Behind the NATO Hype
Jun 12, 2025
Moscow [Russia], June 12: NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte 's statement that in the next 5 years, Russia could attack NATO will surprise the world.
NATO regards Russia as an enemy, and Mr Rutte is far from alone in predicting a Russian attack. But it is unclear what prompted Mr Rutte to make such a claim.
Russia is now in its fourth year of military operations against Ukraine . Moscow has spent huge resources on this conflict and has been sanctioned by the West. Given the current developments on the battlefield and the current world political situation, this conflict is likely to be far from over. Regardless of the outcome of the conflict, even if Russia wins, it will still take more than five years to recover and properly resolve all the post-war issues. Therefore, Mr. Rutte's statement is clearly an exaggeration.
Since it is impossible for the NATO Secretary General to be ignorant of Russia, it can only be that Mr. Rutte deliberately exaggerated. And this person exaggerated on purpose.
Mr Rutte's emphasis on the Russian threat is the most effective way to push NATO members to dramatically increase their annual defence budgets to 5% of their GDP. Mr Rutte wants NATO to decide on that level at its annual summit, scheduled for late June. Only by identifying the enemy and exacerbating the security threat can the defence build-up be justified.
But at the same time, NATO is also aware that Russia is likely to win in Ukraine, so the bloc must prepare now for the worst-case scenario. It seems that a feeling of "fear and despair" is haunting NATO.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
