NATO chief assumes predecessor's mantle

Before Mark Rutte assumed the NATO general secretary's post on Oct 1, there were hopes he would make more balanced and independent decisions than his predecessor Jens Stoltenberg, even try to persuade Russia and Ukraine to end their hostilities at the earliest. Yet a gathering of NATO defense ministers the former Dutch prime minister presided over last week belied those hopes.

The NATO defense ministers' meeting in Brussels on Thursday and Friday was by no means a gathering to exchange views on the global security situation. Instead, it was an occasion for the new NATO chief to assume the mantle of his predecessor as a US yes-man.

With North Atlantic Treaty Organization's close partners in the Asia-Pacific region — Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the Republic of Korea — and the European Union taking part in the executive-level meeting of NATO, the organization, under Rutte's leadership, has taken a big step forward in transforming their symbolic presence at the NATO summits in Madrid last year and Washington earlier this year into a worrisome routine practice.