In public, this week’s NATO defense ministers meeting went off without a hitch.

As usual, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin reaffirmed (for the zillionth time) Washington’s commitment to Article 5 of the NATO charter, where an attack on one member state is viewed as an attack on the entire alliance. Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg bragged about NATO’s status as the oldest and most successful alliance in modern history.