Everyone always brings that up as if that proves anything. Totally different situation. There still is a civilization right now, and there would have been one whether we appeased Germany or not. A conflict that progresses to a billion people dying is not remotely on the same scale, and I strongly disagree with your assessment. Russia taking back a former possession of theirs does not make them a threat to everyone.
If they use nuclear weapons or invade Germany, that’s what makes them a threat to everyone. Nothing less.
As the sole world-policing superpower, the US receives the benefits, and also pays the costs. Thems the breaks. But, we wouldn’t do it in the first place if it wasn’t worth it to us. We don’t have military bases in Europe for Europe’s sake. We do it for ourselves.
The US has a number of military commitments Germany does not, in the Pacific and I believe elsewhere. Which does not involve NATO. The US has decided it needs to be able to meet more than one of those simultaneously.
And historically, that’s worked splendidly, has it? It would mean peace in our time, that’s for sure.
If you don’t draw the line at your closest alliance, you don’t draw a line period.
To be honest, the calculation that democracies don’t have the will to fight is not a new one, and is responsible for more war than expanding NATO.
Unless there is verification I’m going to assume this is a honey pot. Perhaps the alt right is planting fake stories a so they can tell their base ‘you see, everything except fox and brietbart is fake news’ to further brainwash trumps followers. Controlling the flow of information is one of the cornerstone of a cult or dictatorship. Delegitimizing all media that Delegitimizes the core philosophy is also a major goal.
Also in the movie. But not in the real-world Manchurian Candidate Donald J Trump and his control (on behalf of one Vladimir Putin) the former Melania Knavs. It’s not a coincidence that the president is married to a woman from the former Warsaw Pact; this has been planned for a very long time.
As much as I hate Trump and find him to be an embarassment of the highest magnitude, I don’t buy this one either. My WAG is that some German official, speaking on background to a reporter, said something like, “So, Merkel comes over here and this guy not only refuses to shake her hand he literally* gives her an invoice for the $300 billion he thinks we haven’t paid NATO, because he’s too stupid to understand that’s not how NATO works!” And that somehow evolved into this story. Not that I think Trump wouldn’t do it, just that the evidence for it is ridiculously thin, and, as JohnT notes, if Trump had done that, he would have bragged about it.
But, German government officials bullshitting like we have come to expect a “normal” Trump level of bullshit doesn’t sound plausible on the face of it.
Honey pot can also mean a very easy target that is a setup like a bait car for car thieves.
Perhaps this story is false, and the people who planted it hope the media run with it so the alt right can use it to denounce the news as ‘fake news’. Germany has said this hasn’t happened. Unless there is confirmation who knows what happened.
Well, my mother never kissed me the way Angela Lansbury’s character kissed Laurence Harvey’s character. So while the incest wasn’t explicit, it was certainly implied that their relationship was weird.
Yeah, that kiss was about the most they could show, but all references to incest between Raymond and his mother were excised from the script, so I have difficulty arguing it was in the movie.
Even by the agreement you quote it’s possible to be out of compliance before 2024. If Germany was continuing to cut that would be a pretty clear violation of the agreement they’d made. Not showing movement or a plan to get there fails the test for those that started below the target. The history of the spending target dates back a little bit further, anyway. In 2006 the Alliance agreed to work towards that goal. The NATO spokesman speaking after the Riga summit in 2006:
It was a softer target. It still came up and off again during meetings held between 2006 and 2014. Generally the trend during that period was even further cuts. France, for example, went from above the target to below during that period. Germany started below the target and cut even more. Rather than working towards the goal the trend was towards even lower spending. In 2014, facing Russia’s Crimea intervention, they gathered and started over with a new ten year agreement to finally meet the 2006 goal. “This time we really mean it…because, shit, Russians!” It’s hard to view the new agreement through a lens that doesn’t include most allies ignoring their promises during the first attempt.
Aside from being a showoff dick move on Trump’s part, if he really did it, it seems like he should at least look at what’s started to happen since 2014. It’s not just about what didn’t happen 2006-2014. Jens Stoltenberg NATO Secretary General’s annual report came out two weeks ago. His comments at the press conference are here with some good quotes:
Those joining the 2% club (currently five allies total which includes Poland and Estonia) this year or soon are mentioned. Not surprisingly being closer to Russia seems to provide extra motivation.
The spend at least 20% of the budget on equipment target (to ensure maintaining modern capabilities) is going even better:
There is positive news. There is a also lot of work left. Germany’s large economy and population makes it important for the European side of the alliance. Even the news there shows positive change:
For the second interation of the alliance spending target, Germany seems to be putting at least some money where their mouth was… “because, shit, Russians!” That is a big deal.
WWII also started because we didnt appease expansionist Japan. Also, the USA wasnt part of any appeasement of Germany. That was strictly the fault of the Euro powers. But, in their defense, they would have also had to stand up to the Soviets who invaded Finland, the Baltic States, Poland and their seizing of Bessarabia.
