The first troop reductions in Germany under President Donald Trump’s order have taken place, and many in the national security community are aghast, even The Wall Street Journal.
The President based his decision on Germany&#8217;s failure to contribute adequately to NATO defense, flouting an agreed on 2% (of GDP) threshold for national defense contributions, but the story – like the alliance – is more complicated.
NATO requires consensus. The validity of the alliance hangs on whether states would be willing to approve a military response to a Russian action against any NATO member. Without it, the U.S. would lack the ability to use NATO airfields in Germany, Italy, Turkey, and the UK.  It would not have permission for ground forces to transit much of western Europe.
Today, Germany&#8217;s military is a shambles.  It has few operational tanks, not very many aircraft, and a navy in serious decline.  But the Germans really don’t care. Because Germany is Russia’s biggest paying customer for natural gas, Berlin believes there is no incentive for the Russians to bother it.
If there is a threat to outliers such as Poland or the Baltic States, Germany is far from committed to responding. There is a strong likelihood that Germany would veto any NATO response to a (highly unlikely) Russian aggression outside of a direct attack on Germany itself. If Germany uses its veto, France and Italy will likely align with it.  So too would Turkey, increasingly estranged from NATO.
Thus, even without any troop pullback by the United States, NATO has reached a precarious point as a collective security alliance.
Objectively, the U.S. is a nuclear power with a weakened conventional defense capability. Years of wasteful wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other hotspots have worn out conventional U.S. hardware (aircraft, ships, tanks, artillery), reduced our stockpile of munitions, especially smart weapons, and made many of our warfighters bitter about being in conflicts that sap lives and offer no compensation in victory.
From a defense planner&#8217;s perspective, any engagement of U.S. forces in Europe might break the back of our armed forces, and seriously weaken our already short-handed response to China&#8217;s growing power and assertiveness. A good analyst would argue to rebuild our forces over the next two decades before America gets into any more quagmires or engages a major power. This means that hanging onto the status quo and selective enhancements is about the best the U.S. can do in the middle future to protect our vital security interests. And, indeed, that is what the administration’s 2021 Defense Budget document calls for.
There were two rationales for NATO when it was originally set up; collective defense was not one of them. It was patently obvious the U.S. would provide the bulk of any effort to protect Europe.  The others would do what they could, which was never much.
The initial reason for NATO was to form an ironclad alliance to prevent Europeans from starting World War III. The American troop presence in Europe blocked Germany from being a hostile and dangerous aggressive power, as it was after World War I when a peace settlement failed to change its expansionist behavior, and after World War II when in the U.S. army was the bulwark against another Hitler.
The second reason for NATO was to stop Russia from being even more greedy and, to a degree, to cover up President Franklin Roosevelt&#8217;s decision to acquiesce in Russia&#8217;s domination of Eastern Europe.
What changed the equation was that the American nuclear umbrella ceased to be unilateral when Russia exploded its first atomic bomb in 1949. In the period from the 1960s through the 1980s, there developed in Europe an increasing skepticism that the U.S. would use its nuclear arsenal to defend against Russia.  In large measure, European suspicions were correct &#8212; which explains France&#8217;s Force de Frappe and the UK&#8217;s nuclear bombs and missile-firing nuclear submarines. (Even the Germans and the Italians wanted nuclear weapons but withered under U.S. pressure and backed off.  Instead, they sold their nuclear technology to Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Iran, and others.)
Today, the danger of a general war on the continent still deters Russia, Europe, and the United States.  But a nuclear deterrent probably is meaningless in smaller land grab operations, most of which are almost impossible to prevent.  One reason Russia occupies about 20 percent of Georgia, and Ukraine is being swallowed in chunks, is that no one in Europe, or the United States, is willing – or able? – to pay a real price to stop Vladimir Putin.
In practical terms, the U.S. should worry less about NATO and instead see what it can do to bolster at least some of the most vulnerable and strategic post-communist European states. At the same time, the U.S. has to be cautious that in doing so it is not put into a costly and risky trap.
The best candidate for defense is Poland because the Poles are making serious investments in their security and because they welcome bilateral cooperation with the U.S. as a bulwark against their traditional enemy, Russia.  While NATO is unlikely to support it in a crisis, the opposite is the case with the United States, although it won’t be simple.
There is always the chance that the Europeans will reverse course, but there is little evidence the current crop of European leaders believes in NATO beyond lip service. Under current conditions, then, NATO is reaching its end as a collective security system.
Given the nearly fatal condition of NATO, President Trump&#8217;s pullout of troops has no actual impact on the balance of forces in Europe. But the decision sends a message to Western European countries that if they want to defend themselves, they had better get started.
Stephen Bryen is a former high-ranking Pentagon official. Shoshana Bryen is Senior Director of The Jewish Policy Center and editor of inFOCUS Quarterly.
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

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BRYEN & BRYEN: American Troops Pulled From Germany As NATO Falters

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On Thursday, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg appeared on Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria” with host Maria Bartiromo.
During his time on the show, Stoltenberg had the following exchange with Bartiromo about President Trump’s insistence that participating NATO countries contribute more to the international collaboration:
<blockquote>BARTITOMO: Is this true you and President Trump have formed this very close relationship?
STOLTENBERG: We work closely together because we are concerned about the same things. We’re worried about the rise of terrorism and fighting terrorism, but also the importance of having fair burden-sharing within the NATO alliance. And NATO brings together North America and Europe, and of course, we have to share the burden in a fair way. He has been very clear that European allies and Canada have to spend more and his message is having an impact. All European allies and Canada are investing more, and this is making NATO stronger.
BARTIROMO: And you think they will get up to that 2% of GDP target by what is it, 2024?
STOLTENBERG: Yes, the target is to be there by 2024. More allies now meet the two percent target already. All allies have begun to increase defense spending and the majority of allies have plans in place to be there by 2024.</blockquote>
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-qJ989K-SHk" width="720" height="385" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
President Trump has long expressed frustration because of what he sees as a disproportionality among NATO members as it pertains to their financial contributions to the alliance.
During a NATO speech in July 2018, the president <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-press-conference-nato-summit-brussels-belgium/">stated in part</a>:
<blockquote>For years, Presidents have been coming to these meetings and talked about the expense – the tremendous expense for the United States.  And tremendous progress has been made; everyone has agreed to substantially up their commitment. They’re going to up it at levels that they’ve never thought of before.
Prior to last year, where I attended my first meeting, it was going down – the amount of money being spent by countries was going down and down very substantially.  And now, it’s going up very substantially. And commitments were made. Only five of 29 countries were making their commitment. And that’s now changed. The commitment was at 2%. Ultimately, that’ll be going up quite a bit higher than that.</blockquote>
The president also <a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1017290478839050240">tweeted</a>: “All NATO Nations must meet their 2% commitment, and that must ultimately go to 4%!”
According to a December 2019 article from <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-nato-budget-is-funded-2018-7">Business Insider</a>, NATO “came to an agreement in 2014 that each member state will increase their own defense spending to 2% of their respective gross domestic product by 2024,” which is the date to which Maria Bartiromo referred during her exchange with Stoltenberg.
A NATO <a href="https://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/pdf_2019_11/20191129_pr-2019-123-en.pdf">press release</a> from November 29, 2019, shows that from 2014 to 2019, multiple countries in the alliance have significantly increased their contributions in order to meet the 2% threshold.
Among the countries to have reached or exceeded the goal since 2014 are Estonia, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, and Bulgaria (which rocketed from less than 1.5% “expenditure as a share of GDP” in 2014 to 3.25% in 2019). Other nations such as Turkey, France, and Norway are closing in.
The United States still provides the most, with 3.42% “expenditure as a share of GDP,” according to the NATO report, which notes that 2019 numbers are estimates.
Speaking before a joint session of Congress in April 2019, Stoltenberg <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/04/03/nato_secretary_general_addresses_joint_session_of_congress.html">said</a>:
<blockquote>NATO allies must spend more on defense. This has been the clear message from President Trump, and this message is having a real impact. After years of reducing defense budgets, all allies have stopped the cuts, and all allies have increased their defense spending. Before, they were cutting billions, now, they’re adding billions.</blockquote>
Stoltenberg later added: “This is making NATO stronger. That money will allow us to invest in new capabilities our armed forces need, including advanced fighter aircraft, attack helicopters, missile defense, and surveillance drones. This is good for Europe, and is good for America.”

Trump and NATO head Jens Stoltenberg.

NATO Head Says He And Trump Are ‘Concerned About The Same Things,’ And Trump’s ‘Message Is Having An Impact’

Donald Trump

Jens Stoltenberg

On Thursday, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg appeared on Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria” with

