Lavishing praise, playing the royal card and copying his slogans — NATO pulled out all the stops to keep U.S. President Donald Trump happy and hold the alliance together at a summit in The Hague.
The plan came off, although it largely avoided tough topics of vital importance to NATO such as the war in Ukraine, Russia strategy and a likely drawdown of U.S. troops in Europe. Sooner or later, NATO will have to deal with them, too.
As NATO boss Mark Rutte had planned, the main summit outcomes were a vow by the allies to heed Trump's call to spend 5% of GDP on defense — a big increase on the current 2% target — and a renewed U.S. commitment to NATO's mutual defense pact.
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