'Another big success': Nato head flatters Trump before summit

The Nato summit in The Hague was awaiting Donald Trump - and no one more so than the alliance's secretary general, Mark Rutte.

- Dan Sabbagh

"You are flying into another big success," Rutte wrote in a text yesterday, one of several released shortly after by Trump as he flew across the Atlantic aboard Air Force One.

The sycophantic messages had compared Nato's plan to dramatically increase defence spending with the US bombing of Iran's nuclear sites over the weekend. "Congratulations and thank you for your decisive action in Iran," Rutte wrote. "That was truly extraordinary, and something no one else dared to do."

That tone underlined how keen the head of the alliance and most other western allies are to ensure the summit passes off well, knowing that Trump's commitment to Nato has been unpredictable - and that every step has to be taken to keep the free-wheeling president on message.

But it did not take Trump long to drift off message. He was asked if the US would abide by the Nato treaty's Article 5 guarantee that if one member is attacked, it is considered as an attack on all, and other allies should take the actions deemed necessary to assist the country attacked.

"Depends on your definition," Trump said. "There's numerous definitions of Article 5. You know that, right? But I'm committed to being their friends."