The NATO chief tells Trump that he is already a winner hours before his arrival at the summit

Hague, the Netherlands, if European leaders are upset by the attacks of President Donald Trump against Iran, do not expect to see any public criticism, at least until the closing of the NATO Summit on Wednesday when their plane is heading safely through the Atlantic.

Trump may have embarrassed European leaders by stating that Iran was not interested in talking to them and just wanted to talk to Trump, almost at the same time that Iranian officials met with European negotiators in Geneva.

It may have irritated the allies when hitting Iran’s nuclear facilities during the weekend without consulting them and giving them the shortest notice before Bombs began to fall.

But at this time, the approach of the other 31 members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is to overcome the annual abbreviated summit of this week with a minimal interruption of the president, participants and observers notoriously anti-ootan at the meeting.

The NATO general secretary, Mark Rutte, in fact, illustrated on Tuesday the effort to handle Trump using lessons learned when dealing with him during the four years of his first mandate and the first months of his second: he falls to the praise and flattery and make it clear that he is a winner.

“Congratulations and thanks for his decisive action in Iran, that was really extraordinary, and something that nobody dared to do. It makes us safer,” Routte wrote to Trump in a text message when the president of the United States began his trip to The Hague on Air Force One. Trump immediately published screenshots of the message on social networks.

Rutte continued to tell Trump that he had already achieved his goal of getting other NATO members to spend more on defense. “You are flying to another great success in The Hague tonight. It was not easy, but we have all signed at 5 percent!” Rutte wrote. “Europe is going to pay big, as they should, and it will be your victory.”

Andrew Harnik through Getty Images

Trump has made clear its transactional approach to life, including international relations. He has even explained that he likes Russian dictator Vladimir Putin because Putin has said Trump likes. Foreign leaders who visit the White House have made a luxurious praise to Trump a standard accessory in their public comments, and the Corolaria strategy of not criticizing it openly seems to be at least partially behind recent statements about their strike against Iran.

“There is no reason for us, or for me personally, criticizing what Israel began a week ago, nor is there any reason to criticize what the United States did last weekend,” German Friedrich Merz said Monday.

Shortly after the attacks, France issued a statement by saying that he had “taken note with concern”, but hours later he joined Germany and the United Kingdom to affirm: “We have constantly been clear that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon and can no longer represent a threat to regional security.”

And Rutte, Shortly After His Note To Trump, Had, Unprompted, Praised Him at A Public Forum for Opening A Channel With Putin About A Ceasefire With Ukraine: “I Want To Commend President Trump For Breaking The Deadlock. With President Putin, and I Always Thought that was crucial, and there only One Leader Who Could Break The DeadLock Originally, and That Had to Be the American President, Best Powerful of the world. “

Others pointed out that European leaders do not want to acquire a nuclear weapon and that, in any case, they are no longer significant players in the region.

“I think that Europeans have long become accustomed to the fact that they are no longer a factor in the Policy of the Middle East,” said Jan Techau, a Berlin headquarters for the European Policies Analysis Center. “In addition, criticizing Trump before the NATO Summit was a non-log. The main objective is to make this a summit free of accidents. Do not get into Trump. So everyone remained silent.”

One of Trump’s national security advisors of his first term warned of NATO leaders to play with Trump’s vanity, although a good strategy does not guarantee success.

“Adulation works, but not necessarily always,” said John Bolton. “I mean, distracting your attention could work. They need to be creative.”

However, the Routte approach seemed to have support from other NATO nations, even those who share a border with Russia and are potentially at risk if the alliance weakens.

“The secretary is a good politician, in a way, and a person who can find a commitment,” said Defense Minister Estonia, Hanno Pevkur. “He has the best touch in that … what can be achieved, which cannot be achieved.”