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New York Times
11 hours ago
- Business
- New York Times
Trump Administration Live Updates: U.S. to Examine Social Media Posts of Student Visa Applicants
A Norwegian naval commando hoisted himself onto the deck of a ship during a NATO exercise in March. Beyond projecting military strength and pledging unity, a more pressing theme has emerged for next week's NATO summit: Keep President Trump happy. As leaders prepare to meet for the annual forum starting on Tuesday, U.S. allies have watered down their public support for Ukrainian membership and drafted a policy communiqué as short as five paragraphs to keep the American leader on board. The meeting itself, in The Hague, will open and close in under two days — a timeline designed to keep it devoid of drama. 'No one wants to say no to Trump,' said Mujtaba Rahman, who analyzes Europe for the Eurasia Group. Asked on Wednesday whether the Iran-Israel war would prompt him to skip the meeting, Mr. Trump told reporters that he still planned to attend. In any case, his influence is certain to loom over the gathering. It has already driven an effort by NATO's secretary general, Mark Rutte, to increase military spending by each of the alliance's 32 members to meet a figure suggested by Mr. Trump. He has demanded it be raised to 5 percent of each country's gross domestic product, up from the current level of 2 percent. Mr. Rutte has proposed widening the definition of military spending to help meet that objective. The new benchmark would include 3.5 percent of G.D.P. on core defense spending — weapons, capabilities, troops — and the rest on what NATO calls 'defense and security-related investment, including in infrastructure and resilience.' In the weeks since Mr. Rutte's idea gained steam, its details, and shortcomings, have become clearer, according to officials and experts. The timeline to increase spending may be different for everyone, and officials are confused about the requirements. Even if countries do allocate the sums, European and even American defense industries may not be able to absorb the money or deliver in a timely fashion. And while NATO countries generally agree it is past time to spend more on security in Europe, where officials believe a militarized Russia might be tempted to test the alliance within years, some nations already struggle to reach the existing target on military spending. They are unlikely to meet Mr. Trump's demand soon, if ever. The discussion about Mr. Rutte's proposal, experts said, has devolved into a debate over spending billions of dollars to fund an ever-widening range of priorities. 'It is largely a shell game,' said Jeremy Shapiro, a former State Department official and now research director of the European Council on Foreign Relations. 'There is some reality there, because defense spending is increasing across Europe, but more because of Vladimir Putin than Donald Trump.' Image President Trump, at the White House on Wednesday, has demanded an increase in military spending by NATO's members. Credit... Doug Mills/The New York Times A NATO Numbers Game Mr. Trump first demanded the 5 percent figure two weeks before his inauguration, although his ambassador to NATO, Matthew G. Whitaker, insisted recently that the United States was not 'driving the timeline' for allies to spend more on defense. 'The threats are driving the timeline,' he said. 'Europe keeps telling us that Russia is their biggest threat and we agree, in the Euro-Atlantic it is. And so we need to make sure everybody's investing.' Initially, Mr. Trump's ambitions seemed both abstract and implausible: Only 23 NATO members were meeting their spending goals by the end of last year. But Mr. Rutte's proposal allows for some spending on what NATO calls 'military-adjacent' projects. In practical terms, that could include investments in advanced technology; rebuilding roads, bridges and other infrastructure; civic defense; education; improved health services; and aid to Ukraine. In effect, the Trump benchmark 'is both real and not real,' said Nathalie Tocci, director of Italy's Institute of International Affairs. 'The real thing is 3.5 percent, which has nothing to do with Trump and everything to do with NATO's getting what it judges it needs,' she said. 'The unreal part is the 1.5 percent, the P.R. move for Trump,' she said. 'Of course infrastructure is important, and diplomacy and education, so lump it all together for Trump. And if the magic figure of 5 percent ensures benign indifference rather than malign hostility, that's all to the good.' Image Ukrainian soldiers last month in the Donetsk region. Credit... Tyler Hicks/The New York Times Counting Aid to Ukraine The proposal may have helped Mr. Rutte balance the president's desires with those of European leaders, but it has also created complications. Defense ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels this month appeared confused over how the money should be spent, and how soon, and over whether aid to Ukraine could count. 'We have to find a realistic compromise between what is necessary and what is possible, really, to spend,' said Germany's defense minister, Boris Pistorius. Luxembourg's defense minister, Yuriko Backes, was more blunt. 'It will be the capabilities that will keep us safe, not percentages,' she said. 