Western countries need to stop convincing themselves that NATO will not survive Donald Trump's second presidential term, according to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. According to him, Trump and his vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance are criticizing not the organization itself, but its individual members for insufficient funding for the alliance's defense needs. This was stated by Stoltenberg in an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian, reports UNN.
Details
“I think it's important not to engage in self-hypnosis and not to assume that a new administration in the United States will mean the end of NATO. There were concerns about this in 2016. The reality is that NATO has become stronger in four years... (the alliance has) more troops, increased combat capability,” Stoltenberg said.
Recall
At the July 2018 NATO summit, Donald Trump, who was then president, was about to withdraw from the alliance. Trump complained that European allies were not spending enough on defense and directly criticized Jens Stoltenberg at a bilateral meeting.