The two-day NATO summit at The Hague ended satisfactorily for nearly everyone. Donald Trump basked in the glow of a bit of obsequious flattery from NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, and succeeded in convincing the European members to work toward increasing their defense spending to five percent of GDP.

The heads of the European allied nations were happy to hear Trump pledge his loyalty to the bloc and to the terms of Article 5 — the mutual defense clause stating that an attack on any one of the 32 NATO members is an attack on all.

And strong language was included in the final summit declaration, identifying Russia as a “long-term threat” to Euro-Atlantic security.

One person was not happy, however: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was present as an observer, and who had come to plead his case once more — not only for a path to NATO membership — but for continued support in the defense of his country against Russia’s unflagging onslaught.

But — unlike the tenor of the 2023 and 2024 summits — this one made no mention of potential membership for Ukraine . . . nor did the final declaration include language condemning Russia’s invasion. There was not even a NATO-Ukraine Council, and Zelensky was limited to attendance at side events and the main social event, the summit dinner with spouses.

There was, however, a brief passage stating that “allies reaffirm their enduring sovereign commitments to provide support to Ukraine, whose security contributes to ours, and, to this end, will include direct contributions towards Ukraine’s defense and its defense industry when calculating Allies’ defense spending.” [Rikard Jozwiak, RFE/RL, June 25, 2025.]

Well . . . Whoop-de-do!

Except for a brief sideline chat with Trump, Zelensky might just as well have stayed home.

In fact, for what they accomplished, they could all have stayed home and set up a Zoom call.

But then they would have missed a lovely dinner with the King and Queen of the Netherlands.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
6/26/25