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Trump calls out NATO members not paying their share during speech

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Yeah I know but I barely even think about him as "people" anymore. IQ of an oyster.

lol whats the context?
 
His point still stand, though:

People didn't question that the lack of any oversea territories past Helgoland makes a blue water navy for Germany a rather pointless exercise - not the fact that something would forbid Germany of building anything bigger than a destroyer.
 

Schnozberry

Member
I'm almost inclined to say that I hope Germany would actually start planning to spend 2% of its GDP on its military, we wouldn't even need the US in NATO anymore.

That's an exaggeration. Without the US, NATO would lose 22% of it's funding and 38% of it's active personnel. You may be able to recover the funding, but you'd have to make difficult political choices to cover the cost? And what would need to be cut? Budgets are already tight all over the EU as it is. It would also be nearly impossible to fix the personnel gap.
 
You're right. The final sentence makes it impossible to find a way around. The obligations of the NPT continue to apply. What I wonder now, if Germany left the NPT, would these obligations cease to exist as Germany was no longer signee? Or would the 2+4 treaty imply that the obligations of the NPT continue to apply irregardless of Germany's stance on the NPT?

Completely hypothetical anyway.

Every country has the right to quite the NPT at any time. So the NPT wouldn't stop Germany of joining France's offer of forming a French-German nuclear force for example.

That's an exaggeration. Without the US, NATO would lose 22% of it's funding and 38% of it's active personnel. You may be able to recover the funding, but you'd have to make difficult political choices to cover the cost? And what would need to be cut? Budgets are already tight all over the EU as it is. It would also be nearly impossible to fix the personnel gap.

US Forces in the Pacific aren't relevant for the NATO. US forces in and around NATO territories are rather small - it's just another case of Trump can't get facts straight.
 
Oh wow, why is this such an issue then? Oh right, the US president is an dumbass, lacks basic logic and math skills.
Some European countries lacking a good military is an issue, and has been for some time now. So increasing their budgets for it is a good idea and should be done if they want to be able to react to a crisis or continue peace keeping forces around the world (not necessarily a NATO thing, but it comes from the defense budget, material and personnel).

However, the way Trump is going about it is ridiculous. He is acting like the US is somehow funding the EUs military, and pretends that its military influence around the world does not come with upsides for itself over the decades. He also forgets that a lot of US military spending is for things outside of the NATO scope that EU countries simply don't need to bother with (for example an expensive Iraq war for some time, activities in Korea, the South Chinese Sea, military installations around the world everywhere).
 

Xando

Member
You're right. The final sentence makes it impossible to find a way around. The obligations of the NPT continue to apply. What I wonder now, if Germany left the NPT, would these obligations cease to exist as Germany was no longer signee? Or would the 2+4 treaty imply that the obligations of the NPT continue to apply irregardless of Germany's stance on the NPT?

Completely hypothetical anyway.
We can leave the NPT or grow the Bundeswehr to 1 million soldiers if we want to.
It's just that we would open ourselves up to lawsuits by the US, France, UK or Russia
 

4Tran

Member
US Forces in the Pacific aren't relevant for the NATO. US forces in and around NATO territories are rather small - it's just another case of Trump can't get facts straight.
Yeah, it's not the Cold War any more and the European powers aren't exactly afraid of the Red Army streaming through the Fulda Gap any more. NATO as a purely European military alliance would work and probably do a better job than the current NATO alliance. The only key element that the US uniquely offers is abundant airlift capacity. But if the US wasn't in NATO any more then the amount of airlift required would go way down as well.
 

RPGCrazied

Member
Now he is just tweeting about the Paris agreement and keeping us in suspense like its some sort of TV show teaser. I hate this man.
 

Tovarisc

Member
Money is starting to pour into what...?


And why is he not actually gripping Macron's hand?

Into different corporations that design, manufacture and sell military HW from rifles to tanks and jets.

Also he was gripping Macron's hand, they did whole white knuckled Trump handshake. It got too intense for EasyD so he wanted to pull out, but Macron went for full domination.
 
Everyone hates trump but when he starts talking about shit he knows nothing about and makes it a case of USA vs the world you get gaffers coming out saying he isn't wrong, hiliarious.
 

