The facts
The Pentagon is planning a working group meeting in Poland focused on NATO's future, according to a report by The Guardian, which cited Politico and six unnamed diplomats. Notably excluded from the gathering are key allies including the United Kingdom, France, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The meeting is slated to be led by Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon's policy chief. Nations expected to attend include Norway, Sweden, Finland, Poland, Germany, and the Netherlands. This would be the third such meeting Colby has convened with the selected invitees this year. The report indicates that neither the White House nor the Pentagon provided comment when approached by The Guardian. One diplomat told Politico that the approach of dividing NATO members could exacerbate existing tensions with the United States, stating, If they try splitting Nato into the good ones and the bad ones, it is dangerous for the US. But for Europe, this is existential.
Our take
Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon's policy chief and apparently the head lunch-table monitor for the Trump administration, is once again orchestrating the saddest, pettiest little clique in international diplomacy. This absolute cunt is flying out to Poland for his third exclusive 'working group' this year, and his guest list is a masterclass in diplomatic bitchiness. The UK and France? Not invited. The fucking Baltic states, who live every day with Russian boots practically on their neck? Nope. Sorry, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, you're not part of the cool kids' table where they talk about your own fucking future defense. This is the geopolitical equivalent of a middle-schooler meticulously un-inviting people to their birthday party via whispered hallway gossip. The stated goal is to discuss NATO's future, which Colby evidently believes is best shaped by a cabal of sycophants who won't point out that this whole strategy is bullshit. One diplomat had the stones to call this 'existential' for Europe and 'dangerous' for the US, which is diplomatic speak for 'this fucking clown is lighting the alliance on fire to warm his own tiny, ideology-hardened hands.' The Pentagon and White House, displaying their trademark cowardice, offered no comment. Why would they? Explaining this requires admitting the entire strategy is to treat a 70-year-old mutual defense pact like a fucking high school popularity contest, where you only hang with the Nordics and the Germans who'll nod along. It's a pathetic, vain, and strategically suicidal game run by a grifter who thinks statecraft is about curating a fan club, not maintaining a coalition. The only thing getting 'strengthened' here is the global impression that America's foreign policy apparatus is being run by a spiteful, cliquish asshole with the strategic vision of a piss-stained bar napkin. What a fucking prick.
