‘This Is Not the Time to Go It Alone,’ NATO’s Rutte Tells US and Europe

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks during join press conference with Poland's Prime Minister after their meeting in Warsaw, Poland, on March 26, 2025. (AFP)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks during join press conference with Poland's Prime Minister after their meeting in Warsaw, Poland, on March 26, 2025. (AFP)
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‘This Is Not the Time to Go It Alone,’ NATO’s Rutte Tells US and Europe

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks during join press conference with Poland's Prime Minister after their meeting in Warsaw, Poland, on March 26, 2025. (AFP)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks during join press conference with Poland's Prime Minister after their meeting in Warsaw, Poland, on March 26, 2025. (AFP)

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte warned the United States and Europe on Wednesday against any temptation to "go it alone" on security, amid increased tensions over the future of the transatlantic alliance.

US President Donald Trump recently cast doubt on Washington's willingness to defend NATO allies it deemed were not paying enough for their own defense, triggering alarm among European leaders about the future of the Atlantic alliance as they face up to a more assertive Russia.

Speaking at the Warsaw School of Economics, Rutte said the US needed European countries to "step up" on security and that the alliance must become fairer.

"Let me be absolutely clear, this is not the time to go it alone. Not for Europe or North America," Rutte said.

"The global security challenges are too great for any of us to face on our own. When it comes to keeping Europe and North America safe, there is no alternative to NATO," he added.

A number of European countries including Germany and Britain have announced plans to hike defense spending as Trump seeks a rapprochement with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in his efforts to end the three-year-old Ukraine war.

Trump has previously said members of the NATO alliance should spend 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) on defense – a significant increase from the current 2% target and a level that no NATO country, including the United States, currently meets.

"Yes, Europe needs to know that Uncle Sam still has our back. But America also needs to know that its NATO allies will step up," Rutte said, adding that the alliance's June summit in The Hague would prove a seminal moment in its history.

"We will begin a new chapter for our transatlantic alliance, where we build a stronger, fairer and more lethal NATO," the former Dutch prime minister said. "A fairer NATO means all allies doing their fair share."



Pope Leo Appeals for Israel to Allow Humanitarian Aid in Gaza 

Pope Leo XIV blesses the crowd at the end of his first weekly general audience at St. Peter's Square in The Vatican on May 21, 2025. (AFP)
Pope Leo XIV blesses the crowd at the end of his first weekly general audience at St. Peter's Square in The Vatican on May 21, 2025. (AFP)
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Pope Leo Appeals for Israel to Allow Humanitarian Aid in Gaza 

Pope Leo XIV blesses the crowd at the end of his first weekly general audience at St. Peter's Square in The Vatican on May 21, 2025. (AFP)
Pope Leo XIV blesses the crowd at the end of his first weekly general audience at St. Peter's Square in The Vatican on May 21, 2025. (AFP)

Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday appealed for Israel to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, calling the situation in the Palestinian enclave "yet more worrying and saddening".

"I renew my fervent appeal to allow for the entry of fair humanitarian help and to bring to an end the hostilities, the devastating price of which is paid by children, the elderly and the sick," the pope said during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square.

Leo, the former Cardinal Robert Prevost, was elected the leader of the Catholic Church on May 8 to succeed the late Pope Francis. He has mentioned the situation in Gaza several times in the first weeks of his papacy.

In his first Sunday message on May 11, the new pope called for an immediate ceasefire and for the release of all Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

Israel said on Monday that it would allow aid to enter Gaza after an 11-week blockade on the enclave, but the United Nations said no help had been distributed as of Tuesday.

Leo's appeal comes a day after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his government had paused free trade talks with Israel and summoned the Israeli ambassador to the UK over the situation in Gaza.

Israel says it plans to intensify military operations against Hamas and to control the whole of Gaza, which has been devastated by an Israeli air and ground war since Hamas' cross-border attack on Israeli communities in October 2023.

Israel has said its blockade is aimed in part at preventing Palestinian gunmen from diverting and seizing aid supplies. Hamas has denied doing so.