questenbergk






„Genau so eine Politikerin braucht die FDP jetzt“ to.welt.de/FXYpGOL






Mark Rutte just told the world that NATO is “coming together” to secure the Strait of Hormuz. He applauded Trump’s leadership. He beamed. He practically offered to carry the man’s golf bag. There is one problem with this. Germany, the UK, Italy, Spain, and France have all stated, in plain language, that the conflict is not a NATO war.  France officially refused to participate. Trump responded by calling NATO a “paper tiger without the US,” and accused European allies of complaining about high oil prices while refusing to do anything about them.  So Rutte is applauding the leadership of a man who is simultaneously publicly humiliating him. This is a level of masochism usually reserved for advanced yoga instructors. Rutte has made a habit of irritating his European colleagues by crediting Trump personally for NATO’s defence spending increases, insisting that Spain, Italy, Belgium and Canada would never have moved without Trump’s pressure.  His audience, being Spanish, Italian, Belgian and Canadian, sat there and absorbed this. One imagines they were delighted. El Pais has been particularly scathing, questioning the competence of the current NATO and EU leadership and concluding that European leadership has failed to provide coherent direction during the Iran crisis.  They named names: von der Leyen, Kallas, Rutte. The whole top table. Rutte has also dismissed proposals from Manfred Weber and others for European-led security structures independent of Washington, insisting the transatlantic partnership remains “essential.”  The timing, given that Washington is currently calling NATO a paper tiger and questioning whether it would ever help America, is not ideal. And here is the real engine of the absurdity: Rutte told Fox News the good news is that 22 countries are “joining forces to realize Trump’s vision.”  Trump’s vision. He said that out loud. On Fox News. To Trump’s primary audience. Mark Rutte is not stupid. He is, in fact, quite clever. But there is a difference between diplomatic pragmatism and turning up to your own roast with extra tomatoes. Every European and Canadian leader watching him on television yesterday knows that Trump just used the Hormuz crisis to explicitly threaten to deprioritize NATO support for Ukraine. Rutte’s response was to applaud the leadership. It is, as a communications strategy, the geopolitical equivalent of saying the food is delicious as the restaurant burns down around you. Gandalv / @Microinteracti1






















