Posted on 04/17/2016 1:18:35 PM PDT by yoe
As the firestorm ignited by Donald Trump regarding the structure and utility of NATO burns on, the freeloaders in the alliance continue to whine and ask for even greater levels of subsidization.
Take Lithuania, whose defense minister (recently claimed) that "the harassment of an American warship [by Russian fighter jets] shows why the US should help build the region's missile defenses." A correct translation of "help build" is "have the Americans pay for."
[snip]To say NATO's eastern front is unserious about defending itself is being kind. Mooching off the U.S. is what is actually taking place. If any of these countries were desirous of being a meaningful contributor and holding its own weight in the alliance, defense expenditures would have been at least doubled or tripled (or more) as a share of the economy during the past couple years.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
HOORAY Trump
ping
The truth is the Europe has largely been the epicenter of ignorant and backward people, under the thumb of a monarch, a priesthood or papacy, a strongman, or an aristocracy.
America traditionally feared them flooding in with their backwards ideas and their lack of understanding of the American Republic.
We are constantly told that Europe is erudite and cultured, and that America is rude and crude and backwards. The exact opposite is true. Travel out of any European art district and you will quickly see it. The artisan working on the wheel of parmesan is not a paragon of deep thinking. Any of the comedy videos featuring street interviews and ignorance could be easily done in Europe. In any country.
They have began to climb out of their backwardness under America’s postwar tutelage and protection. But now is the time to wean them from the American tit. Especially since they have elected to flood into moslems and north Africans, the backwards masses of today.
John Birch Society, whom I first heard about in the late 1980’s ... was screaming the same thing and HAS been right along.
Good article. Particularly agree with this proposal.
“....the U.S. should tell other NATO members that if they don’t increase defense spending to match the American budget as a percent of GDP (currently at 3.3% for 2015) within three years — a reasonable target — that any mutual defense agreements are terminated immediately.”
We could be debt free.
Good comment. I 100% agree with you when it comes to the European yahoo.
NATO was founded sixty-eight years ago. For the U.S. to have spent $30 trillion dollars on NATO over that period we would have had to average over $440 billion dollars per year, each year since 1948. The claim is idiotic.
Germany, the largest economy spends 1.4% and that has been declining since the Col War, steadily.
The US Spends 3.4%.
Yeah, they're freeloaders no matter how you look at it. And if we announced that each of them has 5 years to achieve 2% or the US will not honor the treaty, they'll find the money.
And they won't really need us.
So how many trillions have we spent? More importantly, how many trillions is too much to spend on other countries when we have almost 20 trillion in debt?
So how many trillions have we spent? More importantly, how many trillions is too much to spend on other countries when we have almost 20 trillion in debt?
NATO was founded sixty-eight years ago. For the U.S. to have spent $30 trillion dollars on NATO over that period we would have had to average over $440 billion dollars per year, each year since 1948. The claim is idiotic.
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Maybe reading the article would help you understand... The $30T is with all expenditures in constant 2011 USDollars, obviously the dollars in the 1940’s 50’s and 60’s were worth FAR more... My father was an inspector for the shipments we sent directly to European countries from the late 40’s until the early 60’s at the Brooklyn Navy yards .. it’s not hard to imagine the materials being shipped being in the tens or hundreds of $Billions in adjusted dollars per year.... add in the expenditures related to bases and personnel and it makes perfect sense.
So then in constant U.S. dollars are we spending two-thirds of our defense budget on NATO today? Equally idiotic.
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