WOULD DONALD TRUMP defend a NATO ally who he said was “delinquent” in achieving its military spending targets? “I will discuss it today,” replied the president, threatening, in an interview on December 3. “It’s a very interesting question, isn’t it?” And so began two tumultuous days in the suburbs of London, where NATO leaders gathered to mark the 70th anniversary of the alliance.
Things have only gotten worse. At a press conference with Jens Stoltenberg, NATOTrump’s secretary general noted that he could contemplate France “breaking away” from the alliance and observed, with the air of a mafia boss, that France ” need protection more than anyone. ” At a reception at Buckingham Palace later that evening, Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau overheard Mr. Trump against his British, French and Dutch counterparts. When he heard about it, Mr. Trump canceled a closing press conference and left early. But although the American president was, as might be expected, the target of much rejoicing among commentators, his words did not worry as much as those of French President Emmanuel Macron.
In an interview with The Economist published on November 7, the French president said he was not sure that America NATOArticle 5’s mutual defense clause, and that the alliance is “brain dead” for lack of coordinated decision-making in places like Syria. He also urged NATO to reassess its very purpose: “The unspoken assumption is that the enemy is still Russia.” In the following weeks, Mr. Macron doubled his comments. On November 28, two days after the death of 13 French soldiers in a helicopter crash in Mali, he insisted that terrorism, not Russia, was NATO“Common enemy”. On December 4, Macron tweeted that Russia was a “threat” but “no longer an enemy” and “also a partner on certain matters”.
Such words alarm the leaders of Eastern Europe, who believe that Mr. Macron is undermining a consensus that has been carefully established in the years following the annexation of Crimea by Russia and the invasion of Ukraine in 2014. Many European officials are also troubled by Mr. Macron’s openness to a Russian proposal for a moratorium on medium-range missiles; Russia’s deployment of such missiles in violation of a Cold War treaty prompted America to withdraw from the pact on August 2.
Although some members of southern Europe privately sympathize with the idea of detente to Russia, they were unwilling to join Mr. Macron in public. The official statement from the leaders’ meeting included prominent references to terrorism and, in a sense apparent to Mr. Macron, the promise of a “thought process” on NATO“Political dimension” of But he also explored Russia’s “aggressive actions” and insisted that improving relations would only happen “when Russia’s actions make this possible”.
Mr. Macron was also at the center of a separate quarrel. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Turkey, urged Macron to “have your own brain death checked first” after the French president reprimanded Turkey’s incursion into northern Syria. This offensive targeted Kurdish militants who, supported by America, France and Britain, served as infantrymen against the Islamic State group.
Macron also accused Turkey on December 3 of working with EAST “Proxies” in Syria and lambasted Erdogan for his purchase from advanced Russia S-400 air defense system. The animus is mutual: in the weeks leading up to the meeting, Turkey declared that it was blocking NATO plans for the defense of Poland and the Baltic states until the alliance recognizes the YPG, a Syrian Kurdish militia, as a terrorist group.
Yet despite all the horrible political views, the alliance is in poor military health. Nine Countries To Meet 2% Spending Alliance This Year GDP on defense, against just three a few years ago. By the end of 2020, Canada and its European allies will have collectively invested $ 130 billion on what they spent in 2016.
In June, the alliance stopped its very first space policy, relying on the creation of new space units in America, France and Great Britain during the past year. And to the Pentagon’s delight, the leaders’ statement acknowledged that “the growing influence of China and international policies present both opportunities and challenges” for the alliance.
On December 3, a European leader could be heard joking with another that Mr. Macron had inadvertently used the type of reverse psychology used by parents against toddlers. Strong criticism of Mr. Macron NATO seemed to have convinced Mr. Trump that the alliance was a good idea after all. “What I like NATO is that many countries have stepped up, I think of my request. ” ■
Dig deeper:
How NATO is preparing for 70 years
Evaluating the apocalyptic vision of Emmanuel Macron
French President on Europe’s fragile place in a hostile world
Read the transcript: Emmanuel Macron in his own words
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the title “Stormy weather”