'This is what should be driving our investments, not the other way around.' Luxembourg will reach the current spending threshold — which was set in 2014 to be accomplished in a decade — only this year. And not until recently was it clear — even among some NATO defense ministers — that countries could include a small fraction of their military contributions to the war in Ukraine as part of their defense spending. But the rules for what qualifies are complex and decided at NATO headquarters on a case-by-case basis, to ensure that countries don't double-count what they give to Ukraine as a part of domestic military investment. 'Supporting Ukraine is really an investment into our own security,' said Sweden's defense minister, Pal Jonson. Allies are debating how to count the aid to Ukraine. The current plan is to consider it core military spending. But some of the countries nearest to Russia's borders do not want to dilute their domestic defense and want aid to Ukraine categorized as 'related investments.' Image Mark Rutte, the NATO secretary general, during a visit to the White House in April. Mr. Rutte is the architect of a plan that would allow for some spending on what the alliance calls 'military-adjacent' projects. Credit... Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times A Matter of Time There is also uncertainty about when allies would be expected to meet the higher spending threshold. Mr. Rutte initially proposed 2032, but countries on NATO's eastern flank want it to happen sooner. NATO intelligence suggests that, without a credible military deterrent, Russia could mount an effective offensive against the alliance in five years after the Ukraine war ends. 'We don't have time even for seven years,' Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur of Estonia said recently. 'We have to show that we have everything we need to defend our countries.' Britain, for example, has committed to spending only 3 percent by 2034, long after Mr. Trump is scheduled to leave office. Canada, Italy, Luxembourg and Spain will reach 2 percent, a decade-old goal, only this year. And the United States itself currently spends about 3.4 percent of its G.D.P. on defense, even though in sheer dollars it accounts for nearly half of NATO spending. The amount that Washington spends just on Europe is a much smaller percentage of the Pentagon's $997 billion budget. Like Mr. Rutte, other world leaders have sought ways to get the most out of their dealings with Mr. Trump and avoid unpredictable problems. At this week's Group of 7 summit, the newly elected prime minister of Canada and host of the event, Mark Carney, deployed a mix of flattery and discipline. Yet the president still disrupted the gathering, departing early to address the Iran-Israel war. Mr. Rutte hopes to avoid such an outcome. 'Trump is making a fake demand for more spending, and they're giving him a fake response,' Mr. Shapiro said. He called the Rutte plan 'clever, because it lets Trump get what he wants and he can brag about it.'
New York Times
14 hours ago
- Business
- New York Times
Trying to Satisfy Trump, NATO Is Running Into Difficulties
Beyond projecting military strength and pledging unity, a more pressing theme has emerged for next week's NATO summit: Keep President Trump happy. As leaders prepare to meet for the annual forum starting on Tuesday, U.S. allies have watered down their public support for Ukrainian membership and drafted a policy communiqué as short as five paragraphs to keep the American leader on board. The meeting itself, in The Hague, will open and close in under two days — a timeline designed to keep it devoid of drama. 'No one wants to say no to Trump,' said Mujtaba Rahman, who analyzes Europe for the Eurasia Group. Asked on Wednesday whether the Iran-Israel war would prompt him to skip the meeting, Mr. Trump told reporters that he still planned to attend. In any case, his influence is certain to loom over the gathering. It has already driven an effort by NATO's secretary general, Mark Rutte, to increase military spending by each of the alliance's 32 members to meet a figure suggested by Mr. Trump. He has demanded it be raised to 5 percent of each country's gross domestic product, up from the current level of 2 percent. Mr. Rutte has proposed widening the definition of military spending to help meet that objective. The new benchmark would include 3.5 percent of G.D.P. on core defense spending — weapons, capabilities, troops — and the rest on what NATO calls 'defense and security-related investment, including in infrastructure and resilience.' In the weeks since Mr. Rutte's idea gained steam, its details, and shortcomings, have become clearer, according to officials and experts. The timeline to increase spending may be different for everyone, and officials are confused about the requirements. Even if countries do allocate the sums, European and even American defense industries may not be able to absorb the money or deliver in a timely fashion. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
War-weary Syrians and Lebanese watch from the sidelines as missiles fly in Israel-Iran conflict
