WASHINGTON: Growing skepticism about President Joe Biden’s reelection chances has European leaders heading to the NATO summit in Washington confronting the prospect that the military alliance’s most prominent critic, Donald Trump, may return to power over its mightiest military.
NATO — made up of 32 European and North American allies committed to defending one another from armed attack — will stress strength through solidarity as it celebrates its 75th anniversary during the summit starting Tuesday. Event host Biden, who pulled allies into a global network to help Ukraine fight off Russia’s invasion, has called the alliance the most unified it has ever been.
But behind the scenes, a dominant topic will be preparing for possible division, as the power of far-right forces unfriendly to NATO grows in the US and other countries, including France, raising concerns about how strong support will stay for the alliance and the military aid that its members send to Ukraine.
At the presidential debate, Biden asked Trump: “You’re going to stay in NATO or you’re going to pull out of NATO?” Trump tilted his head in a shrug.
Biden’s poor debate performance set off a frenzy about whether the 81-year-old president is fit for office or should step aside as the Democratic presidential candidate.
Even before the debate, European governments were deep in consultations on what they could do to ensure that NATO, Western support for Ukraine and the security of individual NATO countries will endure should Trump win back the presidency in November and temper US contributions.
Some Americans and Europeans call it “Trump-proofing” NATO — or “future-proofing” it when the political advances of far-right political blocs in Europe are factored in.
This week’s summit, held in the city where the mutual-defense alliance was founded in 1949, was once expected to be a celebration of NATO’s endurance. Now, a European official said, it looks “gloomy.”
There are two reasons for the gloom: Russian advances on the battlefield in the months that Trump-allied congressional Republicans delayed US arms and funding to Ukraine. And the possibility of far-right governments unfriendly to NATO coming to power.
The official spoke to reporters last week on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations among governments.
Rachel Rizzo, a senior fellow on NATO with the nonpartisan think tank the Atlantic Council, says she has a blunt message for Europeans: “Freaking out about a second Trump term helps no one.”
For allies at the summit, she said, the key will be resisting the temptation to dwell on the details of unprecedented events in US politics and put their heads down on readying Western military aid for Ukraine and preparing for any lessening of US support.
Trump, who before and after his presidency has spoken admiringly of Russian President Vladimir Putin and harshly of NATO, often focuses his complaints on the US share of the alliance’s costs. Biden himself, as a US senator in 1997, warned that if there were any sense other NATO allies were “taking the United States for suckers, the future of the alliance in the next century will be very much in doubt.”
The 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union lulled the West into thinking the Russian threat had been neutralized, leading to military spending cuts. Now, NATO allies are bolstering their forces against any wider aggression by Putin, and a record 23 nations in NATO are meeting defense-spending goals.
One of Trump’s former national security advisers, John Bolton, says Trump in a second term would work to get the US out of NATO. Congress passed legislation last year making that harder, but a president could simply stop collaborating in some or all of NATO’s missions.
Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Elections in France saw a NATO-adverse far-right party under Marine Le Pen greatly increase the number of seats it holds in parliament. Far-right forces also are gaining in Germany.
Some European officials and analysts say that’s simply the rise and fall of voter allegiance in democracies, which NATO has dealt with before. They point to Poland, where a right-wing party lost power last year and whose people have been among NATO’s most ardent supporters. They also note Italy, where right-wing populist Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has won praise as an ally.
In part in response to the United States’ political upheaval, Europeans say they want to “institutionalize” support for Ukraine within NATO, lessening the dependence on the US
European allies also failed to get enough weapons to Ukraine during the delay in a US foreign aid package, outgoing NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg acknowledged in a visit to Washington last month.
That’s “one of the reasons why I believe that we should have a stronger NATO role — is that role in providing the support,” Stoltenberg told reporters.
An initiative likely to be endorsed at the summit is NATO taking more responsibility for coordinating training and military and financial assistance for Ukraine’s forces, instead of the US Europeans also are talking of giving Ukrainians a greater presence within NATO bodies, though there’s no consensus yet on Ukraine joining the alliance.
Europeans say NATO countries are coordinating statements on Ukraine for the summit to make clear, for example, that additional Russian escalation would trigger substantial new sanctions and other penalties from the West. That’s even if the US, under Trump, doesn’t act.
As for NATO security overall, besides European allies upping defense spending, they’re huddling on defense strategies that don’t rely as much on the US There’s also growing emphasis on ensuring each country is capable of fielding armies and fighting wars, the European official said.
The possibility of a less dependable US partner under Trump is generating discussions about Europeans playing a bigger role in NATO’s nuclear deterrence, according to the Poland-based Center for Eastern Studies, a security think tank. The US now plays the determinative role in the nuclear weapons stationed in Europe.
