The next overseer of the USA, in the European territory of the American Empire, has been appointed and is the Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte. Perhaps the most successfully failed politician on the old continent. Successfully failed politician because Rutte’s liberal party never managed to get more than 31 seats out of 150, usually winning 12 or 20. Never got a majority. But Rutte, since 2010, has managed to lead the Netherlands in various government coalitions even with his sworn enemies, such as Geert Wilders.
Rutte himself is prime minister but with the characteristic “caretaker prime minister” a peculiarity of the Dutch state system, which essentially means that under the auspices of the Dutch crown, we sort of keep you as a caretaker until a better one is found.
The Dutchman will be one of the persons who will gather the spotlights of interest, at the upcoming solemn, but at the same time critical NATO Summit in Washington, which, in addition to celebrating the 75 years of the Alliance, has to shape its strategic doctrine for the next decade amid a fluid geopolitical environment defined by Russia’s war in Ukraine and Moscow’s frequent nuclear threats, conflict in the Middle East, Iran’s aggression and China’s growing international influence.
Due to the pragmatism and directness of his approaches, he is seen in Washington by both the White House and the Trump camp as capable and suitable to manage the affairs of the alliance, regardless of who will be the next US President, elected by the polls next November. Note that at the Munich Security Conference in February, Rutte said that NATO leaders should stop “whining and complaining about Trump and spend more on defense and munitions production, regardless of who wins the US elections.
Strong supporter of Ukraine
57-year-old Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands for 14 consecutive years from 2010 to today, is a “veteran” of the European political scene, but also a staunch supporter of the EU-US strategic alliance, having coexisted harmoniously with many leaders of NATO countries in over the years, including Obama, Trump and Biden, on the other side of the Atlantic.
Something that was proven in the entire previous period of public positions, but also of hard and intensive behind-the-scenes processes, where the powerful countries of the Alliance, with the United States first and France, Germany and Britain to follow, had early supported the candidacy of. However, causing the reaction of certain Eastern Europeans, who would prefer someone of their own to be chosen as Stoltenberg’s successor due to the ongoing war in Ukraine and the more general Russian threat, which they consider to be clearly more directly affecting them than the rest of the allies.
Along the way, however, even they gave their consent, as Rutte made it clear that countering Russian aggression would remain at the heart of NATO’s strategy, repeating something that in the past, from the first hour of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, had argued passionately: that defeating Moscow on the battlefield is vital to ensure the security of EU countries and peace in Europe.
While he later emerged as a staunch supporter of the EU’s military support for Ukraine: “NATO should be strong to stand up to Russia and EU leaders should not treat Moscow with naivety. Because it won’t stop in Ukraine if we don’t stop them now. The war is about maintaining the international rule of law,” he had emphasized at the UN General Assembly in September 2022, seven months after the Russian invasion.
Insiders say his view has been heavily influenced by the tragedy of the downing of the airliner over Ukraine in 2014, blamed on Russia, with 196 Dutch among the 298 victims. Until then he was mainly involved in the internal politics of the Netherlands and in the international scene with the issues of the Eurozone economy, always an advocate of the most rigid positions on the issues of fiscal adjustment and compliance with the European treaties. Since then, he has included immigration, as well as defense and security issues, among his priorities.
Upbeat, simple and approachable
A staunch Protestant, celibate by conviction, with the British as his political role models, Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher, relaxed in demeanor and approachable, but also sometimes unconventional as he teaches history in schools, associations and institutes in his spare time. Even as prime minister (!) he teaches at a School of Business Studies in a poor district of The Hague, every Thursday for an hour. He drives a used car, uses an old-fashioned cell phone and still lives in the apartment he bought when he graduated from University in 1992.
Dressed in jeans, sweatshirts and sneakers, he often travels around by bicycle, and is often seen on Friday afternoons in the center of The Hague, sometimes even having lunch at a local pizzeria.
He is also the author of four books, with characteristic titles: “The Netherlands”, “Singapore”, “Our Regions”, “Our World: Connecting Our Common Culture”.
Optimistic in his temperament: “I have no talent for pessimism and whining” as he says, he has won friends inside and outside politics. When he won the 2018 election, he declared that “this was the night the Netherlands, after Brexit and the US election, said ‘stop’ to poor quality populism”. And immediately after that, the next day, he first went to the school to teach, and then he met the officials of his party and the leaders of other parties to form the government.
Rutte has admitted, however, that he was deeply affected by the death of his father as well as one of his brothers, who died of AIDS in 1989: “We have always been a liberal family and the cause of my brother’s death was never taboo.”
He considers Robert Caro, a distinguished American Jewish author, intellectual, journalist, Princeton professor and Democratic consultant, to be his spiritual mentor. Caro, in a moment of self-criticism, after meeting the planner of the city of New York, Robert Moses, declared that: “what I have written so far is nonsense, everything was based on the fact that political power comes from the ballot box… and now a man who does not was ever elected and can pass any policy he wants, whenever he wants.”
Although Rutte wanted to be involved in the arts, he eventually became a politician. His state as an elected representative has always been liberal, pro-Western and pro-American. Twice he was involved in scandals, the first with the misuse of funds for child benefits, a scandal that brought down his government but then he froze and the second with the well-known Nokiagate i.e. a security issue of the Dutch government that involved messages from his mobile phone.
After never being able to convince the Dutch and get a majority in the elections and after being “caretaker prime minister” for eleven years (?!), he probably decided to take over NATO to get rid of the pejorative title of “caretaker”.
His choice for the post of Secretary General of NATO is considered a safe choice, in the sense that he will never bring contradictions to the Americans. Something that for the escalation of the Ukrainian war, the US hawks consider essential. The irony, however, is that even in his new position, Rutte will again be nothing more than a… caretaker…
The new strategy of NATO
Escalation, however, is not only promoted by the Americans but also by the Europeans. It is almost certain that the new head of foreign policy in the E.U. the Prime Minister of Estonia Kaja Kallas will be appointed, whose psychotic anti-Russian statements, only in (bad taste) inspection on a theater board have a place.
The so-called “West” has made a tragic mistake in standing so openly and defiantly against Russia, supporting not Zelensky of course but American interests. This error has cost money, infrastructure, diplomacy and prestige.
The “West” once again misleads and deceives its people and creates pseudo-enemies and pseudo-booms. The political potential of the “West” is financed, guided, protected and delivered to an economic oligarchy, which hates Europe and which has lost control of the situations it created. The question now is not the profit but the survival of the mechanisms. However, the revenge of the European peoples, whenever it broke out in the past, was relentless and merciless.
Today, while knowing full well what the outcome may be on the Ukrainian front, they are suicidally rushing to escalate the situation, to raise the disaster to a new level, in a desperate attempt to hide their responsibilities.
That is why essentially at the level of the administration of the E.U. we will see no change, since the system must keep the culprits in power, lest it manage to manage the damage.
