lance mess in brussels following remarks by former us president donald trump, but what interpreted as questioning nato is future in response, the alliance is highlighting increases in spending and continued solid r c with ukraine. i'm a new cooper's mckinnon in berlin, and this is the day the it is in the national security interests of the night, the states to maintain the needs us, the most successful allies and history. i see this as the challenge of our generation. we will continue to stand with ukraine for ukraine security for hours he just urgent. we have to continue provide them with issue. i expect not the states to continue to be as don't show allied. also

coming up, donald trump faces weeks and course after a new judge denies his request to dismiss his case. obviously welcome to the show. nato defense ministers have put soak of a risk between the us and europe. behind the following a 2 day meeting in brussels. the alliance hail the increase in defense budgets, which will see europe and members, spending an extra 33000000000 dollars this year. and the alliance trust is continued backing to ukraine, says ammo running short on the battlefield, nato defense ministers of stress more needs to be done to ensure that ukraine has the supplies it needs. we also discussed ramping up production over munition to refill our stokes. i continue to support ukraine and we need to shift from the slow

pace of peace climb to the high temple production, the mountain bike conflict, a need to set it was set up a training, sent over few train in poland to say intelligence on fighting the russian a group of member states also wants to send 1000000 drones to ukraine and other allies want to help clear mines in the water on country defend. she's also discussed the wall. if you train defense minister who's to move off in the ne to ukraine council and another topic, money star book announced historic progress and alliance defend spending. in 2024, 18 of the 31, a 2 allies are estimated to achieve the subset goal of spending 2 percent of the g . d. p for defense spending among them awesome new commerce is reached. the bottom, it is important to emphasize once again, the drum and the like 17 other countries will adjust the agreed quote,

drill team percent for the 1st time in the biggest defense spend of the us has a tense bound by congress and releasing fan of a 60000000000 for ukraine. this is having an impact on the ground. the fact that the us has not been able to make a decision so far. how old the health consequences. it does impact the thing. the floors of support of the allies are doing their best to step in but know how important the us decision is also sonya will take from all their own stokes, at the moment to send the media to, to ukraine demo. but we all understand that it's not enough when us will not be part of that. so we all need this decision. this one was supposed to be at nature headquarters. the hope for the us does not give up 100 support for ukraine. the 2nd down of the street of russia's invasion of ukraine is fast approaching the deputies. terry schultz has more now and whether keith can be satisfied with the

commitments made to it at this meeting. that's right. a very somber anniversary that will be and i don't think you can afford to be satisfied with the outcome of this meeting. we just had an interview with the estonian defense minister, and he was at the forefront of getting the european union to pledge a 1000000 rounds of 155 millimeter ammunition for ukraine. a pledge that will fall far short. it was due to be delivered next month and not even half of it will be there, so definitely keep needs that ammunition that needed it yesterday. at the same time, there were some initiatives announced that i believe will uh, makes teeth a bit reassured that neither will stand by his side for wonder is going to be a joint training center established in poland where ukrainians will come to be trained and the allies as well will learn from ukraine, the country that knows best how to, how to fight russia. we also heard that there will be a 1000000 drones sent to ukraine, and various countries announced more contributions to what are being called capabilities. and that is something that was established under the ukraine defense

contacts group, and certainly will a reassure ukraine that allies will continue to send contributions, still waiting, of course, on that 60000000000 package coming out of washington. let's take a closer look at this with stephen. what time he's a senior fellow at the american states croft program of the economy. he endowment for international peace. thanks so much for joining us here on the w. the phone, the president, donald trump, made statements last week, which have been widely interpreted as cooling the nato alliance into question. but on the question of financing, and they towed off from president joe biden, actually closer than we may think as well, they're still pretty night and day on the alliance itself. so we shouldn't get past that point in a sense. it doesn't matter much if exactly who finds what if the united states is not really going to come to the defense of it's treaty allies. and

that's what the president of united states is, is signaling, or that's to say it. it requires europe to fund a lot more, but you're right that, you know, united states has for a long time. this goes back a number of administrations including the obama administration, which actually helped to establish the 2 percent guidelines for g d, p, spent by nato allies on defense. so, you know, for more than a decade, the signal coming out of washington is that it expected and it wanted european allies to step up, spend more on defense and make more of a contribution precisely as the security requirements of defending eastern europe have increased due to the threat from, from russia that said, bite and has not been nearly as in fact about it, nor is he threatening as trump has gone to

