The (private) conversation in which Rutte doubles down on Trump: "Europe will pay big and it will be your victory."

HagueIt's no secret that NATO is controlled by the United States and that the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance must remain loyal to the Pentagon's interests if he doesn't want to lose his position. However, Dutchman Mark Rutte has been one of the heads of the military organization that, in a more explicit have closed ranks with the administration American, even if it's Donald Trump's, and he has defended it in every stretch of the imagination he has engaged in, including the threat to invade Greenland or abandon some of his European allies in the event of an attack. And, in a private conversation between Rutte and Trump made public by the US president himself, their relationship of subordination has become more evident than ever.

Among other things, Rutte congratulates Trump on the agreement the Atlantic allies are expected to seal at this week's summit in The Hague, in which they commit to spending at least 5% of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defense. "Europe will pay big, as it should, and it will be your victory," reads one of the messages, which are written in the purest style of the New York tycoon, with capital letters and exclamation points.

But the NATO chief's praise for the US president doesn't end there. "Donald, you have led us to a truly momentous moment for America and Europe. You will achieve something no other American president in decades could have achieved," read another of the personal messages the two leaders exchanged.

Beyond military spending, the Dutch leader also congratulated Trump on the United States' attack on Iran, which he describes as a "decisive" and "truly extraordinary" intervention. "No one else dared to do it, and it makes us all safer," the NATO Secretary General added. However, publicly, he had limited himself to defending that the US had not violated international law with its attack on Iran and that his "main fear" was not an escalation of the conflict, but rather that Tehran "has nuclear weapons and could use them."

However, NATO sources confirm that the conversation is true, and Rutte has assured that he was not bothered in any way by the US president's leak and that he does not regret the tone of the messages, either with regard to military spending or the US attack on Iran.