Saturday, May 27, 2017

NATO Leaders Smirk At President Trump


DW: Some NATO leaders smirk, others support Trump's tough NATO message

Critics saw the US president's NATO debut as the latest in a series of political missteps. But for his supporters, Donald Trump delivered a slam dunk by pushing his views - and himself - into the spotlight.

NATO is calling its long-awaited, highly choreographed leaders' summit a "success." For many observers both inside and outside the alliance headquarters, the bar was set merely at preventing explosions. And not just in the sense of a security threat at the new NATO HQ but also as far as tempers around the table during a working dinner Thursday evening.

US President Donald Trump's first visit to NATO played out in what many are describing simply as the Donald Trump way. While European governments may have been hoping to hear him recommit the United States to collective defense - standing next to the "9/11 and Article V" memorial was a heavy hint - few were surprised he didn't.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: President Trump went to the NATO meeting representing the interests of the U.S. .... and for this I give him kudos. He articulated the U.S. position very clearly. He did not buy into the chorus line that everyone is doing their part. And he questioned THEIR commitment to NATO by pointing out their lack of money and resources in their defense budgets. And yes .... I saw the smirks .... your typical elitist European politician/bureaucrat altitude of entitlement and privilege. And as for the criticism of President ignoring Article 5, which commits members to collective defense .... oh please .... no one believes otherwise .... and the knowledgeable know that this is nothing more but deflection from the real issue .... which is again the lack of commitment of money and resources by these member states to NATO.

20 comments:

Caecus said...

Lamentable

Anonymous said...

Watch for Erdogan at the 8 minute mark. He doesn't look like he's particularly happy to be there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=zJcFYIL_OxE

Also, a breakdown of their body language:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75TzHD-RyK0

Jay Farquharson said...

LMFAO,

It's not just the Russian's laughing at the US and Hair Furour

RussInSoCal said...

They're displaying the same brand of elitist condescension that bought them Brexit and Trump.

Jay Farquharson said...

Guess you havn't been following up on Brexit:

http://chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/?m=1

It's not the first Idiot American President that NATO has had to out wait, won't be the last,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFNiN0DatoI

If push comes to shove, the EDC will replace NATO in Europe and Canada will pull out of NORAD, all the bilateral defence agreements will go away except for England and Wales.

Anonymous said...

darn

Stephen Davenport said...

The Europeans and Canada have been living off the US tit for decades and let their militaries slip into nothing. They rely on the US to do most of the work and fighting for them with the exception of England. Trump should drop the hammer on NATO, either the Europeans step up or get the fuck out and worship allah.

Stephen Davenport said...

Yeah Jay we are going to take a blog as word, you are trying to feed us shit and we are supposed to say, hmmm delicious, NOT. England is the first to go, others will follow. EU is dying much like the other socialist countries are. Nothing you can do can stop it son.

Jay Farquharson said...

LMFAO,

So, you havn't been following Brexit,

It's not hard, there's this thing called safari, all you have to do is type in Brexit, up pops up all the Brexit News of the day, usually the second or third ranked return.

As more and more British News Media is reporting, it's gonna be a Hard Brexit.

No biggie, the Brexiteer's voted to "burn it all down", too bad it's their house.

If you google "Brexit Promises", you'll get a lovely list of news article and websites,

Trump voters voted to "burn it all down" too,

You can google "Trumps 100 days promises" too.

LMFAO

Jay Farquharson said...

Let's see, Canada's in Afghanistan and Iraq,

Funny that, American wars of choice.

War News Updates Editor said...

Like Ukraine .... I have been avoiding the Brexit story.
Both deserve more attention from me.

Jay .... the EU has serious problems. It also depends on where you are. If you are in Greece .... you want the whole thing to burn down. If you are in Germany .... you want to enshrine it even more. The disparities are great .... and I do not know how long they can keep it up.

In regards to Brexit .... rule of thumb .... when a union busts-up everyone suffers economically. I lived through it in eastern Europe, and I campaign against it when the Quebec vote for independence from Canada arose in 1995. But if a break-up does happen, the key is .... how quick can you recover after you break up. In the case of Czechoslovakia .... the Czech economy rebounded very quickly and it is a success story .... in the case of Slovakia .....groan .... not so good. In the case of the Soviet Union .... same story.

I expect Brexit will be hard economically for both Britain and the EU .... but who will bounce back quicker is where the story gets interesting. The EU is now imposing all the blocks and obstacles to make sure that Britain is not the first to bounce back .... and my read is that they are becoming afraid that Britain will succeed .... and they do not want to be in a position to explain why. I also said before Brexit that when you rule against the will of the people there are always consequences. Brexit would never have happened if German Chancellor Merkel did not decide on her own to open Germany's borders to the world's migrants/refugees/etc.. Many in Europe still believe in culture and borders .... especially in places like England who have experienced a migrant surge in the past decade .... and they made that very clear when they voted last year. The response .... insults and ridicule .... which is to bad. Another rule of thumb that I follow very closely .... if you insult those who you do not agree with .... you have already lost the argument.

