President Trump is attending a meeting in Brussels this week with NATO allies. Shortly after the Summit began, Trump disparaged the alliance and told NATO’s secretary general that other nations must increase military spending, according to The New York Times. Douglas Lute, former US ambassador to NATO, was expecting Trump to raise the issue of military spending. He thinks being part of the alliance provides a great strategic advantage to the United States. “From a military and national security perspective, this is bedrock for us. To throw stones at it, to fracture it, and to be disruptive makes no sense at all,” says Lute. He spoke on a panel at the Aspen Ideas Festival on June 30. Kati Marton, journalist and human rights advocate; Mircea Dan Geoana, former president of the Romanian Senate and founder of Aspen Romania; and Elliot Gerson, executive vice president at the Aspen Institute, also weighed in on NATO, Euroscepticism, Brexit, and other issues facing the European continent.
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