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Once the spearhead of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey has again risen to prominence — but for all the wrong reasons. Turkey has prevailed as NATO’s worst ally, disrespecting its core tenets as well as its members’ security interests. It has championed terrorism and has ethnically cleansed the Kurds, forcefully <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/12/16/kurdish-commander-mazloum-abdi-trump-prevent-ethnic-cleansing-kurds-turkey/">displacing</a> 300,000 in northern Syria and purging <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/New-sanctions-show-Turkeys-double-standards-on-terror-608376">24</a> Kurdish mayors from office in Turkey. Turkey’s utter disregard for NATO’s <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/126169.htm">purposes</a> — including collective defense and, arguably, promotion of regional stability — and its terrorism warrant a “cold Turkey” expulsion from NATO.
While the North Atlantic Treaty does not stipulate whether expulsion is an available remedy, it is <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/66574/can-turkey-be-expelled-from-nato/">likely</a> so. This is because Article 60(b) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties — which governs the interpretation of international treaties — <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/66574/can-turkey-be-expelled-from-nato/">notes</a> that material breaches of a treaty, which can justify grounds for a member’s expulsion, include “the violation of a provision essential to the accomplishment of the object or purpose of the treaty.” According to Just Security, violating NATO’s underlying principles, but more so its “object and purpose,” can amount to a material breach that can <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/66574/can-turkey-be-expelled-from-nato/">legitimate</a> Turkey’s expulsion.
Turkey deserves expulsion for challenging NATO’s principles, but also for its failures as a purported geopolitical “ally.” In <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/10/turkey-and-nato-troubled-relationship/599890/">1974</a>, Turkey violated arguably NATO’s foremost object and tenet — <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_110496.htm">Article V</a>, a collective defense provision maintaining that an <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/126169.htm">attack</a> on any NATO member is an attack on all — by attacking Greece, then a NATO member, over control for Cyprus. Turkey still occupies Cyprus’s north and is the only country to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/northern-cyprus-travel/index.html">recognize</a> “the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus as legitimate.” This invasion alone, which displaced <a href="https://www.thenationalherald.com/210640/cyprus-turkish-invasion-anniversary-brings-calls-to-resume-unity-talks/">200,000</a> Cypriot-Greeks, can be invoked to initiate Turkey’s expulsion. Turkey has also defied NATO’s founding purposes, to counter de facto Russian <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/nato">aggression</a> and <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/formation-of-nato-and-warsaw-pact">expansion</a>, by recently procuring a Russian air defense system. Thus, Turkey has demonstrated a dual allegiance to NATO’s historic competitor. Turkey has also undermined <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/126169.htm">regional stability</a>, <a href="http://syriatimes.sy/index.php/news/regional/45793-libyan-army-spokesman-turkey-transports-a-number-of-daesh-and-jabhat-al-nusra-terrorists-from-syria-to-libya">deploying</a> ISIS and Hayat Tahrir al Sham to fight in Libya, and has refused to aid NATO allies in times of need, denying the U.S. use of the Incirlik Airbase during the Iraq War. A failed NATO ally, Turkey has initiated internal war, has sided with NATO’s historic adversary, and has slighted its allies during key operations.
Turkey’s sponsorship of terror is also overwhelming. In part, this is because Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has long championed jihadists and fundamentalists like <a href="https://www.memri.org/reports/memri-archives-turkish-president-erdo%C4%9Fans-past-close-relations-afghan-warlord-gulbuddin">Galbuddin Hekmatyar</a>. An “Afghani jihad leader,” “Specifically Designated Global Terrorist,” and “Al Qaeda ally,” <a href="https://www.memri.org/reports/memri-archives-turkish-president-erdo%C4%9Fans-past-close-relations-afghan-warlord-gulbuddin">Hekmatyar</a> offered bin Laden shelter in Afghanistan, and “pledged allegiance to the spiritual leader of the Taliban” to attack American troops. Yet, a young <a href="https://www.memri.org/reports/memri-archives-turkish-president-erdo%C4%9Fans-past-close-relations-afghan-warlord-gulbuddin">Erdogan</a> can be <a href="https://www.memri.org/reports/memri-archives-turkish-president-erdo%C4%9Fans-past-close-relations-afghan-warlord-gulbuddin">found</a> sitting beside Hekmatyar’s feet. Erdogan was also a “<a href="https://ahvalnews.com/muslim-brotherhood/turkey-becomes-biggest-muslim-brotherhood-backer-world">pupil</a>” of Necmettin Erbakan, the founder of Turkish Islamism and Turkey’s former prime minister. <a href="https://www.counterextremism.com/extremists/necmettin-erbakan">Erbakan</a> founded Turkish affiliates of the Muslim Brotherhood, such as the Welfare Party, and has praised Hamas.
Not surprisingly, Erdogan has advanced his masters’ fundamentalism — harboring, exporting, and financing terror. Turkish <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/New-sanctions-show-Turkeys-double-standards-on-terror-608376">authorities</a> allow <a href="https://www.counterextremism.com/threat/hamas">Hamas</a> to coordinate attacks from Istanbul, while also <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/12/17/hamas-plots-attacks-israel-turkey-erdogan-turns-blind-eye/">allowing</a> Hamas officials to “freely” enter “without fear of arrest.” Shortly after hosting Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s leader, Erdogan <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/barkat-asks-us-to-sanction-turkey-after-report-of-hamas-assassination-plot/">saluted</a> Hamas: “We will keep on supporting our brothers in Palestine.” In fact, ties between Hamas and Erdogan’s Turkey are so <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/12/17/hamas-plots-attacks-israel-turkey-erdogan-turns-blind-eye/">strong</a> that “Turkish intelligence agents also maintain close contact with [Hamas] operatives.”
Erdogan has also <a href="https://ahvalnews.com/muslim-brotherhood/turkey-becomes-biggest-muslim-brotherhood-backer-world">provided</a> safe haven and funding to members of the <a href="https://www.counterextremism.com/threat/muslim-brotherhood">Muslim Brotherhood</a>, from which <a href="https://www.counterextremism.com/threat/hamas">Hamas</a> emerged. Under Erdogan and his AKP, a Brotherhood-linked political party, <a href="https://ahvalnews.com/muslim-brotherhood/turkey-becomes-biggest-muslim-brotherhood-backer-world">Turkey</a> has become the “biggest Muslim Brotherhood backer in the world,” even outpacing <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cope-academia-and-think-tanks-must-boycott-qatar">Qatar</a>, and has “been handed … a leading position in the [Brotherhood] movement, due to [its]success.” Having provided a safe haven for dozens of Brotherhood figures, Erdogan has <a href="https://ahvalnews.com/muslim-brotherhood/turkey-becomes-biggest-muslim-brotherhood-backer-world">sheltered</a> “some the movement’s most powerful and influential figures.”
Turkey also <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/New-sanctions-show-Turkeys-double-standards-on-terror-608376">safeguards</a> and <a href="http://syriatimes.sy/index.php/news/regional/45793-libyan-army-spokesman-turkey-transports-a-number-of-daesh-and-jabhat-al-nusra-terrorists-from-syria-to-libya">deploys</a> ISIS fighters. According to the head of Iraqi military intelligence, Lt.-Gen. Saad al-Allaq, Turkey currently <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/New-sanctions-show-Turkeys-double-standards-on-terror-608376">harbors</a> “nine [of ISIS’s] alleged terror leaders” and “top financiers.” It has become home to ISIS recruitment <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/New-sanctions-show-Turkeys-double-standards-on-terror-608376">cells</a>, and is a refuge to which many ISIS members fled after losing territory. In Turkey, ISIS has <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/New-sanctions-show-Turkeys-double-standards-on-terror-608376">planned</a> prison breaks and attacks. <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/New-sanctions-show-Turkeys-double-standards-on-terror-608376">ISIS</a> procurement agents and ISIS-affiliated companies also operate from Turkey, and Abu Bakr al Baghdadi was found just miles from its eastern border — suggesting that Turkish intelligence likely condoned nearby ISIS activity.
Most shocking, however, has been Turkey’s direct <a href="http://syriatimes.sy/index.php/news/regional/45793-libyan-army-spokesman-turkey-transports-a-number-of-daesh-and-jabhat-al-nusra-terrorists-from-syria-to-libya">deployment</a> of <a href="https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/turkey-is-smuggling-daesh-terrorists-to-libya-lna/">troops</a> from ISIS and <a href="https://www.csis.org/programs/transnational-threats-project/terrorism-backgrounders/hayat-tahrir-al-sham-hts">Hayat Tahrir Al Sham</a>, a Salafi-jihadist group whose predecessor was <a href="https://www.csis.org/programs/transnational-threats-project/terrorism-backgrounders/hayat-tahrir-al-sham-hts">Jabhat Al Nusra</a> (an Al Qaeda affiliate), in the Libyan Civil War. Reinforcing Libya&#8217;s Government of National Accord, which <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2019/08/15/qatar-state-sponsor-terrorism/">Qatar</a> — one of the world’s largest sponsors of terror — also backs, Turkey’s military has also accepted a military <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/New-sanctions-show-Turkeys-double-standards-on-terror-608376">escort</a> from Hayat Tahrir al Sham in Syria. Hence, Turkey not only embraces terrorism, but exports it as well.
Turkey’s ties to terror also involve financing, including  “<a href="http://trumanproject.org/home/doctrine-blog/the-gray-list-turkeys-financing-of-terrorism/">indiscriminate funding</a>” to “al-Q[ae]da based groups in the region, specifically those in the Syrian Civil War.” Turkey remains the only NATO country to be <a href="http://trumanproject.org/home/doctrine-blog/the-gray-list-turkeys-financing-of-terrorism/">gray-listed</a> by the Financial Action Task Force (<a href="https://www.fatf-gafi.org/about/">FATF</a>), an intergovernmental body committed to “combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.” Funding, exporting, and harboring terror amongst many groups, Turkey champions terror and warrants long-overdue sanctions.
Through violating its duties as a NATO member, and through its strong affiliations to terrorist groups — Hamas, ISIS, Hayat Tahrir al Sham, and arguably, the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-designating-muslim-brotherhood-terrorist-josh-hammer">Muslim Brotherhood</a> — Turkey emerges as candidate for the worst NATO ally in the history of the alliance. Having legal grounds to expel Turkey expulsion, NATO must now do so — and it must do so swiftly in order to protect its integrity.
&nbsp;
Jordan Cope is currently a law student at the University of Texas at Austin, where he also completed his undergraduate degree. Having graduated with a B.A. in international relations, Jordan also minored in Middle Eastern studies and can speak Arabic and Hebrew. He has also published research on the security implications of Palestinian foreign aid. He can be followed <a href="https://twitter.com/JordanCope12">@JordanCope12</a>.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan in London

COPE: Expel Erdogan, His Terror, And His Ethnic Cleansing From NATO

Al Qaeda

Europe

Foreign Policy

Islamic State (ISIS)

Middle East

Radical Islam

Radical Islamic Terror

Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Turkey

Once the spearhead of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey has again risen to prominence — but for all the wrong reasons. Turkey has prevailed as NATO’s worst ally,

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President Donald Trump will head back to Washington, D.C., this afternoon after completing his remaining meetings at the NATO Summit in London rather than stay for another evening of mixers after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was captured on tape mocking him at a Buckingham Palace reception Tuesday night.
The NATO gathering has been acrimonious and Trudeau, as well as a handful of other world leaders, were left angry after Trump suggested that NATO allies begin making bigger financial contributions to the alliance&#8217;s military efforts rather than rely on the United States to underwrite the vast cost of NATO peacekeeping.
Trudeau was captured talking about the President by cameras filming interactions between the NATO leaders at a reception hosted by Queen Elizabeth on Tuesday. Trudeau laughed at Trump&#8217;s tardiness and suggested to the UK&#8217;s Prime Minister Boris Johnson that Trump&#8217;s staff was trying desperately to rein in the American president.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/JustinTrudeau?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JustinTrudeau</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/EmmanuelMacron?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@EmmanuelMacron</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/BorisJohnson?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BorisJohnson</a> and other VIPs shared a few words at a Buckingham Palace reception Tuesday. No one mentions <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDonaldTrump</a> by name, but they seem to be discussing his lengthy impromptu press conferences from earlier in the day. (Video: Host Pool) <a href="https://t.co/dVgj48rpOP">pic.twitter.com/dVgj48rpOP</a>
&mdash; Power &amp; Politics (@PnPCBC) <a href="https://twitter.com/PnPCBC/status/1202008162997538817?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Trump replied to Trudeau&#8217;s mockery on Wednesday, outlining his efforts to prod Canada, the UK, and others into taking a more active role in paying for NATO efforts which, Trump says, Trudeau and others didn&#8217;t appreciate. NATO members have a &#8220;non-binding&#8221; agreement to contribute 2% of their countries&#8217; gross domestic product to defense and Trump made it a priority to confront the leaders of nations who aren&#8217;t making good on that promise.
&#8220;I called him out on the fact he is not paying 2 percent, and I guess he&#8217;s not very happy about it,&#8221; Trump told reporters, adding that Canada has yet to meet its NATO military spending goals.
Indeed, the President had testy interactions with several nations he accused of shorting the NATO piggybank. Before news broke of yesterday&#8217;s tiff between Trump and Trudeau, the predominant story was Trump&#8217;s tangle with French president Emmanuel Macron over what he believed to be French under-payment.
Trudeau skirted the issue when asked about his comments Wednesday morning, telling reporters that &#8220;[l]ast night, I made a reference to the fact that there was an unscheduled press conference before my meeting with President Trump. And I was happy to take part of it. But it was certainly notable,&#8221; <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/nato-summit-braces-friction-after-bruising-first-day-n1095296">according to NBC News.</a> He said his &#8220;jaws dropping&#8221; remark was in reference to Trump&#8217;s suggestion that the next G7 summit will be at Camp David in the United States.
Boris Johson denied that he took part in Trudeau&#8217;s apparent criticism, calling the report &#8220;absolute nonsense&#8221; and adding that he &#8220;didn&#8217;t know&#8221; how those rumors began.
The President announced on Twitter, however, that he wouldn&#8217;t stay to be mocked a second night in a row, and that he would be returning to Washington, D.C., as soon as his remaining meetings are over, cutting a final press conference off his official schedule.
&#8220;Just finished meetings with Turkey and Germany. Heading to a meeting now with those countries that have met their 2% GOALS, followed by meetings with Denmark and Italy,&#8221; Trump tweeted. &#8220;When today’s meetings are over, I will be heading back to Washington. We won’t be doing a press conference at the close of NATO because we did so many over the past two days. Safe travels to all!&#8221;
The President made good on his promise, boarding Marine One at approximately 9:30 EST to rendevous with his ride back across the Atlantic.

