© Marco Tacca/Getty ImagesDutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte
The EU will have to build some form of relationship with Russia when the Ukraine conflict ends, outgoing Dutch Prime Minister and the next likely NATO chief Mark Rutte has said.
Rutte visited Finland on Thursday for talks with President Alexander Stubb and Prime Minister Petteri Orpo on European security, including military assistance to Ukraine. Stubb later told reporters that Rutte is likely to become the US-led military bloc's next secretary general, Reuters reported.
Rutte, at a press conference following his meeting with Orpo, stated:
"At this moment, Russia of course is our main adversary, and we have to ensure that Ukraine wins. Russia will not go away and we have to find in the longer term a form of relationship with Russia. At this moment, it's very difficult to foresee how that will play out."NATO's current Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will finish his second term in October and the outgoing Dutch premier is reportedly the preferred successor, having reportedly secured support among the bloc's member-states. Under NATO rules, the secretary general must be decided "by consensus," which means Rutte needs the backing of all bloc members.
However, some NATO states, particularly Hungary, have consistently opposed the bloc's position on the Ukraine conflict, arguing that it is inching closer to war with Russia. Prime Minister Viktor Orban also warned this week of "war psychosis" in the EU over the Ukraine conflict.
Despite his grievances, Dutch media reported this week that Orban is moving closer to backing Rutte, having apparently received assurances that Hungary would not be required to send troops to Ukraine or fund its conflict with Russia.
Stoltenberg insisted this week that allowing Ukraine to strike targets inside Russia using Western-donated F-16 warplanes would not be an escalation of the conflict and would not make NATO a party to it.
Moscow has warned that Western-backed long-range attacks on Russian territory will indeed amount to direct Western participation in the conflict, and that Russia reserves the right to respond in kind.
Russia perceives the conflict as part of a US-initiated proxy war against it, given NATO's increasing military presence in Ukraine, and regards the military bloc's intention to eventually offer membership to Kiev as a major national security risk.
Reader Comments
Ha, that is off my chest!
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US/NATO/NAZI/SATAN (Satan=Adversary in Hebrew) vs. Russia/Christian Orthodox values.
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"...In every one of our countries, the public mood is similar: these people are terrible and we want them gone. This isn’t a matter of the nominal ideology of any given political party. In America you have the senile crime boss, technically a liberal. In Canada you have the substitute drama teacher, also a liberal. In the United Kingdom you have the jug-eared gamma male, supposedly a Conservative. In France you have the gay investment banker, in theory a ‘centrist’, whatever that even means these days. In Germany you have that nonentity of a balding numpty, who’s supposedly ... honestly who cares. In country after country the incumbents are calamitously unpopular. Which, after decades of declining living standards and a tightening ratchet of micromanagerial tyranny, isn’t surprising..."
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To get the full picture, we must first consider the competing narrative. Also yesterday, the Guardian UK headlined, “ World leaders to gather in Swiss resort in attempt to forge Ukraine peace plan. ” Sounds promising, right? Everyone is on the same peace page, and so forth.
Sadly, no. It’s 2024. What do you expect?..." by Jeff Childers Coffee & Covid [Link]