BRUSSELS (ANP) – If the Dutch former Prime Minister Mark Rutte turns into NATO Secretary Basic on Tuesday, he’ll instantly face difficult balancing work concerning the menace from Russia. A gathering of the 32 NATO Protection Ministers is already scheduled to happen in Brussels in simply over two weeks.
Ukraine is getting into its third winter because the Russian invasion in February 2022. Russian Overseas Minister Sergei Lavrov warned European international locations in a speech on the United Nations on Saturday to not admit Ukraine, which has been a NATO aspirant member since 2018, into the alliance. In accordance with Lavrov, Europe also needs to not danger “confronting a nuclear energy.”
The warning immediately refers back to the core of the NATO treaty, which stipulates that the 32 NATO international locations will mutually present army help if one of many NATO international locations is attacked. By serving to Ukraine, NATO international locations are, in accordance with Russia, overstepping, and Moscow might presumably not hesitate to make use of nuclear weapons.
Moreover, NATO international locations should keep watch over points such because the escalation within the Center East and the tensions between China and Taiwan. These are political and army issues that the US, NATO’s strongest participant, can barely deal with by itself.
For many years, American presidents have been proclaiming that the US is not robotically the good protector of Europe. Underneath Rutte’s management, NATO must additional orient itself in the direction of a course by which the European international locations inside NATO are militarily stronger and extra unbiased. Furthermore, Rutte faces intensive cooperation with the European Union. Attributable to army threats, cyberattacks, and financial undermining, the EU has appointed a Protection Commissioner for the primary time.
To find all these balances, Rutte’s expertise as a shrewd participant among the many European heads of state will turn out to be useful, in accordance with expectations from NATO international locations.
Rutte will grow to be the fourteenth Secretary Basic. The handover will happen on Tuesday with speeches and a wreath-laying at NATO headquarters in Brussels. Rutte’s predecessor Jens Stoltenberg from Norway has held the function of NATO’s prime chief for ten years.
(September 29, 2024)