NATO Leaders Summit Takes Place In The UK &#8211; Day Two

Trump Cancels NATO Press Conference, Heads Back To DC After Being Mocked By Trudeau

Justin Trudeau

President Donald Trump will head back to Washington, D.C., this afternoon after completing his remaining meetings at the NATO Summit in London rather than

Trump Cancels NATO Press Conference, Heads Back To DC After Being Mocked By Trudeau | The Daily Wire

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Under President Donald Trump, the number of countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance meeting their treaty-imposed financial obligations has doubled. Additionally, NATO spending has increased $130 billion and is on track to be boosted to $400 billion by 2024. Meanwhile, as promised by President Trump, the United States&#8217; hefty contribution to the alliance has dropped from 20% to 16%. 
&#8220;In the [three] decades before my election, NATO spending declined by two-thirds, and only [three] other NATO members were meeting their financial obligations. Since I took office, the number of NATO allies fulfilling their obligations more than DOUBLED, and NATO spending increased by $130B!&#8221; the president boasted via Twitter, on Monday.
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In the 3 decades before my election, NATO spending declined by two-thirds, and only 3 other NATO members were meeting their financial obligations. Since I took office, the number of NATO allies fulfilling their obligations more than DOUBLED, and NATO spending increased by $130B!
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1201566010521858048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 2, 2019</a></blockquote>
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At a conference on Tuesday in London, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg praised Trump&#8217;s leadership with respect to the alliance&#8217;s progress.
&#8220;We are making real progress, most importantly on the burden sharing,&#8221; Secretary General Stoltenberg told reporters. &#8220;And your leadership on defense spending is having a real impact. Since 2016, Canada and European allies have added $130 billion more to the defense budgets, and this number will increase to 400 billion U.S. dollars by 2024.&#8221;
&#8220;This is unprecedented,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;This is making NATO stronger. And it shows that this alliance is adapting, responding when the world is changing.&#8221;
&#8220;Thank you for your leadership and your strong commitment to NATO,&#8221; Mr. Stoltenberg added.
President Trump has long been skeptical of the alliance, primarily because of the U.S.&#8217;s hefty contribution relative to other countries&#8217; portions. During the conference, Trump heaped praise upon Mr. Stoltenberg and again highlighted the headway he&#8217;s made with the alliance.
&#8220;I think he’s doing a fantastic job,&#8221; Trump said of Stoltenberg. &#8220;I’m a big fan. His contract was extended; I was very happy about that. But you really are — you’re doing a fantastic job. We appreciate it.&#8221;
&#8220;I think the Secretary General will tell you that, through some work and some negotiation, we’ve increased the budget of countries other than the USA, because we’re paying far more than anybody else, and far more even as a percentage of GDP,&#8221; Trump continued. &#8220;But we’ve increased the numbers that other countries are paying, by $130 billion. It was going down for close to 20 years. If you look at a chart, it was like a roller coaster down, nothing up. And that was going on for a long time. You wouldn’t have had a NATO if you kept going that way.&#8221;
&#8220;And now we’ve really increased it incredibly well, and I’m happy to have helped. But the Secretary has been looking to do that for a long time. And, I can tell you, he’s very happy about it,&#8221; added Trump.
WATCH:
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President Trump has been fighting for increased burden sharing by NATO members, and it&#39;s working. Over $130 billion in new defense spending by member countries! <a href="https://t.co/JXspMyufPs">pic.twitter.com/JXspMyufPs</a>
&mdash; The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1201853624894316545?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Despite the progress, President Trump is still pushing other countries to meet their obligatory financial standards.
&#8220;Some [countries] are way below 1%,&#8221; Trump told reporters on Tuesday, &#8220;and that&#8217;s unacceptable. And if something happens, we&#8217;re supposed to protect them. And it&#8217;s not really fair, and it never has been fair.&#8221;
Delinquent countries have to pay up, Trump added, noting that &#8220;if they don&#8217;t want to, I&#8217;ll have to do something with respect to trade. And with trade, I hold all the cards.&#8221;
WATCH:
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Question: You&#39;ve called NATO member countries delinquent for not meeting the 2% standard. Where would you put Canada?
President Trump: &quot;Slightly delinquent.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/FpoPuqCEw4">pic.twitter.com/FpoPuqCEw4</a>
&mdash; The Hill (@thehill) <a href="https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1201892281135116288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Partial transcript via <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-nato-secretary-general-stoltenberg-11-meeting-london-united-kingdom/">WhiteHouse.gov</a>

WINNING: Trump Doubles NATO Countries Paying Financial Obligations, Warns ‘Delinquent’ Countries Must Pay Up

Under President Donald Trump, the number of countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance meeting their treaty-imposed financial

WINNING: Trump Doubles NATO Countries Paying Financial Obligations, Warns &#039;Delinquent&#039; Countries Must Pay Up | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/winning-trump-doubles-nato-countries-paying-financial-obligations-warns-delinquent-countries-must-pay-up/

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One of the central complaints of Donald Trump&#8217;s presidential campaign and subsequent presidency is that America&#8217;s NATO allies (Turkey included) don&#8217;t pay their share for the protection they enjoy from the United States military. Yet in the Middle East, there is a group that has paid its share in blood — blood that they shed to minimize our losses while defeating our enemies — and Trump threw them away.
It is often said that the Kurds are pro-American, but that is an understatement. To say that the Kurds love America is still an understatement. The Bible says &#8220;Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends&#8221; (John 15:13 KJV), and in this case that love is multiplied more than a thousand fold.
According to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-administration-to-pull-troops-from-northern-syria-as-turkey-readies-offensive/2019/10/07/a965e466-e8b3-11e9-bafb-da248f8d5734_story.html" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-administration-to-pull-troops-from-northern-syria-as-turkey-readies-offensive/2019/10/07/a965e466-e8b3-11e9-bafb-da248f8d5734_story.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1570847289196000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEpePltki-YB75BHIV7LhmYA7UEtA">The Washington Post</a>, in the battle against ISIS: &#8220;Syrian Kurdish fighters have served as the primary ground force against the Islamic State, with the United States providing logistical and air support. The Kurds have suffered more than 10,000 casualties in the fight. Four American service members have been killed in combat in Syria since 2014.&#8221; The loss of any American soldier breaks the heart of every patriot, but ISIS wants to kill every American man, woman, or child who will not bow to their dictates. If we are to continue to live safe and free, ISIS had to be defeated sooner or later — and it was done with very few American casualties, thanks to the sacrifices of the Kurds.
The president likes to say that there were only 50 troops in northern Syria supporting the Kurds. For those 50 troops, the United States had a battle-tested fighting force of 100,000 reliable friends — something quite rare in the Middle East — that the U.S. could call upon in case of an ISIS resurgence.
Terrorists arise, thrive, and can resurface in areas of instability. Until a few days ago, the threat of such a resurfacing of ISIS was low — thanks to the stability of the area governed by the Kurds. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/its-not-too-late-for-trump-to-rethink-a-dangerous-betrayal-of-us-allies-in-syria/2019/01/03/fb86739c-0f69-11e9-84fc-d58c33d6c8c7_story.html" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/its-not-too-late-for-trump-to-rethink-a-dangerous-betrayal-of-us-allies-in-syria/2019/01/03/fb86739c-0f69-11e9-84fc-d58c33d6c8c7_story.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1570847289196000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGPKDNNyGOo5L94GZo171hKXOvnGg">According</a> to Thomas S. Kaplan and Bernard-Henri Lévy, who work directly with the Kurds, &#8220;Even as they [the Kurds] have waged a years-long war against the Islamic State in northeastern Syria, they have governed a population of about 2 million people with a degree of respect for religious freedom, gender equality and minority rights unknown in that part of the world.&#8221; (Last year, former Daily Wire correspondent Kassy Dillon, traveled to northern Iraq and saw first-hand what an area governed by the Kurds looks like. &#8220;I spent several day[s] with the Kurds last year and I was the only woman,&#8221; she <a href="https://twitter.com/KassyDillon/status/1181220006341705729" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/KassyDillon/status/1181220006341705729&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1570847289196000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEQxGJ5XwKVQcEy841U0--C8t207A">tweeted</a>. &#8220;I was treated respectfully and had the opportunity to visit their front lines.&#8221; One of the Kurdish fighters she met, Mo, <a href="https://twitter.com/KassyDillon/status/1181191030097338368" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/KassyDillon/status/1181191030097338368&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1570847289196000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGrUZnvmA7hlZLdU0vUGOegr3y9uQ">wears</a> an American flag on his uniform &#8220;to honor all of the Americans who fought beside him against ISIS.&#8221;)
All of this is now being squandered by the president — and for what? What national security benefits did the unreliable, unstable, anti-American dictator of Turkey promise that convinced the president to abandon some of America&#8217;s most stalwart allies in the Middle East?
It&#8217;s a real shame. Alliances are built on trust. The Kurds trusted us and did their part. Next time the president complains about allies who don&#8217;t do their part, he should take a long, hard look in the mirror.

