Gift pistols and Rutte's subservience: the most strident moments of the NATO summit

Special envoy to AnkaraEverything Donald Trump touches becomes unpredictable and unbelievable. And this week's NATO summit in Ankara has been no exception. The meeting has been overshadowed by the outbursts and threats of the New York magnate to his allies, and the issues that really matter to military understanding have been relegated to the background, such as the rearmament of Europe or military aid to Ukraine. Also starring at the meeting were the host, Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Pedro Sánchez, who has been the preferred target of the President of the United States. The meeting has left a list of anecdotes that, although they may seem trivial, are symptomatic of the moment the Alliance is going through.

Trump's insults and gaffes

The President of the United States arrived at the summit insulting everyone. He called the leaders of the Iranian regime "scum" and "cancer", with whom he left the door open to negotiate peace, and called the citizens of Spain "bad people." A few hours earlier, he had set the summit on fire when he revived his expansionist ambitions with Greenland, which is sovereign territory of Denmark – a member state of the European Union and an ally of NATO. The rest of the summit focused, above all, on cooling the tension and preventing Trump from raising his tone even further.

Despite moderating his insults, the American president made two gaffes. In a meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the summit, Trump referred to the Ukrainian president as "President Putin." Minutes earlier, in the same conversation, the New York magnate attributed an Iranian missile attack against an American ship in the Middle East to the "Islamic Republic of Japan," according to statements reported by the Japanese news agency Kyodo.

Rutte's servility and the uncomfortable question

One of the images that went most viral was when, in the family photo of the leaders, the NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, pointed at Trump and laughed at the white sports shoes worn by the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, who usually wears this footwear. Although the leader of the Atlantic Alliance seemed to expect a sign of complicity from the White House tenant, the New York magnate was not amused at all and continued with his grim expression.

This attitude was criticized, especially on social media, because it shows to what extent Rutte is playing up to Trump, who clearly dominates the Atlantic Alliance, even if the price to pay is to belittle the rest of the allies of the military understanding. The next day, at the final press conference, a question from a Danish journalist to the NATO Secretary General about this type of attitude also went viral. "He sits next to Trump when he talks about the conquest of Greenland and attacks allies like Spain, things that the former Rutte would not seem to have approved of. Does sitting there and saying nothing affect your personal dignity?" he asked him. Rutte responded by claiming Trump's leadership in NATO, and once again remarked that, thanks to him, the military understanding is "very strong".

Erdogan's guns and clique

Erdogan preemptively repressed and before the summit began, he detained hundreds of activists, politicians, and journalists critical of the regime, which was noticeable at the final press conference. Although security guards asked journalists to stay and listen to Erdogan's appearance after Trump's, few foreign professionals moved from their seats. However, they also had no escape: in the press room, the Turkish leader's press conference was played at full volume, and despite various attempts, no summit worker lowered the volume.

The vast majority of journalists who attended the press conference were Turkish, and Erdogan's filtering was noticeable. The professionals applauded at every intervention by the Turkish leader, and all questions were rather friendly. It was also surprising to see a city like Ankara almost empty, ghostly. They cut off a large part of the traffic, gave holidays to civil servants, teachers, and students, and suspended celebrations and ceremonies. All to prevent a banner against the regime or the summit. A clear contradiction with the Western democracies that the Atlantic Alliance claims to defend.

Furthermore, the Turkish leader gave his counterparts a surprise gift: a pistol, with bullets and a cleaning kit. A very symptomatic gift in times of rearmament, trivialization of war, and international military escalation. Some European leaders, however, have left the pistols in Turkey due to permits and airport controls, as well as ideological reasons.