Art Of The Deal

Trump 63 Comments

Victor Davis Hanson;

President Trump recently ordered a 12,000-troop reduction in American military personnel stationed in Germany. That leaves about 24,000 American soldiers still in the country.
 
A little more than half of the troops being withdrawn will return home. The rest will be redeployed to other NATO member nations such as Belgium, Italy, and perhaps Baltic and Eastern European countries.
 
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is said to be furious. She claims the redeployments will “weaken the (NATO) alliance.” German commercial interests chimed in that the troop withdrawals will hurt their decades-old businesses serving U.S. bases.
 
Perhaps, but Merkel surely cannot be surprised. Six years ago, all NATO members pledged to spend 2 percent of their GDP on defense. Yet only eight of 29 so far have kept their word.

63 Replies to “Art Of The Deal”

  1. Not much sympathy for Germany. Their economy feeds off the world and yet they do not undertake the responsibility of financing their military seriously enough. Trump has called them out and good on him.

    1. Military funding is solely used to divert the cream of the taxpayer dollars to private pockets. Screw NATO funding objectives.

  2. I have 0 sympathy for the German government and Merkel, considering that she’s been treating her country as little more than a chew toy for the European Union I say she’s getting what she deserves.

  4. A year from now, President Donald J. Trump should do this again and leave Germany with 12,000 US troops stationed there.
    Eventually Germany will figure it out…

      1. Hopefully zero will be the number in a few years, I only think a couple years notice and UNWAVERING commitment to withdraw then (not another 6 years of negotiations) is a good approach.

        I have no rose colored glasses to see Germany manning up to a 2% GDP commitment to NATO. Same as hapless Canada currently spending 1.4% of GDP and not making the grade (20% of the 2% GDP) on equipment purchases either. For awhile Canada was spending 10% of the military budget on equipment… such a farce.

      2. The troops are there for the benefit of America, not Germany. European bases are the forward operations bases for their middle east operations.

  6. Troops stationed within one of the most secure countries in the world doesn’t achieve much. Move troops east to NATO countries bordering Russia and Belarus. Putin won’t like it, but that’s rather the point. It reinforces the “primary directive” of NATO; an attack on one of us is an attack on all.

  7. At this point, Germany’s military is in worse shape than Canada’s. Much worse. That’s what you get when you elect an ex-Communist as chancellor, one who then turns around and appoints a complete clucking idiot like Ursula von der Leyen as defense minister. It’s actually hard to fathom how incredibly stupid von der Leyen is, but considering she was appointed President of the European Commission… Both are traitors to the Fatherland, globalists through and through. Trump should remove every last US soldier and airman from Germany. Let the limp-wristed, Euro-loving twat monkeys fend for themselves.

    By the way, if Poland wanted to invade Germany, as a bit of a quid pro quo for 1939, absent US troops, it could reach the Rhine in about 48 hours. That’s how useless the German military has become under Merkel and von der Leyen.

    1. Personally I’m very happy with a disarmed helpless and exposed Germany. They are a weird nation subject to occasional cancerous ideas that morph into conquering their neighbours. They don’t do it with tanks these days. They use banks now. Ask Greece about that.

    1. That study was in vitro only. Many drugs show promise with in vitro testing, very very few make it past the testing stages afterwards

    2. RoO, fartci wrote an article in 2005 about how good HCQ war on fighting sars, which kills the exact same was sars-cov-2 (aka:covid-19) does, so yah fartci should be open to being sued

  10. Frau Angela “Stasi” Merkel just doesn’t get it. They reneged on their promises to fund their own military at 2%. They actually went backwards to less spending at 1.25% of GNP, and they agreed to build the Nordstream II pipeline to get gas directly from the country NATO is defending Germany against, Russia. Talk about Chutzpah. IMO She is a former Communist Ossie still unconsciously trying to destroy West Germany and Western Europe, and she is succeeding. Just look at her insane refugee programs.

    Poland would love to have the US bases, and the Poles in general support NATO, or at least anyone Anti-Russian. One problem is that many possible US bases would be built on old Warsaw Pact bases that are chemically contaminated by the usual sloppy and uncaring Russian Communist Environmental practices. Imagine building US dependent housing on a Superfund site? No. Just NO.