Donald Trump speaking

MITSOTAKIS: Trump’s Alliance Hypocrisy

Kurds

Syria

One of the central complaints of Donald Trump&#039;s presidential campaign and subsequent presidency is that America&#039;s NATO allies (Turkey included) don&#039;t pay

MITSOTAKIS: Trump&#039;s Alliance Hypocrisy | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/mitsotakis-trumps-alliance-hypocrisy/

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced that Germany will work to meet its obligations to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), just a week or so after the U.S. Ambassador to Germany called the country out for ducking its responsibilities.
Stars and Stripes <a href="https://www.stripes.com/news/merkel-says-germany-must-improve-its-military-amid-spending-row-with-us-1.594396">reported</a> last week that Merkel announced Germany would improve its military and boost its contributions to NATO. Member nations are required to spend 2% of their GDP on defense spending, yet Germany – Europe’s largest economy – barely pays more than 1%.
President Donald Trump has criticized Germany for failing to meet its NATO obligations even as other members have increased their defense spending.
“People are paying and I am very happy with the fact they are paying,” Trump <a href="https://www.stripes.com/news/europe/trump-praises-nato-allies-for-spending-but-says-germany-not-contributing-enough-1.575399">said</a> in April while meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Trump added, “Germany, honestly, is not paying their fair share.”
Earlier in August, Richard Grenell, the U.S. Ambassador to Germany, heavily criticized Germany’s failure to fund its military, which appears to be what prompted Merkel’s change. In a statement to The Daily Wire, Grenell emphasized the need for Germany to increase defense spending.
“We have made clear that meeting the NATO obligation of paying 2% of your GDP for defense is important for the largest economy in Europe,” Grenell said. “There is lots of talk in Europe about multilateralism but I can’t think of a more successful multilateral organization than NATO.”
Grenell, according to Stars and Stripes, also released a statement calling it “actually offensive” that the U.S. was paying to keep troops stationed in Germany while the country wouldn’t even meet the minimum defense spending target of 2% GDP.
The 2% requirement started in 2014, under President Barack Obama. Other European nations have increased their defense spending since Trump took office. Poland has even offered $2 billion to build a permanent base of U.S. troops. Grenell and other Trump administration officials had previously threatened to move troops out of Germany and into Poland if Berlin didn’t start increasing defense spending.
Now Merkel appears to have gotten the message, announcing last week that Germany would move toward contributing 2% of GDP to its military.
“I think that the German (bases) are good locations for the American soldiers,” Merkel said Wednesday after meeting with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda.
“There are good reasons for the (U.S.) bases here in Germany but at the same time we know that we must take the pains to get the German military in better shape,” she added.
Germany is a long way from 2%. Stars and Stripes reported that the country would strive to contribute 1.5% of GDP toward defense spending by the end of 2020 and wouldn’t likely reach 2% until after 2024.
“So this means in the direction of 2%, and we will continue to go in this direction also after 2024,” Merkel said, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-politics-merkel-nato/merkel-promises-to-meet-defense-spending-target-amid-us-criticism-idUSKCN1V31NX">according to Reuters</a>.

GERMANY-CHINA-DIPLOMACY

Germany Will Now Work To Meet NATO Obligations After U.S. Ambassador Calls Out Their Deficiency

Angela Merkel

Richard Grenell

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced that Germany will work to meet its obligations to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), just a week

Germany Will Now Work To Meet NATO Obligations After U.S. Ambassador Calls Out Their Deficiency | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/germany-will-now-work-meet-nato-obligations-after-ashe-schow/

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When Donald Trump first launched his presidential campaign, many feared that his <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/exploration/charles-a-lindbergh#section_4">Charles Lindbergh-esque</a> calls for an &#8220;America first&#8221; foreign policy might serve as a proxy for Ron Paul-style isolationism &#8212; and, some of Trump&#8217;s most zealous detractors speculated, potentially something much more <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/category/history/charles-lindbergh-and-the-rise-of-1940s-nazi_1/">nefarious</a>.
Those fears have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/45450/hammer-here-are-three-reasons-why-i-plan-vote-josh-hammer">not come to pass</a>. Trump has been fairly trigger-happy in bombing some of Bashar al-Assad&#8217;s military assets in Syria, has (<a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/news/now-pull-the-plug-on-afghanistan/">incorrectly</a>, in my view) recommitted to a prolonged U.S. military presence in <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-strategy-afghanistan-south-asia/">Afghanistan</a>, has been consistently defiant in his hardline opposition to the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43339/hammer-iranian-revolution-forty-years-old-stand-josh-hammer">genocidal</a> <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/45641/report-trump-administration-designate-iranian-kassy-dillon">mullocracy</a> of Tehran, and has generally been substantively hawkish in dealing with both <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/08/trump-administration-ups-russia-sanctions-977650">Russia</a> and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/20/trump-says-china-tariffs-could-stay-in-place-amid-trade-deal-talks.html">China</a> alike. To the extent Trump&#8217;s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/NSS-Final-12-18-2017-0905.pdf">National Security Strategy</a> has promulgated &#8212; and to the extent he has acted upon &#8212; a foreign policy doctrine that is at odds with the past two to three decades of the bipartisan Wilsonian/neoliberal D.C. Smart Set&#8482;&#65039; consensus, Trump has merely placed a greater emphasis on prizing <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Virtue-Nationalism-Yoram-Hazony/dp/1541645375">nation-state sovereignty</a> over the interests of sovereignty-undermining inherently leftist transnational institutions. And for that, Trump ought to be <a href="https://www.themaven.net/theresurgent/contributors/destroy-the-united-nations-MRHU9AcfJUW0v67EHdQI-Q/">praised</a>.
Over the weekend, Yoram Hazony and Ofir Haivry of the Jersualem, Israel-based <a href="https://herzlinstitute.org/en">Herzl Institute</a> think tank, published a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-america-needs-new-alliances-11554503421">deeply incisive op-ed</a> in The Wall Street Journal that builds upon the Trump presidency to-date and articulates what a forward-looking American foreign policy doctrine &#8212; which properly and solely prioritizes America&#8217;s national security interest above all else &#8212; ought to look like. Here is the crux of the authors&#8217; argument:
<blockquote>
On paper, America has defense alliances with dozens of countries. But these are the ghosts of a rivalry with the Soviet Union that ended three decades ago, or the result of often reckless policies adopted after 9/11. These so-called allies include Turkey and Pakistan, which share neither America&#8217;s values nor its interests, and cooperate with the U.S. only when it serves their purposes. Other &#8220;allies&#8221; refuse to develop a significant capacity for self-defense, and are thus more accurately regarded as American dependencies or protectorates. &#8230;
An American strategic posture aimed at minimizing the danger from rival powers needs to focus [instead] on deterring Russia and China from wars of expansion; weakening China relative to the U.S. and thereby preventing it from attaining dominance over the world economy; and keeping smaller hostile powers such as North Korea and Iran from obtaining the capacity to attack America or other democracies. &#8230;
Rather than carelessly accumulate dependencies, the U.S. must ask where it can develop real allies &#8212; countries that share its commitment to a world of independent nations, pursue democratic self-determination (although not necessarily liberalism) at home, and are willing to pay the price for freedom by taking primary responsibility for their own defense&#8230;
</blockquote>
As Hazony and Haivry argue, it is long past time for the bipartisan U.S. foreign policy ruling class to rethink shibboleths to which it has been recalcitrantly tethered. Turkey, which the authors properly highlight, is a prime example of an &#8220;ally&#8221; gone awry. Turkey was founded as a secular state out of the post-World War I ashes of the Ottoman Empire, and during the Cold War served as a NATO member (which it, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-07-11/nato-s-real-crisis-is-turkey-not-trump">unfathomably</a>, still is) and key strategic linchpin against aspirational Soviet hegemony. But under Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey has become an irredeemably totalitarian, Islamist dictatorship that <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/erdogans-turkey-worlds-biggest-prison-journalists-opinion-1125718">jails more journalists</a> than any nation in the world and &#8212; along with <a href="https://www.thenational.ae/world/the-americas/us-national-security-adviser-qatar-and-turkey-are-new-sponsors-of-radical-ideology-1.683989">Qatar</a> &#8212; has long surpassed the (largely reformed, at least from an Islamist exportation perspective) Saudi monarchy as a top international funder of extremist Sunni madrasas abroad.
Is Turkey an &#8220;ally&#8221; because it is nominally still a part of NATO, or is it a geopolitical foe because it shills for Hamas, al-Qaeda, and even <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/12/28/turkey-is-lying-about-fighting-isis/">Islamic State</a> &#8212; all whilst generally aligning with the Iran-Qatar-Muslim Brotherhood axis that wreaks destabilizing havoc all throughout the Middle East? The question ought to answer itself.
Rather than be dragged down by inherently Western Europe-centric transnational institutions such as NATO and the United Nations, U.S. foreign policy hands must wake up to the reality that, as Hazony and Haivry put it, &#8220;China, Russia and hostile Islamist groups&#8221; serve as the three largest threats for America this century. In a short <a href="https://twitter.com/josh_hammer/status/1114971667179147265">tweet thread</a> yesterday, I elaborated on the proper way to assess would-be U.S. alliances, under this analytical framework.
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America&#8217;s three big geopolitical threats this century are China, Russia, and Islamism&#8212;and it is time for our foreign policy elites to start formulating strategy, accordingly.
&#8212; Josh Hammer (@josh_hammer) <a href="https://twitter.com/josh_hammer/status/1114971667179147265?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 7, 2019</a></blockquote>
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A prime example of a country that many view as an &#8220;ally,&#8221; but which is really not an ally under this premise, is Germany.
China has recently been Germany&#8217;s biggest trading partner. Germany is Putin&#8217;s main energy export outlet. And Germany is infamously cozy with Iran/Hezbollah.
&#8212; Josh Hammer (@josh_hammer) <a href="https://twitter.com/josh_hammer/status/1114972718103969792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 7, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Similarly, two prime examples of countries that many would not view as natural &#8220;allies,&#8221; but are under this premise, are Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
The Saudis and Emiratis are key U.S. partners in the fight against the Iran-Qatar-Turkey-Muslim Brotherhood axis of Islamism.
&#8212; Josh Hammer (@josh_hammer) <a href="https://twitter.com/josh_hammer/status/1114973089882869762?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 7, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Above all else, conservatives must articulate a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43151/hammer-ted-cruzs-non-interventionist-hawk-foreign-josh-hammer">hard-headed foreign policy</a> that, if need be, <a href="https://twitter.com/josh_hammer/status/1114933730878066688">subordinates</a> amorphous &#8220;values&#8221;-based concerns in favor of much more tangible &#8212; and much more legitimate &#8212; concerns about prioritizing and maximizing America&#8217;s national security. And in so doing, American foreign policy hands ought not to elevate the interests and clout of unaccountable transnational institutions. Nor should America needlessly prolong the deleterious status quo of making satrapies of <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/14/politics/nato-defense-spending-target/index.html">derelict</a> nations too stingy or otherwise careless to provide for their own defense.
Rather, America ought to ally with self-sufficient nation-states who care about their sovereignty and share our core national security interests in deterring Russian hegemony, Chinese ambitions, and/or Islamist aggression. In Europe, that means focusing more on nations like <a href="http://www.danielpipes.org/18456/who-are-europe-most-important-politicians">Viktor Orban&#8217;s Hungary</a> than it does on nations like Angela Merkel&#8217;s Germany or on institutions like NATO. In Asia, that means focusing more on nations like India and Japan than it does on institutions like the U.N. &#8212; and potentially even the <a href="http://time.com/5565816/south-north-korea-trump-kim-moon-sanctions/">exceedingly dovish current government</a> of historic U.S. ally South Korea. And in the Islamic world, that means focusing more on nations like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates than it does on Islamist-exporting, Muslim Brotherhood-cozy states like Turkey and Qatar.
Hazony and Haivry have outlined a brilliant forward-looking foreign policy doctrine for the United States. With any luck, our bipartisan elites will follow their lead.

