NATO’s ‘Tremendous Unity’ And Other Takeaways From The Summit In Turkey

(Rikard Jozwiak – RFE/RL) It is fair to say that the final day of the NATO summit in Ankara on July 8 got off to a tense start. Overnight, the United States had resumed strikes on Iran after an uneasy cease-fire. The entire conflict had shaken the military alliance, with US President Donald Trump slamming European allies for not helping out and questioning their “loyalty”. In his joint press appearance with the NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on July 8, he again ripped into European nations for delaying or preventing US airplanes from using bases on the continent for air strikes, called the Iranian regime “liars” and “scum,” and said that the deal with Iran was “over”. On top of that he also lashed out at Spain, a country that both criticized the war publicly and spent moderately on defense, alluding to a potential trade embargo on Madrid. – NATO’s ‘Tremendous Unity’ And Other Takeaways From The Summit In Turkey