New defence spending goals, timing of Ukraine's admission to NATO expected to dominate summit

As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other NATO leaders head east to Lithuania this week for their annual summit, they’ll be accompanied by some pretty pumped-up language and high expectations.

Many veterans of the foreign policy circuit describe what’s about to unfold on Tuesday and Wednesday as a “pivotal” moment for the alliance — maybe the most important since the end of the Cold War, or even in the alliance’s nearly eight-decade history.

There’s one word no one has used — yet — to describe the summit: messy.

The meeting in Vilnius is expected to solidify NATO’s return to its roots as a bastion against an empire-minded Moscow.

But there are