    I still say build most US bases in Western Poland. It will minimize the perceived threat to Russia, and you know we are likely going to have to go back into Germany sometime in the next forty years when they inevitably do the same stupid shit they did TWICE in the last century.

    1. There is NO DELINQUINCY.

      Members agreed in 2014 to increase military spending to 2% of GDP by 2024.

      Nobody owes NATO anything.

  12. They pledged to increase spending to 2% of GDP *** BY 2024 ***. Something Trump and his supporters seem to conveniently forget.

    Italy spends even less on their military than Germany.

    How does any of this make sense? Seems petty.

    1. To meet their target, Germany will have to increase military spending by 50% in four years. That is near impossible in a modern military, where it can take years to plan and approve major projects.

      Bottom line: They’re not going to meet their target.

  13. Also Germany now spends an equal amount of dollars as the USA directly to the NATO budget. Far higher % of GDP.

  14. Why are the troops being re-deployed at all?

    Why is it still the responsibility of the United States to defend German colonies east of the Elbe (which is all EU members east of the Elbe are)?

    The question of whether Germany had a right to take over European Russia and expel the Slavs to Siberia was settled in 1945.

    The Slavic peoples finally were given the opportunity to solve the real problem—the German problem. With Russian assistance, the Slavs obliged their German parasite classes to either leave for what remained of Germany with nothing but the clothes on their backs, or have their ugly heads pay for the lives of the Slavs’ loved ones.

    It wasn’t enough.

    By rights all working-age Germans should been deported to Siberia to end their days paying for Hitler’s crimes, Germany re-settled with Slavs (as was East Prussia) and what remained of the German industrial base divided between the Allies—the part of it not kept aside as reparations for Jewish life and property lost in the war, as a downpayment on the establishment of a prosperous Jewish state in the Land of Israel.

    The only borders with any chance of guaranteeing permanent peace between the Slavic and Latin worlds are the Rhine and Danube. The sooner this is accepted and American foreign policy adjusted accordingly, the better.

    Your pothead uncle’s VW microbus from fifty years ago was not worth making sure that Germans never threatened peace-loving peoples again.

    2. The Slavic people … with Russian assistance (sic). Har de har har. You mean like the Ukrainians?
      You mentioned Hitler, but not Stalin, who murdered more people. Granted, Stalin had a much longer time to do it. Germany occupied other countries for arguably six years, Russia for thirty some years. Most of the countries occupied by Russia were definitely NOT Slavic. Take for instance the Poles, who rejoiced at being liberated from the Russians. Or the Hungarians, whose attempt at independence was viciously put down in 1956. The Russian tanks left no doubt that Hungary was an occupied country.
      Just who outside of the old U.S.S.R. are Slavic anyway? Bulgarians, surely. Serbs? I am not so sure, they share Cyrillic and Orthodox Christianity with Russia. I don’t know enough about them, but many western European countries share the Latin alphabet and Christianity without being of the same ethnicity, say Germans and Spaniards.

      1. I think the Czechs and the Slovaks are cousidered to be Slavic. Their languages are similar to Polish.

        1. Sorry I made (at least) two mistakes.
          First, I associated Slavic with the alphabet. That is, Slavic meant Cyrillic. That ain’t necessarily so in terms of language structure.
          Second, I got caught up in the Slavic vs. West business that SG (nee AC) was peddling. The idea that Russian (nee Soviet Union) occupation “assisted” any country is laughable. And that was what my reply should have been.
          Two years ago, I took a Danube cruise that passed through many countries that were behind the Iron curtain, Czech Rep, Slovakia, and Hungary. Last year I went on a Baltic cruise that included Latvia and Finland (which was not behind the Iron Curtain due to heroic efforts of the Finns). Before that, I went on a pilgrimage to Poland. Even though I only had exposures to the tour guides (except in Poland), the hatred of the Soviet occupation era was palpable. The Poles especially, since a great majority of them are devout Catholics, which the Russians, even before Communism, especially hate. It was surprising how vividly the Hungarians remember 1956, even though it was only through stories told by their grandparents. The Latvian tour guide was emphatic that Latvia has NOTHING in common with Russia, not ethnicity, not language, not culture. Nothing. And the Czech tour guide took great pains to point out the ugliest buildings, all of which were built by the Russians. I picked a wrong country perhaps to have said the following, since the Czech Rep is the most secular of all the Danube countries, but I told her that the hope of European Christianity revival lies in the east. She was very appreciative of the sentiment, since she understood that my comment referred not only to the religion, but the entire tradition of western civilization.

