By Athena Papakosta

After the green light given by Donald Trump to Russia to attack NATO Member States, the current president of the United States takes the floor, Joe Biden.

“No other president (of the United States) has bowed to a Russian dictator,” he pointed out, adding, let me say this as clearly as I can. I will never do it. For God’s sake. It’s stupid. It’s embarrassing. It is dangerous. It’s against America.”

Last weekend, the Republican nomination favorite, Donald Trumpspeaking at a pre-election rally in South Carolina, emphasized that the United States of America will not protect NATO Member States against the Russian threat if they do not fulfill their financial obligations within the framework of the Alliance.

In fact, he went a step further and added that he would encourage Russia to do what it wants to member countries that neglect their obligations, stressing that he had transferred this position to the president of a “big country” at an earlier Summit of the North Atlantic Alliance when he had asks if “the United States would help this country.”

“I said to him: Have you not paid? Don’t follow the rules? No, I won’t protect you. In fact, I would encourage the Russians to do whatever they want. You must pay”.

For his part, Joe Biden made it clear yesterday, Tuesday, that “if Putin attacks a NATO Member State” while he remains president of the country “the United States will defend every inch of NATO territory.”

He noted that the only time NATO activated Article 5 – which states that an attack against one ally is considered an attack against all allies – was triggered after the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

Biden’s words are aimed squarely at Republicans who retain control of the House of Representatives.

“Will you stand with Ukraine or will you stand with Putin? Are you going to stand with America or with Trump?”, he stressed, hoping to convince them to green-light the $95 billion bill that includes aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan that was earlier approved by the Democratic-controlled Senate.

As reported by the Financial Times, NATO will announce today that 18 of its 31 Member States will achieve this year’s target of 2% of their annual GDP for defence.

To date, only Poland spends more than 3% of its GDP on defence, while Germany, Norway and France spent less than 2% of their GDP in 2023, according to data shared by the Alliance.

For their part, the Europeans – in view of a possible return of Trump to the White House – are trying to shield themselves and are openly discussing the need for Europe to be able to defend itself by confirming the need for a defense structure.

“These talks of Donald Trump should act as a cooldown” emphasized the Prime Minister of Poland, Donald Tusk, with his Danish counterpart underlining that “we need to pick up the pace” clarifying that “Europe must be ready”, regardless of the support or not of the United States.

For his part, French Foreign Minister Stéphane Cezournet has already said that “every minute counts for preparing Europe to absorb the shock of a scenario perfectly described by Donald Trump” while German Chancellor Olaf Scholz made it clear that ” the NATO alliance is crucial to the peace and security of the US and European countries, and that is why we will persist in this Alliance, remaining absolutely certain that this is also the desire and decision of the American people.”

According to the CEO of the German giant, Raimenthal, Europe still needs 10 years to be able to refill its warehouses and therefore be able to be autonomous while, according to Politico, it may take time but the time is running out and what Donald Trump said should serve as an opportunity for the Old Continent to find its bearings again