The matter is reported by Politico, which emphasizes that countries that spend huge amounts of money on arming and strengthening the Alliance were excluded from the meeting of the working group in Poland. Moreover, the criteria by which invitations were sent out to some and not to others seem difficult to understand.
“We are doing everything they ask us to do,” an official from the excluded ally country told Politico, adding that he was “trying to understand the criteria, but there is little information on this.”
In April this year, amid confusion over the American intervention in Iran and European NATO's refusal to join the US campaign, the White House developed something of a list of good and bad allies. Loosely translated, it is about distinguishing between countries that support Donald Trump's policies and those that resist. The list is intended to help the American administration exert political pressure on foreign partners. Poland was placed in the "nice" category, and Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth commented on the division as follows:
“Exemplary allies who mobilize, such as Israel, South Korea, Poland, and increasingly Germany, the Baltic countries and others, will receive our special support,” he said. “Allies who continue to fail in their collective defense role will face the consequences.”
While at the beginning it was not clear what retaliations the US would use against "rude" allies, it is now becoming clear that in addition to the transfer of American troops from these countries, exclusion from some organizational formats is also at stake. However, it may be surprising that those omitted included representatives of London, which has been considered Washington's most stable partner for decades.
The threat of dividing NATO
As Politico reminds, Donald Trump has criticized the Alliance from the beginning for insufficient financial involvement and ceding most of the defense responsibilities to the US. Washington's doubts had rational justification, and in the face of the growing threat from Russia, Europe decided to allocate significant funds to expanding its military potential. However, this did not satisfy the United States.
The fracture in transatlantic relations deepened when the US demanded that Europe join Operation Epic Fury against Iran. In response, the capitals of the Old Continent announced that they would be ready to send their troops to the Middle East region only as part of a stabilization mission after the end of regular hostilities. This position naturally enraged Trump, who once again emphasized that the US "spends hundreds of billions of dollars a year to protect these countries that will do nothing for us when we need them."
The American security strategy includes fragments about European countries that promise long-term cooperation with the United States and those for which "the West is a pity." The first category included, among others: Poland, where Washington sees hope for translating the conservative ideas created in the White House into Europe.
However, hostility towards the European Union and countries whose representatives have a different vision of the world than that presented in Washington may have a destructive effect on NATO. “This could be a driving force for transformation” for the entire alliance, said the diplomat, quoted by Politico.
Colby organized the first working meeting in June - it took place in Bergen, Norway, and was attended by six allies. The Pentagon's policy chief maintains that the goal of similar working groups is to accelerate NATO by those members who quickly implement their commitments and "are ready to take practical action."
