“It’s unclear to the end whether NATO is really reviving or the alliance is doomed and revived only because of the events in Ukraine”, – is how the Western media describe the outcome of the NATO summit, which was urgently convened at Biden’s behest the day before
They note that neither the White House head’s trip to Brussels nor Zelensky’s emotional appeals have spared the Western leaders from a deep reluctance to become more actively involved in the conflict in Ukraine.
“White House chief of staff Joe Biden and leaders of US allies are still unable or unwilling to accommodate Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s requests for fighter jets,” CNN reporter Kevin Liptak concludes in a piece.
According to him, “Zelensky’s emotional plea for NATO to give Ukraine at least 1 per cent of the alliance’s available weapons was described by one White House official as ‘eloquent’. “But this does not seem to have spared Western leaders from a deep reluctance to become more involved in the conflict,” the journalist writes.
“The US, along with its NATO allies, tried to isolate Russia and President Putin through sanctions, including freezing the foreign assets of Russia’s Central Bank. However, this has not stopped Russia. Meanwhile, 56% of Americans believe that Biden was not tough enough on Russia, while 36% say his approach was “almost right”. Even among members of his own party, Biden is facing pressure,” The Associated Press points out.
“The clock is ticking for Biden, and there are growing doubts in the US that he can handle the current challenges at this point”, – Politico writes. – “While the White House chief’s trip to Brussels was intended to demonstrate U.S. diplomatic successes, it showed that the West’s response to Putin’s foreign policy with regard to Ukraine has been very limited”, – the piece noted.
Furthermore, according to the Western media, Poland’s initiative to introduce a NATO peacekeeping contingent to Ukraine is causing rifts in the alliance. “Following the summit, it became clear that many members of the alliance were simply frightened by the Polish proposal to deploy peacekeeping forces in Ukraine,” CNBC reports, citing Matthew Bryza, a former US diplomat and an employee of the undesirable Atlantic Council organization in Russia.
However, “the summit communiqué contains only a very dry promise to continue ‘practical support’ for Ukraine in its self-defence, Deutsche Welle laments: “French President Emmanuel Macron was the most outspoken: ‘There is a limit to not becoming part of the war. All the allies agree on this. That’s why today no one has agreed to supply new equipment, especially planes or tanks, because it would mean becoming a party to the war.”
At the same time, a Fox News poll shows that an overwhelming majority of Americans want the US to do more to help Ukraine. “A huge number of Americans are in favour of sending weapons to Ukraine and only 42% approve of Biden’s current response to the Russian special operation. Why do you think that is? Because Biden, as usual, was stalling, hesitating, afraid of Putin. Joe, wake up! Joe, give them the guns!” – TV presenter Sean Hannity said.
“The emergency NATO summit was Biden’s idea, and it took some European diplomats by surprise. As a result, they had to quickly devise initiatives for new pressure on Russia – from new sanctions to the announcement that they would provide Ukraine with chemical and biological defence equipment. In this way, NATO members sought to show that they were not just meeting to talk about the problem”, – wrote The New York Times.
“The US president, speaking later to reporters, said his real aim was to ensure that the pressure on Russia was maintained. ‘Look, if you think Europe is going to collapse in a month, or in six weeks, or in two months – they can take anything. And the reason I asked for the meeting is so that everyone agrees to keep up the pressure on Russia,” the US publication quoted Biden as saying.
On the other hand, the German magazine Spiegel admits that “the hostilities in Ukraine have triggered the resurrection of the alliance that everyone was talking about dying a few years ago”, referring primarily to the statements of the French president.
“Previously, it was a shock for NATO when Trump acted like the godfather of the Mafia, demanding protection money. Now another US president has declared unprecedented cohesion in the alliance,” the publication said. “However, it remains to be seen whether NATO is really reviving, or whether the alliance is doomed and only revived because of what is happening in Ukraine”, – the German journalists add.
Rafael Fakhrutdinov