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — In a park overlooking Damascus, 25-year-old Khaldoun Hallak has spent the past few evenings with his friends, drinking yerba mate, snacking on nuts, smoking hookah pipes and watching the sky for missiles streaking overhead. 'We've been through 14 years of war, and this is the first time Syria has nothing to do with it and we're just spectators,' Hallak said. Since Israel launched a barrage of strikes on Iran last week and Iran retaliated with missile and drone attacks against Israel, neighboring countries have been in the flight path. Outside the scope Downed missiles and drones have fallen in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, damaging houses, causing fires and reportedly killing one woman in Syria. But those countries have so far not been dragged directly into the conflict — which had killed at least 224 people in Iran and 24 in Israel as of Tuesday — and many in their war-weary populations are hoping it stays that way. In Lebanon, which is still reeling from last year's war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group, videos making the rounds on social media have shown revelers dancing and drinking on rooftops while projectiles flash across the sky in the background. Firas Maksad, managing director for the Middle East and North Africa at the Eurasia Group, a New York-based risk consultancy organization, happened to be visiting Lebanon when the conflict broke out and was attending a wedding when a parade of missiles began lighting up the sky as the DJ played ABBA's disco hit 'Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)'. He posted a video of the scene that went viral. 'Certainly most in Lebanon and also Syria are very satisfied to be outside the scope of this,' Maksad said. No longer in the spotlight, a sense of relief For some in the region, there is also measure of schadenfreude in watching the two sides exchange blows. There's a Syrian expression that literally translates as, 'The fang of a dog in the hide of a pig.' It means that two people perceived as despicable are fighting with each other. The phrase has surfaced frequently on social media as Syrians express their feelings about the Israel-Iran conflict. Watching from a park Many Syrians resented Iran's heavy-handed intervention in support of former President Bashar Assad during the country's civil war, but are also angered by Israel's incursions and airstrikes in Syria since Assad's fall. The Sunni-majority Syrian population also widely sympathizes with the Palestinians, particularly with civilians killed and displaced by the ongoing war in Gaza. 'May God set the oppressors against each other,' said Ahmad al-Hussein, 18, in Damascus, who was sitting in a park with friends waiting to see missiles pass overhead Monday night. 'I hope it continues. We've been harmed by both of them.' Hallak echoed the sentiment. 'Every time we see a missile going up, we say, may God pour gasoline on this conflict,' he said. 'If one side is hit, we will be happy, and if the other side is hit, we will also be happy. We will only be upset if there is a reconciliation between them.' In Lebanon, where last year's Israel-Hezbollah war killed more than 4,000 people, including hundreds of civilians, and left destruction in wide swathes of the country's south and east and in Beirut's southern suburbs, some see retribution in the footage of destroyed buildings in Tel Aviv. Hezbollah remains largely quiet A U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal brought an end to the latest Israel-Hezbollah war in November. The Lebanese militant group — which lost much of its senior leadership and arsenal in the conflict — has remained largely quiet since then and has given no indication that it intends to join the fray between Israel and Iran. Israeli forces have continued to occupy several border points in southern Lebanon and to carry out regular airstrikes on what Israel says are Hezbollah facilities since the ceasefire. 'Of course I am against the Israeli occupation, and Iran is an Islamic country standing up to it,' said Hussein al-Walid, 34, a welder in the southern coastal city of Sidon. Iran's axis Despite the dramatic scenes of buildings reduced to rubble in Israel, Tehran and other Iranian cities have taken a worse pounding — and other regional countries, including Lebanon, could still be pulled into the conflict. Caroline Rose, a director at the Washington-based New Lines Institute think tank said that while it seems 'clear that Iran-backed proxies across the region — particularly Hezbollah—just do not have the capacity" to enter the fray, Israel could decide to expand the scope of its offensive beyond Iran. One of the goals announced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to eliminate Iran's 'axis of terrorism' — the coalition of Tehran-backed armed groups across the region known as the 'Axis of Resistance.' That goal 'is ambiguous and offers Israel the operational space to expand this war to countries it deems are hosting Iran-backed proxies, no matter how weak they may be,' Rose said. Al-Walid shrugged off the possibility of a new war in Lebanon. 'The war is already present in Lebanon," he said. 'Israel isn't abiding by the agreement and is striking every day." Shouts of jubilation Hassan Shreif, a 26-year-old student from the city of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon, where Hezbollah has a strong base of support, said that after last year's war in Lebanon and the heavy losses suffered by the militant group, many of its supporters 'were clearly anguished and didn't feel vindicated.' 'So anything, even a window breaking in Tel Aviv, is (now) a victory for them,' he said. Every time Iranian missiles pass overhead, he said, people in the area break out in shouts of jubilation. At the same time, Shreif said, 'there's always a silent group hugging the wall as we say in Arabic, treading carefully and praying we stay out of it." ___ Abby Sewell reported from Beirut. Mohammad Zaatari contributed to this report from Sidon, Lebanon.