HAMMER: America Needs To Re-Think Its Global Alliances. Here Is How.

Israel

Japan

Saudi Arabia

United Arab Emirates (UAE)

When Donald Trump first launched his presidential campaign, many feared that his Charles Lindbergh-esque calls for an &quot;America first&quot; foreign policy might

HAMMER: America Needs To Re-Think Its Global Alliances. Here Is How. | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-america-needs-re-think-its-global-alliances-josh-hammer/

On Wednesday, while speaking at a conference in Washington, D.C. marking NATO&#8217;s 70th anniversary, Vice President Mike Pence used the opportunity to slam NATO allies Germany and Turkey.
While Pence said that &#8220;the alliance at 70 has never been stronger,&#8221; that did not stop him from criticizing both countries for being poor allies. 
Of Germany, Pence restated a point President Donald Trump has said for years: Germany is falling short on meeting the 2% of GDP defense spending target for NATO members.
&#8220;America is leading on the world stage once again but, you know, part of leadership is being as good as your word and holding your friends to their word,&#8221; Pence said. &#8220;In 2014, in the NATO summit in Wales, all of our allies agreed &#8212; of their own accord &#8212; to spend at least 2% of their GDP on defense. The United States has done all of that and more &#8212; well more than our fair share. We make up more than two-thirds of NATO members&#8217; combined defense budget.&#8221;
When Pence singled out Germany, he said Germany was &#8220;chief among&#8221; the members falling short.
&#8220;Germany is Europe&#8217;s largest and healthiest economy,&#8221; Pence said. &#8220;It&#8217;s a leading global exporter that has benefitted from U.S. protection of Europe for generations. But last year&#8217;s annual report to parliament, on the state of the German Armed Forces, revealed glaring deficiencies in Germany&#8217;s military readiness. And yet as we stand here today, Germany still refuses to make the necessary investment of 2% GDP to our common defense. After great prodding, it agreed to spend only 1.5% of its GDP by 2024. But the draft budget for 2019 just presented to the German Parliament actually falls short of even that commitment, promising only 1.3%. Germany must do more.&#8221;
Last month, CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/14/politics/nato-defense-spending-target/index.html">reported</a> that only seven of the 29 NATO allies are meeting the 2% of GDP defense spending target; others included the U.S., U.K, Greece, Estonia, Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania. Germany reportedly is only currently spending 1.23%.
Pence was also critical of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline which would transport Russian gas to Germany, according to <a href="https://www.axios.com/pence-germany-turkey-nato-conference-trump-speech-cdb1e557-1e29-45d5-aba6-fac6cf518e0c.html">Axios</a>.
&#8220;And we cannot ensure the defense of the west if our allies grow dependent on Russia and if Germany persists in building the Nord Stream 2 pipeline as President Trump has said,&#8221; Pence stated. &#8220;It could turn Germany&#8217;s economy into literally a captive of Russia. It is simply unacceptable.&#8221; 
&#8220;It is simply unacceptable for Europe&#8217;s largest economy to continue to ignore the threat of Russian aggression and neglect its own self-defense and our common defense at such a level,&#8221; Pence added. &#8220;And it&#8217;s also wrong for Germany to allow itself to become energy-dependent on Russia.&#8221;
When it came to Turkey, Pence slammed the country for buying an advanced missile defense system from Russia as opposed to the U.S.
&#8220;We have made it clear that we will not stand idly by while NATO allies purchase weapons from our adversaries &#8212; weapons that threaten the very cohesion of this alliance,&#8221; Pence said. &#8220;Turkey&#8217;s purchase of a 2.5 billion S-400 anti-aircraft missile system from Russia poses great danger to NATO and to the strength of this alliance.&#8221;
Pence called Turkey&#8217;s decision to continue with the purchase even after the U.S. offered to sell it the Patriot air defense system &#8220;deeply troubling.&#8221;
Pence threatened that if Turkey completes the purchase, Turkey will risk expulsion from the joint F-35 program. He added that the U.S. notified the Turkish government this week that it would be &#8220;immediately suspending shipments of all F-35 joint strike fighter-related equipment to Turkey.&#8221;
&#8220;Turkey must choose,&#8221; Pence said. &#8220;Does it want to remain a critical partner in the most successful military alliance in history or does it want to risk the security of that partnership by making such reckless decisions that undermine our alliance?&#8221;
Axios reports that Turkey&#8217;s foreign minister said the purchase from Russia was &#8220;a done deal&#8221; at the same conference. 
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KB0t2DLgwag" width="560"></iframe></div>

Mike Pence Slams Turkey And Germany In NATO Speech

Mike Pence

On Wednesday, while speaking at a conference in Washington, D.C. marking NATO’s 70th anniversary, Vice President Mike Pence used the opportunity to

Mike Pence Slams Turkey And Germany In NATO Speech | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/mike-pence-slams-turkey-and-germany-nato-speech-kassy-dillon/

Georgia is on a precipice right now &#8212; to one side is a fall back into Russian control and to the other is an incline leading the country forward to an independent embrace of Western values. As with any incline, this path is not without its challenges; luckily, the nation has the perfect guide in presidential candidate Salome Zurabishvili, a lifelong politician and diplomat with <a href="https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.ft.com/content/070d1514-d774-11e8-a854-33d6f82e62f8">strong</a> ties to the West, including her advanced education at Columbia University in the United States and her many years of exemplary service in the French Foreign Service.
Sadly, many may take the easy route of falling for the lies and platitudes of presidential candidate Grigol Vashadze, a man with <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/georgian-candidate-grigol-vashadze-denies-tight-russia-ties/a-46197576">close</a> ties to Russia and the former Soviet Union. Georgia is a proud country that is still working to escape from under oppression it faced from the Soviet Union and the aggression it has faced from modern-day Russia since the USSR fell. To elect Vashadze, a man who has publicly said he is &#8220;very proud&#8221; of the work he did for the Soviet Union, would be a step backward for the nation. To elect Vashadze would be an invitation for Russia to meddle in Georgia&#8217;s affairs to attempt to once again make this independent nation a Russian satellite.
Vashadze was a committed Soviet diplomat based in Moscow from 1976 to 1993, where for many years he worked at the Foreign Affairs Ministry in the Department of Nuclear Armament and Space. Though he denies having any ties to the KGB, the Soviet Union&#8217;s feared, heavy-handed security organization, this denial seems farfetched. The Soviet Union&#8217;s own records show that the KGB was heavily involved in the Department of Nuclear Armament and Space. Though Vashadze may deny the connection, the rest of the world can put two and two together and see the obvious connection.
Clearly such a close connection did not just disappear. Even Vashadze worked for many years to maintain this bond. He held dual Russian-Georgian citizenship until November 2009 &#8212; waiting a year after the Russo-Georgian War in 2008 to renounce his Russian citizenship. Why the long wait? In August 2008, Russia&#8217;s military illegally entered Georgia, sparking a violent conflict that left thousands displaced. Mere months before this confrontation, Vashadze became Georgia&#8217;s acting Foreign Minister. And yet he maintained his allegiance to Russia as it attacked his &#8220;home&#8221; country for which he worked.
What is to keep him from remaining loyal to Russia and its interests if he becomes president? To elect Vashadze is a step backward, back into Russian control and Russian aggression.
Vashadze is a clever man and this is why he has been trying to spin this as if his opponent is in fact the one with close ties to Russia. The facts simply do not bear this out.
A Zurabishvili presidency would usher in an era of prosperity, furthering all of the progress Georgia has made to embody Western values, such as democracy, personal freedom and free enterprise. Zurabishvili had a distinguished career with the French Foreign Service for decades, where she built strong ties with many Western nations, such as Italy, Belgium and the United States, just to name a few. She collaborated with diplomats from around the globe through her work at the United Nations. She led France&#8217;s Division of International and Strategic Issues of National Defence, again utilizing the skills she learned at Columbia University and strengthening the bonds she had built with nations throughout Europe.
And yet, her proudest position with the French Foreign Service was being appointed to serve as France&#8217;s ambassador to Georgia &#8212; her ancestral home &#8212; in 2003.
Zurabishvili&#8217;s presidency would also be a significant step forward for women in Georgian politics. She was the first female Minister of Foreign Affairs in Georgia when she was appointed in 2004; since then, three other women have served in this post. Zurabishvili is poised to break yet another glass ceiling. Never before has a woman been elected as Georgia&#8217;s president. Her win would be a win for women worldwide and would cement Georgia&#8217;s position as a Western-style democracy &#8212; a nation in which anyone with drive, intelligence and commitment can succeed.
On November 28, it is up to Georgian voters. Do they want to take a step back and fall into Russian control with Vashadze? Or do they want to take a step forward and be a beacon of democratic values with Zurabishvili?