a band in the alliance altogether. so you've saw when trump made his statement, suggesting that he would be at best in different if nato were attacked, the end of the member of nato that were attacked by i hadn't that quote, unquote paid. it's dues $108.00. 0, not really how natal works, but let's put that aside. mm hm. you know, there was a, a real sense of outrage and alarm and european capitals because they are really now coming to confront the prospect that donald trump could very well return to the white house. if we can stay with joe biden, for the moment, would you say joe biden has being a master of his own state and during the 1st 3 years of his presidency, i mean, is the focus of us foreign policy. now, what biden intended it to be when he took office not at all, you know, 3 years ago, which feels like a long time. that kind of tells you the story, right?

it's hard to even be a look back 3 years. but 3 years ago divided ministration took office, hoping to keep events in the middle east, off the president's desk, and even wanted to de prioritize security affairs in, in europe and its side in its 1st year. what was called a stable and predictable relationship with the russia and notably poor and by the end held the summit and geneva in that 1st summer of the, by the administration. so the goal of the administration was kept prioritized for teacher competition with china in asia. and tackle trans national challenges like climate change and pandemic. not to mention of course, to revive american democracy at home and look at where we are now. senior policy makers are absorbed managing laura europe and multiple related conflicts in the middle east. exactly. the places that we're not supposed to be the priority. now

you could draw 2 diametrically opposite conclusions from the state of affairs. one conclusion, which is quite popular in washington, is that the united states see and united states can't really pull back from anywhere. so it might as well dig into gall and invest more resources encountering and occurring that actions in the middle east, in europe, and everywhere else. but the 2nd conclusion, and this may be where the united states is headed, words uh would be instead, united states cannot expect to be able to set its own strategic priorities clear enough unless it, unless it practices retrenchment in the middle east and even perhaps a europe trust and if it doesn't do that, it's heading towards overstretched and politically, if not economically and militarily unsustainable commitments. and so i think the choice between trump invited to some degree may reflect those 2 kinds of opposite conclusions. say, looking ahead,

would you say the bite and administration does have a clear view of what it wants? internationally, whatever has happened in the last 3 is as well, of course, the binding ministration will tell you that it does. and it will tell you that it's still putting the top priority on strategic competition with china. and that the u. s. department of defense considers try to be it's pacing threat and that is not untrue. but i think at this point uh, a lot of what we're seeing is crisis management and improvisation. um, a major question i think, is the extent to which to bind in ministration. at this point, if it gets past the election in november and united states wants to do more to bring the war in ukraine to a conclusion, how does it respond to the political problems it is had with, with congress and the republican party in getting ukraine aid renewed the

administration has adopted capacious ams toward the war, and is basically defer to key of in terms of setting what the objectives are. and i think the president has left himself some room to specify, you know, exactly what is it that the united states for its own interest is seeking to achieve toward the war. and so there may be room to take a somewhat more circumscribed approach to the war that can be more politically sustainable in the united states. but it's very much unclear how the white house will, will react to the trouble it's had with congress sent a judge from the president's recent address, in which he, you know, said that, that the renewing ukraine a was meant to combat russia and not renew. and ukraine aid was to play into pollutants hands. you know,

he continues to use this very morally charged. loaded up framing of the, of the conflict that doesn't seem to be landing with the people that he's trying to persuade. speaking, what time from the company he endowment for international peace. thanks so much for your time today and for your analysis. by pleasure. us media are forcing that the button administration has warned. it's your opinion allies about russian efforts to develop nuclear weapons based in space to target satellites. the republican chair of the house intelligence committee, mike ton, has cooled it a serious national security threats. he's off president biden, to declassify relevant information. the kremlin says the reports are rooms by the white house to get congress to back aid the ukraine. and we can welcome now on the dana as crowd se ortega, who specializes in space security at u. n. i d,

i on now that snow tournament since the institution within the u. n, there was such as this element and international security. welcome to dw, thanks so much for your time today. can you help us understand watson attack by nuclear weapons up in space? would look like thank you very much for having me. well, so let me per say, is this by saying that we need to learn more before saying anything definitive about? well this what 10 is exactly, but it seems unlikely that it's new to what some past say. it's more likely that it's a new what a new to code device rather than a nuclear onto the device. so it's an important distinction. so it's likely that this is an electronic ton of space. assets like a gamma, which would in to stay with stuff. so lots communications or alternatively this