Moonstone

Member
It's really gotten to the point he doesn't get that everything he says is recorded in some way. He really is the old grandpa that doesn't understands technology

It doesn't matter to him. He just doesn't care at all. He has no real opinion on anything or any agenda at all (besides Ivanka).
He makes up his opinion when he speaks, based on the last infos someone told him or he saw on TV. Therefore he isn't lying (in his mind). He isn't even christian and neither agnostic or an atheist. There is just nothing.

It tells a lot about him that he gets well better with arabian dictators than with US allies from the EU which share the same western values.
His only real ideology is Darwin. Survival of the fittest. As he considers himself and his rich buddies as the "fittest" - he must always be right.

It doesn't matter to him what he said yesterday. He is the billionaire - not those fake press guys or those EU losers - so he can't do no wrong.

He has the unique abillity to believe his own lies and if he did something wrong - he can convince himself that he didn't. It is pathological at this point. He doesn't belong into the white house and not even into prison whatever will be revevealed - he belongs into a psych ward. He has a narcissistic personality disorder of highest degree. This is why he acts this way. The russian thing was always made up to him - so he just did the right thing in his mind, because it was all fake.
 

Moonstone

Member
fuckingcluelessmanchi4jucz.jpg

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/868407229380268033

If he does not understand the basic functions of NATO by now, he may as well not have fucking arrived to the meeting at all.

Funny thing is: All NATO members agreed on the guidline in 2014 (and Obama was pushing for it). This is not because of Trump.
Germany did argument that development aid should be part of this budget, not just the number of tanks.

However you can't raise the budget in one year and there are historical reasons why germany has a low millitary budget. So this is why this guideline was made up.

And the refugee crysis did cost europe billions, while the reason for it is mostly because of the US intervention in Iraque (also UK but they brexited in order to not pay for the damages they did). Maybe you could also blame france and italy to certain part because of Lybia. But most EU countries are not to blame -but they are alreaDy paying for the costs for US interventions.
 

Tovarisc

Member
Trump talking to US military personnel in Sicily atm. Repeating his talking points about how NATO is costing too much for USA and other members paying too little is costing a lot to US taxpayers.

Audience didn't clap.

Edit: "Peace through strength"
-Trump
 
As a Canadian I feel we should be paying our fair share.

I don't. We're a non-nuclear country and we don't have a seat at the UN Security Council.
Due to our geography, we don't need to pile up weapons to deter attacks from foreign countries. We continuously make real contributions to conflicts as circumstances dictate. (Large contribution in Afghanistan in response to 911, no involvement in Iraq because it was all BS, etc...)
 
EU SUCKS BECAUSE I CAN'T MAKE GOLF COURSES EASILY!

President Trump reportedly complained to world leaders about roadblocks he has faced setting up golf courses in the European Union.

Belgian daily newspaper Le Soir reported Trump told Belgian Prime Minister he has mixed feelings about the European Union (EU) due to issues he has faced in the past setting up golf courses within its borders.

Trump brought up his difficulties doing business in Ireland, which has influenced his view of how the EU functions.

Also, the money is coming in after my beautiful speech.

President Trump on Saturday claimed that money was "beginning to pour in" to NATO, just two days after he gave a speech scolding allies for not paying their fair share at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels.

"Many NATO countries have agreed to step up payments considerably, as they should. Money is beginning to pour in- NATO will be much stronger," Trump tweeted Saturday.

Trump's wording misrepresents how NATO is organized by suggesting that nations pay the alliance; each nation funds its own defense spending under the NATO umbrella. There is not a specific fund money would be pouring into.
 
US Presidents have been complaining about this issue since NATO was founded basically, but with more subtlety and tact than this man could ever muster. The *only* thing he should be doing is gently prodding them to stick to the commitments they made in 2014. Since he's incapable of being anything other than a loudmouth bully, I guess that's outside his range.
So you're saying this is a decades old problem. Most members telling the rest to fuck off. Trump is right to bring this up again and again.
 

scamander

Banned
So you're saying this is a decades old problem. Most members telling the rest to fuck off. Trump is right to bring this up again and again.

What's a decades old problem is the US, the only country who had ever invoked article 5, feeling entitled to tell sovereign countries what they should spend in defence. What the EU needs is an own army, so that we can really say "fuck off" to you, the main beneficiary of Nato.
 
EU SUCKS BECAUSE I CAN'T MAKE GOLF COURSES EASILY!

President Trump reportedly complained to world leaders about roadblocks he has faced setting up golf courses in the European Union.

