Stoltenberg Says NATO Could Have Done More to Prevent Ukraine War

NATO's outgoing Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (C) smiles as he meets Norway's Prime Minister (not in picture) at his residence in Oslo on September 6, 2024. (Photo by Thomas Fure / NTB / AFP)
NATO's outgoing Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (C) smiles as he meets Norway's Prime Minister (not in picture) at his residence in Oslo on September 6, 2024. (Photo by Thomas Fure / NTB / AFP)
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Stoltenberg Says NATO Could Have Done More to Prevent Ukraine War

NATO's outgoing Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (C) smiles as he meets Norway's Prime Minister (not in picture) at his residence in Oslo on September 6, 2024. (Photo by Thomas Fure / NTB / AFP)
NATO's outgoing Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (C) smiles as he meets Norway's Prime Minister (not in picture) at his residence in Oslo on September 6, 2024. (Photo by Thomas Fure / NTB / AFP)

NATO could have done more to arm Ukraine to try to prevent Russia's invasion in 2022, the outgoing head of the Western military alliance said in an interview released on Saturday.
"Now we provide military stuff to a war - then we could have provided military stuff to prevent the war," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told German weekly newspaper FAS, according to Reuters.
Stoltenberg pointed to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's reluctance to provide weapons that Kyiv had asked for before Russia's full-scale invasion because of fears that tensions with Russia would escalate.
After the war began, Kyiv, which is not a member of NATO, received one weapons system after another from its allies after initial hesitation.
Stoltenberg, a former prime minister of Norway, will step down in October from his role at NATO, which he has held since 2014. Dutch former Prime Minister Mark Rutte was announced in June as the organization's next boss.
In the interview, Stoltenberg said an end to the war in Ukraine would be achieved only at the negotiating table.
"To end this war there will have to be again dialogue with Russia at a certain stage. But it has to be based on Ukrainian strength," he said.
Stoltenberg declined to confirm that he would take over from German diplomat Christoph Heusgen as chair of the Munich Security Conference after leaving NATO. He told FAS he had "many options" and would reside in Oslo.



Trump Says He Might Demand Panama Hand over Canal

This handout picture released by the Panama Canal Authority on August 30, 2024, shows the container ship MSC Marie, of 366 meters long and 51 meters wide, transiting the Panama Canal in Panama. (Handout / Panama Canal Authority / AFP)
This handout picture released by the Panama Canal Authority on August 30, 2024, shows the container ship MSC Marie, of 366 meters long and 51 meters wide, transiting the Panama Canal in Panama. (Handout / Panama Canal Authority / AFP)
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Trump Says He Might Demand Panama Hand over Canal

This handout picture released by the Panama Canal Authority on August 30, 2024, shows the container ship MSC Marie, of 366 meters long and 51 meters wide, transiting the Panama Canal in Panama. (Handout / Panama Canal Authority / AFP)
This handout picture released by the Panama Canal Authority on August 30, 2024, shows the container ship MSC Marie, of 366 meters long and 51 meters wide, transiting the Panama Canal in Panama. (Handout / Panama Canal Authority / AFP)

President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday accused Panama of charging excessive rates for use of the Panama Canal and said that if Panama did not manage the canal in an acceptable fashion, he would demand the US ally hand it over.

In an evening post on Truth Social, Trump also warned he would not let the canal fall into the "wrong hands," and he seemed to warn of potential Chinese influence on the passage, writing the canal should not be managed by China.

The post was an exceedingly rare example of a US leader saying he could push a sovereign country to hand over territory. It also underlines an expected shift in US diplomacy under Trump, who has not historically shied away from threatening allies and using bellicose rhetoric when dealing with counterparts.

The United States largely built the canal and administrated territory surrounding the passage for decades. But the US government fully handed control of the canal to Panama in 1999 after a period of joint administration.

"The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous, especially knowing the extraordinary generosity that has been bestowed to Panama by the US," Trump wrote in his Truth Social post.

"It was not given for the benefit of others, but merely as a token of cooperation with us and Panama. If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question."

The Panamanian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.