Posted on 06/15/2018 8:07:16 AM PDT by McGruff
President Trump reportedly plans to attend the NATO summit in Brussels this July. If he does, he will do so as relations between the United States and its Western allies sit at a new low.
President Trump is on record as having called NATO "obsolete." Last week, he left a G-7 summit in Canada early, signed but then refused to honor the joint communique with U.S. allies there, and then insulted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, has to keep working in this poisonous political climate, and she tells CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer that she's been getting "an earful" from America's allies.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Good one.
I believe the UK is the only country to repay us for the Marshall plan and WW2.
The real question is why isn’t KBH burning THEIR
ears off about living up to their responsibilities.
Sounds like another apologist to me.
Those days are OVER.
If CBS broadcasts “fake news” to an audience of 2 or so, is it big fake news, small fake news, or Dorkbama level fake news?
Kay is leaking. Send her some Depends.
Bingo.
They can antagonize the envoy all they want, but I wouldn’t mess with the guy who tore Trudeau’s eyebrows off. And if Putin’s objective is to turn Europe into a socialist state that’s a slave to his energy shipments, he doesn’t need to invade anybody because they’re already there.
Yes the status quo pansies are all upset.
Good. We should have a poor relationship with this group of corrupt kleptocrat bums. It’s long past time for NATO to dissolve. It’s purpose ended 20 years ago.
“After signing, Treudoodoo changed the text of the “communique.””
I knew Trump was unhappy with Trudeau after the G7 but wasn’t sure what had happened. Your post explained a lot. Thank You. :)
Trump says NATO is obsolete but still ‘very important to me’
January 16, 2017
LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said NATO was obsolete because it had not defended against terror attacks, but that the military alliance was still very important to him, The Times of London reported.
“I took such heat, when I said NATO was obsolete,” Trump told the newspaper in an interview. “It’s obsolete because it wasn’t taking care of terror. I took a lot of heat for two days. And then they started saying Trump is right.”
Trump added that many NATO members were not paying their fair share for U.S. protection.
“A lot of these countries aren’t paying what they’re supposed to be paying, which I think is very unfair to the United States,” Trump said. “With that being said, NATO is very important to me. There’s five countries that are paying what they’re supposed to. Five. It’s not much.”
JULY 2017...
Trump, in Warsaw Speech, Criticizes Russia’s ‘Destabilizing’ Role in Ukraine, Syria
The president also reaffirmed his commitment to NATO’s mutual-defense pact
President Trump called Russia a “destabilizing” influence in Europe and the Middle East, and urged it to “join the community of responsible nations,” in his strongest remarks yet against the regime of Vladimir Putin, whom he is scheduled to meet Friday in Hamburg for the first time.
His remarks in Warsaw’s Krasinski Square, which marks the 1944 Warsaw uprising against the Nazis, came after the U.S. agreed to sell Patriot missiles to Poland. The president also used the opportunity to reiterate the NATO commitment to mutual defense, a declaration he did not make during the NATO summit in May, prompting consternation among U.S. allies wary of Russia’s ambitions.
“To those who would criticize our tough stance, I would point out that the United States has demonstrated—not merely with its words but with its actions—that we stand firmly behind Article 5, the mutual-defense commitment,” Trump said Thursday. “Words are easy, but actions are what matters. And for its own protection, Europe, and you know this, everybody knows this, everybody has to know this, Europe must do more.”
Trump has repeatedly said NATO members must spend more on defense—a position in line with past U.S. administrations. But he has been criticized because he appeared to suggest U.S. commitment to mutual defense was predicated on its allies’ defense spending. ...”
https://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2017/07/trump-russia/532761/
I’ll bet that the EU NATO partners are doing a full court press on trying to talk the Administration out of tariffs and balanced trade deficits. What they should be talking about is military preparedness and strength.
Too bad they don’t understand what NATO is about.
Jeez, Kay ... that’s what you get paid for!
Pull us out of NATO. They're not going to kick us out.
NATO is just another bad trade deal. Much of Western Europe has lost its way and we need new allies; countries they do not intend on committing fascist / repressive / islamic suicide.
NATO was relevant, in the 70’s.
http://www.visualcapitalist.com/u-s-military-personnel-deployments-country/
there are fewer than 35,000 US military in Germany, as opposed to nearly 40,000 in Japan. Our troops in Western Europe are a tripwire, nothing more.
I couldn't locate an exact count of our strength in the late 70s (I was in Germany from 77-81), but a fair estimate seems to be at least 200,000. My ADA battalion was spread over 3 air bases: Bitburg, Hahn, and Spangdahlem. Only Spangdahlem is active today, the other two have been turned into commercial airports. My battalion was deactivated over 20 years ago.
Poland is destined to be the location for the next tripwire against Russian aggression.
The communique didn't change. It was Trudeau's press conference that set the President off. At least according to Trump's Tweet.
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