Belgian daily newspaper Le Soir reported Trump told Belgian Prime Minister he has mixed feelings about the European Union (EU) due to issues he has faced in the past setting up golf courses within its borders.

Trump brought up his difficulties doing business in Ireland, which has influenced his view of how the EU functions.

Also, the money is coming in after my beautiful speech.

President Trump on Saturday claimed that money was "beginning to pour in" to NATO, just two days after he gave a speech scolding allies for not paying their fair share at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels.

"Many NATO countries have agreed to step up payments considerably, as they should. Money is beginning to pour in- NATO will be much stronger," Trump tweeted Saturday.

Trump's wording misrepresents how NATO is organized by suggesting that nations pay the alliance; each nation funds its own defense spending under the NATO umbrella. There is not a specific fund money would be pouring into.
Thank God, many EU countries have strict rules when it comes to zoning, especially those who made it illegal to build on the coastline; coastlines remaining public
 

4Tran

Member
I don't. We're a non-nuclear country and we don't have a seat at the UN Security Council.
Due to our geography, we don't need to pile up weapons to deter attacks from foreign countries. We continuously make real contributions to conflicts as circumstances dictate. (Large contribution in Afghanistan in response to 911, no involvement in Iraq because it was all BS, etc...)
Canada is one of those countries that probably could stand to spend a bit more money on its military. It doesn't have anything to do with military contributions, but a recognition that it has greater commitments in the far north than ever before and that a lot of aging equipment needs to be replaced. Realistically, Canada would be better off scaling back on its foreign military deployments, but that's probably not a great idea politically.

What's a decades old problem is the US, the only country who had ever invoked article 5, feeling entitled to tell sovereign countries what they should spend in defence. What the EU needs is an own army, so that we can really say "fuck off" to you, the main beneficiary of Nato.
Pretty much. In a lot of ways, NATO members act as auxiliaries to American troops in a lot of different conflicts. Therefore, it's in the interest of the US for those armed forces to have greater capabilities. American presidents have been using this issue as a bully pulpit for decades; the main difference is that Trump is so inarticulate at bringing up these points that it's easy to tell him to go to hell.
 
Trump talking to US military personnel in Sicily atm. Repeating his talking points about how NATO is costing too much for USA and other members paying too little is costing a lot to US taxpayers.

Audience didn't clap.

Edit: "Peace through strength"
-Trump
He seriously doesn't know what he's talking about. This makes no sense period, especially when he wants to up US military spending regardless. Want to save US taxpayers money? Try not doing that then.

Of course, it really doesn't help that the media send rather terrible at calling out this particular talking point, mostly just reporting the Trump and White House lines verbatim and not even beginning to really bother explaining that's not how NATO actually works at all and how Trump's nonsense really misconstrues the situation. People might not be quite as confused if the media handled it better, but the evening news in particular has been bad about handling this issue when it comes up, so that definitely doesn't help and they need to do better.
 
Macron says long Trump handshake ‘not innocent’

French President Emmanuel Macron said his extended handshake with Donald Trump before a NATO summit was “not innocent” and intended to show he did not make even small concessions.

In an interview with the Journal du Dimanche published on Sunday, the French leader said his interaction with the American head of state was “a moment of truth.”

“My handshake with him was not innocent,” Macron said. “We need to show that we won’t make small concessions, even symbolic ones, while not overhyping things either.”
 

Measley

Junior Member
EU SUCKS BECAUSE I CAN'T MAKE GOLF COURSES EASILY!

President Trump reportedly complained to world leaders about roadblocks he has faced setting up golf courses in the European Union.

Belgian daily newspaper Le Soir reported Trump told Belgian Prime Minister he has mixed feelings about the European Union (EU) due to issues he has faced in the past setting up golf courses within its borders.

Trump brought up his difficulties doing business in Ireland, which has influenced his view of how the EU functions.

Also, the money is coming in after my beautiful speech.

President Trump on Saturday claimed that money was "beginning to pour in" to NATO, just two days after he gave a speech scolding allies for not paying their fair share at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels.

"Many NATO countries have agreed to step up payments considerably, as they should. Money is beginning to pour in- NATO will be much stronger," Trump tweeted Saturday.

Trump's wording misrepresents how NATO is organized by suggesting that nations pay the alliance; each nation funds its own defense spending under the NATO umbrella. There is not a specific fund money would be pouring into.

I honestly thought that that was an Onion article...

Holy shit! The man is a fucking embarrassment.
 
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