• Darkenfolk@sh.itjust.works
      18·
      9 hours ago

      Eh, looks like rutte writes English in the same way that he speaks it. Honestly I first thought that it was a shitpost, but no, it seems legit.

      • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.ml
        101·
        8 hours ago

        Rutte’s unique approach to English merely reflects the fact that his intellectual ceiling would challenge even the most ambitious root vegetable.

  • geneva_convenience@lemmy.mlOP
    32·
    11 hours ago

    By the way Rutte changed the wording in the agreement to be more vague as to what ‘allies’ means because Spain refused to agree to 5%.

  • djsoren19@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    27·
    11 hours ago

    obviously, I doubt Rutte was expecting this message to be shared. If he wasn’t a complete moron and actually doing this just to stroke his own ego, I’d actually give Donald props for leaking it, as Rutte kissing Donald’s ass makes him look terrible, and more broadly makes the European parts of NATO look terrible.

    I imagine Rutte’s intent is to stroke Trump’s ego to try and keep him interested in NATO, but I feel like that’s a fool’s errand. Trump doesn’t give a shit about anyone else but himself. This new agreement, with NATO signatories needing to commit 5% of their GDP, feels like a grift for the benefit of U.S. defense contractors. The U.S. cannot be trusted to actually honor their agreements anymore, so why pay more into their alliance? Is Europe really that scared of further Russian aggression?

    • wurzelgummidge@lemmy.ml
      11·
      3 hours ago

      Is Europe really that scared of further Russian aggression?

      Western Europe is afraid of Russia gaining influence in regions and resource rich areas that they seeks to dominate.

    • geneva_convenience@lemmy.mlOP
      20·
      11 hours ago

      Europeans online think that Rutte is ‘masterfully manipulating’ Trump by talking to him like a 5 year old and are extremely proud of this.

    • Kickforce@lemmy.wtf
      7·
      9 hours ago

      Well Rutte’s job is basically to keep NATO together, can’t blame him for trying. Personally I would not be sad if NATO chucked the US and told them to pack their bases all around Europe and go home. But I understand Rutte’s position.

      • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
        8·
        9 hours ago

        I’d love it if that happened, but that would also mean the dissolution of NATO, so I don’t see why NATO would motion to kill itself voluntarily.

    • JillyB@beehaw.org
      72·
      11 hours ago

      This new agreement, with NATO signatories needing to commit 5% of their GDP, feels like a grift for the benefit of U.S. defense contractors. The U.S. cannot be trusted to actually honor their agreements anymore, so why pay more into their alliance? Is Europe really that scared of further Russian aggression?

      They’re massively investing in European defense industry, not just buying more from the US. They are scared of Russian aggression and they are scared the US will not honor NATO agreements which is why they’re committing so hard to defense spending. Also, I believe it’s 3.5% for military and 1.5% for infrastructure.

        • JillyB@beehaw.org
          4·
          6 hours ago

          They are also spending big on domestic arms production. France will be a big winner out of this since they’ve long valued independent military arms production and the rest of Europe will want to buy French stuff (yes along with American stuff) while they get their arms production up and running. South Korea is also a big arms supplier internationally.

          The reduction in US support for NATO is largely part of a pivot to focusing on Taiwan and China. The US military industry would love it if the US focused on both and kept cozy relations with europe. I’m sure they’re happy with the whole world increasing defense spending amid rising tensions, but they aren’t happy about the US scaring away customers. I hate how involved the US military is globally but acting like Trump is some mastermind of American imperialism is reductive and giving him too much credit. The thought that Europe shouldn’t be worried about Russia (the ones currently invading a European country) is bonkers.

    • assaultpotato@sh.itjust.works
      726·
      13 hours ago

      Real tweet, fake text… no way any NATO leader would say “Europe is going to pay BIG” it’s just too Trump. Same with the incessant comma splices.

      But big congrats to Trump for ruining the information space so completely that I genuinely cannot tell what’s real anymore.

      • VeganCheesecake@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        1·
        1 hour ago

        Hasn’t Rutte always been known for being able to handle Trump well? I’m pretty sure the only way to do that is kiss his ass in a way he understands, so this doesn’t seem too surprising.

