old certainties

Of Pepe Escobar

Source: counterinformation
Trump is right – NATO is obsolete, and if Europe wants to fight imaginary enemies, he should pay his own expenses
Terrified of Trump, Eurocrats in Brussels have conveyed their fears to Asia Times in recent days about the end of NATO, the end of the World Trade Organization, even the end of the EU.
The level of hysteria has reached its peak. After the NATO summit in Brussels, the final decline of the West was declared by an agreement made as President Trump prepared to meet President Putin in Helsinki.
It was Trump himself who decreed that he wanted to talk to Putin behind closed doors, face to face, without helpers e, in theory, spontaneously, after the preparatory meeting between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was canceled. The summit takes place in the early 19th century presidential palace in Helsinki, former residence of the Russian emperors.
As a preamble for Helsinki, Trump's spectacular NATO blitzkrieg was a stage show for the ages; the various assorted “leaders” in Brussels simply didn't know what was hitting them. Trump didn't even bother to arrive in time for the morning sessions regarding the possible membership of Ukraine and Georgia. Diplomats confirmed to Asia Times that, after Trump's stinging "punch or something" scolding, Ukraine and Georgia were asked to leave the room because what would be discussed was strictly an internal NATO issue. Read More