Trump’s tough talk plays well with NATO east flank

BRUSSELS — While President Donald Trump’s hectoring at the NATO summit alarmed many in the West, his message was mostly embraced Thursday along the alliance’s eastern flank — the region that feels most threatened by an assertive Russia.

From Poland and the tiny Baltic states down to Romania, eastern leaders welcomed Trump’s push for members of the 29-nation alliance to spend more on their militaries, something they have sought following Russian incursions in Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014.

After all, they had been under Moscow’s thumb for decades after World War II.

On the first day of the summit, Trump lambasted his partners for not spending their fair share on defense and asked on Twitter: “What good is NATO if Germany is paying Russia billions of dollars for gas and energy?”

But by the time the summit concluded Thursday he was praising NATO as “very unified, very strong.”

“He came, he saw, he conquered,” declared Poland’s state-run broadcaster TVP in an opinion piece. “Contrary to criticism and fears, Trump’s brutally sincere behavior has not broken NATO’S unity but has mobilized its members to further action that strengthened the organization.”

Linas Linkevicius, the foreign minister of Lithuania, wrote on Twitter: “Strength is a choice, not a given. Once again #Natosummit bring us closer & stronger.”