Article

2017-03-18 Europe

Trump: Germany owes 'vast sums of money' to NATO

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Posted by Bright Pebbles 2017-03-18 11:28|| || Front Page|| [6 views ] Top

#1 "The president said the US must be paid more for providing defense"

This is not how NATO works, and U.S. troops are not paid mercenaries.

I agree that Germany will have to do more (and it will) but that's not the way to go about it.

Posted by European Conservative 2017-03-18 17:34|| 2017-03-18 17:34|| Front Page Top

#2 Respectfully EC, the US provides things that Germany simply can't, even in a 10 year time frame. Heavy lift capability for one, logistical supply for another, even heavy armor divisions. Germany, like much of the rest of the EU, has emasculated their militariy over the past 30 years. With a declining birth rate and an increasing demand for social services by an aging population, how do you turn that around?

Posted by Remoteman 2017-03-18 17:52|| 2017-03-18 17:52|| Front Page Top

#3 Has germany spent the amount expected to keep their military up to NATO standards? I believe that's all he meant.

Posted by rjschwarz 2017-03-18 17:52|| 2017-03-18 17:52|| Front Page Top

#4 standards should be commitments.

Posted by rjschwarz 2017-03-18 17:52|| 2017-03-18 17:52|| Front Page Top

#5 I can both sympathize with Germany but also be annoyed that they made their damn bed. The problems are of a long time in the making and won't be quickly turned around.

I'm afraid that this is a time when everyone has to throw all the cards on the table and start a fresh game. There's no going back and trying to fix the root causes. It's time to cut the cords to the past and figure out how to move on from where we are.

Figuring out, and agreeing, to a direction and goal maybe impossible which will mean a whole new alignment of alliances.

Posted by AlanC 2017-03-18 18:01|| 2017-03-18 18:01|| Front Page Top

#6 Why should America risk nuclear immolation over first world countries that succor on military welfare? By the 80s the combined GDP and population of Western Europe exceed the US. If you are unwilling to commit to defend yourselves, its time to take your place in history. America failed to learned the lessons of the Byzantines who exhausted their resources trying to reconstruction the old Roman Empire.

Posted by Procopius2k 2017-03-18 18:13|| 2017-03-18 18:13|| Front Page Top

#7 I have a son in the Bundeswehr who served in Afghanistan. This is commitment, too, not just the token 2% for NATO (which actually should be spent on Germany's own military).

The 2% are a formulated goal, but no legal obligation.

U.S. troops are (mostly) no longer in Germany to defend Germany, but because it's the best place to be for a lot of reasons.

If Germany wanted it could leave NATO, and get off scot-free if U.S. troops relocate to Poland. Quite a cynical approach, of course.

There's a lot of posturing right now. I guess we'll just sit that one out.

Btw German defense minister is actually pushing for more military spending.

I'm wary of Russia but no, Russian tanks breaking through the Fulda Gap won't happen.

Posted by European Conservative 2017-03-18 18:25|| 2017-03-18 18:25|| Front Page Top

#8 The 2% goal actually is a thing of the past. NATO members should rather strive for efficiency. Much money and manpower is lost by maintaining separate national armies.

I'm rather thinking of smart, lean, tech-driven, highly efficient professional units. Future conflicts will not look like those that were wargamed in the 1980s

Posted by European Conservative 2017-03-18 18:37|| 2017-03-18 18:37|| Front Page Top

#9 EC - good on your son and his service!

Posted by Frank G 2017-03-18 19:17|| 2017-03-18 19:17|| Front Page Top

#10 We've prechambered the hell out of the Fulda Gap and there is nothing going to come through there without serious casualties. Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd plus a couple of coils of detcord can make the gap unpassable...without using any tactical nukes either.

Posted by Sock Puppet of Doom 2017-03-18 19:33|| 2017-03-18 19:33|| Front Page Top

#11 Frank G
Thank you. And the only place he's ever heard those words were the United States.

Posted by European Conservative 2017-03-18 20:57|| 2017-03-18 20:57|| Front Page Top

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