US President Joe Biden has described NATO as a “sacred commitment” to the United States, slamming recent comments by Donald Trump that encouraged Russia to attack certain countries in the long-standing military alliance, calling them “dangerous”.

The US president said comments from his potential challenger in the upcoming presidential election underscored the urgency of passing a $95 billion foreign aid package aimed at US allies. The bill just passed the Senate but faces political resistance in the House. Speaking at the White House on Tuesday, Biden said failure to pass the plan would “play right into Putin’s hands.”

“When America makes a promise, it means something. When we make a promise, we keep it. And NATO is a sacred promise. Donald Trump sees that as a burden ,” Biden said. “When he looks at NATO, he doesn’t see an alliance to protect America and the world. He sees protection money. He doesn’t understand that NATO was founded on the fundamental principles of freedom, security and national sovereignty,” he added.

Speaking at a rally in South Carolina over the weekend, Trump said he would demand that NATO allies increase defense spending or otherwise encourage Russian President Vladimir Putin to invade those countries. “You didn’t pay? Did you break the law? No, I’m not going to protect you. In fact, I’m going to encourage them to do whatever they want. You’ve got to pay. You’ve got to pay your bills,” Trump explain. Trump, the front-runner for the Republican nomination, has called on NATO members to spend 2% of their gross domestic product on defense.

Biden’s response

Biden responded, “Because for Trump, principles never matter. Everything is transactional. He doesn’t understand that the sacred promises we made are also valid for us. In fact, I would like to remind Trump and all those who want to withdraw from NATO, Article 5 has only been invoked once, only once in our NATO history, and that was to stand with America after we were attacked on 9/11.” “We always That should not be forgotten. You know, our opponents have been trying to create rifts in the alliance for a long time,” he added.

Under Article 5 of NATO’s Mutual Defense Clause, all allies commit to assist any member state under attack. The article has been cited only once – in the United States after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Biden said, “The best hope of all those who wish harm on America is the disintegration of NATO. You can bet that when they heard Donald Trump and heard what he said, they all cheered. I know this. I Won’t walk away. I can’t imagine any other president walking away. As long as I’m president, if Putin attacks a NATO ally, the United States will defend every inch of NATO territory.”

The US president also called the remarks disgraceful and “un-American.” “The former president (Trump) sent a dangerous and alarmingly un-American signal to the world. Just a few days ago, Trump issued an invitation to Putin to invade some of our allies, NATO allies. He said that if An ally that doesn’t spend enough on defense will encourage Russia to, quote, do whatever they want to do,” Biden said.

“Can you imagine a former president of the United States saying that? The whole world heard it. The worst part is he meant it. No president in our history has ever bowed to a Russian dictator. Let me say it as clearly as possible That. I would never. For God’s sake, it’s stupid, it’s shameful, it’s dangerous, it’s un-American,” Biden said. Trump’s rival for the Republican presidential nomination, Nikki Haley, also criticized the former president’s comments.

Nikki jumps in

“Don’t side with thugs who kill their opponents. Don’t side with people who invade a country and kill or injure half a million people because of Putin. Don’t side with people who continue to lie. I deal with Russia every day. We The last thing you want to do is side with Russia,” she told us cbs in an interview on Sunday. “We do want NATO allies to play their part, but there are ways to do that without having to sit there and tell Russia ‘do whatever you want with these countries.’ If you notice, Russia has never invaded a NATO country. They invaded Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. They were very afraid of NATO. NATO allowed us to prevent war,” Haley said.

White House spokesman Andrew Bates said Biden has restored alliances and made America stronger because he knows the first responsibility of every commander in chief is to keep the American people safe and uphold the values ​​that unite them. . He said: “Thanks to President Biden’s experienced leadership, NATO is now the largest and most dynamic organization ever. Encouraging brutal regimes to invade our closest allies is shocking and unhinged – and it jeopardizes the United States’ national security, global stability and our economy at home.” Bates added: “Rather than calling for war and fueling mad chaos, President Biden will continue to strengthen American leadership and safeguard our national security interests. Against them.”

(Institutional investment)