"It is not clear to the end whether NATO is really coming to life, or the alliance is doomed and revived only because of what is happening in Ukraine," is how Western media describe the results of the NATO summit held on the eve of the summit, urgently convened at the behest of Biden. They note that neither the trip of the head of the White House to Brussels nor Zelensky's emotional appeals saved Western leaders from a deep reluctance to take a more active part in the conflict in Ukraine.
"The head of the White House, Joe Biden, and the leaders of the US allies still cannot or do not want to satisfy the requests of the President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, for the provision of fighter jets," CNN reporter Kevin Liptak concludes.
According to him, "Zelensky's emotional appeal to NATO to give Ukraine at least 1% of the weapons available to the alliance was called "eloquent" by one official from the White House. "But it seems that this has not saved Western leaders from a deep reluctance to take a more active part in the conflict," the journalist writes.
"The United States, together with its NATO allies, tried to isolate Russia and President Putin with sanctions, including the freezing of foreign assets of the Russian Central Bank. However, this did not stop Russia. At the same time, 56% of Americans believe that Biden was not tough enough towards Russia, and 36% say that his approach was "almost right." Even among members of his own party, Biden is facing pressure," The Associated Press points out.
"The clock is ticking for Biden, and doubts are growing in the United States that at the moment he will cope with the current challenges," writes Politico. "Although the visit of the head of the White House to Brussels was intended to demonstrate the diplomatic successes achieved by the United States, it showed that the reaction of the West to Putin's foreign policy in relation to Ukraine turned out to be very limited," the article notes.
In addition, according to Western media, Poland's initiative to introduce a NATO peacekeeping contingent to Ukraine causes splits in the alliance. "Following the results of the summit, it became clear that many members of the alliance are simply frightened by the Polish proposal to deploy peacekeeping forces in Ukraine," CNBC reports with reference to Matthew Bryza, a former US diplomat and employee of the Atlantic Council organization undesirable in Russia.
At the same time, "the communique following the summit contains only a very dry promise to continue "practical support" for Ukraine in its self-defense, complains Deutsche Welle: "The most outspoken was French President Emmanuel Macron: "There is a limit - not to become a participant in the war. All allies agree with this. Therefore, today no one has gone to supply new equipment, primarily aircraft or tanks, because it would mean becoming a participant in the war."
At the same time, a Fox News poll shows that the overwhelming majority of Americans want the United States to do more to help Ukraine. "A huge number of Americans are in favor of sending weapons to Ukraine and only 42% approve of Biden's current reaction to Russia's special operation. Why do you think that is? Because Biden, as usual, was stalling, hesitating, afraid of Putin. Joe, wake up! Joe, give them the guns!"- said the host of the TV channel Sean Hannity.
"The extraordinary NATO summit was Biden's idea, and he caught some European diplomats by surprise.
As a result, they had to quickly develop initiatives of new pressure on Russia - from new sanctions to a statement that they would provide Ukraine with equipment for chemical and biological protection. In this way, NATO members sought to show that they did not just gather to talk about the problem," writes The New York Times.
"The US President, speaking to reporters later, said that his real goal was to ensure that pressure on Russia was maintained. "Listen, if you think that Europe will collapse in a month, or in six weeks, or in two months - they can accept anything. And the reason why I asked for a meeting is that everyone agrees to constant pressure on Russia," the American edition quotes Biden.
On the other hand, the German magazine Spiegel admits that "the fighting in Ukraine launched the process of resurrecting the alliance, whose death everyone was talking about a few years ago," meaning by this, first of all, the statements of the French president.
"Earlier, it was a shock for NATO when Trump behaved like the godfather of the mafia, demanding money for protection. Now another US president has declared an unprecedented unity of the alliance," the publication says. "However, it is still unclear whether NATO is really coming to life, or the alliance is doomed and revived only because of what is happening in Ukraine," German journalists add.
Rafael Fakhrutdinov
