SMART DIPLOMACY! Trump has done what Obama didn’t: Scare NATO into closer tracking of defense spending. “He wasn’t the first to raise concerns: President Barack Obama had frequently lamented NATO members’ failure to spend enough on defense. But it was Trump’s undiplomatic rhetoric that got the issue to the top of the group’s agenda this week, when NATO’s members are expected to accept the idea of public report cards to make sure everyone’s meeting the requirements of the alliance.”

Maybe effective diplomacy sometimes calls for undiplomatic rhetoric.