BRUSSELS: US President Donald Trump’s attacks on NATO allies, including over their refusal to join a military operation against Iran, have s...
BRUSSELS: US President Donald Trump’s attacks on NATO allies, including over their refusal to join a military operation against Iran, have so far only united allies against him and the alliance is now "falling apart," Politico reported, citing sources.
"In private, over intimate dinners, and on the sidelines of meetings in Brussels and elsewhere," European officials are discussing "how to handle the US president’s threats to quit NATO and what they would do if he followed through," the newspaper said.
They now share "the grim view that Trump's increasingly angry attacks on Britain, Spain, France and others confirm a fundamental breach in the transatlantic alliance."
"NATO is paralyzed — they can’t even have meetings," one European diplomat told Politico on condition of anonymity. According to an EU official, "it's pretty clear NATO is already falling apart," and Europe urgently needs to strengthen its defense capabilities. "We can’t wait for it to be completely dead," the source added.
Such a blunt assessment, based on interviews by Politico with 24 ministers, officials and diplomats, highlights a radical shift in the post-war world order, driven in no small part by the current US leader, the report said.
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