Rockyrd
05-25-2017, 04:48 PM
I thought despite personal issues the Presidents trip went well, until today.....
"Expectations were low for the European leg of President Trump’s first trip abroad, but it turns out they weren’t low enough. Officials had briefed reporters that the trip’s highlight would be a speech in which Trump endorses Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which states that the NATO allies would treat an attack on one member as an attack on them all—the very essence of “collective defense.”
For most presidents, this is a rather low bar akin to the proclamation, in their annual address to Congress, that the state of the union is strong. But Donald Trump, in his brief speech on Thursday at NATO’s new headquarters, did not clear even this basic hurdle of American leadership."
BUT...he ended up scolding our allies and totally ignored the statement everyone wanted to hear.....HE DID NOT ENDORSE ARTICLE 5 at all. All our other leaders have publicly.
"Trump is hardly the first American president to call on allies to pony up more for their own defenses—President Jimmy Carter demanded that they each devote 3 percent of GDP to the military—and some allies have started spending more in part due to this recent pressure. But Trump is the first president to refrain from assuring the allies that he views the defense of Europe as a vital American interest.
His silence on this matter also puts him at odds with his secretary of defense, secretary of state, and national security adviser, who have all gone out of their way to express this commitment—reviving the question of just who controls U.S. foreign policy. Since the start of his presidency, Trump’s advisers have waged a power struggle over this issue in particular: nationalism vs. globalism, leadership of the free world vs. America First. His speech in Brussels suggests that this struggle is still raging."
He treats these things as simple real estate deals and they are far more important, especially to our friends in Europe who face the threat of RUSSIA each day. Russia's main objective is to weaken and destroy NATO because that is all that stands between them and a complete takeover of what they want in Europe.
"It is possible—unlikely but possible—that Trump is using his position on Article 5 as a bargaining chip for the allies’ promise to spend more on their defense. If so, it’s a misguided game: The defining article of a vital treaty is not to be toyed with or made conditional on some arbitrary fee. He’s sending dangerous signals both to allies, who may start to doubt America’s word and seek security elsewhere, and to adversaries, who may see the shrug as a temptation to take aggressive risks.
Whatever his motives or thoughts, Trump has taken what could have been an easy stopover—the allied leaders set up the meeting (less formal than a summit) for it to be just that—and turned it into another self-inflicted crisis."
Trump creates another unnecessary crisis on his visit to NATO. (http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/war_stories/2017/05/trump_creates_another_unnecessary_crisis_on_his_vi sit_to_nato.html)
"Expectations were low for the European leg of President Trump’s first trip abroad, but it turns out they weren’t low enough. Officials had briefed reporters that the trip’s highlight would be a speech in which Trump endorses Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which states that the NATO allies would treat an attack on one member as an attack on them all—the very essence of “collective defense.”
For most presidents, this is a rather low bar akin to the proclamation, in their annual address to Congress, that the state of the union is strong. But Donald Trump, in his brief speech on Thursday at NATO’s new headquarters, did not clear even this basic hurdle of American leadership."
BUT...he ended up scolding our allies and totally ignored the statement everyone wanted to hear.....HE DID NOT ENDORSE ARTICLE 5 at all. All our other leaders have publicly.
"Trump is hardly the first American president to call on allies to pony up more for their own defenses—President Jimmy Carter demanded that they each devote 3 percent of GDP to the military—and some allies have started spending more in part due to this recent pressure. But Trump is the first president to refrain from assuring the allies that he views the defense of Europe as a vital American interest.
His silence on this matter also puts him at odds with his secretary of defense, secretary of state, and national security adviser, who have all gone out of their way to express this commitment—reviving the question of just who controls U.S. foreign policy. Since the start of his presidency, Trump’s advisers have waged a power struggle over this issue in particular: nationalism vs. globalism, leadership of the free world vs. America First. His speech in Brussels suggests that this struggle is still raging."
He treats these things as simple real estate deals and they are far more important, especially to our friends in Europe who face the threat of RUSSIA each day. Russia's main objective is to weaken and destroy NATO because that is all that stands between them and a complete takeover of what they want in Europe.
"It is possible—unlikely but possible—that Trump is using his position on Article 5 as a bargaining chip for the allies’ promise to spend more on their defense. If so, it’s a misguided game: The defining article of a vital treaty is not to be toyed with or made conditional on some arbitrary fee. He’s sending dangerous signals both to allies, who may start to doubt America’s word and seek security elsewhere, and to adversaries, who may see the shrug as a temptation to take aggressive risks.
Whatever his motives or thoughts, Trump has taken what could have been an easy stopover—the allied leaders set up the meeting (less formal than a summit) for it to be just that—and turned it into another self-inflicted crisis."
Trump creates another unnecessary crisis on his visit to NATO. (http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/war_stories/2017/05/trump_creates_another_unnecessary_crisis_on_his_vi sit_to_nato.html)