NATO leaders to meet for summit that could be historic
US President Donald Trump and his NATO counterparts are due to gather on Tuesday for a summit that could unite the world's biggest security organization around a new defence spending pledge or widen divisions among the 32 allies. Just a week ago, things had seemed rosy. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was optimistic the European members and Canada would commit to invest at least as much of their economic growth on defense as the United States does for the first time. Then Spain rejected the new NATO target for each country to spend 5% of its gross domestic product on defense needs, calling it "unreasonable." Trump also insists on that figure. The alliance operates on a consensus that requires the backing of all 32 members. The following day, Trump said the US should not have to respect the goal.
"I don't think we should, but I think they should," he said. Trump lashed out at Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's government, saying: "NATO is going to have to deal with Spain. Spain's been a very low payer." He also criticized Canada as "a low payer." Spain was the lowest spender in the alliance last year, directing less than 2% of its GDP on defense expenditure, while Canada was spending 1.45%, according to NATO figures.
Then Trump ordered the bombing of nuclear installations in Iran. In 2003, the US-led war on Iraq deeply divided NATO, as France and Germany led opposition to the attack, while Britain and Spain joined the coalition. European allies and Canada also want Ukraine to be at the top of the summit agenda, but they are wary that Trump might not want President Volodymyr Zelensky to steal the limelight. The two-day summit in The Hague involves an informal dinner on Tuesday and one working session on Wednesday morning. A very short summit statement has been drafted to ensure the meeting is not derailed by fights over details and wording.
Indeed, much about this NATO summit is brief, even though ripples could be felt for years. Founded in 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed by 12 nations to counter the threat to security in Europe posed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War, notably via a strong US presence on the continent.
Dealing with Moscow is in its DNA. Keeping the peace outside the Euro-Atlantic area is not. NATO's ranks have grown to 32 countries since the Washington Treaty was signed 75 years ago. Sweden joined last year, worried by an increasingly aggressive Russia. NATO's collective security guarantee — Article 5 of the treaty — underpins its credibility.
It's a political commitment by all countries to come to the aid of any member whose sovereignty or territory might be under attack. Trump has suggested he is committed to that pledge, but he has also sowed doubt about his intentions. He has said the US intends to remain a member of the alliance.
The United States is NATO's most powerful member. It spends much more on defense than any other ally and far outweighs its partners in terms of military muscle. Washington has traditionally driven the agenda but has stepped back under Trump. The US nuclear arsenal provides strategic deterrence against would-be adversaries. NATO's day-to-day work is led by Rutte, a former Dutch prime minister. As its top civilian official, he chairs almost weekly meetings of ambassadors in the North Atlantic Council at its Brussels headquarters. He chairs other "NACs" at ministerial and leader levels. Rutte runs NATO headquarters, trying to foster consensus and to speak on behalf of all members. NATO's military headquarters is based nearby in Mons, Belgium. It is always run by a top US officer.
With Trump demanding greater defence spending, it's unclear what role Ukraine will play at the summit. Zelensky has been invited, but it's unclear whether he will have a seat at NATO's table, although he may take part in Tuesday's dinner. Russia's war in Ukraine usually dominates such meetings.
More broadly, NATO itself is not arming Ukraine. As an organization, it possesses no weapons of any kind. Collectively, it provides only non-lethal support — fuel, combat rations, medical supplies, body armor, and equipment to counter drones or mines. But individually, members do send arms. European allies provided 60% of the military support that Ukraine received in 2024. NATO coordinates those weapons deliveries via a hub on the Polish border and helps organize training for Ukrainian troops.
A key part of the commitment for allies to defend one another is to deter Russia, or any other adversary, from attacking in the first place. Finland and Sweden joined NATO recently because of this concern.
Under NATO's new military plans, 300,000 military personnel would be deployed within 30 days to counter any attack, whether it be on land, at sea, by air or in cyberspace. But experts doubt whether the allies could muster the troop numbers. It's not just about troop and equipment numbers. An adversary would be less likely to challenge NATO if it thought the allies would use the forces it controls. Trump's threats against US allies — including imposing tariffs on them - has weakened that deterrence. Due to high US defence spending over many years, the American armed forces have more personnel and superior weapons but also significant transportation and logistics assets.
