{"id":157431,"date":"2025-07-18T12:40:06","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T12:40:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wednesday-briefing-why-nato-is-rolling-out-the-red-carpet-for-donald-trump-at-key-summit-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T12:40:06","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T12:40:06","slug":"wednesday-briefing-why-nato-is-rolling-out-the-red-carpet-for-donald-trump-at-key-summit-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wednesday-briefing-why-nato-is-rolling-out-the-red-carpet-for-donald-trump-at-key-summit-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Wednesday briefing: Why N\u200bato is rolling out the red carpet for Donald Trump at key summit – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

In today\u2019s newsletter: \u200bE\u200burope\u2019s leaders unveiled sweeping new defence spending pledges designed to satisfy \u200bDonald Trump and signal a new era of militarisation
Good morning. The Nato summit that started last night in the Netherlands could hardly be better timed for Donald Trump: after declaring himself the saviour of world peace as Iran and Israel agreed a tentative ceasefire, he now intends to take a victory lap in Europe. European leaders, for their part, will be desperate for him to feel like he is getting his due.
That is part of why member states signed up to a new defence spending commitment that Trump has long demanded \u2013 and part of why the UK is buying a squadron of US-made fighter jets<\/a> to carry nuclear warheads. But as well as anxieties about the US\u2019s reliability, all of that also reflects Europe\u2019s recognition that it faces a serious new threat to the east.
Little wonder that Mark Rutte, Nato\u2019s secretary general, has been texting him, Trump revealed<\/a>, with extravagant praise and promises that he is \u201cflying into another big success\u201d. Yesterday, the US permanent representative to Nato, Matthew Whitaker, described it as \u201cone of the most consequential moments in this Alliance\u2019s history.\u201d
So does it really make sense for Nato to build its strategy with such a capricious audience in mind \u2013 and is there any room on the agenda for Iran and Ukraine<\/a>? Today\u2019s newsletter, with the Guardian\u2019s defence correspondent Dan Sabbagh<\/strong><\/em>, explains why the summit matters so much. Here are the headlines.
Iran <\/strong><\/em>| A classified assessment of US strikes on Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities says they did not destroy two of the sites and likely only set back the nuclear program by a few months<\/a>, according to two people familiar with the report. Donald Trump had claimed that they had \u201ctotally obliterated\u201d the facilities.
Welfare <\/strong><\/em>| Keir Starmer has said the government will not shift<\/a> on its welfare plans as ministers and party whips struggled to contain a growing Labour rebellion before next week\u2019s vote. By Tuesday night the tally of rebels stood at 123 Labour MPs.
New York <\/strong><\/em>| Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old democratic socialist, stunned former governor Andrew Cuomo<\/a> in the Democratic mayoral primary, a remarkable upset that sets him on course for the city\u2019s mayoralty. The result will be viewed as a rebuke to the Democratic establishment, with wealthy donors and establishment figures like Bill Clinton supporting Cuomo.
Climate<\/strong><\/em> | The UK can reach its net zero targets for 2050<\/a>, and its interim carbon budgets for 2030 and beyond, the government\u2019s statutory climate advisers have reported. The Climate Change Committee also found that net zero would not destroy the UK economy, instead providing long term benefits.
Health <\/strong><\/em>| Tobacco killed more than 7 million people worldwide in 2023. It remains the leading risk factor for deaths in men and ranks seventh for women, according to analysis presented at the World Conference on Tobacco Control<\/a>.
The Nato summit now under way in The Hague feels like it marks a step change: a return to a more highly militarised Europe<\/a>, dealing with an emboldened American president who has been less explicitly critical of Nato recently \u2013 but still intends a long-term pivot away from Europe and towards China.
\u201cThis is very much a cut down summit, packaged for a certain leader with a short attention span,\u201d Dan Sabbagh said. \u201cIt\u2019s been stage-managed to give Trump what he wants, which is the chance to take a victory lap. He will be the centre of attention, but also the potential source of trouble, and it\u2019s hard to predict how that will play out.\u201d
Here\u2019s what you need to know.
