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BRUSSELS: NATO warned Russia on Tuesday that it would use all means to defend against any further breaches of its airspace after the downing earlier this month of Russian drones over Poland and Estonia’s report of an intrusion by Russian fighter jets last week.
The Sept. 10 incident in Poland was the first direct encounter between NATO and Moscow since the war in Ukraine began. It jolted leaders across Europe, raising questions about how prepared the alliance is against growing Russian aggression.
Another test of NATO’s preparedness and credibility came last Friday, after Estonia said that three Russian fighter jets had entered its airspace for 12 minutes without authorization, a charge that Russia has rejected.
“Russia should be in no doubt: NATO and Allies will employ, in accordance with international law, all necessary military and non-military tools to defend ourselves and deter all threats from all directions,” the alliance said in a statement.
“We will continue to respond in the manner, timing, and domain of our choosing,” the 32-member NATO said, and underlined its commitment to Article 5 of its founding treaty that an attack on any one ally must be considered an attack on them all.
Asked whether suspect aircraft would be shot down, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said this would depend “on available intelligence regarding the threat posed by the aircraft, including questions we have to answer like intent, armaments and potential risk to allies, forces, civilians or infrastructure.”
On Monday, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that Poland would “without discussion” shoot down flying objects when they violate Polish territory.
Not all appear to endorse that approach. “We will always assess the situation, assess the immediate threat the plane poses,” Rutte said.
The NATO statement came after Estonia requested formal consultations under Article 4 of its treaty, which allows any alliance member to demand a meeting if it believes its territorial integrity, political independence or security is threatened. Rutte said the call for talks was “absolutely warranted.”
Rutte also said that it was “too early to say” whether a drone incident at Copenhagen Airport overnight, which shut down airspace around Scandinavia’s largest airport for hours, was linked to Russia.
Britain’s top diplomat has said that the United Kingdom is ready to “confront” Russian planes if they enter NATO airspace. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said Moscow’s “reckless actions risk a direct armed confrontation” between Russia and the Western military alliance.
Speaking Monday at the United Nations in New York, Cooper said: “We are vigilant. We are resolute. And if we need to confront planes that are operating in NATO airspace without permission, then we will do so.”
Typhoon jets from the Royal Air Force have been taking part in NATO’s Eastern Sentry mission, flying their first mission over Poland on Sept. 19.
The airspace incidents have sparked calls for action, and raised questions about NATO’s ability to deter Russia even as President Vladimir Putin wages war on Ukraine.
They also come months after the Trump administration warned Europe that it must take care of its own security, and that of Ukraine, in future, raising questions about the American commitment to the world’s biggest military alliance. Threats of tough US sanctions against Russia have also remained just threats.
“We see a pattern: Russia is testing European borders, probing our resolve, undermining the security of the whole of Europe. Russia will continue to provoke as long as we allow it,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said at the United Nations on Monday.

UNITED NATIONS: US President Donald Trump returned to the United Nations on Tuesday to boast of his second-term foreign policy achievements and lash out at the world body as a feckless institution, while warning Europe it would be ruined if it doesn’t turn away from a “double-tailed monster” of ill-conceived migration and green energy policies.

His roughly hour-long speech was both grievance-filled and self-congratulatory as he used the platform to praise himself and lament that some of his fellow world leaders’ countries were “going to hell.”

The address was also just the latest reminder for US allies and foes that the United States — after a four-year interim under the more internationalist President Joe Biden — has returned to the unapologetically “America First” posture under Trump.

“What is the purpose of the United Nations?” Trump said. “The UN has such tremendous potential. I’ve always said it. It has such tremendous, tremendous potential. But it’s not even coming close to living up to that potential.”

World leaders listened closely to his remarks at the UN General Assembly as Trump has already moved quickly to diminish US support for the world body in his first eight months in office. Even in his first term, he was no fan of the flavor of multilateralism that the United Nations espouses.

After his latest inauguration, he issued a first-day executive order withdrawing the US from the World Health Organization. That was followed by his move to end US participation in the UN Human Rights Council, and ordering up a review of US membership in hundreds of intergovernmental organizations aimed at determining whether they align with the priorities of his “America First” agenda.

Trump escalated that criticism on Tuesday, saying the international body’s “empty words don’t solve wars.”

Trump offered a weave of jarring juxtapositions in his address to the assembly.

He trumpeted himself as a peacemaker and enumerated successes of his administration’s efforts in several hotspots around the globe. At the same, Trump heralded his decisions to order the US military to carry out strikes on Iran and more recently against alleged drug smugglers from Venezuela and argued that globalists are on the verge of destroying successful nations.

The US president’s speech is typically among the most anticipated moments of the annual assembly. This one comes at one of the most volatile moments in the world body’s 80-year-old history.

