Trump’s hardline hawk arrived in Brussels: Here is NATO 3.0

The defense ministers of 32 NATO countries will meet on Thursday in Brussels at the NATO headquarters. The purpose of the meeting is to make an assessment of where the member countries are in terms of increasing defense spending targets and strengthening the defense industry.

However, the defense minister of the United States did not arrive at the NATO meeting in Brussels Pete Hegsethbut an under-secretary of state in his Ministry of War Elbridge Colby.

Colby is considered a staunch supporter of the America First policy. He wants the United States to have less of a military role worldwide. In relation to Europe, Colby represents a strict line where Europeans must take greater responsibility for NATO’s defense contribution.

Colby is responsible for drafting the US National Defense Strategy, released in January. In it, the weight of Europe is reduced and the defense of the neighboring regions of the USA and responding to the threat of China are prioritized.

Secretary General of NATO Mark Rutte said at Thursday morning’s press conference that he had dinner with Colby on Wednesday.

The Secretary General said that Colby’s line is consistent: the United States demands that Europe do more, because it also needs to pay attention to the Pacific region and the Chinese threat.

In a joint short press conference held later in the morning between Rutte and Colby, the NATO Secretary General praised the Undersecretary of State because he has spoken in favor of the need for Europe and Canada to step up their efforts in terms of defense spending and defense industrial production.

Rutte assured on Thursday that the United States is “absolutely committed to NATO”, even though the country will have to turn towards the Indo-Pacific region over time.

Rutte assured Colby, who was standing next to him, that Europe has taken care of the troubles of Trump and his administration.

“The good news is that billions are coming,” Rutte said.

He cited Germany as an example, which in 2029 will spend a total of 152 billion euros on defense spending. The amount is double what Germany spent in 2021.

Colby, on the other hand, said that last year, under the leadership of Trump and the NATO Secretary General, a redefinition of NATO was carried out, in which Europe takes the lead from NATO’s traditional defense.

According to Colby, this year NATO will focus on “flexible realism”, which is based on the national security and defense strategy of the United States.

In the defense strategy, European allies are expected to bear more responsibility for their own traditional defense, and Greenland has been positioned as a key domestic security issue for the United States. However, the United States assures that it is still ready to provide Europe with critical military support.

“I think we have a really strong basis for working together in partnership, but that’s by creating a kind of NATO 3.0 that’s based on partnership rather than dependence,” Colby said in Brussels.