  15. Why should we send troops to Europe to defend a soon to be Muslim majority population? Let Putin have them. Pull all the troops.

  16. Amazing how much Trump has and is doing to fix America’s problems caused by corrupt and utterly selfish bureaucrats and Media. All the while being vilified around the world by said Media. He really needs much more aggressive PR, countering every negative narrative, bypassing MSM, highlighting to the world the causes and effects of individual situations and his common sense remedy for a more peaceful world and a prosperous United States. He uses Twitter to manipulate the media and utilize their hatred to his advantage, often exposing them for the fools they are, but somewhere he needs a strong comprehensive strategy, a war room, to expose the Fake News half-truths and outright lies published every night and flood the internet with talking points taking particular aim at Big Tech. Then calling out Big Tech for their censorious response.

    1. You are an idiot to think that any apparition of US leadership has any official opposition or does not work to achieve one united, scripted agenda. Soap operas have nothing on modern Western Democracy.

  17. Poor miserly Merkel and her grief. Angela Merkel probably secretly wishes that Trump’s paternal grandfather would’ve been allowed back into Germany after emigrating to the USA because Donald Trump, the man, the President, wouldn’t exist today.

    His Grandfather “had emigrated without fulfilling mandatory military service, Bavarian authorities stripped him of his Bavarian citizenship. Trump and his family returned to the United States. He became a U.S. citizen in 1892.”   (Wikipedia)

    History in a nutshell here:
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Trump

  18. Americans are withdrawing 700 marines and the entire equipment storage of a Marine Expeditionary Brigade from Norway — they were propositioned in Norway to cut off weeks response time in case of a Russian invasion of the Baltics, the Nordic countries or the rest of Eastern Europe — thus cutting off weeks in response time.

    The removal was accelerated by the Trump Administration. It is so obvious Trump is fulfilling his “obligations” to Vladimir Putin — his KGB Handler.

    If anybody has any doubts, USA will be pulled out of NATO in a second term of Trump.

    The US Marine Corps’ big plans to redesign its force means changes to what it stores in secret caves in Norway
    https://www.businessinsider.com/marine-corps-force-redesign-means-taking-tanks-from-norway-caves-2020-8
    Christopher Woody
    Aug 18, 2020, 3:16 PM

    U.S. Pulls 700 Marines Out of Norway
    https://www.lifeinnorway.net/u-s-pulls-700-marines-out-of-norway/
    Posted by David Nikel
    August 7, 2020

    Major Changes Coming for Marines’ Norway Deployments
    https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/08/07/major-changes-coming-marines-norway-deployments.html
    By Gina Harkins
    7 Aug 2020
    Military.com

    1. At one time Canada’s Cold War first response was to send a battalion to Norway to do a Hong Kong.

    3. Trump has agreed to increase U.S. military presence in Poland, the eastern edge of NATO. That is exactly what he should be doing, and exactly what Putin doesn’t want.

    4. gerry you idiot, EU has a population of 530 million, which still includes GB. They have 4 of the top 10 economies, Russia has 145 million pop, and the 11th top economy in the world, so why the hell shouldn’t America pull out 100% of their troops. It’s only business people who oppose Trump’s maneuvers in trade and foreign policies . You are like allen ass and have NO clues as to what the fuck you are barking about. Allen Ass thinks that NATO countries JUST agreed to 2%GDP, when in fact that was established a long time ago, and they only agreed to come up to previously agreed to standards.

  20. Merkel is a female Trudeau and has done everything with her power to run Germany into the ground.

    I hope Trump takes all the troops out and let’s her deal with it until she pays up.

  21. Sort of off topic, but does Canada even know what 2% of its own GDP means? After all, our budget balances itself, apparently, with added plus of being a post national nation… Perhaps Germany, under Merkel suffers the same problem?

    1. It’s got to be a piece of cake to be Finance Minister in Trudeau’s government when budgets balance themselves.

  22. Are Russians the “enemy”?

    We know Putin is a very bad man, but without criminals like him, should the West fear Russia?

    Russians appear to not want typical Western type pussy wankers to lead them, and you can’t blame them for that, so if they got rid of their current evil and corrupt leaders, then maybe they would be natural allies?

