The nerves of Washington’s allies will be on edge today as they gather in Ankara for a summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance. The meeting takes place after 12 months in which European governments have lost trust in US President Donald Trump’s willingness to come to his allies’ aid.
Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, who chairs the summit, will be focused on steering a course that prevents even deeper divisions. But, as Mark Webber and Stefan Wolff write, the success of the gathering may just be down to luck - and the volatile mood of the US president.
In the end the US team lost 4-1 to Denmark in a politically
charged World Cup game in Seattle. There’d been uproar in the 24 hours before the teams ran onto the pitch following Fifa’s decision to allow America’s star striker, Folarin Balogun, to play despite having been sent off in the previous game. Fifa’s decision followed calls from the US president to the head of world football body. Josh Bland explains why the decision to allow the star striker to play was in clear breach of the association’s own rules.
