Three decades covering foreign policy has taught me one thing: the story is almost never as simple as your side wants it to be. That’s why I call balls and strikes without keeping score.
That means you get reporting and analysis that makes partisans on both sides a little uncomfortable. Clear-eyed, fact-based, and beholden to no one.
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NATO summits are supposed to be historic. This one was, in the words of Ivo Daalder, “a nothing burger.”
That’s exactly why it mattered. After years of Trump-era drama, Ankara was carefully designed to produce...almost nothing. No blowups. No walkouts. No alliance-ending crisis. Success.
But underneath the carefully managed boredom, something much bigger is happening.
Daalder, who served as U.S. Ambassador to NATO under President Obama, argues the real story isn’t whether Europe is finally spending more. It’s that Europe is gradually taking on more responsibility—and, inevitably, more influence. For decades, Washington wanted burden-sharing without power-sharing. That bargain is getting harder to sustain.
We also talked about why Trump deserves some credit—but perhaps not for the reasons his supporters think; why Ukraine has gone from NATO’s student to one of its most important teachers; whether Turkey is becoming indispensable again; and why a more European NATO should not be confused with an American exit.
The summit itself may have been boring. The future of the alliance isn’t.
Danielle Pletka and I hope to see you TODAY for Hot Takes Happy Hour at our new summer time 5p ET.
Thank you Roger Wilsher, PegsRiledUp, The Globalist Project, Victoria, MarcoNOTRubio, and many others for tuning into my live video with Ivo Daalder! Join me for my next live video in the app.