could be a nuclear powered space talk, which would potentially could potentially be repurposed to ok as an untie stuff, a lot device. so this is, this is an important distinction. we wouldn't be facing exactly the destination of a nuclear device in space, which is actually prohibited by international space. no, uh, applicable as established by the space tracy. okay, that is a little bit reassuring. but the question remains, i mean, why use this particular kind of weapon in space? i mean on the other ways of, of destroying satellites. definitely, uh, there are many different types of town space technologies on the development of these sorts of technologies. is notes new states across the whole different school spectrum states that are active in space have been developing these come space technologies to many decades of the say the concern is that and

that's why it's important to continue to have these debates of the multi actual level to try to, to come up with messages to mitigate the potential stress that these town space assets compose to, to be in the whole community. because even if this might not be a nuclear device, any source of interest, there is any source of damage that sucks. a lot to myself that could cause very damaging and very long lasting, reverberating effects to uh, services that we enjoy on uh, on, on which we rely on our everyday lives. uh, so this is definitely an issue of concern, but again, i do want to stress that this is not something me on the business, something out. definitely the international community has been to the basing for some time. okay. but let's just talk about the reach because i mean you've made very clear these on actual nuclear weapons, but obviously power full capable. and,

you know, what would these kind of, with this kind of technology also be capable of hitting, reaching targets on us? so not directly, if you're imagining a missile that shoots from a device in space and reach us at that, that is relatively unlikely because it, how old visual mechanics work is not the most efficient way to target something on up or do you want to also give a list of the same, or i know it's not the case and for any type of work in a box that weighs on face would what? it's essentially it's and it would be a non domestic types of capability. so like a dummy which would generate a noise on the same range. it radio frequency bands, us the space system or the ground station that's being targeted in order to block or in to stay with the signal traveling uh from in this case space to us. um,

so in this and that is how it would be felt on us. it wouldn't be a direct source of damage, but it would be the damage that would be felt would be read the bracing in nature because it could disrupt or it could interrupt the services that a specific stuff. so lots provide to me really, really interesting space security expert on the dana has karate. it will tell you. good, thank you so much for sharing your expertise in helping us understand that technology best. so thanks for your time. now the 1st criminal trial of a former us president is set to go ahead next month. and you will judge has rejected a bid from donald trump to have the case dismissed. the challenges stem from hush money paid to to women before the 2016 presidential election. and the trial is now scheduled to begin on march 25th. after the hearing, trump said the case was interfering with his presidential campaign.

the say to more or less i'm drawing now by richard painter. he was the chief white house ethics lawyer during the george w bush present presidency and is currently a little professor at the university of minnesota. so welcome to the w. now this is a criminal case. what does that mean for the defendant, the, for the president, donald trump, as well this case? so we'll proceed to trial and late march. the judge decided that today this case has nothing to do with joe biden, the, by the ministration. this is a manhattan county prosecutor prosecuting a case of concerning hush money that was paid and concealed in 2016. and this

is part of a case that was pursued by the federal government by the justice department. while donald trump was president, his own lawyer, michael cohen was at the jail in connection with these hush money payments by the united states department of justice. once again, while he was president, he was not invited because d o j, the justice department will not indict a sitting president. but here the county attorney in manhattan has said that is also a felony under new york lot of falsified business records to cover up any type of crime. and that includes concealing the spending of around a $130000.02 pay stormy daniels to keep your mouth shut. and that money was funneled through donald trump's lawyer, michael cohen, and went to jail for those. and this was a felony under new york law. if donald trump was involved in orchestra reading, that payment and both of buying those business records, then it would be convicted,

he is to be presumed innocent until he is convicted of. but that's where this case stands at this point, and it has obviously nothing to do with joe barton. this is not a political prosecution. this is the county a new york manhattan prosecution for falsified business records. under new york law . me, the experts are describing the prosecutor's case as being on a lot sleep on tested legal basis. so given everything you've said how, how strong is this case as well the, the part of the new york statute is the new york that businesses should not be used to funnel money for the purpose of violating a law anywhere, whether it's in the antarctic getting there and we're in germany or another state or under federal law. we can't have new york businesses falsifying their financial records in order to cover up crimes committed elsewhere in new york is not of money laundromat. and this is very, very important to the integrity, the business commute in new york, where i practiced law before i became

