NATO under friendly fire as leaders ready for London summit

NATO leaders will gather in London on Tuesday as the world's biggest military alliance, marking its 70th birthday, battles with one of the most confounding of adversaries: Itself.

As thousands of troops stand ready along Europe's eastern flank to deter Russia the reason the trans-Atlantic alliance was founded in 1949 or help keep the peace in places like Afghanistan and Kosovo, the leaders of countries with NATO's largest armies are wildly taking pot shots at each other.

Before the two-day summit, to include receptions at Buckingham Palace and Downing Street plus a working session at a golf resort in outer London, Karen Donfried, president of the German Marshall Fund think tank, said the 29 NATO allies are approaching this meeting "with a sense of foreboding."
French President Emmanuel Macron, complaining of a US leadership vacuum and sensing an opportunity for France to fill it and boost Europe's security credentials, has lamented the "brain death" of NATO and says the allies need "a wake-up call."
"Kicking Turkey out of NATO or not, how is that up to you? Do you have the authority to make such a decision?"