Speaking with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, President Trump railed against NATO member nations who are not living up to the US demands for them to greatly increase military spending. He argued many nations aren’t paying what they’re “supposed to be paying,” and that they’ll “be dealt with” for it.
The US has long demanded all NATO nations spend a minimum of 2% of their GDP annually on the military. Many nations don’t meet this level, and many have said they have no intention of doing so. Since the alliance controls most of their neighbors, they really don’t have a need for a big military.
Trump singled out Germany in particularly, saying the country “has not contributed what it should be contributing” to military spending. German officials have made clear they have no intention of spending 2% of their GDP on military, and argue that funds for foreign aid should count just as much.
Many European NATO nations say they really don’t have the infrastructure to realistically spend that much on their militaries anyhow, and don’t have arms industries to support such large forces. It has been speculated that the US interest in forcing these increases is, at least in part, about selling more US weapons across the alliance.
I wish i had as many enemies as, say, Germany has; which is none. Even Serbia does not have any. Kosovo has, i think, just one: Serbia.
Trump has or makes a lot of enemies, but all want him alive but while behind bars or in a cage. Even Melania ran off but not to Russia or Slovenia, but to US.
Mealania is as we know a Slovenka. Ivanka was a Czhech, i believe.
Just who is this great enemy that NATO has to fear???????? Something is very, very wrong. Who is the great enemy the USA has to fear?????? Such B.S.!!
Tell that to Trump — he thinks we should be very afraid of Iran!
Keep it up, Mr. Trump… You’re going to disband NATO after all!
Wouldn’t it be wonderfully ironic if Trump’s yammering finally convinced the Euros that the “alliance” with the US is more trouble than it is worth? The EU is already passing legislation against Euro companies complying with the US proposed sanctions on Iran.
Exactly!… Trump will also reunify Korea on nothing more than the strength of his personality – or lack there of.
JP, I am all for that! Bring our troops and billions back home, then put them on the Mexican and Canadian border!! Huaaa!!
Yeah right! We’re being invaded by Canadians! They’re crossing our borders so they can shovel our snow and steal our jobs! You are truly the product of an American education.
Hall is right as far as this goes, we will be overrun by refugees of the the neoliberal debacles to our south.
We’re all in the same boat and that boat is sinking..
Well it’s not as though Russia is their enemy anymore. if they don’t purchase US-made weapons, they can willingly assist in killing the empire.
Forgive me, folks. But I do tend to view current events from the most basic level…how it might impact myself and my immediate family.
So, in my view nothing could benefit my family more than the dissolution of NATO and the end of the integration of Europe with the U.S.
And how, exactly, does Trump think the US is going to “deal with” non-paying NATO “allies?” Send them to bed without supper? Wait! I got it! He just has to threaten to bomb them if they don’t increase their military spending! That’ll do the trick!
Seriously, wouldn’t it be great if the Euros increased their military spending AND kicked the US out on the grounds that the US was no longer needed to “guarantee their safety?”
Good-another bone of contention. The USA’s bullying is the main problem in world affairs, and the EU/NATO alliance has been bullied too much. The USA pretends Russia is an enemy, places its nukes in Germany, Italy, Holland, Belgium, Turkey(!)- if anything, to attract enemies, not to defend the countries against non-existent threats.
Spending money on wars and violence and neglecting normal humans and the environment may be the American way, but the rest of the “civilised world” prefers health care, decent education and transport and real security, not prisons.
US still does not recognize human agreement. It still thinks that only power [includes power to scare people] matters.
In other words, God [American, of course] makes a country or an individual or individuals strong; so he only gets to order individuals and nations and to push them around.
But even God [American, of course] fears a nuclear war; so, poor guy is limited to a degree in what he can achieve.