FRANKEL: Supporting Zurabishvili In Georgia Will Help Preserve The West

Georgia is on a precipice right now — to one side is a fall back into Russian control and to the other is an incline leading the country forward to

FRANKEL: Supporting Zurabishvili In Georgia Will Help Preserve The West | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/supporting-zurabishvili-georgia-will-help-preserve-jeremy-frankel/

On Tuesday evening, Tucker Carlson aired an interview with President Trump, filmed before Trump&#8217;s quasi-walkback of his comments in his press conference with Vladimir Putin. That interview not only undercut Trump&#8217;s walkback, it also reinforced the widespread perception that Trump sees the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as a net negative for the United States.
In particular, Trump questioned whether the United States ought to protect its NATO allies:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Trump again questions Article 5, the core joint defense principle of NATO while suggesting Montenegro will attack someone &amp; start WW III. Article 5 has been invoked once&#8212;on September 12, 2001. Trump&#8217;s behavior is so dangerous for international security. <a href="https://t.co/QC10kFSdce">pic.twitter.com/QC10kFSdce</a>
&#8212; Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) <a href="https://twitter.com/brianklaas/status/1019480560836775936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 18, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
Carlson asked Trump about the mutual defense pledges in the NATO charter, specifically asking why his son should go to die for Montenegro if Montenegro is attacked. Trump answered, exasperated, &#8220;I understand what you&#8217;re saying, I&#8217;ve asked the same question. You know, Montenegro is a tiny country with very strong people. And by the way, they&#8217;re very strong people. They&#8217;re very aggressive people. And they may get aggressive. And congratulations, you&#8217;re in World War III. But that&#8217;s the way it was set up. Remember, I just got here a little over a year and a half ago, and I took over the conversation three or four days ago and I said, &#8216;You have to pay, you have to pay.&#8217;&#8230; It was very unfair, they weren&#8217;t paying, so not only were we paying for most of it, but they weren&#8217;t even paying and we&#8217;re protecting them. So add that to your little equation on Montenegro.&#8221;
This is inane in the highest degree, for a variety of reasons.
Start with Trump&#8217;s suggestion that Montenegro wasn&#8217;t &#8220;paying.&#8221; NATO defense commitments aren&#8217;t a giant grab bag of cash to which each country pays. Montenegro&#8217;s failure to commit 2% of their GDP to defense doesn&#8217;t mean they owe us money. It means they haven&#8217;t been strong enough on their own defense spending &#8212; and Trump is correct that they should increase that spending. But it is NATO commitment that prevents Russian invasion, not the difference between 1.6% and 2% of GDP spent on defense.
Then take Trump&#8217;s suggestion that mutual defense pacts increase the chances of war. That hasn&#8217;t been true since World War I (even in that case, it&#8217;s arguable whether mutual defense pacts drove to the war). It&#8217;s generally been lack of mutual defense that has led aggressive dictators to war. Putin hasn&#8217;t invaded Montenegro or attempted a coup there because of NATO commitments. NATO&#8217;s presence has led to 70 years of stability on a continent rife with war for hundreds of years prior.
And how about Trump&#8217;s suggestion that Montenegro will get &#8220;aggressive&#8221; with Russia? It&#8217;s Russian propaganda, pure and simple. Montenegro underwent an attempted coup in 2016, including an attempted assassination of the prime minister, allegedly with the help of the Russian security services.
Then there&#8217;s the biggie: Trump&#8217;s suggestion that mutual defense under NATO is a problem. The NATO charter has been invoked precisely once: when NATO came to the United States&#8217; defense in 2001 after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Montenegro has soldiers stationed in Afghanistan <a href="https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1019417360820768768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1019565529810526213&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediaite.com%2Fonline%2Fjake-tapper-throws-wicked-shade-on-tucker-carlson-and-trump-for-mo">thanks to that NATO commitment</a>.
All of which suggests that Trump&#8217;s take on NATO could actually lead to aggression from Putin. Weakness and isolationism on the international stage breed aggression by dictators. Putin knows this, and he&#8217;s always ready to move.

WATCH: Trump Questions Whether U.S. Should Commit To Defending NATO Partners

On Tuesday evening, Tucker Carlson aired an interview with President Trump, filmed before Trump’s quasi-walkback of his comments in his press

WATCH: Trump Questions Whether U.S. Should Commit To Defending NATO Partners | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-trump-questions-whether-us-should-commit-ben-shapiro/

The mainstream media in the U.S. derided President Trump for taking a hard line against fellow NATO members (the ones who don&#8217;t pay their fair share). But it turns out one liberal newspaper actually thought Trump did OK in Brussels.
&#8220;Trump Got From NATO Everything Obama Ever Asked For,&#8221; wrote The New York Times.
The New York Times? Yes, really.
&#8220;Now that the smoke has cleared from the NATO summit meeting, the most tangible result is apparent: President Trump advanced President Barack Obama&#8217;s initiative to keep the allies on track to shoulder a more equitable share of NATO&#8217;s costs. Mr. Trump even signed on to a tough statement directed at Russia. For once he saw eye to eye with his predecessor,&#8221; the Times wrote in its own editorial.
<blockquote>
As Mr. Trump, and Mr. Obama before him, have argued, Europe can do more to help itself. The allies rely too heavily on the Americans to transport troops and equipment, for instance, and the fact that France ran out of bombs during the 2011 Libya operation demonstrated a crucial weakness. There may be other shortcomings, too &#8212; NATO is not transparent with its data.
Greater spending by American allies might mean the United States could lower its own spending and bring thousands of troops home. Mr. Trump didn&#8217;t make that argument, but he has often talked about withdrawing forces and closing bases, whether in Germany or Syria or somewhere else.
</blockquote>
Trump hammered NATO last week, and just before his press conference with international press on Thursday, NATO leaders called an emergency session to address Trump&#8217;s criticism that they aren&#8217;t spending enough on defense.
&#8220;Yesterday, I let them know that I was extremely unhappy with what was happening, and they have substantially upped their commitment,&#8221; Trump said at around noon local time in Belgium. &#8220;I told people that I&#8217;d be very unhappy if they did not up their commitments very substantially,&#8221; he told reporters after the emergency session.
&#8220;Tremendous progress has been made. Everyone&#8217;s agreed to substantially up their commitment. They&#8217;re going to up it at levels that they&#8217;ve never thought of before,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;Commitments were made,&#8221; he added. &#8220;The commitment was at 2 percent, ultimately that&#8217;ll be going up quite a bit higher than that.&#8221;
&#8220;Everyone in the room thanked me. There was a great collegial spirit in that room. .&#8201;.&#8201;. Very unified, very strong. No problem,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;NATO is much stronger now than it was two days ago.&#8221;
Now, even The New York Times agrees Trump did more than Obama.
Weird.

NY Times: ‘Trump Got From NATO Everything Obama Ever Asked For’

The mainstream media in the U.S. derided President Trump for taking a hard line against fellow NATO members (the ones who don&#039;t pay their fair share). But

NY Times: &#039;Trump Got From NATO Everything Obama Ever Asked For&#039; | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/ny-times-trump-got-nato-everything-obama-ever-joseph-curl/

On Thursday&#8217;s episode of &#8220;The Michael Knowles Show,&#8221; Knowles took a closer look at Trump&#8217;s handling of NATO &#8212; and how it was actually a &#8220;beautiful thing&#8221; to watch, contrary to what the media would have you believe.
&#8220;Only President Trump could do this,&#8221; said Knowles. Rather than watching NATO members fail to live up to their financial obligations while America foots the bill and shrugging, like all his predecessors, Trump demanded changes.
&#8220;It&#8217;s so lovely, it&#8217;s so refreshing to have somebody from outside the political process, who&#8217;s from outside Washington, who&#8217;s from outside the decades and decades and decades of minor little changes, small little things adding up to this big, nonsensical situation,&#8221; said Michael. &#8220;He comes in and he says, &#8216;This doesn&#8217;t make any sense, I got some fresh set of eyes, it doesn&#8217;t make any sense.&#8217; A beautiful thing.&#8221;
Video and transcript below:
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<blockquote>
Only Donald Trump could do this. Only President Trump could do this. And, I&#8217;m a little harsh on Germany, I&#8217;m probably, you know, one and a half percent kidding, I&#8217;m ninety eight and a half percent serious&#8230;but you know, a little bit tongue and cheek. But he&#8217;s so right on this point, only President Trump could do this. Every other president goes up, they say, &#8220;you know NATO, they&#8217;re supposed to be paying more.&#8221; Just two percent of GDP, they&#8217;re not even doing that though&#8230;.we&#8217;re paying four percent of GDP, you know, because we&#8217;re protecting them and they&#8217;re undercutting us at every turn and also they&#8217;re importing oil from Russia&#8230;we&#8217;re paying to protect Europe from Russia, Europe is using all of that money to pay Russia, this doesn&#8217;t seem to make a whole lot of sense&#8230;Past presidents can&#8217;t [say] that because they don&#8217;t want to rock the boat, this is an &#8220;emperor has no clothes&#8221; situation.
This is a situation where all of the presidents come in, and they say, &#8220;Well, this is NATO. NATO&#8217;s been around for decades and decades and decades and you know, that&#8217;s just the way it works and they don&#8217;t pay, they&#8217;re not fulfilling their commitments but, you know, we should pay, this is the way its always been. Oh, they&#8217;re giving out money to Russia. Well, you know, that&#8217;s not good&#8230;.can&#8217;t change&#8230;can&#8217;t touch NATO.&#8221; By the way, The Cold War has been over for thirty years now but, &#8220;oh no, can&#8217;t touch NATO!&#8221; This relic of The Cold War, &#8220;no, no we can&#8217;t do that!&#8221;
And President Trump comes in and he looks at it and he says, &#8220;Hold on&#8230;I&#8217;m sorry, maybe I&#8217;m a little thick, maybe I&#8217;m a little stupid, because I haven&#8217;t been in Washington for my entire life, but the way it looks to me is that we&#8217;re paying more money than we&#8217;re supposed to be paying to YOU and you&#8217;re NOT paying the amount of money that you&#8217;re supposed to be paying, and then you&#8217;re giving all of that money to the people we&#8217;re supposed to be protecting you from! Tell me how that makes sense.&#8221;
And all of the smart people, all of the educated people, all of the expert people, they say, &#8220;Oh, well what a stupid question! Why would he ask that question? Oh, blah blah blah&#8230;&#8221;, and then he says, &#8220;well, what&#8217;s the answer?&#8221; and they say, &#8220;Oh, well that&#8217;s the way it is&#8230;&#8221; Well, the way it is isn&#8217;t going to work, is it?
It&#8217;s so lovely, it&#8217;s so refreshing to have somebody from outside the political process, who&#8217;s from outside Washington, who&#8217;s from outside the decades and decades and decades of minor little changes, small little things adding up to this big, nonsensical situation. He comes in and he says, &#8220;This doesn&#8217;t make any sense, I got some fresh set of eyes, it doesn&#8217;t make any sense.&#8221; A beautiful thing. The Left says Donald Trump is treating our allies like our enemies and our enemies like our allies, that&#8217;s not true at all, President Trump is just looking and he&#8217;s saying, &#8220;it&#8217;s not a friendship if you&#8217;re being taken advantage of.&#8221; If one friend is taking advantage of another so called &#8220;friend&#8221;, that isn&#8217;t a friendship, right? You gotta be on even footing and you can&#8217;t play soft with these people forever. World War Two ended seventy years ago.
</blockquote>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/show/michael-knowles-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Watch more of &#8220;The Michael Knowles Show&#8221; here</a>.
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-michael-knowles-show/id1266577963?mt=2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Listen to more of &#8220;The Michael Knowles Show&#8221; here</a>.

