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2020-07-28 Europe
Trump picks antiwar favorite Douglas Macgregor to be German ambassador
McGregor led the Battle of 73 Easting in Iraq in The Gulf War in February 1991. He has often been referred to as a "renegade." IHMO, renegade reads like a war fighter. He would replace Ambassador Richard Grenell, another lightning rod--a good pick
[NYPost] President Trump announced Monday that he will nominate retired Army Col. Douglas Macgregor to be the next US ambassador to Germany.

Macgregor is a favorite among Trump supporters who want to pull US troops from the Mideast and Afghanistan. As ambassador, he would oversee Trump’s plan to slash the substantial US troop presence in Germany.

Trump said this year he wants to halve the 52,000 US troops in Germany. The Pentagon in June developed plans to withdraw 9,500.

Macgregor speaks fluent German, a source told The Post, and is reputed to be an expert on Germany’s history.

Opponents of former White House national security adviser John Bolton lobbied Trump last year to fire Bolton and replace him with Macgregor. That post ultimately went to US hostage negotiator Robert O’Brien.

Macgregor gained a following pushing a non-interventionist message on Fox News. He told Tucker Carlson in January that Trump should pull US troops out of Afghanistan because he "that’s why we voted for him."

The former colonel, who served in the Gulf War, also urged Trump to withdraw troops from Syria.

A White House release says Macgregor "is widely recognized as an expert on force design and grand strategy. He is a frequent radio and television commentator on national security affairs and his writings on military affairs have been influential in the transformation of United States ground forces, NATO, and the Israeli Defense Force."

Former US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell stepped down last month after serving as acting US intelligence director. Grenell, who is gay, led a Trump administration campaign to decriminalize homosexuality around the world.
Grenell was reputed to bring a "Trumpian" approach to relations with German officials. He was a key figure in Trump strategic initiatives, including a campaign to stop a gas pipeline from Russia to Germany and to pressure allies to isolate Iran.
Fixed 5:36 AM
That would be California time, I assume. ;-) Thank you, Frank G.
Posted by JohnQC 2020-07-28 08:16|| || Front Page|| [11 views ]  Top

#1 Oh I recognize him! He was a Major during that fight.

Good choice from what I know of him.
Posted by DarthVader 2020-07-28 09:41||   2020-07-28 09:41|| Front Page Top

#2 As ambassador, he would oversee Trump’s plan to slash the substantial US troop presence enrich the EU 'snag and tag' intel operations network in Germany.
Posted by Skidmark 2020-07-28 12:15||   2020-07-28 12:15|| Front Page Top

#3 There are only between 34,000 and 35,000 US soldiers permanently stationed in Germany, not 52,000.
Posted by European Conservative 2020-07-28 19:53||   2020-07-28 19:53|| Front Page Top

#4 Hard to believe sometimes that there were over 200,000 US troops in Germany (and not counting family members) barely 30 years ago. In someways that seems like a long time ago, in other ways, it doesn't.
Posted by Clem 2020-07-28 19:55||   2020-07-28 19:55|| Front Page Top

#5 Not for long, EC.
Posted by Raj 2020-07-28 19:55||   2020-07-28 19:55|| Front Page Top

#6 /\ We can only hope...should have been working to ZERO since 9 November 1989 +/-.
Posted by Clem 2020-07-28 21:03||   2020-07-28 21:03|| Front Page Top

#7 I thought it was interesting that most of the $2 US bills wound up largely on Army bases back in the mid-1980's in Germany because they'd exchange roughly for one Deutsche Mark.
Posted by Raj 2020-07-28 21:12||   2020-07-28 21:12|| Front Page Top

#8 The Mark was strong but not THAT strong ;-)
Posted by European Conservative 2020-07-28 21:14||   2020-07-28 21:14|| Front Page Top

#9 When I popped in in 1986, I think the USD hit an all-time low of, like, $1 = DM 1,79. All the stories of "four to one" seemed like ancient history.
Posted by Clem 2020-07-28 21:28||   2020-07-28 21:28|| Front Page Top

#10 EC - yes, it was - check this out. I did a stats paper back in college (mainframe BMDP 2R stats package) on the dollar / DM exchange rate and right around 1986-1987 that's what it was.

I still have that paper and it's amazing / sad that I'm reading this thing and I have trouble understanding some parts of it. Can't remember what Prof. Karson gave me for a grade on it - I'll go w/ a B+.

I then used that paper to advise my German professor (UNH, Durham NH) to buy DM's now because the change in US interest rates was gonna make it more expensive for him to exchange for DM's later (he was going over there for a few weeks at that point). That was an oral final and I fucked it up six ways to Sunday because I couldn't remember a lot of the 100 German words relating to statistics in explaining what I came up with. That one was A for effort and something else for execution.
Posted by Raj 2020-07-28 21:48||   2020-07-28 21:48|| Front Page Top

#11 FWIW, I wrote that paper on May 20, 1986; the DM / $ exchange rate was approaching 2 / 1, and the major factors were relative inflation rates, inflation rates & their money supplies.

Granted I'm half in the bag right now but it's a pretty decent paper.
Posted by Raj 2020-07-28 22:06||   2020-07-28 22:06|| Front Page Top

#12 Well you made it sound like the mark was worth 2 dollars...
Posted by European Conservative  2020-07-28 22:42||   2020-07-28 22:42|| Front Page Top

#13 EC - yeah, I fucked that one up; my apologies.
Posted by Raj 2020-07-28 23:11||   2020-07-28 23:11|| Front Page Top

#14 Wait - I fucked up my description of the exchange rate; it was definitely 1 DM = $2 USD.

Guess I'll retire now like Grosjean or Verstappen cracking up their cars again...
Posted by Raj 2020-07-28 23:14||   2020-07-28 23:14|| Front Page Top

#15 HUH?
Posted by Clem 2020-07-28 23:29||   2020-07-28 23:29|| Front Page Top

#16 Clem - me? I screwed the pooch on my description; my bad.
Posted by Raj 2020-07-28 23:42||   2020-07-28 23:42|| Front Page Top

#17 Prost!
Posted by Clem 2020-07-28 23:57||   2020-07-28 23:57|| Front Page Top

16:25 borgboy
16:20 alanc
16:17 alanc
15:12 Skidmark
15:10 Skidmark
15:08 Tom
15:02 Angealing+B.+Hayes4677
14:23 Unung the Furry2677
14:11 Unung the Furry2677
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13:29 DarthVader
13:21 Airandee
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13:15 swksvolFF
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13:04 NoMoreBS
12:58 Remoteman
12:52 NoMoreBS
12:49 Frank G
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