By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS (Worthy News) – NATO’s incoming secretary-general said Friday that one of his main tasks would be “to keep military alliance united” at a time of divisions over the war in Ukraine.
Mark Rutte, the longtime Dutch prime minister who becomes NATO chief on October 1, also told reporters in The Hague that “it will be very important in the coming years to have real talks on doing more defense” of the alliance.
He referred to ongoing pressure from Washington on member states to spend at least 2 percent of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on defense.
Former U.S. President Donald J. Trump has even threatened not to defend NATO nations that spend less than the required minimum on their military.
Rutte, who leaves the coalition government, made clear he was looking forward to taking over as NATO chief from Jens Stoltenberg after Romania and Hungary withdrew their objections.
The 57-year-old has a good working relationship with U.S. President Joe Biden and his rival Trump, who are expected to confront each other during the presidential elections in November, analysts say.
Rutte will oversee an alliance with sharp differences over the ongoing invasion of Russia in Ukraine. Hungary and Slovakia are among the most vocal NATO member states that have expressed misgivings about providing military assistance to Ukraine.
Rutte promised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán that his country wouldn’t be involved in providing weapons, troops, or military funding to Ukraine.
Budapest has clarified that it prefers U.S.-led peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since the Second World War.
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
A massive barrage of Israeli airstrikes hit Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon just after the terrorist group’s leader declared that two days of intense hybrid bombings, including the detonation of pagers and walkie-talkies targeting Hezbollah forces, amounted to a declaration of war.
Facing relentless violence against their communities by Islamic jihadist terror groups, 16.2 million Christians in sub-Saharan Africa have now been forced to flee their homes and live in poverty-stricken Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps, the Christian Post (CP) reports.
A Pakistani court has sentenced Shagufta Kiran, a Christian mother of four, to death for “committing blasphemy against Islam,” a senior Christian advocacy activist told Worthy News Thursday.
Amid Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has reiterated that the kingdom would not recognize Israel without the establishment of a Palestinian state, the Times of Israel reports. The Crown Prince made his remarks during an annual speech to the advisory Shura Council on Wednesday (September 18).
Taiwanese company Gold Apollo says that the pager model allegedly used by Hezbollah members that simultaneously exploded and killed numerous people, mainly in Lebanon, was made by its Hungarian partner.
Israel has condemned an adopted United Nations resolution demanding that all Israeli forces and civilians pull out of Palestinian areas within a year. The resolution also called for an embargo on arms that Israel might use in those areas.
Israel’s atomic chief has warned that Syria built an undeclared nuclear facility after Iran, which he said has “in alarming amounts conducting covert nuclear activities.”