During a speech in Brussels on Thursday, President Donald Trump spoke to a cluster of European heads of state. He implored them to pay their fair share in defense spending for the NATO alliance, while simultaneously refusing to commit to support in case of an attack. The speech baffled America’s European allies, and potentially pleased Russia’s militarily-adventurous President Vladimir Putin.

“Members of the alliance must finally contribute their fair share and meet their financial obligations,” Trump told the leaders of the 28-member defense bloc, including the newly-elected French President Emmanuel Macron. “Twenty-three of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying and what they are supposed to be paying for their defense. This is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States.”

Trump, it turns out, was correct: According to NATO figures, only five countries meet the benchmark for defense spending, which is set at two percent of each member nation’s respective GDP. The U.S., Britain, Estonia, Greece, and Poland are the only five NATO members that meet the mark. The rest, including Europe’s economic engines, France and Germany, do not.

Speaking at the opening of NATO’s new billion-dollar headquarters in Brussels, Trump barely mentioned Article 5, the treaty’s tenet of collective defense. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, and fomented a pro-Russia separatist movement in eastern Ukraine that same year. So, Trump’s refusal to explicitly endorse Article 5 could worry NATO members, especially the Baltic States, which border Russia and were occupied by the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

The last–and only–time the 68-year-old alliance triggered Article 50 was after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, when NATO forces joined the war in Afghanistan. While Trump–who called NATO “obsolete” as a candidate but nominally embraced it as president–did not reaffirm the U.S. commitment to Article 5, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson did.

Asked on Wednesday about Trump’s commitment to Article 5, Tillerson said, “of course we support Article 5.” Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, said all the fuss about Trump’s failure to back Article 5 was “silly because by being here at such a ceremony, we all understand that by being part of NATO we treat the obligations and commitments.” He added: “By having to reaffirm something by the very nature of being here and speaking at a ceremony about it is almost laughable.”

Alec Siegel

Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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A hastily organized family planning conference in Brussels raised nearly $200 million in donations on Wednesday to counter President Donald Trump’s international abortion ban.

The impressive testimonials by women from all over the world, convince us even more to keep fighting for women’s rights. #SheDecides pic.twitter.com/GCGgDEeWFK

— Belgium MFA (@BelgiumMFA) March 2, 2017

A total of 57 nations attended the one-day conference, called She Decides, pledging 181 million euros ($190 million) to help bridge the gap created by the Trump Administration. Belgium, Denmark, Norway, and the Netherlands contributed 10 million euros each.

The total was boosted by Sweden, Canada, and Finland each promising 20 million euros ($21 million). The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation also provided $20 million.

According to conference host and Belgian Deputy Premier Alexander De Croo, one anonymous U.S. donor committed $50 million to the staggering total.

The result after just 5 weeks, minister #Ploumen on #SheDecides at the end of the Brussels conference pic.twitter.com/wwit5ATG5z

— Netherlands MFA (@DutchMFA) March 2, 2017

During his first week in office, Trump reinstated the expanded global gag rule (a.k.a the Mexico City Policy), effectively banning foreign NGOs who perform, promote, or even discuss abortions from receiving U.S. foreign aid.

The policy has yo-yoed between party lines with each changing administration–Reagan enacted it in 1984, Clinton rescinded it in 1993, and Bush reinstated the order in 2001 before Obama rescinded it again in 2009. In other words, it came as no surprise to Democrats when Trump copied his Republican predecessors.

According to Reuters, the policy will cause a global funding shortfall estimated at $600 million.

“I hope that he now sees that everybody is steadfast in its support for the rights of women and girls,” said Dutch Development Minister Lilianne Ploumen, who came up with the idea for the She Decides conference.

At EU headquarters, half a dozen anti-abortion activists were protesting with a banner: “Abortion: Not with my taxes.”

However, the conference stressed that abortion was only a small part of the family planning resources offered by many of these NGOs in developing countries. Campaigners discussed how girls in these nations are being forced to have children in their early teens as a result of sexual abuse, forced marriages, or a lack of access to sex education and contraception.

The U.S funding ban “threatens to suspend a large number of projects helping to defend the health of millions of girls, even helping to save their lives,” Finnish Development Minister Kai Mykkanen said. “We respond to the situation fraught with distress by investing in the improvement of women’s and girls’ rights even more than before.”

If fact, many believe that Trump’s ban will actually result in the opposite of its desired effect. Denying funding to these programs will only increase the amount of unwanted pregnancies, Ploumen argues.

“The number of abortions will not fall, they will rise,” say Ploumen.

