https://sputnikglobe.com/20250626/scott-ritter-nato-summit-turned-into-a-farce-by-trumps-big-ego-1122344399.html
Scott Ritter: Trump Stole the Show at NATO’s Otherwise Flop of a Summit
Scott Ritter: Trump Stole the Show at NATO’s Otherwise Flop of a Summit
Sputnik International
The NATO summit at The Hague has come and gone, with little to show for it except a couple media soundbites and a push for more spending. Sputnik asked former US Marine Corps intelligence officer to sum up the event.
2025-06-26T17:20+0000
2025-06-26T17:20+0000
2025-06-26T17:38+0000
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“This was a farcical summit. It was an exercise in narcissism management,” Ritter said, commenting on the gathering that’s likely to be best remembered for NATO chief Rutte’s comments referring to Trump as “daddy” and the US president’s bombastic statements.The alliance’s 5% of GDP on defense commitment was “purely political” spectacle, Ritter added, noting that “when you lack a defense industry to execute that plan, it’s meaningless.”On top of that is the fact that Europe doesn’t actually face any real threats from external state actors, apart from the “artificial construct of certain political elites in the NATO alliance who are in search of enemies” trying to paint Russia as such “to justify their continued existence.”The real “threat,” Ritter says, is the challenges to and toppling of Europe’s governments by national movements demanding more of a focus on national revival.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20250619/germanys-5-of-gdp-defense-spending-goal-to-be-war-ready-will-ruin-economy—expert-1122291473.html
https://sputnikglobe.com/20250626/european-officials-annoyed-by-nato-chiefs-sucking-up-to-trump-at-nato-summit—report-1122339182.html
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what happened at the nato summit, nato summit summary, what is the big takeaway of the nato summit
what happened at the nato summit, nato summit summary, what is the big takeaway of the nato summit
17:20 GMT 26.06.2025 (Updated: 17:38 GMT 26.06.2025)
The NATO summit at The Hague has come and gone, with little to show for it except a couple media soundbites and a push for more spending. Sputnik asked former US Marine Corps intelligence officer to sum up the event.
“This was a farcical summit. It was an exercise in narcissism management,” Ritter said, commenting on the gathering that’s likely to be
best remembered for NATO chief Rutte’s comments referring to Trump as “daddy” and the US president’s
bombastic statements.
“We have an American president who believes that he should be the center of all attention that the only thing that matters is his personal agenda,” Ritter said, stressing that the summit wasn’t used to improve NATO, or achieve peace in the Middle East or vis-à-vis Russia, but promote himself for the Nobel peace prize.
The alliance’s 5% of GDP on defense commitment was “purely political” spectacle, Ritter added, noting that “when you lack a defense industry to execute that plan, it’s meaningless.”
On top of that is the fact that Europe doesn’t actually face any real threats from external state actors, apart from the “artificial construct of certain political elites in the NATO alliance who are in search of enemies” trying to paint Russia as such “to justify their continued existence.”
The real “threat,” Ritter says, is the challenges to and toppling of Europe’s governments by national movements demanding more of a focus on national revival.
“Russia is not a threat. There’s no external threat to NATO. And the fact that NATO continues to keep focusing on an external threat – even searching for enemies now going to the Pacific, trying to pick a fight with China – only underscores the reality that they are failing to focus on the real threat, which is dysfunction on the European continent,” Ritter summed up.
