Seven things we learned from the Cameron/Obama op-ed

David Cameron and Barack Obama have penned a joint op-ed in The Times (£) ahead of the Nato summit in Newport, Wales.

In the article the two leaders condemn the "brutal and poisonous extremism" of the Islamic State (Isis). This is what else we learned:

They might be good at politics, but they can’t write a compelling intro

“When Nato last met in Britain in 1990 the Cold War was ending.” Yawn.

No one is sure what to call Isis

We are calling them Isis or Islamic State. Barack and David opted for “Isil [Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant]”.

No one is sure what to do about them, beyond "confronting them"

When it comes to dealing with Isis the leaders say they want to strengthen the Iraqi government and emphasise that they have supported Kurdish fighters. Other than that, they say "we will not waver in our determination to confront Isil". But they don't exactly spell out how that will happen.

They want Nato members to spend more on their military

"Britain and America are two of only four Nato members to meet the target of spending 2 per cent of our GDP on defence and other states must urgently step up their efforts to meet this too."

They still won’t call Russia’s invasion of Ukraine an invasion

But they are annoyed about it, writing “Russia has ripped up the rulebook with its illegal, self-declared annexation of Crimea and its troops on Ukrainian soil threatening a sovereign nation state". Troops on foreign soil sounds a bit like an invasion to us.

Despite that, when Nato meet today, Russia will be high on the agenda

"By working together we are stronger, whether in standing up to Russia or confronting Isil." They even discuss using the military "to ensure a persistent presence in eastern Europe, making clear to Russia that we will always uphold our Article 5 commitments to collective self-defence".

They don’t know how a paywall works

The piece cannot be found in any other papers online apart from on The Times website, where it is paywalled. So only those buying a paper copy of The Times or with a subscription will be able to get the full message. Which is great for The Times but not so great for, you know, the rest of the world.

More: These are the other atrocities committed by Isis