Blinken’s warm words don’t hide differences

BRUSSELS — Secretary of State Antony Blinken sought to smooth alliance feathers ruffled by the previous U.S. administration on a trip to NATO and the European Union this week, but his diplomatic calm did not completely mask deepseated issues.

Blinken appeared to hit all the right soothing notes, talking of the American desire to “revitalize the alliance” and consult and coordinate with America’s Western allies “wherever and whenever we can.” He met with the E3 — the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany — and those of the Visegrad Four — Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. He met with his Baltic colleagues.

He praised NATO SecretaryGeneral Jens Stoltenberg, who has faced internal criticism for his sometimes awkward efforts to flatter former President Donald Trump and keep him from blowing up the alliance with bombastic threats. Blinken also offered nice words for embattled European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell Fontelles.

President Biden himself will make a video appearance at Thursday’s EU summit meeting, where more pleasant words about friendship and alliance are expected. It will be the first time an American president has made that effort since President Barack Obama in 2009.

Underneath the bandages and the bonhomie, however, familiar issues strain the alliance. A deep problem is Turkey, a NATO member that officials said is in discussions with Russia to buy more batteries of S400 antiaircraft missiles.

Then there is Afghanistan, where the U.S. implementation of the troop withdrawal agreement it struck with the Taliban last year is coming due. A decision is coming soon, and “in together, adjust together and, when the time is right, leave together” remains the NATO position, even if it is becoming clearer that the original withdrawal deadline of May 1 is likely to slip by several months.

China is also an undercurrent of strain. European allies are reluctant to be pushed into a U.S.led confrontation with China. Those countries, and especially large exportdriven economies like Germany, are more dependent on China for trade.