Lawmakers from defence alliance NATO and partner countries met in Slovenia in early October for three days of talks about drones, tanks and all things military. Swissinfo went along. At a time when NATO-US relations could best be described as complicated, have the Europeans just been unceremoniously ghosted? Speculation to this effect is spreading among the 250-odd politicians gathered in Ljubljana for the 71st annual session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA). The three-day event has started on a sour note: not one of the 36-strong US delegation has shown up. The official cause of the no-show, it turns out, is more banal: a government shutdown in Washington, which has been hobbling federal operations since October 1. Still, whatever the reason, the absence isn’t welcome. “It’s not the most positive signal,” says Jacqueline de Quattro, a member of the five-person Swiss delegation. Switzerland, despite its neutral, non-NATO status, has been at the event as an associate ...