Chase jones said...

Psh jay knows all lol dont you know

Jay Farquharson said...

If you read the Brexit Blog I linked to, ( anti-Brexit), the EU is not " punishing" Britain.

England and Wales, voted to leave, May invoked article 50, and the EU has zero, nada, zip responsiblity to negotiate nice with Britain, who are effectively no longer part of the EU.

The Brexiteer's are whining and lying about Brexit and the mean EU like the guy who abandoned his family, started taking up with barely legal bimbo's, filed tor divorce, wondering why his soon to be ex wife burrned all his stuff in the driveway.

The same pro-Brexit arguments the Brexiteer's have been using as to why they can leave with out a deal, the Brexiteer's are trying to use as to why Scotland can't.

LMFAO,

Any agreement like NAFTA or the EU is going to have inequalities. The rule of thumb for the smaller weaker members is don't do stupid shit.

In both Greece and Portugal, right wing governments mortgaged their counties futures on cheap loans, and pissed the money away. In both Greece and Portugal, bankruptcy and austerity eventually brought left wing Governments to power.

In Greece, the left wing Government rolled over on their promises and tried to work a "deal" with Austerity. They are still screwed.

In Potugual, they said F/U to austerity and Austrian School economics, have recovered, and are now the fastest growing economy in the EU.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/07/the-great-british-brexit-robbery-hijacked-democracy

War News Updates Editor said...

George Papandreou was never "right wing". Neither Portugal's José Sócrates.
Portugal's Social Democrat Pedro Manuel came to power when the economy was collapsing .... and it was rising when he left in 2015. The current Socialist PM has only been in power one year and a few months .... economic policies take 2 to 3 years to have a serious impact .... never 1 year.

But the fact is that all of these Mediterranean based countries are addicted to debt .... regardless of ideology. And yes .... they are so screwed.

And as for us who live in Canada .... oh God .... talk about us mortgaging our future.

War News Updates Editor said...

I know that the EU dos not have to negotiate with Britain over Brexit. Just like Canada does not have to negotiate with Quebec should they decide to vote for independence. LOL .... I like to see that happen (speaking of Quebec that is).

Jay Farquharson said...

To the Left, the actual "Left", left isn't platitudes,

Unlike the Conservative Christians who think the Beatitudes are a Beatles cover band and that Jesus shook down the money changers in the Temple for a share of the vig, and the whole loaves and fishes thing raised Christ a cool 200 million shiekels.

Left is social and economic policy,

Like the Libs, the Dems, the Dippers in the last election, Pappendraeu wasn't "left", he was just left of the right.

Didn't make him a Leftie.

As for being screwed:

http://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/surviving-post-capitalism-coping-hoping-doping-shopping-1.3973042

jimbrown said...

If they're smirking, you must be over the target

Anonymous said...

NATO and American foreign policy of massive military deterrent has had the unintended consequence of funding many nations slide into socialism. Outsourcing your defence allows you to concentrate on building up a massive nanny state.
If America wants a more conservative Europe, by causing them to spend more on other things rather then freebies that make dependants out of otherwise industrious people, then they should back away from NATO, or at least massively reduce their commitments.
As an aside, if they are truly so worried about Russia, why are they not building up their military force? Their actions contradict their words.

Jay Farquharson said...

LMFAO,

US 1st Quarter GDP growth, 0.7%

LMFAO

https://www.google.ca/amp/amp.timeinc.net/time/4621185/worker-productivity-countries/%3Fsource%3Ddam

"ECONOMY
These Are the Most Productive Countries in the World

The US isn't at the top of the list.

>The United States ranks fifth, according to the OECD, contributing $68.30 to the country’s GDP per hour worked, countering claims that Americans are the most productive workers in the world. America put in more hours—33.6 per week on average—than all four of the European countries with higher productivity rankings."

LMFAO


Jay Farquharson said...

And the strike was a bullseye,

https://www.balloon-juice.com/2017/05/28/the-american-century-ends-after-72-years/

"Back in January I wrote about how two events – Japan agreeing to talks with China to proceed on a post Trans-Pacific Partnership Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestine Authority asking Putin to intercede with the US – showed a devolution of the US from superpower and hegemon to, potentially, client state. The events of the past week at the NATO and G-7 Summits clearly demonstrate this diminution of the US and its power. Today, speaking in a Bavarian beer hall, German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated:"

And best yet, it was a two fer, the strike wasn't just international, it was also domestic:

"This is all a recipe for a breakdown in order and for our systems for political accountability and the peaceful transfer of power. We’re already far enough along this road that a lot of people are beginning to conclude that the system is broken not only beyond repair but beyond having any moral claim to deserve repair. Maybe it’s better to work to accelerate its demise than to try to shore up an edifice that is beyond hope. Perhaps the most corrosive aspect of this is when it is applied not to the media or our elites but to the people themselves. Once you lose faith in the quality of our people, pretty much everything else collapses. We can perhaps devise new systems, but any system that isn’t premised on the will of the people won’t be a system worth having."

http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2017/5/28/131015/101