Donald Trump has again attacked Nato for not supporting the US in the Iran war, following a private meeting with its Secretary General Mark Rutte at the White House.

In a post shared to Truth Social after the meeting, the US President said: “NATO WASN’T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM, AND THEY WON’T BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN.”

Meanwhile, Rutte has described his meeting to CNN with Trump as “very frank” and “very open”, despite clear disagreements.

  • protist@retrofed.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    48
    ·
    edit-2
    13 hours ago

    Iran has Trump’s nuts in a vise right now. They’ve successfully made the Strait reopening contingent upon Israel stopping its attacks on Lebanon, which means Trump would have to put on big boy pants and stop Netanyahu, but Trump doesn’t have the life skills to put on big boy pants. Trump threatens total war with Iran, but knows that would be the end of his administration domestically. He has left Iran with more power than they had before he attacked, and doesn’t know what to do, so is trying to bully NATO into saving him, which NATO will never succumb to.

  • JackbyDev@programming.dev
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    7 hours ago

    I swear I saw the word Cheeto in the headline, I guess the C- from criticize and -to from NATO tripped me up. What do you call Freudian slips of the eyes?

  • Akasazh@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    20
    ·
    13 hours ago

    In Rutte speak that is worrying. We know already he’ll say anything to keep Trump in. To say that the conversation was very frank is saying that Trump was frank and he couldn’t sweet talk him out of the crazy.

    • athairmor@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      10 hours ago

      Trump can’t pull out of NATO without an act of Congress. He might try but it’ll definitely be stopped in the courts. Even the US Supreme Court wouldn’t be able to find a way around the law.

      Rutte needs to grow a spine and stop indulging Trump’s juvenile shit.

  • WanderingThoughts@europe.pub
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    18
    ·
    13 hours ago

    NATO WASN’T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM

    That’s such bull. If Poland suddenly decided to attack Russia, say somewhere last year, USA would only send thoughts and prayers, and nothing else. But in his logic, with the roles reversed, USA should go out there and bomb Moscow. But that only applies when Trump needs something.

  • AbsolutelyNotAVelociraptor@piefed.social
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    12 hours ago

    If that Rutte asshole decides to send us in a war with Iran just because his buddy Pedohitler says so, he’s gonna suffer a tragic incident in less than a day of saying the words. I can’t see anyone in the alliance willing to go on a war of agression against Iran just because the octogenarian toddler wants help.

    • blackbeans@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      2 hours ago

      Rutte is secretary general of NATO. Making war related decisions is not possible in his position, that’s up to the member countries. His job is to coordinate and in this case, deescalate.

    • comrade_twisty@feddit.org
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      27
      ·
      14 hours ago

      His only job is to string Trump along until he is gone. Unfortunately, there is not much anyone else could do better at this time.

      • Big Baby Thor@sopuli.xyz
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        14
        ·
        13 hours ago

        This exactly. Jens Stoltenberg stepped down simply because everybody knew that Rutte was good at deescalating with Trump by way of glazing. So Rutte is NATO’s silk glove.

        As it stands, Europe has about - what - 2-3 years to become militarily independent? Let’s just hope the EU doesn’t screw up that process somehow.

        But assuming everything goes well, Rutte will most likely be replaced with a ball buster and not a diplomat.

        • Riddick3001@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          3 hours ago

          But assuming everything goes well, Rutte will most likely be replaced with a ball buster and not a diplomat.

          Probably Nato will continue to exist in one form or another and the job will need doing.

          The" ballbuster " you mentioned, would be the position of EC defense minister or someone in similar position in (very) near future probably.

    • Bloefz@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      13 hours ago

      He is and he always was as prime minister too. We called him Teflon Mark because he kept coming back scandal after scandal. Shit just doesn’t cling to him. That’s really the main thing he’s good at, laughing problems away. And being a puppet for big corporations which is what his party was always about.

      In that sense he fits in well with Trump. No substance.

      • Akasazh@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        10 hours ago

        There’s enough shit that would cling to him if only somebody would hold him accountable.

      • Brummbaer@pawb.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        edit-2
        13 hours ago

        The time he has to spend licking Trump’s boots is time he can’t use to do worse things.

