Trump praises Slovakian premier for buying arms
US President Donald Trump welcomed Slovakian Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini in Washington on the weekend. He praised Pellegrini for his country's efforts to defend itself and its plans to purchase US weapons. Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is also due to meet Trump. Are weapons deals the key to the White House?
Now Orbán is knocking at the door
Dennik N believes the White House's warm reception of the Central Eastern Europeans would be unthinkable if they weren't buying arms:
“There seems to be a simple recipe for success: if you want the American president to be well disposed towards you then buy American weapons, in Slovakia's case it's F-16 fighter jets. ... Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has also finally been allowed to visit Washington, hot on Pellegrini's heels. Because Orbán has also understood what he had to do: he announced that Hungary was interested in buying a US missile system and other defence systems.”
No security without the US
Sme, which is usually critical of the government, is full of praise for Pellegrini's visit to the White House:
“The meeting with Trump is good news from every perspective. Trump is turning his attention to Central Europe. ... An independent European defence system will remain an illusion for decades to come. Even if the entire EU were to double its defence budget tomorrow it would still take decades to build up US-level logistic capacities. From this standpoint Europe's security is still unimaginable without America. And even if we have to purchase it by buying US fighter jets, it's still ridiculously cheap.”