What does the choreography of the summit look like?<\/strong>
Last night, national leaders met for a dinner, hosted by the King and Queen of the Netherlands at the Huis ten Bosch palace. The more consequential piece of the summit takes place today, when heads of state hold a single two-and-a-half-hour meeting.
That is in place of the usual three sessions; similarly, the joint communique released at the end will be shorter than usual, confined to a single five-paragraph page. The meeting and communique are expected to be focused on the new Nato spending commitments \u2013 although leaders may well bring up the Ukraine conflict and the war between Iran and Israel<\/a>.
When the meeting breaks up, leaders hold individual press conferences to reflect on its conclusions. Trump\u2019s will, inevitably, draw the most attention by far. \u201cI\u2019d be surprised if we don\u2019t see him thoroughly enjoying himself and proclaiming what a fantastic job he\u2019s done,\u201d Dan said. \u201cThe other leaders will be on their planes by then \u2013 but if he\u2019s feeling celebratory, they\u2019ll be happy.\u201d
What commitments are Nato<\/a> members making on military spending?<\/strong>
The headline commitment<\/a> across the alliance is to spend 5% of gross domestic product on defence by 2035, with 3.5% on \u201chard defence\u201d \u2013 weapons, equipment, ammunition, and troops \u2013 and 1.5% on \u201csoft\u201d commitments, like cybersecurity and intelligence. \u201cThat is a massive increase for almost everyone except Poland, some of the Baltic states and the US,\u201d Dan said. \u201cThe only wrinkle is that Spain has insisted it won\u2019t spend more than 2.1%<\/a>, but they won\u2019t stand in the way of a collective agreement.\u201d
Because the commitment is as a share of GDP, it should be insulated from the erosive effects of inflation. \u201cIt\u2019s real money,\u201d Dan said. \u201cIt will have to be found from tax or borrowing or other budgets. It suggests that the Europeans have recognised that the free ride of the post-cold war period, where the US is responsible for their defence, is over.\u201d
The UK\u2019s commitment to buying 12 F-35A jets to carry US tactical warheads is part of that shift. Keir Starmer has signed up along with everyone else apart from Spain, with the 3.5% likely to amount to \u00a330bn or more by 2035 \u2013 but the government appeared reluctant to do so until recently, Dan said. \u201cIt\u2019s an uncomfortable commitment for Starmer to make for a second Labour term. Defence insiders say that the UK slightly misread the situation. They appear to have expected more inertia from others, with the figure settling at about 3%.\u201d
Getting to 3.5%, within a 5% overall envelope, might be satisfying for Trump \u2013 but Nato secretary general Mark Rutte<\/a> has been credited with making it happen, Dan said. \u201cBritish sources see him as a Trump whisperer. He worked the details out with Trump, and then set about the task of getting the Europeans on board.\u201d
Does Nato have a role in the aftermath of the <\/strong>Israel-Iran conflict?<\/strong>
The Middle East isn\u2019t typically on Nato\u2019s agenda, since the Article 5 provision<\/a> that says an attack on one is an attack on all only applies within Europe and North America. Nonetheless, the timing of the summit means that it will inevitably come up.
\u201cPart of the summit\u2019s function is the here and now,\u201d Dan said. \u201cEven if Iran isn\u2019t formally on the agenda, it is a chance for leaders to discuss it.\u201d Rutte, for his part, said that he did not intend to raise Iran at the summit because \u201cit is deviating from the core issue at hand\u201d but added that \u201cthat doesn\u2019t mean that individual allies will not discuss this here.\u201d
One reason that leaders may prefer not to focus on Israel-Iran is that there are real divisions within the alliance about Israel and the United States\u2019 attacks: Some leaders, like Friedrich Merz of Germany, are broadly behind it; the UK has tried to sit on the fence<\/a>; others, like Emmanuel Macron of France, have been explicit<\/a> about their opposition. \u201cRutte spoke about the US taking \u2018decisive action\u2019, which is a neat way of three-quarters embracing it without saying you\u2019re in favour,\u201d Dan said.
