BRUSSELS: NATO allies will show “transatlantic unity” in their first talks with new Pentagon boss James Mattis on Wednesday, the alliance’s chief said against a backdrop of concerns about US President Donald Trump’s commitment.
Defense Secretary Mattis has voiced support for NATO in contrast with the skeptical Trump, and has been tougher on Russia than his boss, whose views worry the alliance’s eastern European member states in particular.
Mattis’s visit has been overshadowed by the resignation of Trump’s national security adviser Michael Flynn over allegations he had discussed US sanctions with Russia’s ambassador before taking office.
“I am absolutely certain that the message from this meeting will be a message of transatlantic unity,” NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg told journalists as he arrived for the two-day meeting in Brussels.
Stoltenberg said they will also stress “the importance that we stand together and protect each other and a very strong commitment of the United States to NATO.”
His comments came after he was asked whether Flynn’s departure over his behind-the-scene contacts with Russia was a sign of chaos in the Trump administration.
Mattis said on the flight to Brussels that Flynn’s departure would have “no impact” on the US message to NATO.
The retired Marine general praised the alliance for its enduring help for the United States in Afghanistan. “This has been the most successful alliance in military history,” he said.
Also hanging over the meeting was a New York Times report that Moscow had deployed a new cruise missile, raising fears it would violate the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF).
Like the US State Department, the NATO chief said he would not comment on intelligence matters but warned that “any non-compliance of Russia with the INF treaty would be serious concern for the alliance.”
Despite the message of unity, Mattis is still set to push the rest of the 28-nation group to meet their increased military spending pledges, despite many in Europe facing hard economic times.
In a sign that the Trump administration’s pressure on the issue is bearing fruit, Stoltenberg said on the eve of the meeting that boosting spending was a top priority.
“The most important thing is that we increase defense spending and that is exactly what we are doing,” Stoltenberg told reporters at alliance headquarters.
Stoltenberg said the alliance in 2015 had stopped the military budget cuts and last year actually increased spending by 3.8 percent, or $10 billion, but still needs to do more.
Washington has long insisted that NATO members should spend two percent of their GDP on defense, a goal that few meet despite agreeing on it at a summit in Wales in 2014.
NATO leaders are expected to meet Trump for the first time at a summit in Brussels on May 25.
Stoltenberg said he was confident that Trump remained as committed to NATO as his predecessors.
The meeting will also discuss Russia as well as the threat from the Daesh group.
NATO allies were also looking forward to hearing more about the new administration’s position, after a series of contradictory statements from Trump.
As president-elect, in an interview published on January 15 that sent shockwaves through NATO, Trump said the alliance was “obsolete” and had “not bothered about terrorism.”
Trump sharply criticized NATO members for defense underspending, but added: “NATO remains very important to me.”
In a military career which culminated with him in command of all US forces in the Middle East, Mattis once worked to modernize NATO as Supreme Allied Commander of Transformation.
NATO vows ‘unity’ at Trump defense chief’s debut
NATO vows ‘unity’ at Trump defense chief’s debut
Italian police fire tear gas as protesters clash near Winter Olympics hockey venue
- Police vans behind a temporary metal fence secured the road to the athletes’ village, but the protest veered away, continuing on a trajectory toward the Santagiulia venue
MILAN: Italian police fired tear gas and a water cannon at dozens of protesters who threw firecrackers and tried to access a highway near a Winter Olympics venue on Saturday.
The brief confrontation came at the end of a peaceful march by thousands against the environmental impact of the Games and the presence of US agents in Italy.
Police held off the violent demonstrators, who appeared to be trying to reach the Santagiulia Olympic ice hockey rink, after the skirmish. By then, the larger peaceful protest, including families with small children and students, had dispersed.
Earlier, a group of masked protesters had set off smoke bombs and firecrackers on a bridge overlooking a construction site about 800 meters (a half-mile) from the Olympic Village that’s housing around 1,500 athletes.
Police vans behind a temporary metal fence secured the road to the athletes’ village, but the protest veered away, continuing on a trajectory toward the Santagiulia venue. A heavy police presence guarded the entire route.
There was no indication that the protest and resulting road closure interfered with athletes’ transfers to their events, all on the outskirts of Milan.
The demonstration coincided with US Vice President JD Vance’s visit to Milan as head of the American delegation that attended the opening ceremony on Friday.
He and his family visited Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” closer to the city center, far from the protest, which also was against the deployment of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to provide security to the US delegation.
US Homeland Security Investigations, an ICE unit that focuses on cross-border crimes, frequently sends its officers to overseas events like the Olympics to assist with security. The ICE arm at the forefront of the immigration crackdown in the US is known as Enforcement and Removal Operations, and there is no indication its officers are being sent to Italy.
At the larger, peaceful demonstration, which police said numbered 10,000, people carried cardboard cutouts to represent trees felled to build the new bobsled run in Cortina. A group of dancers performed to beating drums. Music blasted from a truck leading the march, one a profanity-laced anti-ICE anthem.
“Let’s take back the cities and free the mountains,” read a banner by a group calling itself the Unsustainable Olympic Committee. Another group called the Association of Proletariat Excursionists organized the cutout trees.
“They bypassed the laws that usually are needed for major infrastructure project, citing urgency for the Games,” said protester Guido Maffioli, who expressed concern that the private entity organizing the Games would eventually pass on debt to Italian taxpayers.
Homemade signs read “Get out of the Games: Genocide States, Fascist Police and Polluting Sponsors,” the final one a reference to fossil fuel companies that are sponsors of the Games. One woman carried an artificial tree on her back decorated with the sign: “Infernal Olympics.”
The demonstration followed another last week when hundreds protested the deployment of ICE agents.
Like last week, demonstrators Saturday said they were opposed to ICE agents’ presence, despite official statements that a small number of agents from an investigative arm would be present in US diplomatic territory, and not operational on the streets.
