Diane Francis
This month’s NATO Summit provided a global platform for Donald Trump, who mixed his usual bravado with bluster but made significant announcements about the two major wars that are underway. Trump dealt a devastating blow against Iran, then pledged badly-needed Patriot missiles for Ukraine to help repel Russia’s air attacks against civilians. NATO is not directly involved in either war and has operated for years like a dysfunctional family, not a united front against Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran. But Trump’s tantrums have pushed members to spend more and support Ukraine militarily; then this week Trump claimed there was “love and unity” among leaders at the summit. The gathering was organized by NATO chief Mark Rutte, an unabashed Trump fan, who said: “I just like the man. I think what he is doing for NATO is great news… because of the Russians’ threat, and we see what the Russians are doing in Ukraine.”
Like him or not, Trump forced Europe to do what it should have done for decades, which is to militarize to defend itself against Moscow. If that had been done years ago, Russia would not have invaded Ukraine. Instead, European negligence has caused years of brutal warfare. These days Rutte likes to describe NATO as the defender of 1 billion people “against the Russian threat, the massive Chinese build-up, and the fact that Russia, China, North Korea, Iran work together.” But, in fact, Ukraine is the defender of Europe as well as NATO against the Russian threat, and finally Donald Trump understands that.
This is why Trump agreed to license America’s Patriot anti-ballistic missile defense system to Kyiv — a deal which is a game-changer, especially in tandem with Ukraine’s plan to unleash its own, hugely powerful ballistic missiles against targets inside Russia in the coming weeks. Putin, in the lead-up to this summit, has purposely pummeled Kyiv and other cities with his powerful ballistic missiles targeted at civilians and cultural sites. Only Patriots can impede such missiles, and these defense systems are now in short supply due to long production times, costs, and the fact that inventories have been used up by Ukraine, Israel, allies, and the Pentagon to protect against Russian and Iranian ballistic missiles.
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