What about Ukraine?<\/strong>
Volodymyr Zelenskyy joined the leaders\u2019 dinner last night, and he has said he hopes to meet with Trump on the sidelines of the summit. But whereas Ukraine has featured heavily at every previous Nato summit since Russia\u2019s invasion, it is not expected to be prominent this time.
Zelenskyy has not been invited to today\u2019s meeting, reportedly after the US objected to the idea of his presence. Nato officials are trying to keep Trump and Zelenskyy apart in public as much as possible, the Washington Post reported<\/a>. There were even some suggestions<\/a> that he might not attend at all. It is also unclear whether the US would accept any reference in the end-of-summit communique to Russia as the main threat to the alliance.
\u201cThere\u2019s a different tone, which isn\u2019t surprising,\u201d Dan said. \u201cZelenskyy will keep trying to break through with Trump, and to persuade him that Putin is insincere.\u201d While pledges of military aid from European countries have been worth about $40bn already this year, there is little chance of that being added to today.
How will they seek to manage Trump?<\/strong>
Rutte\u2019s messages to Trump do not appear to have been intended for public consumption, but the president\u2019s entertaining decision to post them on social media<\/a> gives a sense of what being a \u2018Trump whisperer\u2019 looks like: \u201cYou will achieve something NO American president in decades could get done,\u201d Rutte wrote. \u201cEurope is going to pay in a BIG way, as they should, and it will be your win.\u201d
That might seem transparently sycophantic \u2013 but it is a calculated response to the fact that as recently as February, there was huge pessimism about Trump\u2019s commitment to Nato. \u201cThere was a real crisis when Hegseth came to the defence ministers\u2019 meeting and said that the US was no longer focused on European security<\/a>,\u201d Dan said. \u201cThat caused absolute panic.\u201d
Since then, Trump\u2019s stance appears to have softened a bit \u2013 partly as new defence spending pledges have been made, and perhaps also because of his disillusionment with Vladimir Putin as a negotiating partner. And yet there is an uncomfortable question about the unintended consequences of increased European defence spending: in the long term, might it make it easier for the US to drift away?
\u201cNone of those worries have gone away,\u201d Dan said. \u201cAnd there is a huge contrast with Nato\u2019s treatment of Trump in his first term, when there was a sense that there were Republican \u2018grownups\u2019 restraining him. Today, with people like JD Vance and Pete Hegseth, you have a much more cohesive White House.\u201d
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Whitaker, the US Nato representative, has insisted this week that the United States remains \u201ca reliable ally\u201d; meanwhile, Rutte told European leaders: \u201cStop worrying so much\u201d. \u201cBut who knows what Trump will say at his press conference today?\u201d Dan said. \u201cEurope is basically rolling over because the world has changed, and it needs him.\u201d
Sarah Phillips spoke to experts for this list<\/a> of ways to protect your hearing<\/strong>. Among the fascinating ideas: the 50\/50 headphones rule, where you \u201clisten to 50% of the volume on your headphones for 50 minutes\u201d at a time. Charlie Lindlar, acting deputy editor, newsletters<\/strong><\/em>
Scientists have identified at least 16 climate \u201ctipping points<\/strong>\u201c, where small changes can do irreparable harm. Jonathan Watts\u2019 interview<\/a> with expert Genevieve Guenther is fascinating on the cost of ignoring them – and how to talk about the crisis. Archie<\/strong><\/em>
Economist and former Labour candidate Faiza Shaheen is surprisingly congratulatory<\/a> in her take on Reform\u2019s \u201cBritannia Card<\/strong>\u201d that would see the uber-wealthy pay a one-off tax of \u00a3250,000 to enter the UK. Charlie<\/strong><\/em>
Oliver Wainwright has a fantastically interesting piece<\/a> about the activists who have found alternative uses for buildings<\/strong> that might otherwise have faced the wrecking ball, from Battersea power station to Grimsby docks. Archie<\/strong><\/em>
No red shirts or heffalumps in sight, but nonetheless here\u2019s a truly Pooh-worthy tale<\/a> of two bears<\/strong> at the Wildwood Dorset zoo, who escaped their enclosure and consumed a <\/em>whole week<\/em>\u2019s worth of honey in one sitting. Charlie<\/strong><\/em>
Cricket <\/strong><\/em>| England stunned India on the fifth day of the first Test<\/a> by completing a remarkable chase of 373 for the loss of just five wickets. Ben Duckett (above) led the way with a sublime 149 before Joe Root and Jamie Smith guided England home.
