Clinton better than Trump on security: Czech prime minister

US Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton is better than her Republican rival Donald Trump on security for NATO allies, the Czech prime minister said Tuesday, echoing leaders of other alliance members in eastern Europe.

“Considering the pre- election statements made by Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, from the point of view of guarantees for the allies, I see more security if Clinton is elected,” Bohuslav Sobotka told the Czech financial daily Hospodarskie Noviny.

Clinton, a former US secretary of state, offers “a greater guarantee of maintaining transAtlantic cooperation,” Sobotka added.

Trump sparked ire last month among eastern NATO members who were ruled by Moscow during the Soviet era when he waffled on defending NATO partners, thus questioning a key security guarantee of the alliance.

Asked about Russian activities that have alarmed the Baltic nations, NATO’s newest members, Trump said that if Russia attacked them, he would decide whether to come to their aid only after reviewing whether those nations “have fulfilled their obligations to us.”

A cornerstone of the 28- member trans- Atlantic alliance is its Article 5 commitment that an attack on one member state is an attack on all, a pledge invoked after the 9/ 11 attacks on the US and led to NATO’s operation in Afghanistan.

US Vice President Joe Biden remarked Tuesday in the Latvian capital Riga that he doubted whether Trump “even understands” what the Article 5 commitment to collective defense meant, insisting it was the US’ “sacred honor” to fulfill it.