Delegation visit to New York, Princeton and Philadelphia highlights priorities for Ukraine support, NATO Washington Summit and US and international security

Ukraine, the upcoming NATO Summit, the Middle East and Asia were in focus as a delegation from the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s Political and Economics and Security Committees visited the United States on 22-26 April. 

Mere days after the U.S. House of Representatives approved a substantial new package of military assistance for Ukraine, U.S. Congressman Brendan Boyle, Chair of the Assembly’s Political Committee and host to the delegation, stressed that despite the delay in bringing the bill to the floor, bipartisan support for the legislation and for Ukraine was strong.

Addressing an event marking NATO’s 75th anniversary at Princeton University, he warned of the domestic and international threats to democracy and highlighted the Assembly’s long-standing recommendation to establish a Centre for Democratic Resilience at NATO Headquarters.
Cheryl Gallant (Canada), Chair of the Sub-Committee on Transatlantic Relations and Derk  Boswijk (Netherlands) and Annick Ponthier (Belgium), Vice-Chairs of the Sub Committee on Transatlantic Economic Relations, led the delegation of 43 MPs from Europe and North America.

The continued relevance of the United Nations

Ambassador Robert Rae, the Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations, hosted the opening sessions of the delegation’s visit to New York. It is important to alter expectations regarding the UN’s role, he told the delegation, stressing that it is member states that are ultimately responsible for its successes and failures. He warned that all three pillars of the UN – Peace & Security, Sustainable Development and Human Rights & Humanitarian Issues – are being undermined. 

At ensuing meetings at the United Nations, Miroslav Jenča, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas, highlighted the UN Secretary-General’s recognition that Russia’s war on Ukraine violates the UN Charter. The UN, he added, has sought to mitigate the worst impacts of the conflict, for example, through the Black Sea grain deal and support for displaced Ukrainians and the country’s reconstruction.

The situation in Gaza was on the agenda of discussions with Mohamed Khaled Khiari, UN Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia, and the Pacific. The delegation learned of various UN efforts to end the violence, bring home the Israeli hostages, provide desperately needed humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza, and find a path towards a more enduring peace. 

Michel Saad, the Director for Middle East and North Africa at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) urged NATO member states to do more to support the UN’s humanitarian efforts in Gaza. Saad also noted that the UN Secretary-General had just received an independent assessment of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and its adherence to the neutrality principle. Although Saad could not provide details of the report, he said it highlighted the key role the UN plays in providing humanitarian relief in Gaza that cannot be replaced given its highly developed networks in the territory. The report nonetheless explored management deficiencies and identified where improvements are possible and needed. 
In a wide-ranging discussion about the challenges Ukraine confronts in the UN, largely due to the veto power Russia exercises in the Security Council, Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya, the Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations told the delegation that Article 27(3) of the UN Charter provides that a party to a conflict should refrain from voting on matters pertaining to that conflict in the Security Council. Russia, he said, should abstain from matters related to UN policy for Ukraine. He also stressed the importance of increasing engagement with countries of the G77.

NATO adaptation and expectations from the Washington Summit

In discussions at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Lieutenant Colonel Jordan Becker told the delegation that while Allies have progressed in reaching NATO’s 2% of GDP spending target, Europe needs to shoulder greater security responsibilities as the U.S. builds up forces in Asia and elsewhere. Putin, he said, made a major miscalculation by conducting a poorly planned invasion that gave Ukraine and the West time to generate an effective response. 
Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs celebrated NATO’s 75th anniversary and explored its future at a large public meeting that engaged the visiting NATO PA delegation. 

Dr Karen Donfried urged Allies to demonstrate unity and commitment at the upcoming Summit meeting in Washington. The stakes in Ukraine are very high, Donfried noted, and Putin is seeking to subvert the international rules-based order which is of fundamental importance to Allies and partners.
Ambassador Douglas Lute argued that the NATO Summit is occurring at a major inflection point that may be as or more consequential than the end of the Cold War and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He warned that democracy is increasingly on the defensive and that Allied countries open themselves up to external meddling when democratic resilience recedes. He agreed with Congressman Boyle that foundational values are essential and that a collective effort is needed to defend NATO’s core values. 

Juan Carlos Pinzon, Colombia’s former Minister of Defence, agreed that NATO had a role to play to rally support for democracy around the world. This was a key consideration driving Colombia’s rapprochement with NATO.

