NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte reaffirmed the centrality of the Alliance to European and global security during a visit to Poland on Wednesday, stating clearly: “When it comes to keeping Europe and North America safe, there is no alternative to NATO.”
During his visit, Rutte met with Polish President Andrzej Duda, Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, and Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski.
He also delivered a keynote speech at a public event co-hosted by the Warsaw School of Economics and the Polish Institute of International Affairs.
The Secretary General praised Poland’s leadership within NATO, highlighting its robust defence investment, which is set to reach 4.7% of GDP in 2025—the highest among NATO members. “Poland’s investment in defence is an example to all Allies,” he said. “Not only do you top the NATO charts, you plan to spend even more.”
In his remarks, Rutte underlined NATO’s enduring role as the cornerstone of transatlantic security, especially in the face of ongoing challenges from Russia. He noted that “President Putin has not given up on his ambition to reshape the global security order,” and pointed to growing military cooperation between Russia and China, Iran, and North Korea.
Rutte also addressed the strategic importance of European contributions to the Alliance, saying that stronger European Allies represent a “unique strategic asset to the United States,” helping the US to “promote peace through strength on the global stage.”
Anticipating the upcoming NATO Summit in The Hague, the Secretary General said it would mark “a new chapter for our transatlantic Alliance,” aiming to build “a stronger, fairer and more lethal NATO, to face a more dangerous world.”
On the question of US commitment to NATO, Rutte expressed confidence: “Listen to President Trump, who has repeatedly stated his commitment to a strong NATO. Listen to the strong bipartisan support in the US Congress. And listen to the American people,” he said, referencing a recent Gallup poll indicating that three-quarters of Americans support NATO membership.
As preparations continue for the summit, Rutte stressed that Washington’s expectation is clear: European Allies and Canada must continue to step up and share the burden of collective defence.
what else is the NATO spokesperson going to say?
meanwhile in the real world, it is clear that Trump is unwilling to unequivocally commit to article 5. If JD Vance becomes his successor in 2028, then it will be even worse since he is clearly not pro Europe (ie Munich rant, Signal messages, etc…)
so an alternative must be considered and it will have to be based on a european mutual defence agreement, which will have the benefit of freeing Europe from Erdogan and his autocratic ways, as well as a potential entanglement between Turkey and Israel which seems likely seeing the evolving situation in Syria
my 2 cents
I am making a good salary from home $4580-$5240/week , which is amazing under a year ago I was jobless in a horrible economy. I thank God every day I was blessed with these instructions and now its my duty to pay it forward and share it with Everyone,
Here is I started_______ 𝐖𝐖𝐖.𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝟏.𝐂𝐎𝐌
No alternative to League Of Nations says League Of Nations member…
All you need is the will
No alternative…. yeh whatever
We have many options
Simply put NATO is now dead and everyone knows it, because NATO was always a DETERRENT and fundament to a deterrent are the 3 Cs ( look them up as understanding them is to understand why NATO is deader than a doornail). If it’s not a DETERRENT It’s not anything (as each nation can choose how it supports a nation under attack). NATO has now Communicated ( one of the Cs);that is has no Credibility ( another one of the Cs) so although NATO has vast Capabilities ( the other C) because it’s Credibility and Communication has now collapsed and it is defunct as an organisation and treaty.
The problem for the UK is that no one wants to admit it because the last vestiges of Credibility do exist because of its massive level of capability.. but that’s draining every day.. especially now everyone is reporting Russia is getting ready to test NATO.
In the end the EU are going to bit the bullet and become a superstate in fact when they have to admit NATO has gone and form a unified military structure with a unified foreign policy..
The UK will then need to decide how it charts its course with its not inconsiderable strategic and global assets..and to an extent its ability to stay apart and be Sovereign.
Why doesn’t NATO give itself meaning and Defend Greenland. Why let Trump take it over?
Time to move on, the Yanks are not our friends anymore if they ever were.
If you start with what we need, the options become clearer.
We need a Europe-wide military alliance and joint command structure that takes in Canada and the USA. Without some such, Putin will.have a field day.
The terms of membership need to be a lot tightet, otherwise each will choose how much they want to spend on defence, whether they’ll respond to a clause 5 call or sit it out, etc.
– Decisions of the political governing body need to secure 2/3rds of the vote to take united action. If Orban, Fico, Erdoğan, Mellons etc don’t accept it, they’re out.
– Clause 5 has to be a binding commitment, ratified by each member’s Parliament
– Military spending and manning targets set by the Alliance must be a binding obligation on all. They may get agreement to take a few years to rach their targets, but persistent laggards are out.
– The Chief of Staff should be a European, with the USA offered the deputy chief of staff if they want it.
Etc, etc. Might reduce the Alliance to a couple of dozen members, but at least they would be the more reliable ones.
Question then is what is the right body to lead this, NATO, the EU or something new?
I doubt the EU’s collegiate way of working would produce the changes needed. They would also need to open the doors fully to non-EU members, like the UK, Norway, Iceland, Turkey, treating them ad equals in the enterprise, not guests. Not sure that would work, when it got down to the nitty-gritty of who pays what and how procurement is handled.
Reforming NATO would be a lot simpler. The political and command structure is already in place and just needs some serious tweaks.
There may be widespread personal dislike and security concern about the direction the USA is currently heading in. But if we look at their military position, their words and actions make some sense.
They seem to have woken up with a start to the fact that China is now rapidly overhauling them in warship building numbers and starting to match US tech in space, airpower, AI and the rest. They are off in a flap to tackle that challenge. They want Europe to take over on this side of the pond right now, get our own defence organised and take the lead in our back yard, Africa and the Middle East, hence jibe about hopeless freeloading Europeans vis a vis the Houthis, which we should really have been doing.
The US may return to political and economic sanity at some future point. For now, better if Europeans run the military side, ideally but not necessarily with a US General as 2i/c.