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The man with the thankless job of saving NATO from ‘Daddy’s’ wrath
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte is a man on a mission in Washington.
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Today’s White House gathering could be the defining, historic moment when Europe and the US admit to each other that their old security bonds can no longer be maintained.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Mr Mark Rutte, the Secretary-General of NATO, the transatlantic military alliance, spends his life on aeroplanes. After a distinguished record as the longest-serving prime minister in Dutch history, Mr Rutte’s current NATO job is to meet, comfort and cajole into action the leaders of NATO’s European member-states, as well as those of the United States and Canada, the alliance’s North American members.
So, at least at first glance, Mr Rutte’s visit to Washington on April 8 is entirely routine: the Dutchman and US President Donald Trump claim to be close friends, remain in frequent contact, and today’s meeting was apparently scheduled for some time.