a loved professor. we can't have new york businesses, they use this why? so if there was falsification of business records to conceal the $130000.00 pay off to start mcdaniels, that is a very serious crime now who committed the crime and whether donald trump was above neg prime. that's what's going to be determined at trial. but this is not a spacious legal theory or, or some obscure statute. mm hm. uh, new york, once again does not want it's business records in new york businesses bank falsified to conceal crimes anywhere. will trump be able to find any way to avoid having to pair a to a pair and course? oh, i'm sure he'll look for way. he has 3 other pending cases. so 2 federal charges, one for the classified documents, another for the attempt to overturn that election a georgia case, which is somewhat chaotic right now of that situation. but the new york prosecutors decided in new york judge decided that this new york case is good to go 1st

a given some of the delays and the other cases, of course they'll look for de la. busy liked to delay all these cases until after the election, a get himself elected president, then use his power and the presidency to have all the charges dismissed, but it may or may not work out that way. so would you be expecting of a day before the election in november or not? oh yes, if this case goes to trial in like march, they would almost certainly be a verdict in the sometime in april. and i know what to be found. guilty. how with the appeal process, what coming could he even end up in jail? well, a, this is a serious offense, and if he were convicted of the felony of falsifying business records, there's a possibility of incarceration or probation. we don't know what the panel it would be depending on how many accounts of he were convicted on, but that's why we aren't there yet. he's presumed innocent until he is found guilty . but at the work convicted of this would be

a complication for his becoming the next president of the united states. even though we would not automatically disqualify someone from the presidency for a criminal conviction for anything other than direction or sedation. mm hm. that it, it, as we don't know what's going to happen, but, but all of this was happening. you know, this case, the other civil cases, but trump is facing. do you expect them to seriously affect his bid to win the white house for a 2nd time? well, i was hoping that the republican party would look at some other other very strong candidates. so we still have nikki haley on the raise. the former governor of south carolina, who is the everybody's conservative, is donald trump more consistently conservative than donald trump. and who doesn't have any criminal indictments halla hanging over here? so maybe the republican party has 2nd thoughts. if not, we go into the, the election in november. and the american people have to decide who they want to be in charge of the country, the presidency for the next 4 years. right?

terms of painting from the university of minnesota. so thank you so much for your time. it was a pleasure talking to you. well, thank you for adding me now, this could be history in the making a private mission to the moon has blocked it off from the kennedy space center. a cape canaveral in florida, a 321 ignition and with the american aerospace company intuitive machines launched. it's all to see us land on a rocket made by equinox space x company. it is trying to become the 1st commercial spacecraft to successfully land on the lunar surface below which was originally planned for wednesday, but it was postponed because of a technical selection of this time. everything went according to plan and it's the landing. so it goes well or the c, u. s. will search for vasa on the moon and bought some cooling the 2nd space. right,

and that turns the rocket for as onto the black one. and that is the show for today. follow the same on social media at dw news, and if it's the latest headlines you're looking for those with a website that's d w dot com for now from the entire team on the day. thanks so much for spending thoughts of your day with us. the,

to the point, strong opinions, clear positions, international perspective. donald trump sounds like on extortionist of allies, one military protection from the us. they have to pay your, of a seeing his remarks on nato and russia as a wake up call. if he returns for the white house this week, onto the points to team and trump and you'd access that gets nato. and right to the point next on dw america's, at least within the sprains, the country now has more guns. then people while active as lobby for stricter

regulations. the number of mass shootings continues to right. is there still hole in the battle against gun violence? gun nation in 45 minutes on d, w, the one of main kinds, oldest ambitions could be within reach. what do you see? it really is possible to reverse the researchers and scientists all over the world. for you know, race against time, they are peers and rivals with one daring goals to help smart nature.

the boy likes watching it. on youtube dw documentary, the donald trump sounds like an extortionist of allies want. the protection of the usa, they have to pay is a plus warning by the republican presidential candidates had a taste of what's to come. should he return to the precedence russian would be able to do whatever it wants with delinquents, nato members. the possibility that appalls at horrifies nato partners. many you countries, the trump statements as a wake up call to become militarily self sufficient. crane is also planning to challenge russia, new military leadership at any strategy. until the point we ask coaching and trump or new access again stay don't.