OPINION: The Ankara NATO Summit: A Minor Respite for NATO

On July 7-8, NATO held its summit in Ankara, Turkey, with leaders of all its 32 member states. The friends of NATO had looked forward to this summit with great apprehension. The main threat to NATO is not its eternal enemy – Russia – but the President of the United States himself, Donald Trump, who has demonstrated incredibly cordial relations with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin.

The NATO agenda can be summarized in four points all related to Trump personally, as reflected in the final communique: Would the US guarantee NATO security? Would the US recognize Russia as a threat? Would Trump praise or bash Europe? Would Trump allow NATO to utter support for Ukraine. The outcome was by no means given.

Since his accession to the US presidential throne in January 2025, Trump has caused tremendous damage to NATO, essentially ending its credibility. He instantly stopped all financial and military aid to Ukraine, while he made the US vote with Russia and a dozen rogue states in the United Nations, falsely claiming that Russia did not pursue a war of aggression against Ukraine.

Trump invited the war criminal Putin to Alaska and rolled out the red carpet for him, possibly promising Putin to force Ukraine to give up the parts of Donetsk region still held by Ukraine. Trump sent his so-called “envoys” Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner – to force Ukraine to submit to his and Putin’s demands. Witkoff has been to Moscow to see Putin at least seven times, but he has not bothered to go to Ukraine.

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Trump Iran War III

Where is the rhyme or reason?

As Trump’s former national security advisor John Bolton reported in his excellent 2020 memoirs, “The Room Where It Happened,” Trump was on the verge of declaring that the US would leave NATO. Revengeful and lawless as he is, Trump has had Bolton unduly criminally sentenced for this book. Soon after returning to power, Trump called for Canada to become a US state and demanded Greenland from Denmark. These demands were outrageous and especially his demand on Greenland, which effectively killed all US credibility as an ally.

After Trump started his foolish war on Iran on Feb. 28, he aggravated relations with other NATO members further. First of all, this was a completely unjustified war. Anybody but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would have told him, so Trump only listened to Netanyahu. Second, he did not inform anybody before he bombed Iran. Third, when the degree of his folly soon became clear, Trump insisted that all NATO members had better help him, although Trump had pursued a war of choice or aggression and certainly not a defensive war, which is the purpose of NATO, but stupid does as stupid is.

Trump came to Ankara in his usual foul mood, insulting everybody for no good reason. Once again, he complained about NATO because it had not helped him on Iran. Without explaining why, he restated his claim that he needed Greenland. He went on to attack Spain for not having allowed the US use of bases in Spain for its war of aggression in Iran and wanted to end trade with Spain.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte went into one of his usual rounds of extraordinary and untrue compliments to Trump, and Trump as the toddler he seems to be, sucked it all up. The outcome of this summit was a declaration of one page, whose outstanding feature is that almost none of it is true. Its essence consists of just four points:

1. “We...reaffirm our ironclad commitment to our collective defence under Article 5 of the Washington Treaty.” No, Trump disputes that all the time, so it lacks credibility. No NATO security guarantees exist any longer.

2. “To counter the long-term threat Russia poses to Euro-Atlantic security and stability, and the persistent threat of terrorism...” I beg your pardon. Trump has often shown he prefers Russia over NATO. Clearly, Trump clearly did not read the declaration, and he is generally against reading.

3. “We are building...a stronger Europe in a stronger NATO...” No, Europe has been forced to think about declaring independence from the US, since Trump has already made it pretty clear he is abandoning NATO. Europe is getting stronger, but without the US.

4. “Ukraine contributes to transatlantic security, and Allies stand united in our unwavering support for Ukraine in defending its freedom, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. European Allies and Canada now finance the vast majority of security assistance to Ukraine through bilateral and multilateral means.” Uniquely for this declaration, the first phrase is actually true – all but the US are united in support for Ukraine, but the US under Trump has long done nothing for Ukraine.

There is perhaps one promising sign following a meeting between Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky in Anakara – Trump’s decision to grant Ukraine a license to domestically manufacture the Patriot air defense system. It has taken until now for Trump to see that Ukraine does in fact have some cards to play in this war.

But it is sad to see that other Western countries are prepared to lie so much to accommodate Trump. Face up to reality! Trump has destroyed NATO. He hates democracy and freedom, all too often pandering to Russia and other kleptocratic autocracies. Today the US is only one man: Trump. It is folly to believe that the US under Trump would defend European allies and Trump has captured the Republican party.

Europe has to build its independent defense as fast as possible. Therefore, Europe needs Ukraine, because it has by far the best military in Europe. A truthful NATO declaration should have said that NATO needs Ukraine since the US has abandoned it.

The most positive about this NATO summit declaration was that it did not state that NATO should have another summit in a year’s time as had been discussed. Please don’t have another NATO summit as long as the US has an idiot as president!

The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.