        • assaultpotato@sh.itjust.works
          11·
          9 hours ago

          I would love and hate to see proof that Mark Rutte really texted this to Trump.

          The “Truth” post is 100% real, inarguably, but I haven’t seen anyone reporting the picture is of a real message from Rutte to Trump.

          E: never mind that is… apparently Rutte’s office has confirmed the message is really from Rutte???

          ???

          I need to go lie down.

      • SGforce@lemmy.ca
        34·
        13 hours ago

        I’m sure EVERY European politician randomly CAPITALISES words like some LUNATIC

        • iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works
          53·
          13 hours ago

          I don’t believe this is real, but the all caps words aren’t random. They’re clearly for emphasis, the same kinds of words I might capitalize for effect. That is not really the unbelievable aspect of this scenario.

    • Thorry84@feddit.nl
      241·
      11 hours ago

      The Rutte team has confirmed it was indeed a real text sent by Mark Rutte to Trump.

      • SippyCup@feddit.nlEnglish
        19·
        13 hours ago

        It reads like something Trump wrote about himself. He’s done that kind of bullshit before.

      • koper@feddit.nl
        81·
        13 hours ago

        It’s saying the quiet part out loud. Surely anyone who sees this will be outraged?

        • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
          164·
          13 hours ago

          It isn’t really a quiet part, though, never has been. NATO has openly been a millitary alliance for the purpose of maintaining Western Imperialism headed by the US, no more and no less, since its inception.

    • egrets@lemmy.world
      1·
      8 hours ago

      Things I’d want to know before deciding for myself whether the screenshot montage is real, regardless of whether Trump shared it (he did):

      • Have we seen other screenshots where Trump use enormous font sizes? Is that how bigger system text looks in this app? He’s not exactly youthful, so it’s no great surprise, but worth asking the question.
      • Is it realistic that Trump or an aide would have screenshotted the entire message within two minutes of it being received?
      • Does this messaging app routinely display the contact name offset and the profile image vertically cropped? What app is it?
    • adb@lemmy.mlEnglish
      94·
      12 hours ago

      Ran a quick search and multiple well established news outlets are reporting this.

      I’m afraid it is.

      The wording does seem very out of character for Rutte but it makes sense that he feels the need to stoop to Trump’s level and overdo the flattering.

    • Mearuu@kbin.melroy.org
      530·
      13 hours ago

      This is not real and does not belong in “World News”

      It is posted by and primarily upvoted by .ml users.

      Don’t fall for their bullshit.

      Looking further into it you can see that almost every post in “World News” is from .ml users. They are very anti-western everything but post western “news” heavily in communities. I wonder why?

      Furthermore they are brigading comments in this thread. Don’t believe me, just look at the upvote/downvote activity for comments here.

      • davel@lemmy.mlEnglish
        2·
        2 hours ago

        This is not real

        Don’t fall for their bullshit.

        It turns out that—as usual—it is real.

        It is posted by and primarily upvoted by .ml users.

        Looking further into it you can see that almost every post in “World News” is from .ml users.

        [email protected] is a lemmy.ml community. Why wouldn’t we be posting and voting in our own community on our own instance?

        They are very anti-western everything but post western “news” heavily in communities. I wonder why?

        “The reason I use western sources when possible is because those are the only sources that western liberals tend to accept.”

        Furthermore they are brigading comments in this thread. Don’t believe me, just look at the upvote/downvote activity for comments here.

        Yes, we’re “brigading” our own community on our own instance 🙄

        On a related note, how is your vote manipulation report coming along[1][2]? Given your trivially disprovable accusations here, I predict it will be more of the same.

      • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
        291·
        12 hours ago

        This is Lemmy.ml’s World News community. Lemmy.ml users are not brigading their own World News community, lmao. The large proportion of Marxists on Lemmy.ml does lead to an anti-western bias, if you want a pro-western bias there are other World News communities like on Lemmy.world.

        If you have proof that it’s fake I would like to see it, but this is a real truth social post from Trump even if he’s lying.