WATCH: Knowles Explains Why Trump At NATO Was ‘A Beautiful Thing’

Michael Knowles

Trump Administration

On Thursday&#039;s episode of &quot;The Michael Knowles Show,&quot; Knowles took a closer look at Trump&#039;s handling of NATO — and how it was actually a &quot;beautiful

WATCH: Knowles Explains Why Trump At NATO Was &#039;A Beautiful Thing&#039; | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-knowles-explains-why-trump-nato-was-daily-wire/

Former Secretary of State John Kerry took to social media to publicly scold President Donald Trump for his &#8220;disgraceful&#8221; behavior concerning our North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies and other Western countries. President Trump <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/07/11/627932769/trump-unloads-on-nato-secretary-general-over-defense-spending">pressed</a> our NATO allies for not paying enough in defense and admonished Germany for their &#8220;oil-and-gas pipeline deal with Russia,&#8221; on Wednesday in Brussels.
&#8220;I have to say, I think it&#8217;s very sad when Germany makes a massive oil and gas deal with Russia, where you&#8217;re supposed to be guarding against Russia, and Germany goes out and pays billions and billions of dollars a year to Russia,&#8221; <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/07/13/democrats-assail-trumps-remarks-on-germanys-reliance-on-russia-despite-kerry-biden-issuing-similar-concerns.html">said</a> Trump.
The former secretary of state went after Trump for his comments, though, oddly, Kerry voiced similar concerns regarding Germany&#8217;s energy when he served under President Barack Obama.
&#8220;I&#8217;ve never seen a president say anything as strange or counterproductive as President Trump&#8217;s harangue against NATO and Germany. It was disgraceful, destructive, and flies in the face of actual interests of the United States of America,&#8221; he wrote in a lengthy screed posted to Twitter.
&#8220;President Trump makes public adversaries out of our friends, and turns our adversary, who has been attacking America&#8217;s democracy, into his fawned-over ally,&#8221; he continued.
Kerry said Trump proved &#8220;he doesn&#8217;t understand how vital alliances have made a huge difference for the security of the United States and the lives of Europeans.&#8221;
The president &#8220;displayed a woeful ignorance of the work his predecessor&#8217;s administration did to increase European defense spending,&#8221; he added.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
My thoughts on President Trump&#8217;s remarks in Brussels this morning: <a href="https://t.co/x0k3k0lOkA">pic.twitter.com/x0k3k0lOkA</a>
&#8212; John Kerry (@JohnKerry) <a href="https://twitter.com/JohnKerry/status/1017066924805632002?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 11, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
But in in May 2016, Kerry expressed concern about Germany&#8217;s energy plan &#8212; the same issue he&#8217;s currently slamming Trump for addressing.
&#8220;We&#8217;re also going to discuss one other specific issue of deep concern to me and to everybody here, and I think that&#8217;s the Nord Stream 2 pipeline,&#8221; said Kerry. &#8220;This project has provoked a very heated debate on both sides of the Atlantic, and we are convinced would absolutely have an adverse impact on Ukraine, on Slovakia, and Eastern Europe. And we cannot lose sight of that.&#8221;
WATCH:
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="406" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DL3Yp20NJUA" width="720"></iframe></div>
<a href="https://www.theblaze.com/news/2018/07/11/john-kerry-scolds-president-trump-for-disgraceful-behavior-heres-why?utm_content=buffer89c2f&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter.com&amp;utm_campaign=theblaze">https://www.theblaze.com/news/2018/07/11/john-kerry-scolds-president-trump-for-disgraceful-behavior-heres-why?utm_content=buffer89c2f&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter.com&amp;utm_campaign=theblaze</a>

John Kerry’s Lengthy Screed Ripping Trump For ‘Disgraceful’ Behavior In Brussels

John Kerry

Former Secretary of State John Kerry took to social media to publicly scold President Donald Trump for his &quot;disgraceful&quot; behavior concerning our North

John Kerry&#039;s Lengthy Screed Ripping Trump For &#039;Disgraceful&#039; Behavior In Brussels | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/john-kerry-rips-trump-disgraceful-behavior-amanda-prestigiacomo/

On Wednesday, former Secretary of State John Kerry lashed out at President Donald Trump on Twitter, after Trump criticized German officials for allowing Russians to build a natural gas pipeline into their country &#8212; but it seems John Kerry only supports the pipeline now that Donald Trump opposes it.
At a NATO breakfast Wednesday, Trump argued with German officials over a natural gas pipeline slated to run from Russia through Germany, supplying Germany with much of its energy. The pipeline, Trump contended, makes Germany reliant on Russia, and given Russia&#8217;s history, exposes Germany to a host of national security risks.
Trump told the Germans they were &#8220;totally controlled&#8221; by Russian interests.
John Kerry, of course, a member of the previous administration which cherishes its close relationship with Germany and its increasingly powerless head of state, lashed back in a statement posted to Twitter, calling Trump&#8217;s comments &#8220;disgraceful&#8221; and a threat to America&#8217;s alliance with Germany.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
My thoughts on President Trump&#8217;s remarks in Brussels this morning: <a href="https://t.co/x0k3k0lOkA">pic.twitter.com/x0k3k0lOkA</a>
&#8212; John Kerry (@JohnKerry) <a href="https://twitter.com/JohnKerry/status/1017066924805632002?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 11, 2018</a></blockquote>
But, it turns out, well before Trump was ever President, Kerry was making some of the same arguments, attempting to discourage Germany from entering into an agreement with Russia to supply natural gas through the Nord Stream-2 pipeline.
<a href="http://freebeacon.com/politics/kerry-biden-warned-russia-germany-pipeline-adverse-impact-fundamentally-bad-deal-for-europe/">Free Beacon caught the slip</a>, preserved for posterity on Twitter.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Secretary Kerry underscores U.S. view that Nord Stream II would have adverse impact in Europe <a href="https://t.co/JA9ElOnMX9">pic.twitter.com/JA9ElOnMX9</a>
&#8212; EnergyAtState (@EnergyAtState) <a href="https://twitter.com/EnergyAtState/status/727951171072233472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2016</a></blockquote>
&#8220;We&#8217;re also going to discuss one other specific issue of deep concern to me and to everybody here, and I think that&#8217;s the Nord Stream 2 pipeline,&#8221; Kerry says in the video. &#8220;This project has provoked a very heated debate on both sides of the Atlantic, and we are convinced would absolutely have an adverse impact on Ukraine, on Slovakia, and Eastern Europe. And we cannot lose sight of that.&#8221;
<a href="https://2009-2017.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2016/05/256882.htm">His full remarks</a> include a statement where Kerry warns the pipeline will be destructive to &#8220;geopolitical stability and global security&#8221; &#8212; not a fundamentally different statement to Trump&#8217;s.
The Free Beacon also caught former Vice President Joe Biden on record saying the Nord Stream 2 would be &#8220;destructive,&#8221; and would force Germany and much of Eastern Europe into a dangerous relationship with Russia, where they rely on Russia to provide them with most of their energy.
&#8220;From our perspective, it looks like a fairly bad deal &#8230; Europe needs diverse sources of gas, not, in our view, a new Nord Stream 2 pipeline, and to lock in greater reliance on Russia at this moment &#8230; I know will fundamentally destabilize Ukraine,&#8221; Biden said.
Oops.

FLASHBACK: Despite Trashing Trump, John Kerry WASN’T A Fan Of Russian Oil Pipelines

Joe Biden

On Wednesday, former Secretary of State John Kerry lashed out at President Donald Trump on Twitter, after Trump criticized German officials for allowing

FLASHBACK: Despite Trashing Trump, John Kerry WASN&#039;T A Fan Of Russian Oil Pipelines | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/flashback-despite-trashing-trump-john-kerry-wasnt-emily-zanotti/

President Trump on Thursday deemed the NATO summit in Brussels a rousing success and called himself a &#8220;stable genius&#8221; for pressing allies into ponying up their fair share of cash to run the western alliance group.
While the mainstream media in America ranted about Trump&#8217;s harsh rhetoric demanding other world powers to step up their games &#8212; The Washington Post called it a &#8220;blistering tirade&#8221; &#8212; Trump&#8217;s words on Wednesday had an immediate effect. Before his press conference with international press, NATO leaders called an emergency session to address Trump&#8217;s criticism that they aren&#8217;t spending enough on defense.
&#8220;Yesterday, I let them know that I was extremely unhappy with what was happening, and they have substantially upped their commitment,&#8221; Trump said at around noon local time in Belgium. &#8220;I told people that I&#8217;d be very unhappy if they did not up their commitments very substantially,&#8221; he told reporters after the emergency session.
&#8220;Tremendous progress has been made. Everyone&#8217;s agreed to substantially up their commitment. They&#8217;re going to up it at levels that they&#8217;ve never thought of before,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;Commitments were made,&#8221; he added. &#8220;The commitment was at 2 percent, ultimately that&#8217;ll be going up quite a bit higher than that.&#8221;
&#8220;Everyone in the room thanked me. There was a great collegial spirit in that room. .&#8201;.&#8201;. Very unified, very strong. No problem,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;NATO is much stronger now than it was two days ago.&#8221;
<blockquote>
NATO is much stronger now than it was two days ago.
&#8211; President Trump
</blockquote>
On Wednesday, Trump said many NATO members are &#8220;delinquent&#8221; in their payments to the alliance, saying they &#8220;owe us a tremendous amount of money from many years back.&#8221;
But there were few details of the new arrangement. &#8220;Trump did not specify which countries had committed to what, and it remained unclear whether any had changed their plans. He seemed to suggest a speeded-up timeline, saying nations would be &#8216;spending at a much faster clip,'&#8221; the Associated Press reported.
Trump, though, offered some details. &#8220;Some are at 2 percent, others have agreed definitely to go to 2 percent, and some are going back to get the approval, and which they will get to go to 2 percent,&#8221; Trump said.
The AP also said that some dispute Trump&#8217;s claim. &#8220;But there were no immediate specifics on what he had achieved, and French President Emmanuel Macron quickly disputed Trump&#8217;s claim that NATO allies have agreed to boost defense spending beyond 2 percent of gross domestic product.&#8221;
During the 35-minute press conference, Trump was asked if his message &#8220;would change once he departed on Air Force One, perhaps referring to tweets that followed G7 talks, in which Trump turned on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and [French President Emmanuel] Macron,&#8221; Fox News reported.
&#8220;That&#8217;s other people that do that,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;I don&#8217;t. I&#8217;m very consistent. I&#8217;m a very stable genius.&#8221;

‘I’m A Stable Genius’: Trump Praises NATO, Himself After Demanding Allies Pay Their Fair Share — And Winning

