Monthly Archives: March 2017

On the heels of a visibly awkward visit from the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, Donald Trump said on Saturday that Germany owed vast sums of money to Nato and the US, even though the alliance does not stipulate payments to America.

His remarks prompted a former US permanent representative to Nato to reply thats not how Nato works, and to add that increased European spending on defense was not a favor (or payment) to the US.

Trump, who was at his Mar-a-Lago estate for the weekend and spending the morning at Trump International Golf Course, sent two tweets early in the day. The first denounced the FAKE NEWS for what he said was mistaken coverage of a GREAT meeting with Merkel.

Trumps public appearances with Merkel betrayed an awkwardness between the two leaders, including during two widely remarked upon appearances in the White House. In one, the leaders failed to stage a handshake for cameras in the Oval Office, and in another Merkel looked baffled by comments made by Trump during a joint press conference. Before the visit Trump had repeatedly called Merkels policies insane and a disaster for Germany.

Trumps second tweet accused Germany directly of not paying enough to the security alliance.

In a joint press conference on Friday, Trump expressed strong support for Nato but reiterated his belief that member nations do not contribute a fair share.

Many nations owe vast sums of money from past years and it is very unfair to the United States, he said. These nations must pay what they owe.

He added: During our meeting, I thanked Chancellor Merkel for the German governments commitment to increase defense spending and work toward contributing at least 2% of GDP.

Trumps tweets on Saturday suggested a misunderstanding of the way Nato is funded. According to Natos official guidelines, member nations are expected to spend at least 2% of their countrys gross domestic product (GDP) on defense. However, only a handful of the 28 members actually meet that target.

At a 2014 summit in Wales, members pledged to increase their military spending to 2% of GDP by 2024, a goal some have said is unachievable and unrealistic for several member states.

Ultimately, members contributions are based on each nations capability. Therefore, Nato member nations do not owe or have to compensate any other country.

On Saturday Ivo Daalder, who was permanent representative to Nato from 2009 to 2013, respond to Trump in a series of tweets.

Sorry, Mr President, thats not how Nato works, he wrote. The US decides for itself how much it contributes to defending Nato. This is not a financial transaction, where Nato countries pay the US to defend them. It is part of our treaty commitment.

All Nato countries, including Germany, have committed to spend 2% of GDP on defense by 2024. So far five of 28 Nato countries do. Those who currently dont spend 2% of their GDP on defense are now increasing their defense budgets. Thats a good thing.

But no funds will be paid to the US. They are meant to increase Natos overall defense capabilities, given the growing Russian threat. Europe must spend more on defense, but not as favor (or payment) to the US. But because their security requires it.

Daalder added that the large military commitment of the US to Nato was not a favor to Europe but was vital for our own security.

We fought two world wars in Europe, and one cold war, he wrote. Keeping Europe whole, free, and at peace, is vital US interest.

Trump has long criticized Nato. In a joint interview days before taking office in January, with the Times of London and the German publication Bild, Trump declared the alliance obsolete.

I said a long time ago that Nato had problems, he said. No1 it was obsolete, because it was designed many, many years ago. No2 the countries werent paying what theyre supposed to be paying.

In an interview with the New York Times editorial board, Trump implied that US defense of a Nato ally would depend on whether the country was contributing proportionally to the alliances defense spending.

Asked whether the US would provide military defense to Baltic countries if Russia were to attack, Trump said: If they fulfill their obligations to us, the answer is yes.

Pressed on what course of action he would take if the answer were no, Trump said: Well, Im not saying if not, he said. Im saying, right now there are many countries that have not fulfilled their obligations to us.

Originally posted here:
Thats not how it works: Trumps grasp of Nato questioned ...

Three American soldiers were shot by an Afghan soldier on a base Sunday, the NATO-led Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan said.

Resolute Support said in a post on Twitter Sunday morning that the three U.S. soldiers were wounded after being shot by an Afghan soldier on a base in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

The Afghan soldier opened fire on Sunday inside a base in the southern Helmand province and was shot dead, an Afghan official told the Associated Press.

Col. Mohammad Rasoul Zazai, an army spokesman, told the AP that the soldier had made a "mistake" and had not fired deliberately.

The American soldiers were receiving medical care, Resolute Support said in their post on Twitter.

The NATO mission in Afghanistan aims to train and advise Afghan security forces. Resolute Support follows the military mission in the country after combat operations concluded near the end of 2014.

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Three US Soldiers Shot, Wounded by Afghan Soldier at NATO Base in Helmand Province - NBCNews.com

British Army personnel arrive at the Amari airbase, 25 miles south-west of the capital Tallinn. Photograph: Estonian Defence Ministry/PA

British troops have arrived in Estonia as part of a major Nato mission in the Baltic states to deter Russian aggression.

