Donald Trump's relationship with Washington's NATO allies is nobody's idea of a happy marriage. But the US president's volatile performance at the western military alliance's annual summit in Ankara this week seemed extreme, even by Trumpian standards. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.
Trump arrived in the Turkish capital last Tuesday in a spectacular funk, visibly angry that the temporary ceasefire arrangement he had agreed with Iran had failed to hold, and threatening to unleash more destruction. The country's Islamic leadership, which he praised as "very reasonable" just two weeks earlier, were "scum" and "sick people", he told journalists as he sat beside NATO's secretary general, Mark Rutte. He lashed out at the alliance, complaining about the failure of alliance members to help him in the Iran war, rehashing his claims on Greenland, and demanding the US sever trade ties with Spain.
Hours later, he emerged from a meeting talking about unity. "There was a lot of love in that room," Trump said. He extended this sudden warmth to Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whom he praised as "ingenious".
According to analysts, one driver of his sudden shift may have been an affinity for the summit's host, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. At a joint press conference, Trump said: "Turkey has been, in many ways, much more loyal... Sometimes you get along with the toughest people, like [Erdogan]."
Ian Lesser, a fellow at the German Marshall Fund, said the summit had a "bipolar quality", attributing it to Trump's chemistry with Erdogan. Charles Kupchan, a professor at Georgetown University, noted that Rutte's flattery—praising Trump for "saving" NATO—also played a role.