Trump and Turkey Rattle NATO's 70th Birthday

(Bloomberg) --

NATO marks its 70th anniversary this week unsure if it’ll make it to 75.

Donald Trump’s demands that North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies pony up and meet their defense-spending commitments risks damaging morale. But the U.S. president’s broader doubts about the value of the alliance are far more corrosive for NATO’s future cohesion.

And then there’s Turkey. As Selcan Hacaoglu reports, Turkey joined NATO in 1952 while fighting alongside U.S. and British troops in the Korean War, becoming a strategic bulwark against the Soviet Union during the Cold War. But even decorated Turkish veterans of that war now question if the U.S. is still an ally and cast doubt on NATO.

Meanwhile President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government is awaiting delivery of a state-of-the-art S-400 missile-defense system from Russia, shrugging off U.S. demands it take America’s Patriot system while ignoring the very reason NATO was founded in 1949: to provide collective security against Soviet Russia.

All of which should mean there’s plenty to discuss when foreign ministers from NATO’s 29 members meet in Washington this week. Instead, those hosted by Secretary of State Michael Pompeo may be happy to get out unscathed.

Global Headlines

Last-ditch move | U.K. leader Theresa May tore up her two-year Brexit strategy yesterday and asked her arch-rival, opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn, to help write a new plan. While this will mean another delay to Britain’s departure, it could result in a much softer break-up, including a permanent customs union with the European Union.

Image rehabilitation | China is making its first attempt to better define President Xi Jinping’s signature trade policy as he prepares to host world leaders at the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing later this month. Bloomberg reports exclusively that authorities are drafting new rules for overseas investments in a bid to stop companies misusing the label after unchecked use damaged the program’s reputation abroad, fueling criticism it’s a debt trap focused on spreading Xi’s influence.

Seeking Mueller | Attorney General William Barr has left Trump out of his deliberations over how much to release publicly from Robert Mueller’s investigation, Shannon Pettypiece and Chris Strohm report. The House Judiciary Committee plans today to authorize a subpoena for Mueller’s unredacted report on election interference by Russia, as well as all underlying evidence. Barr has promised to provide parts of the report by mid-April.

Fallen savior | Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who led Algeria out of a civil war to become its longest-serving president, resigned yesterday after throngs of protesters and eventually his military allies told him to quit. Rarely seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013, his political demise will deepen uncertainty in the OPEC member and send a warning to another embattled North African ruler, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan.

Risky business | Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expelled two key lawmakers from his caucus, seeking to bury a scandal that’s hurt his chances for re-election in October. His move against former Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould — who said she was pressured to end a prosecution of construction firm SNC-Lavalin — and Jane Philpott is a risk for a government that prided itself on having a cabinet made up equally of men and women.

What to Watch

• France’s parliament is debating a bill aimed at tightening security around its 5G networks. It doesn’t name China’s Huawei but provides a framework for protecting networks that could see suppliers handing over industrial secrets in order to bid for contracts.
• Venezuela’s National Assembly leader Juan Guaido called for a mass protest on Saturday after political rival President Nicolas Maduro’s rubber-stamp assembly stripped him of immunity from prosecution.
• The first of many trials for Malaysia’s former premier Najib Razak is underway, seen as a test of the nation’s readiness to get to the bottom of a $4.5 billion scandal over state fund 1MDB. Najib has denied wrongdoing.

And finally … Ex-President Barack Obama's home town of Chicago has made history, electing former federal prosecutor Lori Lightfoot as its first black, female mayor. Lightfoot will also be the first openly gay leader of the nation’s third-most-populous city, which is struggling with gun violence and fiscal woes. Lightfoot had never held elective office and will replace Obama White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who chose not to run for a third term.

--With assistance from Josh Wingrove, Karl Maier, Rosalind Mathieson, Kathleen Hunter, Tim Ross and Karen Leigh.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Ruth Pollard at rpollard2@bloomberg.net

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