Associated Press
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Just days before the New York City mayoral elections on 24 June, 118 volunteers were at a phone banking session for Zohran Mamdani, one of nine people vying to be mayor of the largest city in the US. In the three months since he became one of the leading candidates in the race, Mamdani's support base has extended beyond New York. At the phone banking session, people logged on from states across the country, including Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Missouri, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. A handful of people were even dialing in from overseas to the 9am online session, including a Floridian - currently in Amsterdam - and an American living in the UK. Support even seemed to be going global, with one European attendee, who wrote, "Europe for Zohran". Momentum for the underdog candidate is high. It's neck and neck between Mamdani, who has been a state assemblyman in Queens since 2020, and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who left office in disgrace in 2021 after facing more than a dozen accusations of sexual harassment. Running on a Democratic Socialist platform, Mamdani's bid for mayor – which centres on making New York more affordable for its inhabitants - has captured the imagination and support of largely young voters through his dynamic social media campaign. He's also managed to capture older voters who feel the bite of high housing costs post-pandemic and the soaring increase in general cost of living. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Mamdani proposes freezing rents for all rent-stabilised apartments, building 200,000 affordable homes, creating publicly owned grocery stores that focus on low prices rather than profits, and making buses free. He supports free childcare for children under five, better wages for childcare workers, and proposes increasing the corporate tax and taxes on residents who earn more than $1m per year. Mamdani's people-focused vision has caught fire across the heartland of capitalism, stoking fear among the billionaire elite who run the city and country, including the super PAC behind Cuomo. Mamdani's grassroots campaign raised $8m, with the maximum permitted spending limit for the general mayoral election being $7.9m. Phone banking facilitators told volunteers that they have been backed by a 40,000-strong volunteer force that has helped make more than a million calls and knocked on more than a million doors, covering approximately one-eighth of the people living in the city. His support base crosses traditional faultlines in the US, transcending gender, race and religion. 'Laser-like focus' The 40,000-strong force includes author and professor of political science Corey Robin and his wife, who are based in Brooklyn. Robin, who wrote the award-winning book Fear: The History of a Political Idea, said that he has been watching Mamdani since he arrived on the political scene when he ran for New York State Assembly. Robin said he was familiar with Mamdani's father's scholarship, which first led him to pay more attention to his campaign. Mahmood Mamdani was a celebrated professor at Columbia University who also served as Director of the Institute of African Studies at Columbia. "Honestly, I think what really sealed the deal for me is that my wife was very excited by his campaign from the very beginning, and so she got me to pay even more attention and to take seriously what was going on. She started canvassing early on and roped me in." Robin said that Mamdani's "laser-like" focus on affordability was what made Mamdani an attractive candidate. 'That he [Mamdani] would succeed in delivering something for a change to ordinary people, terrifies them even more' - Corey Robin, author and professor "I think it's something that touches the vast majority of New Yorkers who aren't super rich. I know from speaking to students and colleagues - I teach at CUNY [City University New York] and it's not a very well-paid position - this is something that keeps coming up in conversation after conversation with virtually everybody I know in New York City, is how hard it is to get by or feel stable." Robin believes that Mamdani is "uncommonly talented" as a communicator. "He's very good at translating the larger principles of democratic socialism into things that are real pocketbook issues that affect people directly, and that they are thinking about all the time." Robin said the simplicity and delivery of Mamdani's campaign spoke to him as a middle-aged parent with a child in the school system. He added that he saw Mamdani following in the tradition of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Mamdani has spoken of Sanders' influence on him, and Sanders has endorsed Mamdani for the mayor's position. Robin said that the fact that the Democratic party was rolling out its biggest guns, such as former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and Congressman Jim Clyburn, shows that they fear his success. "That he [Mamdani] would succeed in delivering something for a change to ordinary people, terrifies them even more." Fawzia Syed, an organiser who lives in Nassau County, has been canvassing for Mamdani in Queens and says her 70-year-old father, who owns a restaurant in Midtown Manhattan, is an even bigger fan than she is. She said her father has seen mayors like Rudy Giuliani, Mike Bloomberg, Andrew Cuomo and Eric Adams come and go and says he wants to leave her and her siblings with "a better future", which is why he has been active canvassing. Syed first came to know of Mamdani when he was running for office as an assemblyman in Queens, and has seen him at events over the last few years, which is why she believes he genuinely cares about his constituents. She recalls him campaigning alongside the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA) union for drivers to be given debt relief from the exorbitant amounts they had paid for taxi medallions – the transferrable permits that allow taxicabs to operate - and being arrested and charged for sitting down on Broadway Avenue during a protest. She also remembers him going on hunger strike with some of the taxi drivers for two weeks. When Syed worked with the Street Vendor Project (SVP) - an organisation that advocates for the rights and well-being of street vendors - she remembers that he also supported them. She also says he has actively campaigned for migrants who arrived in the city and had nowhere to go. He started offering services out of his office, and his staff helped provide translation services and other services. "He did go out of his way to take care of that." Community outreach Over in the Bronx, middle school teacher Salim Drammeh has been canvassing the West African community since March, a group he says is largely neglected in the city's political scene. "When it comes to elections, sometimes even elected officials don't pay attention to this community," he said. "The idea they have in their minds is that these folks don't go out and vote. I'm trying to change that narrative." The West African community, however, has not been neglected by Mamdani. Drammeh said that one of the first conversations he had with a member of Mamdani's team was about "trying to reach folks who normally people don't reach out to". How Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism were born together Read More » While Drammeh said Mamdani's campaign still had "room for improvement" in terms of reaching out to the community overall, he said that a visit Mamdani made to the Bronx that acknowledged the death of 19 people - largely Gambian - who died in a fire in a 19-storey building had an impact on him. It was significant for Drammeh since he helped launch a fundraiser to raise money for the families of the victims, many of whom were members of a Gambian youth organisation he helps run in his spare time. But just like Professor Robin, it is Mamdani's focus on affordability that most appeals to Drammeh. "I live in a congressional district where we face one of the most food-insecure situations for children in the whole country. I run a pantry at the Gambia youth organisation in the West Bronx, and we serve close to 300 families every other week, and it's a huge need. I see the impact of New York City not being affordable, and the rent is crazy in New York City, as we all know." Drammeh says he has two nieces and his sister wants to raise them in New York, but it's coming to a point where his brother-in-law is saying they really can't afford to live here. "That's why we need to have somebody who actually understands us and is willing to put people first, instead of their own needs and their own pockets." Target of hate The 33-year-old candidate has been criticised for being too young or inexperienced, and also for not being tough on crime. But the loudest criticism against Mamdani has not been substantively focused on policy issues. Rather, it has been fear-mongering over his identity. Mamdani, who is Muslim, has been subject to vitriolic Islamophobic verbal attacks and even death threats. During the first mayoral debate in early June, moderators singled out Mamdani with pointed questions about Israel, widely seen as an attempt to undermine his support for Palestinian rights. Candidates were asked which country they would visit first if elected mayor. Several, including Andrew Cuomo and Whitney Tilson, named Israel, with Tilson noting it would be his fourth visit. Mamdani said he would stay in town to focus on the city. A moderator jumped in to ask whether Mamdani would ever visit Israel, to which he said he is concerned with Jewish New Yorkers' worries and would meet them wherever they are in the city. This was followed up with a question that many online found off-topic: Does Mamdani think Israel has a right to exist? Mamdani said that he believed Israel "has a right to exist as a state with equal rights". This invited criticism from both Cuomo and the moderators, who were angered by Mamdani's choice not to say that it should exist "as a Jewish