    1. Most Russians love Putin. In the pantheon if Russian leaders he has delivered much for the average Russian family. Look it’s Russia. No matter what you are electing a criminal. But come in. He’s actually done a pretty good job for Russians. Were I a Russian I would vote for him.

  23. It was in fact 5th Mechanized Brigade out of Valcartier. It was intended as a combined arms force with two mechanized battalions supported by a light armoured regiment, two CF-5 squadrons, 5th Artillery and 5th Engineers.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_Canadian_Mechanized_Brigade_Group

    CAST was scrapped in 1987, long before the collapse of the Warsaw Pact. It was militarily highly questionable.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Air-Sea_Transportable_Brigade_Group

    1. And a Squadron of Kiowa helicopters!

      I recall being told this plan and thinking ‘you gotta be kidding me?’

      Who didn’t perish by getting sunk in the Atlantic would have the pleasure of being pushed into the Sea off the cliffs of Norway…

  24. Happy with the Trump Admin decision to withdraw American troops from Germany and the rest of Western Europe. Let’s return every one of those bases to their 1945 condition – no hospitals, no runways, etc.
    In regard to military deployment in Poland, at least our sevicemen won’t be returning with jihadi brides.
    Where is Tony Blair’s European Army to fill the gap?

  25. The EU is a post WW2 globalist creation. What does that make NATO?
    Since WW2 Germans have been fed crap by CIA managed media.

    There are two faction in the USA vying for power over the apparatus of the sate -the globalist faction who have sold out their country in pursuit of the globalist agenda ( e.g in bed with Commie China) vs the Trump MAGA faction standing up for the USA vs the globalists.

    Russia stands in the way of the globalists.
    The globalists villainize Russia while in bed with the Chicoms who pose the greater threat to the USA.
    The globalists attack Trump for standing up to the Chicoms and opposing the globalist agenda.

    Patriots need to wake up and realize they have been fed crap by globalist media while the Chicom military been allowed to build up. Same. Same. The globalists built up both NAZI Germany AND Soviet USSR to have them destroy each other so that the globalists could gorge the pieces into a new world order. The EU was a first step.
    What will the globalist NWO look like? Just look at Commie China and their social controls. Masks and vaccines are the least of your worries.

    1. CCTV’s everywhere.
      Mandatory APP trackers.
      No guns.
      No property rights.
      To name a few more.

  26. What is really getting Mutti Merkel’s Lederhosen in a tangle is MONEY.

    How may US Dollars are paid to US personnel stationed in Germany?

    How much of that is spent within the local economy?

    How much more is injected by families of the US troops going to visit them / play tourist every year?

    As always: FOLLOW THE MONEY!!

    Remember that Merkel grew up in EAST Germany, a country that was SERIOUSLY occupied by the Soviets. Big difference? The average Private Ivan had nowhere near the economic clout of his American / Canadian or even British counterparts. Not that the DDR had an actual “economy” as opposed to the bizarre Command system in place.

    One of the many interesting things I learned in my travels in Viet Nam in the 1990’s was about how the “Southerners” dealt with the “New Management” post 1975. Their (discretely used) term for the hordes of soviet and other Eastern Bloc “advisors and other “visitors”, was something like Nguoi My khong co tien, (sorry, no diacriticals, etc.), which translates to; “Americans without money”.

  28. Donald Trump is doing what it takes to put America 1st.
    He has been doing a slow draw down all over the globe while boosting American military spending to keep America safe at home.

  29. Nukes on subs, nukes on aircraft carriers, nukes in silos, America has em everywhere around world, under the seas, on the seas, in the air and there is no need for very many bases anywhere other than in America. They are minutes if not seconds from striking any and every country on the planet.

  30. As pretty much EVERYBODY eventually discovers, all the “wonder weapons” are NOT the final arbiter.

    This task is left to the infantry soldier with rifle, bayonet and hand-grenade; to kill the other poor bastard or to winkle him out of his fox-holes and caves and into captivity. To shatter, at a very personal and individual level, the other side’s will to continue.

    See also; the Engineers who blast the crap out of “obstacles” standing in the way of the infantry and who then turn around and start bulldozing away the wreckage and rebuilding the joint. Repairing the roads, bridges, water supplies, etc.

    Turning some recalcitrant country into a series of glass car-parks might sound like fun, but the “prize” will be something of a poisoned chalice.

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