NATO $80B Ukraine pledge; Trump calls Spain 'wasted cause'
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- NATO Ankara summit pledged €70bn ($80bn) in military equipment and training for Ukraine with 2027 sustainment committed; Trump added a US license for Ukraine to produce Patriot missile systems domestically.link ›
- Trump called Spain 'a wasted cause' and told Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to cut off trade with Madrid, sending the IBEX-35 down 2.7% — its biggest single-day drop since March — and widening the Spanish-German bond risk premium.link ›
- The Pentagon is withdrawing roughly 5,000 troops from Germany after a May 1 posture review; the IISS estimates replacing the most critical US military roles in Europe would cost ~$1 trillion and take a decade.link ›
- Penny Wong called China's July 6 SLBM test near Tuvalu 'destabilizing' after Canberra got only hours of notice, even as the US, UK, Russia, France, and India all run comparable tests routinely.link ›
- Russia killed at least 10 in Kyiv on Monday and 31 in a separate strike last week; Zelenskyy is converting the 41-death toll into a single ask — Patriot missile resupply.link ›
- Trump announced he'll lift 2020 sanctions on Turkey and floated F-35 sales, but Congress has explicitly barred the sale while Turkey retains Russian S-400s and no third-country transfer deal is signed.link ›
- Public Citizen sued the Trump administration Tuesday alleging it shared confidential asylum files of Iranian dissidents — including LGBTQ Iranians and Evangelical Christians — with the Iranian Interest Section in the Pakistani Embassy.link ›
- Trump declared the Iran ceasefire 'OVER' on Truth Social Friday while greenlighting more talks; Qatari mediators flew to Tehran as the active channel, with another round expected next week, possibly in Switzerland.link ›
NATO closed its Ankara summit with a €70 billion ($80 billion) military aid package for Ukraine — its largest single commitment to Kyiv — even as Trump told the alliance's 32 leaders that Spain is 'a wasted cause' and ordered Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to cut off trade with Madrid. The headline number masks the alliance's real stress test: only 5 of 32 members are projected to hit the new 3.5% GDP defense target in 2026, while the Pentagon has already pulled 5,000 troops out of Germany. Trump simultaneously revived his push to acquire Greenland, floated F-35 sales to Turkey despite a congressional ban, and walked out of the Iran ceasefire in all but name. NATO got a big check; the alliance's coherence is the open question.
The stories behind this week
Trump Declares Iran Ceasefire 'Over' but Keeps TalkingThe split posture of declaring the ceasefire dead while keeping negotiations alive leaves the U.S.-Iran MOU in legal limbo, with Qatari mediators shuttling to Tehran as the active channel to preserve the deal. A diplomat indicated both sides want to return to the MOU, with another round of talks expected next week, possibly in Switzerland.
Trump Spain Trade Threat Sinks IBEX-35 2.7%Spain is the first European market to visibly react to a single-country U.S. trade threat in Trump's second term, with its bond risk premium widening in tandem. The U.S. actually runs a trade surplus with Spain, undermining the deficit-reduction rationale, and a unilateral embargo could unravel the broader U.S.-EU tariff deal finalized June 25.
NATO Closes Ankara Summit With $80B Ukraine PledgeThe summit exposed a paradox: Trump demanded allies spend more while threatening trade with Spain and reviving his Greenland takeover pitch. With only 5 of 32 NATO members projected to hit the new 3.5% GDP defence target, Europe's ability to actually deliver on spending is now the alliance's real stress test.
NATO Summit in Ankara Faces Trump Withdrawal ThreatsThe transition is already in motion: the Pentagon's May 1 withdrawal of 5,000 troops from Germany is concrete, not rhetorical. Yet the IISS estimates filling America's most critical military roles in Europe would cost roughly $1 trillion and take a decade, leaving allies exposed on long-range strike, intelligence, and missile defence precisely as Washington signals it wants less of the load.
China's SLBM Test Near Tuvalu: Routine or Provocation?The alarm this test triggered in allied capitals is less about the missile than about who fired it. Every other nuclear power — including US allies — runs comparable SLBM tests without controversy, and the source notes the weapons serve a second-strike function aimed at peer nuclear powers, not Pacific Island nations. The asymmetry in reception signals how Beijing is now being read as a potential adversary rather than assessed on the technical merits of its launch.
Trump Lifts Turkey Sanctions, Eyes F-35 SaleTurkey was ejected from the F-35 program in 2020 and sanctioned over the S-400 deal, a five-year standoff. Trump's dual move—lifting sanctions and floating F-35 sales—aims to reset ties with Erdogan, but a congressionally mandated sales ban remains in force unless the S-400s leave Turkish soil, and no third-country transfer agreement has been signed.
Russian missile, drone attack on Ukraine’s capital kills at least 10Two mass-casualty strikes on Kyiv within a week have turned the capital's air defense gap into the most urgent variable of the war. Zelenskyy is converting the body count — at least 41 dead across both attacks — into a specific, narrow ask: Patriot missile resupply, without which he says Russia will keep hammering civilian high-rises.
Lawsuit Alleges US Shared Iranian Asylum Data With IranIf the allegations are accurate, the U.S. government shared sensitive data about Iranian dissidents — pro-democracy protesters, religious minorities, and LGBTQ individuals — with the very regime they fled, potentially exposing them to retaliation. The case adds a new dimension to the Trump administration's aggressive immigration enforcement, which human rights groups already say violates free speech and due process.
Why it matters: NATO's largest-ever Ukraine commitment just got signed by a White House that pulled 5,000 troops out of Germany and is publicly cutting off a member state — the alliance's paper deliverables are now outrunning the security backbone that has to back them.
