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NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks during a joint press conference at the summit of the Baltic Sea NATO countries at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland, on Jan. 14, 2025.
NATO and Ukraine prep for Trump
Like everyone else, NATO and Ukraine are preparing for the arrival of Donald Trump and the expectation the incoming president will push for a ceasefire in Ukraine’s nearly three-year war with Russian invaders. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced on Tuesday that the alliance will dispatch naval drones, submarines, ships, and aircraft to patrol the Baltic Sea toprevent Russia from committing acts of sabotage there. NATO officials suspect Russia has deliberately damaged undersea pipelines and data cables in recent months. The mission will be called “Baltic Sentry.”
Also on Tuesday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said he and France’s President Emmanuel Macron have continued to discuss the possibility thatWestern troops might be deployed to Ukraine to protect any peace deal his government might sign with Russia – though Zelensky tied this possibility with a request for more clarity on when Ukraine can join the European Union and NATO. This announcement came just before Zelensky welcomed German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius for an official visit to Kyiv.
For now, the war grinds on. A Ukrainian security official said Tuesday that Ukrainian drones had carried outsuccessful overnight attacks on energy and military sites in central Russia. Russian officials say these attacks will “not go unanswered.”
Ukraine’s Air Defense Forces claimed it had shot down 58 Russian drones overnight, including near Kyiv.
Dutch politician Geert Wilders, the leader of the PVV party, speaks during the final debate between the lead candidates in the Dutch election before polls open on Wednesday, in The Hague, Netherlands, November 21, 2023.
Netherlands votes for first new PM in 13 years
The Dutch head to the polls tomorrow to elect their first new prime minister in over a decade. The election has centered on immigration, living standards, climate change, and how conservative the next government will be.
The election was called after outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s center-right government imploded over how to reduce the flow of migrants to the Netherlands – a polarizing issue collapsing centrist coalitions across Europe.
A majority of voters support right-leaning parties. Geert Wilders of the Freedom Party, or PVV, made last-minute gains to take a lead the polls. Wilders has built his career on barring Muslim asylum-seekers from the Netherlands, and his rhetoric has gained traction since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius – another frontrunner from the current PM’s party – is also running on reducing immigration in order to limit the war’s security risks to European countries.
The results are still too close to call. As of this week, 63% of voters remained undecided. Left-wing parties are urging their supporters to strategically vote centrist to block a PVV-led government. Accordingly, Wilders moderated his stances in the last debate, which may have contributed to his last-minute gains.
But the real fun starts after the votes are counted: None of the candidates are expected to get more than 20% of the vote, so the parties must decide what compromises they are willing to make to form a government.
If a hard right coalition is formed, they would seek to radically restrict immigration. A centrist government would follow through on the previous government's plans to increase social spending and renewable energy. A left-wing coalition, meanwhile, would raise taxes on the wealthy and supercharge the adoption of the EU’s green deal that its likely leader, Frans Timmermans, spearheaded as EU climate commissioner.