state". Cuomo is currently on a legal team defending Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against alleged war crimes in Gaza. Left to right: Democratic mayoral candidates Andrew Cuomo, Whitney Tilson, Zohran Mamdani and Michael Blake during a Democratic mayoral primary debate in NYC, on 4 June 2025 (Yuki Iwamura/AFP) Following the debate, a proposed mailer, created by a super PAC supporting Cuomo, contained an altered image of Mamdani that made his beard darker and bushier. Aimed at Jewish voters, the mailer accused Mamdani of being antisemitic and rejecting Jewish rights, Israel, the New York Police Department and capitalism. In addition, politicians both in and outside of New York have made racial and religious slurs against him. New York Republican Councilwoman Vickie Paladino called for Mamdani to be deported. Mamdani was born in Uganda, moved to the US when he was seven years old and became a naturalised citizen in 2018. In a post on X on 3 June, Paladino wrote: "Let's just talk about how insane it is to elect someone to any major office who hasn't even been a US citizen for 10 years - much less a radical leftist who actually hates everything about the country. Deport." Later that same day, she issued an inflammatory statement that said that although Mamdani could not be deported because of his citizenship, she said he "likely would have been removed before achieving citizenship due to his involvement in multiple antisemitic and far-left organisations in college". She said that he had founded a Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, which she accused of being a "Hamas-adjacent group which regularly disseminates terror propaganda, celebrated the 10/7 attacks against Israel, organises illegal campus shutdowns and multiple documented ties to Elias Rodriguez, who murdered two Israeli diplomats". In another Islamophobic post on X on 19 June - capitalising on anti-Iranian sentiment - Florida Congressman Randy Fine wrote: "Zohran Mamadani would do to New York City what Khomeini and Khamenei did to Tehran. We cannot let radical Muslims turn America into a Shiite caliphate." Mamdani's office has received multiple Islamophobic voicemails and even a threat to blow up his car, leading to the NYPD hate crimes taskforce investigating death threats against him and forcing the candidate to hire additional security. 'Democratic Party's version of Trumpism' Iskander Abbasi, a professor in the theology department at Fordham University, said that Islamophobia is "clearly a driving force behind the attacks on his [Mamdani's] campaign by both billionaire-backed liberal and conservative forces". "One major reason for these attacks is Mamdani's consistent and vocal support for boycotting apartheid Israel and advocating for the basic human rights and freedom of the Palestinian people," Abbasi added. "Another is that one of the biggest motivators for racists and Islamophobes is when people of color gain political power and fight for justice on their own terms." Abbasi said he had personally witnessed the latter at a recent campaign rally for Mamdani and Brooklyn Councilmember Alexa Aviles, when publicly known right-wing Zionist and MAGA agitator, Raul Rivera, lashed out at Mamdani and Aviles while also violently accosting other supporters who were attempting to peacefully de-escalate the situation. 'Do you think Israel has a right to exist?': NYC mayoral debate question sparks backlash Read More » Rivera was recently arrested and charged with assault for biting a Mamdani supporter at a rally held with NYS Tenant Bloc to denounce Andrew Cuomo for taking a $2.5m donation from the landlord lobby. However, for some, the backlash against Mamdani has been a galvanising force. Syed said that it motivated her to become active in canvassing for him in April. "I always liked him in general, but for me, what got me out was this Islamophobia thing," she said. "A lot of young Jewish people are constantly out supporting his campaign. I feel a lot of them are specifically coming up because of his public stance on Palestine. I do think it's really important to them to show they support this guy." Robin said the campaign being waged against Mamdani was the "Democratic Party's version of Trumpism" and was part of a playbook that has been in place for the last 10 years that started against Sanders, and was also used against former UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. "What really is going on is using various kinds of rancid identity politics against leftist candidates. That's what happened in 2016 when they made Bernie out to be somebody who threatened Black interests. "This year, they're making Mamdani somebody who threatens Jewish interests. It really is the Democratic Party's version of Trumpism, because what does Trump do? He makes white working-class people scared of immigrants." At the time of publishing, Mamdani was polling just three percent behind Andrew Cuomo, though some calculate a Mamdani victory by taking into account the ranked choice equation in the election.
