NATO | Pakistan

United States President Donald Trump and Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte announced a plan on Monday to rearm Ukraine with missiles and other weaponry in its fight to fend off Russian invaders and warned of severe tariffs if Moscow does not end the war. The announcement by the two leaders followed weeks of frustration on the part of Trump with Russian President Vladimir Putin over his refusal to make an agreement to end the conflict. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has made frequent appeals to Trump and Nato leaders for more weapons. Under the deal, Trump said the US will supply weapons that will be paid for by Nato countries. Rutte said massive numbers of weapons would be sent, including missiles, as part of a first wave of equipment. “It’s a full complement with the batteries,” Trump said when asked whether he would send Patriot missiles specifically. “We’re going to have some come very soon, within days … a couple of the countries that have Patriots are going to swap over and will replace the Patri...

THE HAGUE: Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte on Wednesday likened President Donald Trump to a “daddy” intervening in a schoolyard brawl after the US leader repeatedly berated Middle East foes Israel and Iran this week including with a profanity. Talking to reporters alongside Rutte at a Nato alliance summit, Trump again berated Israel and Iran. “They’ve had a big fight, like two kids in a schoolyard. You know, they fight like hell, you can’t stop them. Let them fight for about 2-3 minutes, then it’s easy to stop them,” he said. In response, Rutte laughed and said: “And then daddy has to sometimes use strong language to get (them to) stop.” On Tuesday, after a ceasefire deal, Trump had raised eyebrows by saying Israel and Iran had been fighting “so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f*** they’re doing”. With the 32-member Nato alliance endeavouring to placate Trump after complaints that it was over-reliant on US financial and military muscle, Rutte was asked if he might be over-flattering the US pr...

Nato leaders on Wednesday backed a big increase in defence spending and restated their commitment to defend each other from attack after a brief summit tailor-made for United States President Donald Trump. In a short statement, Nato endorsed a higher defence spending goal of 5 per cent of GDP by 2035, a response to a demand by Trump and to Europeans’ fears that Russia poses a growing threat to their security following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. “We reaffirm our ironclad commitment to collective defence as enshrined in Article Five of the Washington Treaty that an attack on one is an attack on all,” the statement said, after Trump had sparked concern on Tuesday by saying there were “numerous definitions” of the clause. But just before the summit opened, Trump had said of fellow Nato members: “We’re with them all the way.” Trump lauded the “tremendous” summit in the Hague as leaders wrapped up a meeting that saw the alliance back his demand to ramp up defence spending. “I think the summit was fantastic. It w...