Marking the 75th anniversary of the military alliance, U.S. President Joe Biden praised the endurance of NATO and pledged to defend Ukraine. However, it is alleged that representatives of NATO member states have reached out to Donald Trump’s team in order to assess what his potential return to the White House would bring.
While Biden’s speech was livelier and more robust than his public performances in recent months, the United States’ allies are still questioning whether he is fit to lead his country and NATO for another four years.
“Today, NATO is more powerful than ever,” Joe Biden said on Tuesday, July 9th, in his opening speech at the transatlantic military alliance’s Washington, D.C. summit. NATO is celebrating its 75th anniversary, and has expanded from its twelve founding members to 32, its latest additions being Finland and Sweden. Both Nordic countries decided to give up their military non-aligned status in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two years ago.
Referring to the war and other global security concerns, Joe Biden said:
It’s good that we’re stronger than ever because this moment in history calls for our collective strength. Autocrats want to overturn global order, which is by and large, kept for nearly 80 years and counting. Terrorist groups continue to plot evil schemes, cause mayhem and chaos and suffering in Europe. Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine continues and Putin wants nothing less than Ukraine’s total subjugation, to end Ukraine.
He added that “Ukraine can and will stop Putin.”
The U.S. is by far the largest single donor country to Ukraine, pr oviding €50.2 billion worth of military assistance in the last two years. Biden and the leaders of Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Romania issued a joint statement with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, announcing the delivery of five additional Patriot and other strategic air defence systems to Ukraine. They said additional air defence systems would be announced this year.
Zelensky, who is also attending the summit, has said Ukraine needs a minimum of seven Patriot systems to defend against Russian missile attacks. On Tuesday, he said, “we are also striving to secure more aircraft, including F-16s. Additionally, we are pushing for enhanced security guarantees for Ukraine, including weapons, financial aid, and political support.”
Ukraine is struggling to push back Russian troops that have made significant battlefield gains over the past several months. Ukraine is currently in possession of at least two Patriot missile defence systems—one that was donated by the United States, and another that was provided in partnership between Germany and the Netherlands.
The NATO summit, which lasts until Thursday, is not solely focused on Ukraine. Leaders of European countries have the opportunity to see for themselves the mental state Joe Biden is in after a series of public performances in which the president looked frail and mentally unstable. Since his disastrous showing at the debate with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump two weeks ago, pressure has been increasing on Biden to drop out of the presidential race.
Biden’s speech on Tuesday went relatively smoothly as the president spoke off of a teleprompter, but he did mumble some of his words. One European diplomat told Reuters: “I can’t imagine him being at the helm of the U.S. and NATO for four more years.” Concerns within Europe about the 81-year-old Biden’s health have been mounting for years, according to media reports. One such report claims that during a G7 summit in Germany in 2022, after a round of official talks, Biden was supposed to have a one-on-one meeting with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, but in the end State Secretary Antony Blinken had to replace him, because the president had already gone to bed.
According to Reuters, European leaders are gearing up for another Trump presidency, and several high-ranking European officials met one of Trump’s top foreign policy advisers, Keith Kellogg, during the ongoing NATO summit. Meetings between foreign diplomats and former officials of the Trump administration (2017-2021) have been regular. Kellogg, who served as the chief of staff in the National Security Council, recently presented Trump with a plan to end the war in Ukraine, under which Ukraine would get more U.S. weapons if it enters peace talks. During those peace talks, there would be a ceasefire based on prevailing battle lines, and NATO membership for Ukraine would be delayed for an extended period.
While the Biden administration is willing to continue providing assistance to Ukraine and has rejected peace talks with Russia, Donald Trump has repeated many times that he would promptly bring an end to the war.
One NATO member that shares Trump’s desire for peace is Hungary. “At this week’s NATO summit, Hungary will argue in favour of a ceasefire in Ukraine and the start of peace talks as soon as possible, because if the war does not come to an end quickly, we will face the possibility of its brutal escalation,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán embarked on a peace mission last week, visiting Kyiv, Moscow and Beijing in an attempt to open communication channels with the participants of the war and the main global powers. He has been chided by European leaders for talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Orbán continued his mission with a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday in Washington. “Turkey already proved during the war that it is an indispensable player in peace-making,” he tweeted, referring to a Turkey-broked grain deal two years ago.