Around 120 soldiers from the 5th Battalion The Rifles landed at the Amari airbase on Friday, 25 miles south-west of the capital, Tallinn.

They were welcomed by Estonias defence minister, Margus Tsahkna, on their arrival from RAF Brize Norton. Eight hundred British troops are due to be stationed in the country as part of one of the biggest deployments to eastern Europe in decades.

The first batch will set up a UK headquarters in the country before the rest arrive next month. They will work alongside French and Danish forces to provide a proportionate, defensive and combat-capable force to defend our Nato ally and deter any form of hostile activity against the alliance, the Ministry of Defence said.

Britain is taking a leading role in the Estonia battlegroup, while other nations are deploying troops to Latvia, Lithuania and Poland as part of Natos Enhanced Forward Presence battalion.

Around 300 UK vehicles have also left the UK this week by ferry headed for Estonia, including Challenger 2 tanks, Warrior infantry fighting vehicles and AS90 self-propelled artillery pieces.

Britain and Estonia have a long history of defence cooperation. In November 1918 a Royal Navy squadron was deployed to the region to support the independence of the Baltic states.

The defence secretary, Sir Michael Fallon, said: In the face of an increasingly assertive Russia, Nato is stepping up its commitment to collective defence.

British troops will play a leading role in Estonia and support our US allies in Poland, as part of wider efforts to defend Nato. Our rising defence budget means we can support those deployments in the long-term and strengthen our commitment to European security.

Lt Col Mark Wilson, commanding officer of 5th Battalion The Rifles, said: The UK and Estonia have a long and proud history of serving together, including in Afghanistan, so it is an honour to lead 5 Rifles on this deployment as part of Natos enhanced Forward Presence.

My soldiers are looking forward to again be working, training and exercising alongside their Estonian counterparts.

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British troops land in Estonia for Nato mission to deter Russia - The Guardian

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg ended a two day visit to Denmark on Friday (17 March 2017) with talks with Prime Minister Lars Lkke Rasmussen. Mr. Stoltenberg thanked the Prime Minister for his countrys continued commitment to the Alliance and the two discussed NATOs adaptation to the new security environment. The Secretary General and Prime Minister also discussed fair burden sharing in NATO and preparations for the upcoming meeting of Allied leaders in Brussels this May.

Denmark is actively engaged in NATO missions and operations and it supports efforts to project stability in Iraq, Georgia and Ukraine. Denmark also intends to join a UK-led battlegroup in Estonia next year. Other Allies from Europe and North America are deploying battlegroups to Latvia, Lithuania and Poland to strengthen NATOs deterrence and defence.

During his visit to Copenhagen Mr. Stoltenberg had a private audience with Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II. The Secretary General also had talks with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Anders Samuelsen, and the Minister of Defence, Mr. Claus Hjort Frederiksen. Mr. Stoltenberg had a meeting with members of the Foreign Policy and Defence Committees.

On the final day of his visit the Secretary General took part in a wreath laying ceremony at the Monument to Denmarks International Effort Since 1948.

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Secretary General thanks Denmark for its strong commitment to NATO - NATO HQ (press release)

President Donald Trump, less than 24 hours after an awkward first meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel that highlighted their divides on policy and personality, said Germany must pay the U.S. more for providing defense.

Germany owes vast sums of money to NATO & the United States must be paid more for the powerful, and very expensive, defense it provides to Germany! Trump told his almost 27 million Twitter followers early Saturday.

The president wrote that hed had a GREAT meeting with Merkel, brushing off what he termed fake reports suggesting otherwise.

German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen rebuffed Trumps comments, saying the spending goal for NATO members includes other activities beyond the defense alliance.

There is no debit account in NATO, she said in an email Sunday. We all want fair burden-sharing and that requires a modern concept of security.

Trumps messages came after Merkel, at a joint White House press conference, appeared to tweak the president about his criticisms of her and others on social media and elsewhere, including an interview in January calling Germanys open-border refugee policy a catastrophic mistake.

In the period leading up to this visit, Ive always said its much, much better to talk to one another and not about one another, and I think our conversation proved this, the German leader said through a translator.

Trump on Friday said he had reiterated to Chancellor Merkel my strong support for NATO, as well as the need for our NATO allies to pay their fair share for the cost of defense. He said many nations owe vast sums of money from past years and it is very unfair to the United States.

Trump isnt the first U.S. leader to complain that most NATO nations, including Germany, werent meeting the alliances goal that members spend 2 percent of their GDP on defense. Germany spends about 1.2 percent on defense now.

President Barack Obama in 2016 said in an interview with The Atlantic about his foreign policy doctrine that free riders aggravate me. Sigmar Gabriel, Germanys foreign minister, said a few weeks ago said that meeting the 2 percent goal is unrealistic, although thats a much lower percentage than the U.S. spends on defense.