Football <\/strong><\/em>| Chelsea secured their place in the last 16 of the Club World Cup<\/a> thanks to a composed 3-0 victory over Esp\u00e9rance that included a first goal for Liam Delap. Meanwhile, Benfica took a shock 1-0 victory over Bayern Munich to secure top spot in Group C, and will face Chelsea in the next round.
Tennis <\/strong><\/em>| Emma Raducanu fought back tears after resuming her Wimbledon preparations by beating the US\u2019s Ann Li <\/a>in the first round of the Eastbourne Open. Amid blustery conditions, the British No 1 triumphed 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-1.
\u201cBritain to buy US jets capable of carrying nuclear weapons,\u201d is the splash on the Guardian<\/strong>, and several other papers, today. \u201cUK to match China and Russia with nuclear jets,\u201d says the Times<\/strong>, while the Telegraph<\/strong> has \u201cBritish jets to carry nuclear warheads,\u201d and the i<\/strong>: \u201cUK buys jets with nuclear weapons – to create deterrent from air and sea.\u201d Meanwhile the Mirror<\/strong> runs with \u201cWar ready.\u201d
\u201cTrump drops F-bomb,\u201d is the lead story at the Metro<\/strong>, while the FT<\/strong> says \u201cTrump lashes out at Israel and Iran in scramble to keep lid on ceasefire,\u201d and the Mail<\/strong>: \u201cHumiliating threat to Starmer\u2019s authority.\u201d
The Sun<\/strong> leads with \u201cOff yer bike,\u201d and the Express<\/strong>: \u201c\u2018Get a grip on migrant delivery rider farce.\u2019\u201d Both newspapers report that asylum seekers working illegally as food delivery drivers are to be arrested.
The protest group the UK government wants to brand terrorists<\/strong>
The home secretary has announced plans to proscribe Palestine Action under terrorism laws. Haroon Siddique<\/a> reports
A bit of good news to remind you that the world\u2019s not all bad<\/em>
The Australian experimental rock band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard have shunned the frenetic pace of a typical tour in favour of three-night runs in some pretty historic spots across Europe. The band, who as the writer Laura Snapes put it<\/a>, \u201chave gigged their way to becoming their generation\u2019s Grateful Dead or Phish\u201d, have played everywhere from the infamous Luki\u0161k\u0117s prison in Vilnius, which is now a venue, to the stunning Lycabettus hill theatre in Athens.
They\u2019re showing how slowing down is a perfect expression of their art. \u201cA lot of the lyrics have stemmed from spending a lot of time away from home, from family,\u201d said frontman Stu Mackenzie, who had his third baby right before the tour started, \u201cand trying to figure out how we make sense of all of that.\u201d
When you slow down, they\u2019ve discovered, you can truly notice how the world around us is built on thousands of years of human existence.
Sign up here<\/a> for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday<\/strong>
And finally, the Guardian\u2019s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.
Quick crossword<\/a>
Cryptic crossword<\/a>
Wordiply<\/a><\/p>\n

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