Emmanuel Macron

President Trump on Thursday deemed the NATO summit in Brussels a rousing success and called himself a &quot;stable genius&quot; for pressing allies into ponying up

&#039;I&#039;m A Stable Genius&#039;: Trump Praises NATO, Himself After Demanding Allies Pay Their Fair Share — And Winning | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/im-stable-genius-trump-praises-nato-himself-after-joseph-curl/

Here&#8217;s how CNN saw President Trump&#8217;s first day at the big NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium: &#8220;Trump outrages on the world stage, again.&#8221;
In something called &#8220;The Point,&#8221; CNN said: &#8220;Trump&#8217;s comments at the NATO summit seemingly further alienated the United States from its allies. And this is only day one of his foreign trip.&#8221; The piece also quoted former Secretary of State John Kerry saying, &#8220;The President set America back this morning. He is steadily destroying our reputation in the world.&#8221;
That&#8217;s the take of the mainstream media in America. It&#8217;s the exact same take the MSM had when George W. Bush was president. Bush, to them, was a bumbling fool stomping over the world stage with his &#8220;cowboy diplomacy.&#8221; But Barack Obama, he &#8212; The Chosen One &#8212; would make the world love America again.
Obama did, to a point. Certainly the world&#8217;s most vicious dictators loved Obama because they knew they could walk all over him. And they did. But Trump has put down his foot &#8212; both feet, in fact. &#8220;America First&#8221; means Trump will be taking care of the nation he leads first and foremost. All other considerations are second.
Now, the MSM media would have you think that Trump is despised around the world. They demand that Trump defer to global powers, that he take his place among all the rest, that he follow whatever everyone else thinks America should do. And they claim that citizens of the world are furious at Trump.
So the mainstream media played up a planned protest in Brussels dubbed &#8220;Make Peace Great Again.&#8221; Over and over, organizers appeared to say that thousands of protesters were set to gather outside the NATO summit on Wednesday evening to protest Trump.
But only a couple of dozen people actually showed up.
&#8220;Euro News&#8217; Damon Embling reported that organizers were expecting a few thousand people to attend the protest, but just a few dozen turned out,&#8221; <a href="https://ntknetwork.com/anti-trump-protest-at-nato-draws-only-a-couple-dozen/">NTK Network</a> reported.
<blockquote>
The protesters were rallying around the slogan &#8220;Make Peace Great Again,&#8221; a play on Trump&#8217;s 2016 campaign slogan, &#8220;Make America Great Again.&#8221;
Embling asked one of the organizers why only a couple dozen demonstrators showed up at the protest.
&#8220;I think it&#8217;s, what went wrong is not the good question to ask,&#8221; the clearly frustrated organizer said.
The organizer blamed Brussels being on lockdown for the low turnout before Embling ended the interview.
</blockquote>

World Throws An Anti-Trump Protest At NATO, Hardly Anybody Shows Up

Brussels

Here&#039;s how CNN saw President Trump&#039;s first day at the big NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium: &quot;Trump outrages on the world stage, again.&quot; In something

World Throws An Anti-Trump Protest At NATO, Hardly Anybody Shows Up | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/world-throws-anti-trump-protest-nato-hardly-anyone-joseph-curl/

According to President Trump&#8217;s political opponents, his performance at a NATO summit today represented proof positive that Trump is a Russian agent. According to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Trump demonstrated fealty to Vladimir Putin:
<blockquote>
President Trump&#8217;s brazen insults and denigration of one of America&#8217;s most steadfast allies, Germany, is an embarrassment. His behavior this morning is another profoundly disturbing signal that the president is more loyal to President Putin than to our NATO allies.
</blockquote>
So what did Trump do wrong?
He said two things that made waves. First, he accused NATO nations of skimping on their national security spending. In 2014, NATO signatories pledged to President Obama that they&#8217;d aim for spending 2% of their respective GDPs on defense; this provision was presumably aimed at Russia. But few NATO signatories have met that mark so far, even though they are moving steadily in that direction. Trump stated, &#8220;I think that&#8217;s inappropriate also. You know, we&#8217;re protecting Germany, we&#8217;re protecting France. We&#8217;re protecting everybody. And yet we&#8217;re paying a lot of money to protect.&#8221;
Second, Trump suggested that Germany&#8217;s protests against Russia seemed empty given their willingness to sign onto natural gas deals with the Russian government. Jim Geraghty of National Review has the details:
<blockquote>
If you think Trump&#8217;s past business connections to Russian figures are troubling, you probably ought to be livid about how former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder&#8217;s has decided to become the chief lobbyist for Vladimir Putin in Europe. One of Schroeder&#8217;s last acts in office in 2005 was authorizing &#8220;Nord Stream,&#8221; a pipeline bypassing key territories and controlled by Russia&#8217;s Gazprom energy company. Shortly after leaving office, Vladimir Putin arranged for Schroeder to chair the project, and then he started pushing for a second pipeline, Nord Stream 2. Instead of diversifying Europe&#8217;s energy supply, Schroeder&#8217;s pushed policies that <a href="http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/nord-stream-2-is-a-bad-deal-for-europe" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">make the continent more dependent upon Russia</a>, not less. In September 2017, Putin arranged for Schroeder to become chairman of Rosneft, the state-owned Russian oil giant.
</blockquote>
So is Trump wrong? The same media that spend reams of paper documenting Trump&#8217;s connections with Russia &#8212; which, they suggest, demonstrate Trump&#8217;s secret loyalty to the Kremlin &#8212; have said nothing about Schroeder. And now they&#8217;re ripping into Trump for . . . complaining about Germany&#8217;s connections with Russia?
Now, maybe people are skeptical that Trump is criticizing NATO and Germany in particular for good reason &#8212; perhaps they think that he&#8217;s really just attempting to undermine them. Why, then, would he be calling for more spending on anti-Russian defense? Why would he be chastising Germany for doing deals with Russia?
Perhaps Trump is just mouthing off. But until he actually capitulates to Putin, it&#8217;s difficult to claim that he&#8217;s capitulating to Putin by calling for harsher action against Russia.

Trump’s Enemies Suggest He’s Doing Russia’s Bidding At The NATO Conference. That Makes No Sense. Here’s Why.

According to President Trump’s political opponents, his performance at a NATO summit today represented proof positive that Trump is a Russian agent.

Trump’s Enemies Suggest He’s Doing Russia’s Bidding At The NATO Conference. That Makes No Sense. Here’s Why. | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/trumps-enemies-suggest-hes-doing-russias-bidding-ben-shapiro/

President Donald Trump slammed member nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) early Wednesday morning in Brussels, demanding that they increase their funding of the organization and accused Germany of being Russia&#8217;s captive.
<a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/07/11/627932769/trump-unloads-on-nato-secretary-general-over-defense-spending">NPR</a> reports:
<blockquote>
In a stunning public dressing-down of NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, President Trump fired off criticisms of the alliance, reiterating his complaint that it is not paying enough for defense and singling out a German oil-and-gas pipeline deal with Russia.
</blockquote>
&#8220;Well, I have to say I think it&#8217;s very sad when Germany makes a massive oil and gas deal with Russia when you&#8217;re supposed to be guarding against Russia,&#8221; Trump said.
&#8220;So, we&#8217;re protecting Germany, we&#8217;re protecting France, we&#8217;re protecting all of these countries,&#8221; Trump continued. &#8220;And then numerous of the countries go out and make a pipeline deal with Russia where they&#8217;re paying billions of dollars into the coffers of Russia. So, we are supposed to protect you against Russia.&#8221;
&#8220;You tell me if that is appropriate?&#8221; Trump said as he blistered NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. &#8220;Germany is totally controlled by Russia.&#8221;
&#8220;This has been going on for decades,&#8221; Trump continued. &#8220;This has been brought up by other presidents, but other presidents never did anything about it.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s very unfair to our country, it&#8217;s very unfair to our taxpayers,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;And I think that these countries have to step it up not over a 10 year period&#8212; they have to step it up immediately.&#8221;
WATCH:
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TRUMP HAMMERS NATO: Demands Other Countries Increase Spending, Accuses Germany Of Being Russia’s ‘Captive’

President Donald Trump slammed member nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) early Wednesday morning in Brussels, demanding that they

TRUMP HAMMERS NATO: Demands Other Countries Increase Spending, Accuses Germany Of Being Russia&#039;s &#039;Captive&#039; | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-hammers-nato-demands-other-countries-ryan-saavedra/

On Wednesday, Secretary of Defense James &#8220;Mad Dog&#8221; Mattis was the reported target of a failed missile attack perpetrated by radical Islamic terror insurgents working with the Taliban, according to <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/26/politics/mattis-afghanistan/index.html">CNN</a>.
Kabul&#8217;s Hamid Karzai International Airport, where Mattis originally landed, came under missile fire from the Taliban hours after the Defense Secretary and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg had departed from the location. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the reported attack on social media.
According to Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish, the missiles were fired from an unknown location and no one was injured in the attempted assassination. He emphasized that the Afghan authorities were going door-to-door investigating possible locations from where the attack could have originated. 
While the Afghan government has not revealed further information, a U.S. military official told CNN that up to 40 rounds of munitions hit the airport with over two dozen being rocket-propelled grenades. 
U.S. Central Command released a <a href="http://www.centcom.mil/MEDIA/PRESS-RELEASES/Press-Release-View/Article/1326987/insurgents-attack-near-hamid-karzai-international-airport-using-civilians-as-sh/">statement</a> regarding the incident:
<blockquote>
During a failed attack today, insurgents fired several rounds of high-explosive ammunition, including mortars, into the vicinity of Hamid Karzai International Airport and detonated suicide vests endangering a great number of civilians.
The Afghan Crisis Response Unit 222 responded quickly to confront the attackers and end the assault. U.S. forces acting in support conducted an airstrike. Tragically, one of the missiles malfunctioned, causing several casualties.
Resolute Support deeply regrets the harm to non-combatants. We take every precaution to avoid civilian casualties, even as the enemies of Afghanistan continue to operate in locations that deliberately put civilians at very high risk.
An investigation into the attack and the malfunctioning ammunition has begun. More details about the attack will be made available in the days to follow. 
</blockquote>
Mattis said at a joint press conference with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani that he had only heard about the attack in the media. He explained, &#8220;If, in fact, this is what they have done, they will find the Afghan Security Forces continuing on the offensive against them in every district of the country right now.&#8221;

REPORT: ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis Target Of Failed Taliban Missile Attack

Afghanistan

James Mattis

Military

Taliban

Terrorism

On Wednesday, Secretary of Defense James &quot;Mad Dog&quot; Mattis was the reported target of a failed missile attack perpetrated by radical Islamic terror

REPORT: ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis Target Of Failed Taliban Missile Attack | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/report-mad-dog-mattis-target-failed-taliban-jacob-airey/

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