President Trump said on Monday the US plans to cut troops in Germany by about 9,500, which would bring the number of US troops in the European country to 25,000. The president’s statement confirmed a June 5th report from The Wall Street Journal, which is how Germany first learned of the plan, a sign of souring relations between the two countries.
The move reflects the Trump administration’s strategy to leverage allies into spending more on defense. “They owe NATO billions and they know it,” Trump told reporters. “Why should we be doing what we’re doing if they don’t pay?”
The Wall Street Journal report said a directive was signed by National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien that would cap the number of US troops permitted to be stationed in Germany at 25,000. The current cap is 52,000.
While the US plans drawdowns in Germany, another NATO ally is expected to receive more US troops. Last week, US Ambassador to Poland Georgette Mosbacher said on Twitter that an announcement regarding an increased US presence in Poland is “coming soon.”
Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Monday that it was not Poland’s intention to increase the US presence at the expense of troops withdrawing from Germany. Morawiecki also said the negotiations on the increased troop presence are “proceeding as planned” and that the outcome will be “impressive.”
“Why should we be doing what we’re doing if they don’t pay?”
Now isn’t that something anti-war people can really sink their teeth into?
They already pay a large chunk for the occupation force, the gangsters also use this tactic on other countries hosting the 800+ US bases.
The US troop increase in Poland and its secret move of nukes from Germany to Poland ( closer to Russia and next to Kaliningrad ) would be in violation with a NATO – Russia agreement and will heighten the actual tension to a boiling point.
The US & NATO will spin their violation and blame Russia for being the aggressor and the need for NATO to defend its members.
Map of US bases in Germany.
https://southfront.org/trump-announces-reduction-of-us-troops-in-germany/
More germane to the point, how do Polish sausages and beer compare to German sausages and beer, because, you know, troop morale and all.
You are on to a little problem. Our GI’s have long considered Germany to be the Garden of Eden of foreign assignments and not only because of beer and sausages.
In light of the Fed printing trillions to pacify individual, corporate, and sovereign entities, Germany’s refusal to subsidize US occupation on it’s lands is rather ridiculous.
If German entities were serious about forcing the disembarking of US troops, they might have begun de-dollarizing years ago. Poland is almost begging to become a dollar-based vassal without realizing regime change can occur without overt violence though one doesn’t doubt subtle threats have perhaps been communicated–if not a few bribes.
So when the dollar “dies,” one can assume US interests will be dubiously entrenched along Russia’s western border when an SDR or new US dollar and euro becomes apparent.
Inasmuch as Russia seeks peaceful relations with its neighbors, one wonders when and if they’ll seek to suspend trade with them.
With a long-term horizon, the average Estonian or Latvian businessman may desire to transact and trade in rubles as opposed to what may become the ubiquitous USD.
Germany already pays a large chunk for the US occupation force.
My point is why bother subsidizing an occupying force that claims friendships, first and foremost, among their intelligence organization?
Why would the German sovereign purchase US Treasuries with the almost sole purpose of redemptions being passed back to Washington and perhaps some being rolled over into new issues? Fed money printing accomplishes the same if German or German-based US entities accept dollars.
I would hope all German transactions between corporate and individual entities is performed in euros–for their sake. The euro being adjacent to the USD as the next clean or dirtiest shirt, I’ll bet more German transaction are occurring in rubles with most of those parties increasingly likely to engage in Russia-focused trade, if not inclined to move there.
John Perkins’ “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” might in a more detailed way explain the currency version of regime change, as opposed to the high interest-high collateral loan version prevalent throughout his book.
AFRICOM remains HQ’d at Kelley Barracks, Stuttgart, Germany.
Germany remains well-occupied if the 6000+ U.S. troops in Africa use Germany as their hub.
Also Ramstein will remain the base for USAFE. Ramstein will not be abandoned nor will it be curtailed or shifted elsewhere by us because it would take too much time to establish an equivalent “Ramstein” in, say, Poland and that “Ramstein” will never ever be as efficient and effective as the current one in Germany.
And therefore every German government has a potentially powerful weapon against Trump or any future US president when they get too nasty. The NATO agreement by which Ramstein is where it is does allow the sovereign nation of Germany to demand its removal from German soil. That can always be used as a last resort not only against the US but in internal politics even though Germany would also have to leave NATO. That might happen if German nationalists on the far left and the far right join hands. Something like that happened in Germany during the national elections of late 1932.
Hmmm
The Pentagon has been screaming for years that they can’t do their job protecting israel allowing it to continue to terrorize all its neighbors and continue stealing land they have not right to if the US continues abide by its NATO obligations and treaties which are wasting resources protecting Europe…