U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle, Chair of the NATO PA’s Political Committee, noted that the relevance of NATO is unquestionable. He welcomed the fact that European Allies have considerably stepped up their defence spending in recent years. He urged the remaining Allies to reach the 2% GDP spending target, stressing that failure to do so plays into the arguments of those in the U.S. with pro-isolationist views.

In Philadelphia, Ambassador Alexander Vershbow, a Distinguished Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, urged Allies, at the Washington Summit, to make clear that their goal is Ukraine’s victory. He also called for a clear signal that Allies are committed to helping set Ukraine on a path that will prepare it quickly for membership in NATO. He further stressed the need for a review of NATO’s Russia policy for the future. 

John R. Deni, a Research Professor of Security Studies at U.S. Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute, shared his ‘wish list’ for the NATO Summit, which went beyond the expected outcome. He urged NATO to make deterrence by denial along the Eastern Flank a reality by further enhancing air and missile defences in Poland and Romania. He called for a much needed rationalisation of the European defence industry to make it more cost effective. He urged Allies to terminate the essentially moribund NATO-Russia Founding Act. He suggested using NATO common funding as a financial guarantee for long-term capability development projects. Finally, he urged Allies to set a new target for defence spending that would go beyond the current 2% of GDP benchmark.

Supporting Ukraine

Gideon Rose, Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, addressing the delegation at the Canadian mission to the United Nations, urged the West not to overestimate Moscow’s power. The West, he stressed, is positioned to thwart Putin’s ambitions in Ukraine. What it needs is the willpower, Rose argued, adding that magic bullets will not do the trick, but real bullets will. 

At West Point, Dr Robert Person, warned that Russian war aims are maximalist and put Ukraine’s very existence at risk. There is no possibility of settling this conflict now through negotiation. Both sides will fight until they feel they cannot win. Only then will expectations shift, creating conditions for settlement.  

At Princeton University, Congressman Boyle announced that President Biden had just signed the bill that Congress had passed earlier in the week to provide USD 95 billion in military assistance to Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel. He noted that the adoption of the bill reaffirms the United States’ resolve to continue leading the Alliance and stand up to aggressors. 

In Philadelphia, Trudy Rubin, Columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer, also welcomed the latest substantial U.S. aid package as well as the transfer of long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to Ukraine which will put Russian forces and logistics in Crimea in the line of fire. She urged Germany to now provide Ukraine with Taurus cruise missiles and other Allies farther from Ukraine to provide Patriot air defence systems. 

On the issue of Ukraine’s future membership in NATO, Dr Karen Donfried urged Allies to spell out what conditions needed to be met for Ukraine to be granted an invitation, such as meeting democratic standards and the end of active fighting in the war – rather than an end to the war.  
China’s and Russia’s foray into Africa. 

In a concluding seminar held in Philadelphia, Colonel (Ret.) Robert E. Hamilton, Head of Research in the Eurasia Program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI) told the delegation that the Chinese-Russian interaction in Africa is neither cooperative nor competitive, although each is aware of what the other is doing. For Russia, he noted, the focus has been on the Sahel, where so-called ‘private militia’ are the primary agents of Russian policy, and the goal is to gain access to raw materials and energy while unwinding Western influence. Putin has looked to Africa for diplomatic support at a time when countries along its border have strongly opposed its war on Ukraine. 

China’s approach focuses on economic development and is less explicitly anti-Western in orientation, Hamilton argued. China is Africa’s leading trade partner and is an important investor on the continent. China leverages its economic clout to garner support for its Taiwan policy. In recent years, China has also drawn on its economic and political history and offered it as a model for African development. This policy has a security dimension and Beijing has, for example, provided governments on the continent with surveillance technologies used to exercise control over civil societies. There is, nevertheless, growing resentment in Africa of the environmental consequences of some of China’s mining investments. 

Jacques DeLisle, Chair of the Asia Program at FPRI, noted that to create a more positive image in Africa, the West should concentrate not only on capacity building assistance, but also on more visible and tangible projects, albeit it will hardly be in a position to overcome China in infrastructure investments. 

Other issues

In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based business leaders presented their perspectives on supply chain security and green transition. NATO Parliamentarians also visited Leonardo Helicopters U.S. to learn about the company’s leadership in production of military and commercial rotorcraft.

Photos of the visit © NATOPA