Trumps speech was berating and ignorant, avoiding a US pledge to commit to collective security, adding force to rumors Russia has influenced him

Donald Trumps failure to make an explicit commitment to Natos article 5, the mutual defense obligation at the heart of the alliance, has prolonged the uncertainty among US allies about Washingtons intentions.

Both the US press and the diplomatic corps in Washington had been primed to expect some clear language showing that the president believed in the principle of collective defense, that an attack on one is an attack against all. Trump has hitherto indicated that US preparedness to come to the defence of an friend might be dependent on how much that ally expends on its military. He had gone as far as calling the alliance obsolete, although he has since said that ceased to apply since he became president.

Against that background, administration officials were briefed ahead of Trumps long-awaited speech at Natos new headquarters that it would have clear vocabulary on the issue.

The anticipation induced the frustration on Thursday all the greater. There was reference in the text to never forsaking friends and unnamed White House officials, speaking anonymously, insisted that US commitment to article 5 went without saying.

But for allies especially on Europes borderlands in the shadow of an increasingly assertive Russia it does not go without telling. They needed to hear it from the presidents own lips and they did not.

Like criticism of Vladimir Putin, a clear commitment to Natos collective security remains something that Trump permits his officials to express without ever quite saying the words himself. The doggedness of his refusal to use speech that has been banality for earlier US administrations, has added force to widespread, persistent reports that Moscow has some sort of leverage on the president.

After calling Nato obsolete Trump needed to say what every predecessor since Truman has said: the US is committed to article 5. He didnt. This is a major blow to the alliance, a former US ambassador to Nato, Ivo Daalder, wrote in a series of tweets immediately after the speech.

Daalder also pointed out that Trump only briefly mentioned Russia in talking about Natos mission, spending much more period on counter-terrorism and immigration. It was unclear what role he expected Nato to play in immigration management.

Trumps first Nato meeting was an opportunity to unite the alliance, Daalder concluded. Regrettably, Nato today is more divided than ever.

It may be have been a coincidence, but it was certainly appeared symbolic, that the leader Trump roughly pushed aside to get to the front row for a Nato photo-opp was Duko Markovi, the prime minister of Montenegro, due to become a full member next month, despite a sustained Moscow-backed campaign to prevent that happening. The campaign included an abortive coup endeavor.

The dominant tone of Trumps Nato speech was grumbling. He returned to his campaign mantra on Nato, berating US friends of not paying their dues to the alliance, suggesting they were in arrears for past years. The vocabulary indicated a persistent ignorance about how the alliance works.

In 2014, member states vowed to increase their military spending to 2% of GDP. Most of the 28 allies have not reached that goal yet, and are undoubtedly dragging their heels but the deadline for doing so is 2024. There are no arrears.

Not for the first time, the president was accused of being tone deaf to the backdrop to his speech. In Brussels, he was standing alongside a piece of the World Trade Centre wreckage.

Trumps remarks demonstrated terrible timing, told Jorge Benitez, a senior fellow at the Brent Scowcroft Centre on International Security. It is one thing to exhort Nato allies to increase defense spending during the course of its private meeting, but it was disgraceful to bring it up in the dedication of a memorial honoring the solidarity of our allies with the US after 9/11. This was a solemn moment to show appreciation for the lives our Nato allies lost fighting for the US , not the time to talk about money.

Thomas Wright, the director of the Centre on United States and Europe and the Brookings Institution, described the Nato leg of Trumps European tour as a policy failure of epic proportions that increases the risk that Putin will test him in the years ahead.

It was not just the words. Trumps body language( including his shoving of Markovic and his macho hand wrestling with Emmanuel Macron) presented him to be ill at ease among this gathering of friends, especially compared to his evident pleasure at being flattered by the Saudi royal family. It certainly suggested that gilded palaces and absolute regulation were more his scene.

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