The art of the (defense) deal

"Use your leverage," wrote real-estate magnate Donald Trump in The Art of the Deal in explaining one of the essential elements of successful transactions. "The best thing you can do is deal from strength," he said, and "leverage is the biggest strength you have." As commander in chief of the armed forces that are protecting Europe, Trump followed this advice to demand that Nato countries start paying for more of their own defense. And then he instructed his embassies to sell these countries the military equipment to do so. That's Trump's idea of leverage. "When will we Europeans understand that we are all alone?" asked Jacques Attali, founder of the EBRD, last month. "The Americans are no longer there to defend [us]," he said, and it would be criminal for Europe not to do everything so that its armies no longer needed American technology. As Karla Šlechtová leaves and Lubomír Metnar arrives today, the Czech defense ministry must ask, Who has the leverage?