But European countries and Canada, with their smaller military budgets and economies, are years from being able to fill any US-sized hole in NATO.
“If an American president comes into office and says, ‘We’re done with that,’ there is definitely will in Europe to backfill the American role,” said John Deni, a senior fellow on security at the Atlantic Council. “The Brits would jump on it.”
But “even they will acknowledge they do not have the capacity or the capability, and they can’t do it at the speed and the scale that we can,” Deni said. “This notion that we are somehow Trump-proofing or future-proofing the American commitment — either to Ukraine or to NATO — I think that mostly is fantasy.”
Can you ‘Trump-proof’ NATO? As Biden falters, Europeans look to safeguard the military alliance
https://arab.news/rcjjw
Can you ‘Trump-proof’ NATO? As Biden falters, Europeans look to safeguard the military alliance
- Biden’s poor debate performance set off a frenzy about whether the 81-year-old president is fit for office or should step aside as the Democratic presidential candidate
UK must bring sick, injured children from Gaza ‘without delay,’ MPs say
- Remove barriers preventing evacuations immediately, urges group of 96 parliamentarians
- Letter to senior ministers says medical, humanitarian catastrophe reaching ‘horrific proportions’
LONDON: The British government must bring sick and injured Palestinian children from Gaza to the UK “without delay,” a group of MPs has said.
The cross-party group of 96 parliamentarians made the appeal in a letter to senior government ministers, the BBC reported.
Children in the Palestinian enclave are at risk of imminent death, and any barriers preventing their evacuation to Britain must be removed, they said.
Responding to Gaza’s “decimated” healthcare system requires adequate funding and a detailed timeline for child evacuations, the MPs added.
UN children’s charity UNICEF has said that more than 50,000 Palestinian children have been killed or injured since the beginning of the Gaza war in late 2023.
The medical and humanitarian catastrophe in the enclave has reached “horrific proportions,” said the MPs’ letter, which was coordinated by Dr. Simon Opher, a Labour MP and GP.
Signatories to the letter, addressing the health, home, and foreign secretaries, said they were working with Medecins sans Frontieres to expedite the evacuation of injured and ill Palestinian children to Britain.
The children and their families must be allowed to claim asylum after their treatment is completed, the letter said.
The UK Home Office previously said that biometric checks would be carried out before Palestinian children and their carers travel to the UK, a decision that was questioned by the letter’s signatories.
Plans to evacuate seriously ill or injured children from Gaza were being carried out “at pace,” the government said earlier in August.
A spokesperson said: “We are accelerating plans to evacuate children from Gaza who require urgent medical care, including bringing them to the UK for specialist treatment where that is the best option.”
Several hundred Palestinian children are expected to be evacuated as part of the scheme.
Since late 2023, the UK has channeled funding toward the treatment of injured and seriously ill Palestinians in hospitals across the Middle East.
Liz Harding, of MSF’s UK branch, welcomed the MPs’ letter and called on the government to waive its biometric visa requirement.
Britain must “urgently act on its commitment by creating a dedicated, publicly funded pathway based on clinical need, not bureaucracy,” she added.
Zelensky braces for perilous Trump talks in Washington on Monday
- War in Ukraine at critical diplomatic juncture
- Trump wants rapid peace deal, not ceasefire
- Putin gave no ground at talks in Alaska, Zelensky’s last trip to DC ended in disaster
LONDON/KYIV: Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky flies to Washington on Monday under heavy US pressure to agree a swift end to Russia’s war in Ukraine but determined to defend Kyiv’s interests — without sparking a second Oval Office bust-up with Donald Trump.
The US president invited Zelensky to Washington after rolling out the red carpet for Vladimir Putin, Kyiv’s arch foe, at a summit in Alaska that shocked many in Ukraine, where hundreds of thousands have died since Russia’s 2022 invasion.
The Alaska talks failed to produce the ceasefire that Trump sought, and the US leader said on Saturday that he now wanted a rapid, full-fledged peace deal and that Kyiv should accept because “Russia is a very big power, and they’re not.”
The blunt rhetoric throws the onus squarely back on Zelensky, putting him in a perilous position as he returns to Washington for the first time since his talks with Trump in the Oval Office in February descended into acrimony.
The US president upbraided him in front of world media at the time, saying Zelensky did not “hold the cards” in negotiations and that what he described as Kyiv’s intransigence risked triggering World War Three.
Trump’s pursuit of a quick deal defies intense diplomacy by the European allies and Ukraine to convince him that a ceasefire should come first and not — as sought by the Kremlin — once a settlement is agreed.
A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that European leaders had also been invited to Monday’s meeting between Trump and Zelensky, though it was unclear who would actually attend.