While the conference fell short of drumming up enough money to finance the entire $600 million, organizers said they were confident they would be able to bridge the gap soon.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Happy Monday Law Streeters! Start your week off right and catch up on all of Law Street’s top stories that you may have missed from last week. ICYMI keep reading to learn more.

1. World Shocked by Terror Attacks in Brussels, Death Toll Still Rising

The city of Brussels, Belgium fell victim to a series of ISIS-claimed terror attacks during Tuesday’s morning rush hour at the Zaventem airport and downtown Maelbeek subway station. So far, at least 34 people have been reported dead, and the number of those injured is in the hundreds. Read the full article here.

2. Mental Health Care: Should We Be Treating the Mind the Same As The Body?

Every year 38,000 people in the United States kill themselves. In America, we have more people who are victims of suicide than are victims of homicide. Or car accidents. Or prostate cancer. Yet mental health care in the United States: how and whether it works, how it is funded, and  the challenges it faces, is rarely discussed. It isn’t something that we like to talk about. Read the full article here.

3. Best Legal Tweets of the Week

Check out the top legal tweets of the week. Read the full article here.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post ICYMI: Best of the Week appeared first on Law Street.

The city of Brussels, Belgium fell victim to a series of ISIS-claimed terror attacks during Tuesday’s morning rush hour at the Zaventem airport and downtown Maelbeek subway station. So far, at least 34 people have been reported dead, and the number of those injured is in the hundreds.

“A lot of people were on the floor” — #Brussels attack witnesses describe carnage, chaos https://t.co/QVs0OWNXSv pic.twitter.com/bzXcdH0Gyr

— CNN (@CNN) March 22, 2016

In total there were three explosions. The first two took place at around 8 AM local time, or 3 AM Eastern time in the departure hall of the Brussels Airport. Officials have said that at least one of the explosions was triggered by a suicide bomber. The blasts happened outside of the security checkpoints for passengers near an airline check-in counter and a airport Starbucks. Reports have placed the first attack’s death toll at 14 people ,and estimated the number of those injured to be 92.

About an hour later there was another explosion, which targeted the Maelbeek subway station which resides in the heart of Brussels. At least 20 people were killed and 106 were injured at the subway station.

Images and videos of the attacks showed panicked travelers escaping trapped train cars and fleeing the smoke filled airport.

Warning: The following video shows actual images from after the attack.

Belgium has called for three days of national mourning and has effectively shut down travel in and out of the city. All flights in and out of the international hub have been suspended and the entire subway network has been closed. Workers at two nuclear power plants in Belgium were also evacuated, but so far there has been little information on whether or not there is a direct threat to the facilities.

Amaq News Agency, an ISIS-affiliated new agency, released a statement that claimed Islamic State fighters armed with explosive belts were responsible for the attacks. The statement also claimed that the bombers “opened fire” before detonating their bombs inside Zaventem Airport.

Many believe the attacks may have been in response to the Friday arrest of Salah Abdeslam, who is considered to have been the main fugitive and sole survivor involved in the November 13 terror attack in Paris that killed 130 people.

Belgium authorities have released the following photo to the media of the three men who are currently suspects in the airport attack. According to BBC, “the two men dressed in black are believed to have blown themselves up, while the man in white is thought to have escaped.”

Image of three possible suspects in #Brussels airport attack widely shared by Belgian media https://t.co/oyQsHushEk pic.twitter.com/L3i3vU8SyK

— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) March 22, 2016

President Obama offered his condolences for the attacks at the beginning of his long awaited speech to the Cuban people Tuesday, saying:

We stand in solidarity with them in condemning these outrageous attacks against innocent people. We will do whatever is necessary to support our friend and ally Belgium in bringing to justice those who are responsible. And this is yet another reminder that the world must unite. We must be together regardless of nationality or race or faith in fighting against the scourge of terrorism. We can and we will defeat those who threaten the safety and security of people all around the world.

Many people have also responded by sharing their condolences on social media.

The international community comes together for #Brussels: https://t.co/S8dORpsnOJ pic.twitter.com/0y3jYFJnQ8

— Good Morning America (@GMA) March 22, 2016

The senseless tragedy today breaks my heart. Sending thoughts & prayers to #Brussels. Time for us to stand together. pic.twitter.com/85kDLXicSR

— Caitlyn Jenner (@Caitlyn_Jenner) March 22, 2016

I hate waking up to yet another terrorist attack.This world is out of control. #notagain #PrayersForBrussels pic.twitter.com/La6ELmAs7F

— kingscourtautographs (@kingscourtgraph) March 22, 2016

A lot of details surrounding the attacks are still unknown, and we could still see a rise in the death toll and the number of those injured. We’ll continue to update you with more information as it comes.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

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