LONDON - U.S. President Donald Trump and his NATO counterparts were gathering in London Tuesday to mark the alliance’s 70th birthday amid deep tensions as spats between leaders expose a lack of unity that risks undermining the military organization’s credibility. For the third summit in a row, Trump is expected to renew demands that European allies and Canada step up defence spending. Before heading to London, Erdogan suggested that Turkey might not back Poland and NATO’s Baltic allies — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — should they require defending unless the allies support Turkish concerns about Syrian Kurdish fighters, which Ankara sees as terrorists. A short working session will be held at a golf resort in outer London on Wednesday. Johnson is also set to host talks on Syria with Macron, Merkel and Erdogan later Tuesday.

Source: thestar December 03, 2019 09:33 UTC