PORTUGAL AND USA STRENGTHEN MILITARY TIES

Portugal’s close military relationship with the United States has strengthened further with a new bi-lateral announcement this week.

 

Just days before Donald Trump takes over again in Washington, a ceremony took place in the Lisbon offices of the Ministry of National Defence marking Portugal’s accession to the US National Guard Bureau’s State Partnership Program.

 

Said Portugal’s Minister of National Defence, Nuno Melo in the presence of the United States Ambassador to Portugal,: “I have no doubt that this partnership will strengthen military cooperation between our two countries, intensify what are already excellent bi-lateral relations, and the strong diplomatic, commercial and cultural ties that unite Portugal and the United States.”

 

The new arrangement is despite Donald Trump’s condemnation of low defence expenditures in most European Union countries, including Portugal. Trump has also shown little solidarity with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), of which Portugal is a founding member.

 

As reported by the Lusa News Agency, Nuno Melo emphasised in Lisbon this week that Portugal and the United States are “historic allies” that have contributed to peace and security in the Euro-Atlantic area for the past 75 years.

 

So absolutely no weakening of the alliance seems likely under Trump’s second presidential term. On the contrary, the new arrangement is intended to reinforce military cooperation and comes after threats of further Russian expansion almost two years after its invasion and increasing bombardments in Ukraine.

 

Donald Trump has repeatedly said he will end the Russia-Ukraine war the day he takes over as president. Let’s see what happens on Monday.

 

Meanwhile, the strongly pro-Trump USA-Portuguese community in Fall River, Massachusetts (mentioned in Portugal Newswatch last week), has been reading about the new military partnership program in a Fall River newspaper, The Herald News. It has noted that the program can lead to “joint exercises, sharing of expertise in disaster response, and collaborative efforts to address mutual security and defence challenges.”

 

Created in 1993, the State Partnership Program has been “successfully building relations for more than 30 years, and now includes 105 partnerships with 115 nations around the globe,” according to the United States National Guard website.