Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at NATO chief Mark Rutte’s face-to-face with U.S. President Donald Trump, Chinese military actions near Taiwan, and the expected victory of Peruvian presidential hopeful Keiko Fujimori.
The ‘Trump Whisperer’
NATO chief Mark Rutte sat down with U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday for a closed-door meeting ahead of next month’s leaders’ summit. Walking through the doors of the Oval Office, Rutte faced an administration that is increasingly frustrated with the alliance. But experts suggest that the secretary-general’s rare ability to sweet-talk the president could be enough to smooth over tensions—at least, for now.
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at NATO chief Mark Rutte’s face-to-face with U.S. President Donald Trump, Chinese military actions near Taiwan, and the expected victory of Peruvian presidential hopeful Keiko Fujimori.
The ‘Trump Whisperer’
NATO chief Mark Rutte sat down with U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday for a closed-door meeting ahead of next month’s leaders’ summit. Walking through the doors of the Oval Office, Rutte faced an administration that is increasingly frustrated with the alliance. But experts suggest that the secretary-general’s rare ability to sweet-talk the president could be enough to smooth over tensions—at least, for now.
Rutte has held many titles over his decades-long career, but “Trump whisperer” may be his most divisive. The NATO chief stunned leaders in January after he appeared to convince Trump to walk back his threats to take control of Greenland via military force or economic coercion. “We can’t help you if you want to become an owner of Greenland,” Rutte reportedly told Trump at the time. “But we can help you on security.”
Although some foreign officials have applauded Rutte’s ability to handle Trump, others have accused the secretary-general of pandering to the White House at the expense of NATO’s other members.
Trump has repeatedly criticized the alliance for not adequately supporting the United States in its war against Iran, and he has gone so far as to threaten to leave NATO or punish some members over their decision to not allow U.S. forces to use their military bases to launch strikes. Rutte initially tried to defend allies’ responses, acknowledging that while some members were “a bit slow” to provide support, “[i]n fairness, they were also a bit surprised” when the United States started the war.
But on Wednesday, Rutte pivoted tactics, citing Italy’s decision to allow 500 U.S. planes to take off from its bases as an example of European support for Washington. Rome, though, quickly rejected Rutte’s assertion, saying that Italy had only authorized technical and logistical flights, not ones in direct support of Operation Epic Fury.
This disconnect is not new. While many NATO nations have called the Iran conflict illegal and stressed that it is outside of the alliance’s purview, Rutte has praised Trump for going to war.
“He’s doing this to make the whole world safe,” Rutte told CBS’s Face the Nation in March. That month, Rutte also told Reuters that while he was aware of European criticism about the way that he treated Trump, “if a president of a country is providing that kind of leadership, some praise is warranted.”
Yet despite Trump’s assertion last week that the Iran war will be “in the rearview mirror” soon, Rutte’s Trump-handling headache is not over yet.
The U.S. president remains unsatisfied with NATO’s funding requirements, accusing European members of not investing in the continent’s security and instead relying on the United States for help. Earlier this month, the New York Times found that the U.S. military is planning to reduce the number of fighter jets that it provides NATO by one-third. And last week, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a six-month review of U.S. troop deployments in Europe that experts argue could be a smoke-screen to ultimately reduce the U.S. military’s presence there.
It is unclear if Rutte will turn to his tried-and-true method of flattery to assuage Trump’s concerns. During last year’s NATO summit, Rutte referred to Trump as being the alliance’s “daddy,” earning White House praise and European mockery. And he has repeatedly credited the U.S. president with convincing its allies to raise their minimum defense spending commitments to 5 percent of GDP by 2035.
“Europe is going to pay in a BIG way, as they should, and it will be your win,” Rutte wrote to Trump in a private message last June that Trump then posted to his social media.
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Significant escalation. Recent Chinese military activity off Taiwan’s east coast triggered international condemnation on Wednesday, as military analysts warned that Beijing’s latest operations could be a possible rehearsal for a naval quarantine of Taiwan.
Earlier this month, China’s coast guard carried out a five-day operation in which Chinese authorities patrolling the waters near Taiwan’s coast conducted 198 inspections of foreign commercial ships. Beijing said the operation was in response to Japan and the Philippines announcing that they would begin formal talks on their maritime boundaries, which include territory that China claims as its own. Yet experts suggested that the drills were actually a significant escalation of Beijing’s pressure campaign against Taipei, as they hinted that Chinese forces could directly board and inspect foreign vessels.
Then on Tuesday, China’s most advanced aircraft carrier transited the Taiwan Strait, a day after Taipei launched its own five-day military exercise.
“China’s actions are deeply destabilizing,” said a spokesperson for the American Institute in Taiwan, the United States’ de facto embassy in Taipei. The unofficial British, French, and German embassies in the city also issued a joint statement on Wednesday, warning that these actions “threaten regional stability and the freedom of navigation and safety of international shipping.”
Fourth time’s the charm. Vote-counting is still underway to determine the winner of Peru’s presidential election runoff. According to the country’s electoral authority, the final result is expected to be confirmed by mid-July. But as of Tuesday, conservative candidate Keiko Fujimori appears to now have an insurmountable lead, having secured 50.11 percent of tallied ballots. Only 40,213 votes remain uncounted.
Fujimori is a four-time presidential hopeful and the daughter of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, whose legacy included the use of paramilitary death squads to massacre thousands of civilians. Her left-wing rival, Roberto Sánchez, has accused Fujimori, without providing evidence, of committing “fraud” to secure votes; however, on Tuesday, Peru’s national electoral jury rejected Sánchez’s request to annul thousands of votes cast abroad.
With Fujimori expected to take power, Peru will become the latest Latin American country to shift rightward in recent years. On Wednesday, left-wing candidate Iván Cepeda conceded defeat to Trump-backed outsider Abelardo de la Espriella, who clinched Colombia’s presidential election on Sunday. Both Fujimori and de la Espriella campaigned on a tough-on-crime platform.
Talks with the Taliban. European Union officials discreetly hosted an Afghan Taliban delegation in Brussels on Tuesday for the first time. Although rights groups denounced the event, arguing that it legitimized the Taliban’s rule, the EU stressed that the invitation would help the bloc make it easier to repatriate failed asylum-seekers from Afghanistan who commit crimes or are otherwise considered dangerous.
The EU does not recognize the Taliban government, which returned to power in August 2021. According to a European Commission spokesperson, Tuesday’s technical meeting solely focused on issues concerning the return and readmission of Afghan refugees. However, Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi said the agenda also included talks about the possible resumption of consular services as well as “trust-building measures.”
“Europe must not legitimise a regime responsible for one of the worst human rights crises in the world,” Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai wrote on X ahead of the meeting, pointing to the Taliban’s system of “gender apartheid.” The Taliban regime requires women and girls to always have a male chaperone when traveling, orders them to wear modest clothing, prohibits them from attending school, and bans them from many public spaces.
Odds and Ends
Athletes aren’t the only superstars at this year’s FIFA Men’s World Cup. From Oscar-winning actors to renowned singers, everyone wants in on the action. But perhaps the most anticipated celebrity sighting was Michel Nkuka Mboladinga—aka the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s iconic living statue. Mboladinga is best known for posing as a statue of Patrice Lumumba, Congo’s assassinated independence leader, during this year’s Africa Cup of Nations.
After missing Congo’s first game against Portugal last week due to Ebola quarantine requirements, Mboladinga finally made it to the stands for Congo’s second group stage game on Tuesday. Despite Congo losing 1-0 to Colombia, Mboladinga (true to his mission) stood motionless for the whole game.
