Posted on 02/11/2017 8:43:47 PM PST by Mariner
The U.S. call for NATO partners to step up funding for the transatlantic alliance is "a fair demand," German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday after what she called a positive first meeting with Defense Secretary James Mattis.
Germany and other European powers were unnerved when President Donald Trump during the election campaign accused NATO allies of failing to pay their way, and described the alliance shortly before he took office last month as "obsolete."
Trump offered some reassurance this week when he told U.S. forces: "We strongly support NATO."
Von der Leyen said Germany, which spends less than the NATO target of 2 percent of economic output on defense, understood it needed to increase that amount.
"I think it's a fair demand," von der Leyen said. "If we want to jointly master the crises in the world, namely the fight against terrorism, and also put the alliance on solid footing, then everyone has to pay their share."
She told reporters she welcomed an offer from Mattis to deepen the strategic dialogue between the two countries. He had also reiterated his clear and deep commitment to NATO.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
In time , Germany will come to realize the entire Trump agenda is “fair”.
and pay your arrears too
Instead of carbon credits we should have Mexican credits. So for each Mexican illegal shipped to Germany from the USA they get 10 dollars credit against their required NATO spending.
Do they have Western Union in Deutschland?
Das ist Winning!
Look if you are going to “brown” a country do it with guys that are good with a trowel and weed whacker and NOT with the scimitar. we could have Mexican expat futures market to further stabilize the transfer. Agela might be interested.
Mexico isn’t in NATO.
I guess you are to literal to get the humor of my post.
Central-va knows that Mexico is not in NATO.
My view on NATO is - time to dissolve it and replace with countries not intent on committing cultural suicide - including Russia.
Mexicans would improve the quality of their immigrants.
People here complain about Mexicans but compared to the wave of Muslims Germany has acquired recently Mexicans would seem like a Godsend.
The US is lucky in everything, even in the quality of the people it doesnt want.
We could have ICBM with illegal Mexican warheads and shoot them into Germany.
A lot of people worry about a re-armed Germany.
Presently Germany only spends 1.2% of GDP on defense. So the “shortfall” is 0.8% of their projected Gross GDP of roughly US $3.5 trillion for 2016. Call it $28 billion.
Germany has a fairly large defense industry.
I would suggest Germany produce and donate $28 billion of weapons to poorer NATO allies such as Estonia, Poland, and so on.
Ursula von der Leyen and Mattis. Two warriors....lol
Two thumbs WAY up on your idea!
Excellent !
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