The Squiz 

Ahead of the NATO Summit winding up today, delegates have levelled a big accusation against China. Yesterday, the 32 NATO members released a joint statement saying Beijing was “a decisive enabler of Russia’s war against Ukraine” and it must “cease all material and political support to Russia’s war effort”, warning China could face consequences if it doesn’t… Experts say it’s the Western military alliance’s strongest rebuke of China, which has repeatedly denied providing military aid to Russia.

Umm what does that all mean?

NATO members – which is most of Western Europe, the UK, the US and Canada – are united against China’s alleged moves to help Russia, saying it “cannot enable the largest war in Europe in recent history without this negatively impacting its interests and reputation”. China has rejected the claim, saying it was “provocative” and “filled with Cold War mentality”… And while we’re talking about the war on Ukraine, NATO’s given its defence efforts a boost – and Australia has announced a $250 million military aid package. Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said “support to Ukraine is not charity – it is in our own security interest” with the first F-16 fighter jets finally on their way to Kyiv as part of $64 billion in military aid to be delivered over the next 12 months. NATO leaders say Ukraine is on track to gain membership to the alliance – something Russian President Vladimir Putin won’t be happy about…

Anything else?

Indeed there is… The other big talking point between NATO leaders was what might happen if Donald Trump wins the US presidential election in November. Reports say they’ve been making contingency plans to “Trump-proof” the alliance because their past relationship with him was tense, to say the least… In February, he put them on edge again when he said that if he’s re-elected, he wouldn’t protect any NATO member countries who were behind on their membership payments. More than that, he said he “would encourage” Russia “to do whatever the hell they want” to those members… Meanwhile, President Joe Biden’s faced more calls to drop out of the race. And although senior Democrats have publicly backed him, reports say it’s a different story in private. Meet you back here next week?