BRUSSELS: Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte warned on Thursday that a Russian victory over Ukraine would undermine the dissuasive force of the world's biggest military alliance and that its credibility could cost trillions to restore.  
Nato has been ramping up its forces along its eastern flank with Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine, deploying thousands of troops and equipment to deter Moscow from expanding its war into the territory of any of the organization's 32 member countries.
"If Ukraine loses then to restore the deterrence of the rest of Nato again, it will be a much, much higher price than what we are contemplating at this moment in terms of ramping up our spending and ramping up our industrial production," Rutte said.
"It will not be billions extra; it will be trillions extra," he said, on the sidelines of the world economic forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Rutte insisted that Ukraine's western backers must "step up and not scale back the support" they are providing to the country, almost three years after Russia's full-fledged invasion began.
"We have to change the trajectory of the war," Rutte said, adding that the West "cannot allow in the 21st century that one country invades another country and tries to colonize it."
"We are beyond those days," he said.
Anxiety in Europe is mounting that US President Donald Trump might seek to quickly end the war in talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on terms that are unfavorable to Ukraine, but Rutte appeared wary about trying to do things in a hurry.
"If we got a bad deal, it would only mean that we will see the president of Russia high-fiving with the leaders from North Korea, Iran and China and we cannot accept that," the former Dutch prime minister said. "That would be geopolitically a big, big mistake."
Polish foreign mnister Radek Sikorski welcomed Trump's acknowledgement that it must be Russia which should make the first peace moves, but he cautioned that "this is not the Putin that President Trump knew in his first term."
On Wednesday, Trump threatened to impose stiff taxes, tariffs and sanctions on Moscow if an agreement isn't reached to end the war, but that warning will probably fall on deaf ears in the Kremlin. Russia's economy is already weighed down by a multitude of US and European sanctions.
Sikorksi warned that Putin should not be put at the center of the world stage over Ukraine.
"The president of the United States is the leader of the free world. Vladimir Putin is an outcast and an indicted war criminal for stealing Ukrainian children," Sikorski said.
"I would suggest that Putin has to earn the summit, that if he gets it early, it elevates him beyond his, significance and gives him the wrong idea about the trajectory of this," he said. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/europe/nato-chief-says-russian-victory-over-ukraine-would-have-costly-impact-on-alliances-credibility/articleshow/117482670.cms  

LIKE MANY DUTCH PEOPLE I’VE KNOWN, MARK RUTTE IS INDUSTRIOUS AND FOCUSED, BUT HE IS COMPLETELY IGNORANT OF HISTORY (THOUGH WE SUSPECT HE KNOWS, BUT DOES NOT WANT TO EXPRESS IT BECAUSE THIS WOULD DO HIM OUT OF HIS JOB SPECS) AND UTTERLY HYPOCRITICAL. 

NATO IN UKRAINE IS A NO-NO FOR RUSSIA — AND FOR PUTIN. IMAGINE RUSSIA PLACING ITS MISSILES IN MEXICO (OR CUBA — WE’VE BEEN THERE BEFORE). THIS WOULD BE INADMISSIBLE FOR AMERICA. RUSSIA ISN'T EVEN TRYING... SO NO NATO IN YUCKRAINE.

 

LUCKY GRENELL CLEVERLY DEMANDED THE EUROPEANS PAID THEIR FAIR SHARE (FIVE PER CENT) ON THEIR OWN MILITARY, SOMETHING GRENELL KNOWS THEY CAN’T DO…

 

MAKE A DEAL PRONTO BEFORE THE SHIT HITS THE FAN:

  

NO NATO IN "UKRAINE" (WHAT'S LEFT OF IT)

THE DONBASS REPUBLICS ARE NOW BACK IN THE RUSSIAN FOLD — AS THEY USED TO BE PRIOR 1922. THE RUSSIANS WON'T ABANDON THESE AGAIN.

THESE WILL ALSO INCLUDE ODESSA, KHERSON AND KHARKIV.....

CRIMEA IS RUSSIAN — AS IT USED TO BE PRIOR 1954

TRANSNISTRIA WILL BE PART OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION.

A MEMORANDUM OF NON-AGGRESSION BETWEEN RUSSIA AND THE USA.

 

EASY.

 

THE WEST KNOWS IT.

  

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

 

HYPOCRISY ISN’T ONE OF THE SINS OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.

HENCE ITS POPULARITY IN THE ABRAHAMIC TRADITIONS…

 

 

PLEASE DO NOT BLAME RUSSIA IF WW3 STARTS. BLAME AMERICA.

 

 

 

AND BY THE WAY: 

Swiss defense minister Viola Amherd meets Nato secretary general Mark Rutte, at the World Economic Forum...