Just in time for Trump to do the rug pull he agreed with Putin back in 2018, when they met in Helsinki and Trump took care to even destroy translator’s notes.
If he wins the election, NATO is toast and Putin has carte blanche over East Europe.
If he wins the election, NATO is toast and Putin has carte blanche over East Europe.
Reagan was the last defender of Europe (you can like him or not, having grown up in a left political climate in the 70s of Germany, I didn't), and Reforger '93 was the last time the US seriously considered defending Western Europe. It's clear that at least from Clinton on, the defense of Europe as a necessity for balancing world power was no longer on the table, "It's the economy, stupid!".
Putin will create a crisis in the baltics and invade Poland over the Suwałki Gap, gets his ass kicked, troops getting stuck, there will be negotiations and that's that. Putin couldn't get weak Ukraine (Crimea was a coup) - Russia has 3.5x times the people and 100x the money - it's funny how people in the West still believe in the Soviet Union and the Red Army, against all evidence. The best troops of the Warsaw Pact were East Germanys NVA, and losing that and all other satelite states like Poland, there is no more Red Army.
The 9/11 attacks triggered article 5. It's also the only time that article has been triggered. So far...
I think from Clinton's point of view, at least for a large portion of his term, there was no one to defend europe _from_. Russia was in shambles and retreating everywhere.
So how's he going to reign free over all of Eastern Europe?
Trump lies, postures, hyperbolizes, boasts and self-promotes. More shamelessly than most politicians. We all know this.
Trump isn't going to pull the U.S. out of NATO. He probably couldn't, even if he wanted to, which he doesn't. He just wants to force other countries to pay more, that's all. Stop with this nonsense already.
https://lite.cnn.com/2024/02/12/politics/us-out-nato-second-...
> “NATO would be in real jeopardy,” John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, agreed. “I think he would try to get out.”
Hopefully the traffic through the Panama canal goes down so Europe can still get US LNG that would otherwise end up in Asia.
[0] https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-lng-export-pause-...
Seems like there wasn't a better other option anyway, was there?
Before invading Ukraine, Putin was arguably banking on the fact that he had Europe on his hands, not only for economic activity, but for survival during winter. He clearly didn't expect the way Europe responded.
Maybe the invasion wouldn't have happened in the first place if Europe would have already demonstrated strength and energy independence in the first place?
[1] https://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/NG_MOVE_POE2_DCU_NUS-NGM_A.htm
Unfortunately they're nothing but a vassal NATO outpost by now so the deindustrialization is probably going to continue until some far right party takes over.
Most of the air traffic for the US wars in the middle east goes through Germany, and most injured soldiers go back through Germany [0] Many US soldiers survive because they get through Landstuhl.
Ramstein is also rumored to be the primary operation center for drone strikes, although the US military denies this.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landstuhl_Regional_Medical_Cen...
The US has military bases in Qatar, Seychelles, and the Philippines. It's almost as if NATO membership has nothing to do with it.
Right now, the US is the leader in a unilateral world. It is absolutely naive to think that this doesn’t come with huge advantages.
The lack of morals is stunning.