{"id":4361,"date":"2025-06-26T17:25:26","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T17:25:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/?p=4361"},"modified":"2025-06-28T02:26:32","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T02:26:32","slug":"the-latest-nato-summit-was-the-priciest-humiliation-fetish-ever-produced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/26\/the-latest-nato-summit-was-the-priciest-humiliation-fetish-ever-produced\/","title":{"rendered":"The latest NATO summit was the priciest humiliation fetish ever produced"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a few insults and some light humiliation, Trump convinced Europe to bankroll his war machine \u2013 to the tune of 5% GDP<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fresh off dropping an \u201cF bomb<\/a>\u201d<\/em> on both Iran and Israel for blowing up the only ceasefire in history ever announced exclusively on his social media feed , US President Donald Trump hopped on his jet and headed straight to the NATO summit. Everyone wondered what mood he\u2019d land in after crossing the Atlantic.<\/p>\n

Apparently not feeling like rolling the dice, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte wrote him a\u00a0love letter<\/a> in advance, \u00a0suggesting that the scariest weapon of mass destruction for NATO is the American president\u2019s mouth. \u201cYou are flying into another big success in The Hague. It was not easy but we\u2019ve got them all signed onto five percent! Donald, you have driven us to a really, really important moment for America and Europe, and the world,\u201d<\/em> Rutte gushed. \u201cYou will achieve something NO American president in decades could get done. Europe is going to pay in a BIG way \u2013 as they should \u2013 and it will be your win.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Hard to believe this guy was once the prime minister of the Netherlands. Oh, President Trump, way to really stick it to Europe! What a wonderful thing you\u2019ve just done to make almost all of Europe subsidize the American military industrial complex to the tune of 5% of their GDP!<\/p>\n

Back when Trump first started hounding Europe to cough up 2.5%\u00a0of their GDP for defense, European leaders rolled their eyes. But after nuking their own energy-driven economy with their anti-Russia, pro-Ukraine policies, they\u2019ve decided to embrace the idea like they thought of it themselves. Nothing like selling European taxpayers on buying a ton more US and European hardware under the\u00a0pretext of a hypothetical 2030 Russian invasion<\/a>. Perfect cover for a spending spree that will become the problem of whoever\u2019s in office by then (ie. not them).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump initially wanted them all on a 2.5% spending target. But heaven forbid American arms dealers hog all the action. Europe\u2019s military industrial complex needs a piece too. Hence, 5% for everyone and a double-dip dinner at the weapons buffet.<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"NATO
NATO commits to doubling military budgets: As it happened<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Trump showed up straight from showcasing US bombs on Iranian soil \u2013 one giant demo reel for his European customers. When he landed, Rutte practically faceplanted directly into Trump\u2019s backside.<\/p>\n

And if you thought what he wrote to Trump was cringey, wait till you hear what Rutte said aloud in the wake of Trump bombing Iran for Israel \u2013 er, I mean, for peace: \u201cYou are a man of strength but also a man of peace, and the fact that you also successfully got this ceasefire between Israel and Iran, I really want to commend you for that,\u201d<\/em> Rutte\u00a0cooed<\/a>. \u201cWithout President Trump, this would not have happened. Absolutely not.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Way to thank an arsonist for putting out his own fire. What\u2019s next: nominating him for Fireman of the Year? Even the press did a double-take, basically asking Rutte, Bro, you sure you want him reading your fan mail on live TV? Answer: Absolutely. \u201cNot embarrassed,\u201d<\/em> Rutte\u00a0replied<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The NATO secretary general sounded so enamored with Trump that you had to wonder why the two of them didn\u2019t just get a room already. \u201cDaddy has to sometimes use strong language,\u201d<\/em> Rutte\u00a0told<\/a> journalists, referring to Trump, as journalists may or may not have barfed into the nearest potted plant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Between remarks like that and all the gushing about how Trump was making Europe pay for the privilege of being extorted for a protection racket that Trump says isn\u2019t even sure that he would honor, it all sounded so sadomasochistic that I started to feel like maybe I should be paying for this kind of kinky TV content. Or I guess you could say that European taxpayers already are \u2013 to the tune of 5% of GDP.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And as for Europe being taken to the cleaners, Rutte had this to say about those who might struggle to pay up, like Spain, which opted to stick to 2%:<\/p>\n

\u201cCountries have to find the money.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"Russian
Russia takes on the West\u2019s biggest obsession<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Easy to say as the former Dutch Prime Minister \u2013 and now, unelected NATO chief \u2013 safely off the electoral hook.<\/p>\n

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez isn\u2019t quite so glib, promising to hold the line at a much lower 2% spending target. How long before other NATO leaders realize that they can say no, too? Polish President Andrzej Duda already called the 5% pledge a mere \u201cgentleman\u2019s agreement,\u201d<\/em> insisting there\u2019d be no penalties for ignoring it.<\/p>\n

Sounds like those school spirit rallies where the star quarterback expects everyone to cheer for the big game, then everyone just goes home and does their own thing afterwards.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaking of which, Ukraine apparently isn\u2019t the center of the universe anymore. \u201cThe fact that Zelensky will not participate in any official form at the NATO summit clearly indicates that the previous chapter is over,\u201d<\/em> Hungarian PM Viktor Orb\u00e1n\u00a0suggested<\/a>. \u201cThe Americans, Turks, Slovaks and we have made it clear we do not want to sit at the same table with him.\u201d<\/em> Zelensky even swapped the pizza delivery look for undertaker chic. Perhaps a better match for the current state of his country. Or maybe just his ego.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As for the usual pre-summit group photo \u2013 it looked like the teachers made sure that Trump and Zelensky weren\u2019t together for it, hoping to avoid a reprise of their White House spat when Trump smacked him with the rhetorical equivalent of a stapler to the face.<\/p>\n

And forget any serious focus on countering China. The leaders of NATO\u2019s would-be Asia partners \u2013 South Korea and Japan \u2013 bailed to deal with the economic fallout of Trump bombing the Middle East and spiking their oil prices.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And so NATO stumbles on, proving that when Trump cracks the whip, Europe says, \u201cThank you, sir, may I have another?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After a few insults and some light humiliation, Trump convinced Europe to bankroll his war machine \u2013 to the tune of 5% GDP Fresh off dropping an \u201cF bomb\u201d on both Iran and Israel for blowing up the only ceasefire in history ever announced exclusively on his social media feed , US President Donald Trump…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4361"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4365,"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4361\/revisions\/4365"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}