Vance tells Europe it needs to take lead on Ukraine’s future security
The vice president said the NATO alliance needed to step up for Ukraine as the United States faces more challenges in East Asia.
“… Ahead of a Friday morning meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Vance said Washington would remain Europe’s ally, but that the continent needed to do more to improve its own military capabilities as the Trump administration reorients its attention toward dealing with China.
“NATO is a very important military alliance, of course, that we’re the most significant part of,” Vance said alongside Rutte. “But we want to make sure that NATO is actually built for the future, and we think a big part of that is ensuring that NATO does a little bit more burden-sharing in Europe, so the United States can focus on some of our challenges in East Asia.”
… Trump’s approach to the talks has been an energy boost to Putin, who has long sought to sit down with a U.S. leader to remake the post-Cold War security architecture and now appears to have a chance to do so, consigning Europe to a back-seat role in the conversation. Generations of U.S. leaders before Trump have said that Russia has neither the power nor the right to veto how Europe protects itself. Even Trump’s decision to speak to Putin before consulting with Zelensky was a victory for the Kremlin. …”