New Indian Express
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
War-weary Syrians and Lebanese watch Iran-Israel conflict from sidelines, hoping to stay out of it
DAMASCUS: In a park overlooking Damascus, 25-year-old Khaldoun Hallak has spent the past few evenings with his friends, drinking yerba mate, snacking on nuts, smoking hookah pipes and watching the sky for missiles streaking overhead. 'We've been through 14 years of war, and this is the first time Syria has nothing to do with it and we're just spectators,' Hallak said. Since Israel launched a barrage of strikes on Iran last week and Iran retaliated with missile and drone attacks against Israel, neighboring countries have been in the flight path. Outside the scope Downed missiles and drones have fallen in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, damaging houses, causing fires and reportedly killing one woman in Syria. But those countries have so far not been dragged directly into the conflict — which had killed at least 224 people in Iran and 24 in Israel as of Tuesday — and many in their war-weary populations are hoping it stays that way. In Lebanon, which is still reeling from last year's war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group, videos making the rounds on social media have shown revelers dancing and drinking on rooftops while projectiles flash across the sky in the background. Firas Maksad, managing director for the Middle East and North Africa at the Eurasia Group, a New York-based risk consultancy organization, happened to be visiting Lebanon when the conflict broke out and was attending a wedding when a parade of missiles began lighting up the sky as the DJ played ABBA's disco hit 'Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)'. He posted a video of the scene that went viral. 'Certainly most in Lebanon and also Syria are very satisfied to be outside the scope of this,' Maksad said.
Nahar Net
2 days ago
- Politics
- Nahar Net
War-weary Lebanese watch from sidelines as missiles fly in Israel-Iran conflict
by Naharnet Newsdesk 17 June 2025, 18:03 Since Israel launched a barrage of strikes on Iran last week and Iran retaliated with missile and drone attacks against Israel, neighboring countries have been in the flight path. Outside the scope Downed missiles and drones have fallen in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, damaging houses, causing fires and reportedly killing one woman in Syria. But those countries have so far not been dragged directly into the conflict — which had killed at least 224 people in Iran and 24 in Israel as of Tuesday — and many in their war-weary populations are hoping it stays that way. In Lebanon, which is still reeling from last year's war with Israel, videos making the rounds on social media have shown revelers dancing and drinking on rooftops while projectiles flash across the sky in the background. Firas Maksad, managing director for the Middle East and North Africa at the Eurasia Group, a New York-based risk consultancy organization, happened to be visiting Lebanon when the conflict broke out and was attending a wedding when a parade of missiles began lighting up the sky as the DJ played ABBA's disco hit "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)". He posted a video of the scene that went viral. "Certainly most in Lebanon and also Syria are very satisfied to be outside the scope of this," Maksad said. In a park overlooking Damascus, 25-year-old Khaldoun Hallak has spent the past few evenings with his friends, drinking yerba mate, snacking on nuts, smoking hookah pipes and watching the sky for missiles streaking overhead. "We've been through 14 years of war, and this is the first time Syria has nothing to do with it and we're just spectators," Hallak said. No longer in the spotlight, a sense of relief For some in the region, there is also measure of schadenfreude in watching the two sides exchange blows. There's a Syrian expression that literally translates as, "The fang of a dog in the hide of a pig." It means that two people perceived as despicable are fighting with each other. The phrase has surfaced frequently on social media as Syrians express their feelings about the Israel-Iran conflict. Watching from a park Many Syrians resented Iran's heavy-handed intervention in support of former President Bashar Assad during the country's civil war, but are also angered by Israel's incursions and airstrikes in Syria since Assad's fall. The Sunni-majority Syrian population also widely sympathizes with the Palestinians, particularly with civilians killed and displaced by the ongoing war in Gaza. "May God set the oppressors against each other," said Ahmad al-Hussein, 18, in Damascus, who was sitting in a park with friends waiting to see missiles pass overhead Monday night. "I hope it continues. We've been harmed by both of them." Hallak echoed the sentiment. "Every time we see a missile going up, we say, may God pour gasoline on this conflict," he said. "If one side is hit, we will be happy, and if the other side is hit, we will also be happy. We will only be upset if there is a reconciliation between them." In Lebanon, where last year's Israel-Hezbollah war killed more than 4,000 people, including hundreds of civilians, and left destruction in wide swathes of the country's south and east and in Beirut's southern suburbs, some see retribution in the footage of destroyed buildings in Tel Aviv. "Of course I am against the Israeli occupation, and Iran is an Islamic country standing up to it," said Hussein al-Walid, 34, a welder in the southern coastal city of Sidon. Al-Walid shrugged off the possibility of a new war in Lebanon. "The war is already present in Lebanon," he said. "Israel isn't abiding by the agreement and is striking every day." Shouts of jubilation Hassan Shreyf, a 26-year-old student from the city of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon, where Hezbollah has a strong base of support, said that after last year's war in Lebanon and the heavy losses suffered by the militant group, many of its supporters "were clearly anguished and didn't feel vindicated." "So anything, even a window breaking in Tel Aviv, is (now) a victory for them," he said. Every time Iranian missiles pass overhead, he said, people in the area break out in shouts of jubilation. At the same time, Chreif said, "there's always a silent group hugging the wall as we say in Arabic, treading carefully and praying we stay out of it."