Trump briefed Zelensky on his talks with Putin during a call on Saturday that lasted more than an hour and a half, the Ukrainian leader said. They were joined after an hour by European and NATO officials, he added.
“The impression is he wants a fast deal at any price,” a source familiar with the conversation said.
The source said Trump told Zelensky that Putin had offered to freeze the front lines elsewhere as part of a deal, if Ukraine fully withdrew its troops from the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, something Zelensky said was not possible.
Trump and US envoy Steve Witkoff told the Ukrainian leader that Putin had said there could be no ceasefire before that happened, and that the Russian leader could pledge not to launch any new aggression against Ukraine as part of an agreement.
Kyiv has publicly dismissed the idea of withdrawing from internationally recognized Ukrainian land as part of a deal, and says the industrial Donetsk region serves as a fortress holding back Russian advances deeper into Ukraine.
Oleksandr Merezhko, head of the Ukrainian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, told Reuters by phone that Trump’s emphasis on a deal rather than a ceasefire carried great risks for Ukraine.
“In Putin’s view, a peace agreement means several dangerous things – Ukraine not joining NATO, his absurd demands for denazification and demilitarization, the Russian language and the Russian church,” he said.
Any such deal could be politically explosive inside Ukraine, Merezhko said, adding he was worried that Putin’s ostracism in the West had ended.
SECURITY GUARANTEES
Avoiding a repeat of the Oval Office row is critical for Zelensky to preserve relations with the US, which still provides military assistance and is the key source of intelligence on Russia’s military activity.
For Ukraine, robust guarantees to prevent any future Russian invasion are fundamental to any serious settlement.
Two sources familiar with the matter said Trump and the European leaders discussed potential security guarantees for Ukraine similar to the transatlantic NATO alliance’s mutual support pledge during their call. It says, in effect, that an attack on one is treated as an attack on all.
One of the two sources, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said European leaders were seeking details on what kind of US role was envisaged.
Zelensky has repeatedly said a trilateral meeting with the Russian and US leaders is crucial to finding a way to end the full-scale war launched by Russia in February 2022.
Trump this week voiced the idea of such a meeting, saying it could happen if his talks in Alaska with Putin were successful.
“Ukraine emphasizes that key issues can be discussed at the level of leaders, and a trilateral format is suitable for this,” Zelensky wrote on social media on Saturday. Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov told the Russian state news agency TASS a three-way summit had not been discussed in Alaska.
No more ‘acting’: Taliban mark fourth year in power by dropping interim titles
- Taliban formed a caretaker administration following 2021 takeover
- Announcement indicates ‘no hope for major change’ in current form of government
KABUL: Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader of the Taliban, has ordered his ministers to remove the “acting” designation from their titles, a move experts say indicates the establishment of a permanent Afghan government.
Weeks after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021, the group formed a caretaker government consisting almost entirely of senior figures and without female representation, which has remained in place ever since.
As Afghanistan marks the fourth anniversary on Friday since the Taliban takeover of the country, the group’s reclusive chief, who rules largely from Kandahar, told his officials to stop using “caretaker” in their roles.
“All ministers and the cabinet of the Islamic Emirate should not use the word caretaker in their titles,” Akhundzada said in a statement.
When the Taliban first announced a caretaker administration it was framed as a temporary set-up before the country established an official and inclusive government that included women and members of Afghanistan’s diverse ethnic groups.
Afghans were expecting a voting system to establish a permanent government that would include their voices, whether it was in the form of elections or a “loya jirga,” a grand assembly traditionally held to reach a consensus on important political issues.
“But now that the supreme leader (has) instructed that the current government is official, from a legal perspective the supreme leader’s decree constitutes a law for the Taliban government, replacing the constitution,” Abdul Saboor Mubariz, board member of the Center for Strategic and Regional Studies in Kabul, told Arab News.
“The political implication of this decision could be that there is no hope for major change in the present form of government.”
The initial announcement of a caretaker government, he added, was in the hope of gaining official recognition by the international community.
With the exception of Russia in July, no other nation has formally recognized Taliban rule since the group seized power in 2021.
“But now they (have) realized that no big progress has been made in that regard so they want to make the current government permanent,” Mubariz said.
Naseer Ahmad Nawidy, a political science professor at Salam University in Kabul, said the removal of “caretaker” in ministerial titles could mean higher authority for Taliban officials.
“(It’s) something positive. The ministries in Kabul need to have (a) free hand and more authority in their relevant tasks considering the expertise required for each sector,” he told Arab News.
The Taliban also used the term initially to mean that “the ministers were only temporary and that the actual authority was only with the supreme leader in Kandahar,” Nawidy added.
“It also has another message to the executive officials: that no one should be above obeying and all decrees of the leader must be implemented without any questions,” he said.
