WASHINGTON: US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson combined praise for NATO with a call for members to meet their targeted annual spending of at least 2 percent of GDP on defense in his first major foreign policy speech as the chamber’s Republican leader.
“I just want to say this, and I’ll deliver the message to them emphatically: Republicans, of course, celebrate the peace and prosperity that NATO has secured and will continue to stand by our partners as we prevent needless wars,” the Republican House leader said at the Hudson Institute think tank.
“But we also believe that NATO needs to be doing more,” he said, as members of the military alliance gathered for this week’s summit in Washington, which will include meetings with members of the US Congress.
Johnson also took a hard line on China, calling it “our single greatest threat... engaging in malign influence operations around the world.”
He said the House will vote on a series of bills to counter China this year, including beefed up sanctions and efforts to clamp down on trade policies seen as harmful to US interests.
Defense spending by NATO members has become a highly contentious issue in recent times as former President Donald Trump accuses Europeans of spending too little on their own security and relying on Washington for protection.
Earlier this year, Trump — the Republican candidate in the Nov. 5 US presidential election — sparked outrage by suggesting he would not protect NATO members that failed to spend enough on defense and would even encourage Russia to attack them.
Johnson is a close ally of Trump and, as speaker, sets the legislative agenda for the House.
Months after Democratic President Joe Biden asked the House to approve funding for Ukraine, Johnson changed course this year to allow the House to vote on — and pass — billions of dollars in additional aid to the country.
Johnson said people have come up to him at events all over the country and thanked him for passing the funding. “People understand that (Russian President Vladimir Putin) would not stop if he took Kyiv. He’s a ruthless dictator in my view,” Johnson said.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said last month that more than 20 NATO members will meet the alliance’s target of allocating at least 2 percent of GDP to defense this year, compared with fewer than 10 members five years ago.
US House Speaker Johnson to ‘emphatically’ demand more from NATO allies
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US House Speaker Johnson to ‘emphatically’ demand more from NATO allies
- Johnson is a close ally of Trump and, as speaker, sets the legislative agenda for the House
Russian drone attack forces power cuts in Ukraine’s Kryvyi Rih, military says
- Kyiv says the campaign has forced rolling outages and emergency cuts to cities across the country, as repair crews work under fire and Ukraine relies on air defenses and electricity imports to stabilize the grid
KYIV: Russian drones struck infrastructure in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih on Wednesday, forcing emergency power blackouts for more than 45,000 customers and disrupting heat supplies, military administration head Oleksandr Vilkul said.
“Please fill up on water and charge your devices, if you have the chance. It’s going to be difficult,” Vilkul said on the Telegram messaging app.
Water utility pumping stations switched to generators and water remained in the system, but there could be pressure problems.
The full scale of the attack was not immediately known. There was no comment from Russia about the strike.
Russia has repeatedly struck Ukraine’s power plants, substations and transmission lines with missiles and drones, seeking to knock out electricity and heating and hinder industry during the nearly four-year war.
Kyiv says the campaign has forced rolling outages and emergency cuts to cities across the country, as repair crews work under fire and Ukraine relies on air defenses and electricity imports to stabilize the grid.
Kryvyi Rih, a steel-and-mining hub in the Dnipropetrovsk region and President Volodymyr Zelensky’s hometown, has been hit repeatedly, with strikes killing civilians and damaging homes and industry.
The city sits close enough to southern front lines to be within strike range, while its factories, logistics links and workforce make it economically important and a key rear-area center supporting Ukraine’s war effort.
