I'm John Batsch who with Anatole Leiben of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft

writing most recently in Harpers with his colleague George Bibi about what is to be done in Ukraine.

Beyond that, NATO is looking to a big summit in Washington in July.

And at that summit there will be more conversation about the presentation of a

hundred billion dollar fund either to re-arm or NATO or to enhance augment Ukraine and or use money from the Russian assets that have been

frozen. However, there is also a matter of leadership at NATO.

Secretary General Stoltenberg has continued

for an extra period here to get to the meeting.

The nominee is Mark Rutti, who is the long-serving Prime Minister of the Netherlands.

However, Anatole, I report that there are four dissenters.

NATO's 32 states, the EU is 27.

There are four dissenters from Ruti, and that is Hungary, Slovakia, Romania,

and Turkey, all recommending that the next Secretary-General come from the Eastern wing.

That means the front line with Russia and the name mentioned is Classionis.

Well, I mean, to a point, Ruto would really mean continuity in NATO.

We shouldn't forget that NATO means the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Holland is on the Atlantic more or less.

Romania, Turkey, Hungary, most certainly are not.

But there is also a deep ambiguity, a very strange ambiguity in the positions of these

four East European countries in the Middle Turkey is, because three of them have been, if not pro-Russian, to bearing degrees, certainly highly

skeptical of support for Ukraine and of further NATO enlargement but of course most of the East Europeans

the polls the boards other checks are by passionately anti-European and supportive of Ukraine.

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