    • gigachad@piefed.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      12 hours ago

      I think he is sacrificing himself so none of the state presidents has to. It is hard to watch but I really think this is a strategy.

      • ReallyAngryNerd@europe.pub
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        11 hours ago

        I think Rutte thinks this. But appeasing an autocrat will only make things worse. Plus what he’s doing is pretty insulting to the NATO members that quite rightly have refused to join this war.

  • somethingDotExe@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    7
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    14 hours ago

    The two persons in the world I believe the least, so who gives a flying fuck about what comes from their meeting. The only truth we care about is, that Trump loves putin, Rutte loves his position at NATO, we all know USA won’t come and help if russia attacks a NATO Ally in Europe. Trump want to take greenland with force, Rutte knows his job is gone if this happen. As long as Rutte can keep the lie alive about NATO, the longer he is in a position of power.

    • Bloefz@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      14 hours ago

      Russia won’t attack Europe any time soon. The war in Ukraine has already drawn them out so much. In the long term I do consider Russia a threat to Europe but right now they’re not one really.

      • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        8 hours ago

        I dunno… What worries me is that Putin’s ability to escalate is constrained right now, because Ukraine is seen more as military adventurism, not a fight for survival. If he could engineer a war with NATO - especially NATO minus the US - that would justify far reaching conscription, total militarization of the economy, etc, etc. He probably won’t win, but if he’s fearful enough of losing power it might seem like an attractive option.

        I’m not considering this a likely scenario, just one that’s plausible enough that we need to plan for it.

        • marxismtomorrow@lemmy.today
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          4 hours ago

          Russia already has total militarization of the economy. Its why Russia has an economy.

          I feel sometimes you people fail to understand what it’s like living in a sanctioned nation.

          • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            3 hours ago

            Russia isn’t even close to total militarization. Not yet. Their economy is becoming highly militarized, and you’re right that that’s how they’ve been surviving the sanctions, but their focus is still on keeping the more affluent Russians in the cities supplied with fast food, electronics and gas. They’re trying to make life seem normal despite the strain of the war. Being able to dispense with those niceties would open up a lot more room for applying their industrial capacity.

            • marxismtomorrow@lemmy.today
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              3 hours ago

              Hard disagree. ‘Normal’ as you describe hasn’t existed for even wealthy Russians in the country since the first round of sanctions in 2014.

              It’s been a decade since they’ve been reliant on external sources for trivialities, and their economy since the union fell has been nearly exclusively oil, gas, and military hardware anyway.

              It’s why sanctions have largely not worked; they were given no time to actually become lazy westerners despite the west’s best’s efforts; so the average day to day is no different now than it was 30 years ago. For some people it’s no different now than it was in the 1980s, except their rent is higher since there’s no state protections.

      • somethingDotExe@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        11 hours ago

        That is only as long as EU can manage to deliver what Ukraine needs. Blockages from Putin lover Orban has been a real pain in the arse. Everytime we are near something that could end the war, some fucking asshole keeps spoiling things. If Orban isn’t taken care of on sunday, and if the slovaki or slovenian putin lover also starts being trouble for EU, we are in serious problems. We need to step up really quickly. Friends will turn foes on the way to EU independency.

      • Riddick3001@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        7 hours ago

        Russia won’t attack Europe any time soon. The war in Ukraine has already drawn them out so much. In the long term I do consider Russia a threat to Europe but right now they’re not one really.

        Ruzzia and Europe are in a hybrid war already. If you mean a full kinetic atack you should specify. Also, when considering a kinetic atack most European analysts believe somewhere within 5 years.

    • Tattorack@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      7 hours ago

      A good thing, huh? Good for who? Who benefits from destroying a defence alliance?

      • marxismtomorrow@lemmy.today
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        6
        ·
        4 hours ago

        The entirety of the world besides the 13 countries with a history of exploiting the entirety of the rest of the world.

        • Tattorack@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          3 hours ago

          Yes, I’m sure they care about NATO.

          The only ones I’ve seen get anal about NATO existing are Russians and tankies. Which to me sounds like NATO working exactly as intended.

          • marxismtomorrow@lemmy.today
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            3 hours ago

            And africa, and south America minus the currently colonized Argentina, and pretty much all of asia minus a couple of colonial hold overs…