“The new announcement is an indication that the Islamic Emirate wants to show that the government is fully established.”
Body of Chinese climber killed during K2 summit descent retrieved by rescue team
- Guan Jing was hit by falling rocks while descending the mountain after a successful summit
- Her body has been flown to Skardu and will be sent to Islamabad after official coordination
GILGIT, Pakistan: A rescue team from Pakistan and Nepal has retrieved the body of a Chinese climber who was killed on K2, the world’s second-highest peak in northern Pakistan, a regional government spokesman said Saturday.
Faizullah Faraq, spokesman for the Gilgit-Baltistan government, said the body of Guan Jing was airlifted by an army helicopter from K2’s base camp after a team of mountaineers brought it down.
Jing died Tuesday after being struck by falling rocks during her descent, a day after she had reached the summit with a group of fellow climbers.
Faraq said her body was taken to a hospital in Skardu city and would be sent to Islamabad after coordination with her family and Chinese officials.
Karrar Haidri, vice president of the Pakistan Alpine Club, said the body was retrieved after days-long efforts, during which one of the rescuers was injured and airlifted by a helicopter.
K2, which rises 8,611 meters (28,251 feet) above sea level, is considered one of the world’s most difficult and dangerous peaks to climb.
Jing’s death comes more than two weeks after German mountaineer and Olympic gold medalist Laura Dahlmeier died while attempting another peak in the region.
Septuagenarian Indian activist marks Independence Day with fast for Gaza
- 77-year-old activist also went on a fast on Friday to express solidarity with Palestinians
- He draws parallels between India’s independence struggle, Gaza’s fight for liberation
New Delhi: With a stack of fliers about Gaza in hand, Prof. Vipin Kumar Tripathi carefully hands each paper to the visitors of Raj Ghat, Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial, in Old Delhi.
For Tripathi, the independence hero’s resting place was the perfect spot to mark India’s Independence Day and simultaneously raise awareness about Gaza and the mass starvation Israel has imposed on the enclave’s 2.1 million people.
On Friday, the 77-year-old Indian activist went on a fast as a form of nonviolent protest and to express solidarity with Palestinians, hoping to spark similar compassion for Palestine among his countrymen.
“I want to raise conscience because it is an Independence Day of our country and independence is incomplete unless we awaken the feeling for independence of others, (especially) the most oppressed ones,” Tripathi told Arab News.
“I am creating consciousness and awareness on the major issues confronting the people of the world and extreme violence that is going on in Gaza: People are starving to death, they are being forced to starve.”
A former physics professor at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi, Tripathi came from a family of freedom fighters and has been an activist since 1989.
After his retirement in 2013, he dedicated his life to social service, traveling to different parts of the country with a message of peace.
His campaigns often involved engaging people in conversations and handing out information sheets and brochures addressing some of the most pressing issues in India, including the troubles in Kashmir and the ordinary citizens’ rights to question their government.
For the past month, his activism has been focused on Gaza. He has handed out Hindi and English leaflets titled “Gaza Sufferings Must Awaken Us,” which draw similarities between the Indian and Palestinian struggle against British colonialism, while also urging Indians to speak up.
Starting his day at 9 a.m., Tripathi distributed the same fliers on Friday around Old Delhi and at the Gandhi memorial, which he sees as a “symbol of martyrdom for humanism.”
He said: “No human being is inferior or superior to each other. Every human being has a right to live with full dignity and freedom, and for this he sacrificed his life.
“I am sitting here today remembering the independence movement that India fought, to our martyrs, our freedom fighters and Indian masses who participated in their struggle, and I am also here fasting, remembering the (Palestinians) suffering extreme crisis of survival due to mass starvation and bombings continuously going on for the last 22 months.”
While India’s civil society and government opposition are increasingly speaking up against Israeli war crimes, New Delhi has largely remained quiet since Israel launched its assault on Gaza in October 2023. The campaign has killed more than 61,000 people and injured more than 154,000 others.
Tripathi is also calling on the Indian government to “change its position, change its stance on Gaza (and) on Israel.”
By the end of the day on Friday, Tripathi was removed from the Raj Ghat by the police, who said that the site was not a location for protests. It was a scene similar to other pro-Palestinian demonstrations in New Delhi, where protesters have been detained.
But Tripathi has said he will continue to campaign for Palestinians, as he merely wants the people of India “to open their eyes.”
He said: “India’s independence is not the independence of only the Indian people; the people who fought for India’s independence also cared for the freedom of others.
“I want the people of this country to remove prejudices from their heads and feel the agony of the suffering masses of Gaza because they are not different from us. They are part of the same colonial struggle against colonialism that we carried … so I want the people of our country to be caring for them.”