Global leaders are being tested by intractable wars in Gaza,Ukraine and Sudan, uncertainty about the economic and social impact of emerging artificial intelligence technology, and anxiety about Trump’s antipathy for the global body.

Trump has also raised new questions about the American use of military force in his return to the White House, after ordering US airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June and a trio of strikes this month on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea.

The latter strikes, including at least two fatal attacks on boats that originated from Venezuela, has raised speculation in Caracas that Trump is looking to set the stage for the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Some US lawmakers and human rights advocates say that Trump is effectively carrying out extrajudicial killings by using US forces to lethally target alleged drug smugglers instead of interdicting the suspected vessels, seizing any drugs and prosecuting the suspects in US courts.

Warnings about ‘green scam’ and migration

Trump touted his administration’s policies allowing for expanded drilling for oil and natural gas in the United States, and aggressively cracking down on illegal immigration, implicitly suggesting more countries should follow suit.

He sharply warned that European nations that have more welcoming migration policies and commit to expensive energy projects aimed at reducing their carbon footprint were causing irreparable harm to their economies and cultures.

“I’m telling you that if you don’t get away from the ‘green energy’ scam, your country is going to fail,” Trump said. “If you don’t stop people that you’ve never seen before that you have nothing in common with your country is going to fail.”

Trump added, “I love the people of Europe, and I hate to see it being devastated by energy and immigration. This double-tailed monster destroys everything in its wake, and they cannot let that happen any longer.”

The passage of the wide-ranging address elicited some groans and uncomfortable laughter from delegates.

Trump to hold one-on-one talks with world leaders

Trump touted “the renewal of American strength around the world” and his efforts to help end several wars. He peppered his speech with criticism of global institutions doing too little to end war and solve the world’s biggest problems.

General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock on Tuesday said that despite all the internal and external challenges facing the organization, it is not the time to walk away.

“Sometimes we could’ve done more, but we cannot let this dishearten us. If we stop doing the right things, evil will prevail,” Baerbock said in her opening remarks.

Following his speech, Trump met with Secretary-General António Guterres, telling the top UN official that the US is behind the global body “100 percent” amid fears among members that he’s edging toward a full retreat.

The White House says Trump will also meet on Tuesday with the leaders of Ukraine, Argentina and the European Union. He will also hold a group meeting with officials from Qatar, Indonesia, Turkiye, Pakistan, Egypt, the UAE and Jordan.

He’ll return to Washington after hosting a reception Tuesday night with more than 100 invited world leaders.

Gaza and Ukraine cast shadow over Trump speech

Trump has struggled to deliver on his 2024 campaign promises to quickly end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. His response has been also relatively muted as some longtime American allies are using this year’s General Assembly to spotlight the growing international campaign for recognition of a Palestinian state, a move that the US and Israel vehemently oppose.

France became the latest nation to recognize Palestinian statehood on Monday at the start of a high-profile meeting at the UN aimed at galvanizing support for a two-state solution to the Mideast conflict. More nations are expected to follow.

Trump sharply criticized the statehood recognition push.

“The rewards would be too great for Hamas terrorists,” Trump said. “This would be a reward for these horrible atrocities, including Oct. 7.”

Trump also addressed Russia’s war in Ukraine.

It’s been more than a month since Trump’s Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and a White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and key European leaders. Following those meetings, Trump announced that he was arranging for direct talks between Putin and Zelensky. But Putin hasn’t shown any interest in meeting with Zelensky and Moscow has only intensified its bombardment of Ukraine since the Alaska summit.

European leaders as well as American lawmakers, including some key Republican allies of Trump, have urged the president to dial up stronger sanctions on Russia. Trump, meanwhile, has pressed Europe to stop buying Russian oil, the engine feeding Putin’s war machine.

Trump said a “very strong round of powerful tariffs” would “stop the bloodshed, I believe, very quickly.” He repeated his calls on Europe to “step it up” and stop buying Russian oil.

Trump has Oslo dreams

Despite his struggles to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, Trump has made clear that he wants to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, repeatedly making the claim that he’s “ended seven wars” since he returned to office.

“Everyone says that I should get the Nobel Prize — but for me, the real prize will be the sons and daughters who live to grow up because millions of people are no longer being killed in endless wars,” Trump offered.

He again highlighted his administration’s efforts to end conflicts, including between Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, Egypt and Sudan, Rwanda and the Democratic Congo, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Cambodia and Thailand.

“It’s too bad that I had to do these things instead of the United Nations doing them,” Trump said. “Sadly, in all cases, the United Nations did not even try to help in any of them.”

Although Trump helped mediate relations among many of these nations, experts say his impact isn’t as clear cut as he claims.