Fridays visit by Merkel, postponed from earlier in the week by a snowstorm, was a day of tense cordiality and sometimes awkward body language. Trump was unresponsive when Merkel leaned in for a handshake in the Oval Office at the request of photographers.

There were few public attempts at the jocularity leaders often use to leaven such encounters, except for a barbed reference Trump made that they had in common, perhaps the experience of surveillance by U.S. intelligence.

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The visit was a test of Trumps foreign policy vision as he welcomed a leader who not only represents Europes biggest economy, but has emerged as the most visible advocate of the post-World War II international order. The new U.S. president, a political novice before the 2016 campaign, had his first face-to-face talks with a veteran German leader whom he frequently maligned on the campaign trail, and whose free-trade, open-border politics stand in marked contrast to Trumps nationalistic rhetoric.

Hes been president less than two months; she has been chancellor more than 10 years, said Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations. She has all this experience. Shes the most important leader in Europe. Some would say shes the most important leader in the world right now.

The two clashed on trade on Friday. The negotiators for Germany have done a far better job than the negotiators for the United States, Trump said. But hopefully we can even it out. We dont want victory; we want fairness.

Merkel subtly corrected the U.S. president. When we talk about trade talks, the European Union negotiates for all of the member states in the European Union, she said. In this spirit, I would be very happy if the European Union and the U.S. can take up talks again.

Trump bristled at a German reporters question about his unsubstantiated accusations that Obama had placed him under surveillance before making the reference to a disclosure, made during the Obama administration,that the U.S. was intercepting Merkels mobile phone communications. Turning to Merkel, he joked, At least we both have something in common, perhaps. Merkel didnt smile.

Merkel was looking to Trump -- who has said he wants to reset his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin -- to ease concerns within Europe that the U.S. could abandon efforts to pressure Moscow into changing course. Merkel has struck a hard line over incursions into Ukraine and the Kremlins support for Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad.

Trump suggested before he took office that the U.S. might not come to the defense of allies who didnt meet the 2 percent spending goal, and said the coalition doesnt always best serve American interests. But U.S. officials have publicly praised the alliance since Trump took office, and Merkel is among European leaders who have outlined steps to boost defense spending to the target level.

Trump repeated his criticism of countries in the alliance that dont meet the goal during the press conference.

Those differences also are evident on trade, with Germans leading European opposition to a border-adjustment tax plan supported by U.S. House Republican leaders that would make imports to the U.S. more expensive.

Trump administration officials have called the U.S.s $68-billion trade deficit with Germany an economic injustice and claimed Germany is gaming foreign-exchange markets.

But Merkel argues that protectionist trade policies would hurt the overall economies of both countries, and highlights German companies like Volkswagen AG that have opened factories in the U.S.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin met with his German counterpart in Berlin on March 16 to discuss some of those issues, in what he said were extremely productive talks.

Haass said the nature of the two leaders relationship is complicated by the different political roles they play.

Trump is a disrupter and she is a preserver, he said. She wants to maintain the EU, she wants to maintain NATO, shes wary of Putin. And Trump in every one of these is different: He supports Brexit and is questioning traditional support for NATO and potentially open to a very different relationship with Russia. On the other hand, when expectations are low sometimes that can set the stage for improvement.

Originally posted here:
Day After Frosty Merkel Meeting, Trump Slams Germany on NATO - Bloomberg

The EU, NATO, and the western alliance have utterly failed the people of eastern Europe. The unrequited love of former Soviet bloc nations is slowly turning to scorn. The Euromaidan and ensuing civil war have laid bare an ideological and cultural divide ages old. With Brussels and NATO reeling from recent events, the fear mongering used to leverage aligned nations is losing its effectiveness.

A meetingin between Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Moldovas former PM and current head of the Socialist party, Zinaida Greceani in Moscow reveals the general eastern shift to Russia. While the world watches and waits on the next fantastical Donald Trump moment, the Russian administration continues to mend fences and to create new bonds of friendship. To the south and west of Moldova a score of EU member states discuss a Brexit-like abandonment of a globalist system many see as doomed to failure. And Moldovas plight since the fall of the Soviet Union is a picture window into the biggest international experiment in history. To quote Ms. Greceani on Moldovas recent elections and the lean toward Russia:

We won because the majority of Moldovans are for strategic partnership with Russia. In 2014, our current pro-European coalition in the parliament signed an agreement on association with the European Union, and, frankly, we got almost nothing in return from the European Union, while sustaining a major economic setback by losing the Russian market and our strategic partner. This is what happens when politicians who try to destroy age-old ties and traditions between our peoples come to power.

The Moldovan politician expressed what is a growing sentiment toward the European Union. The poorest country of the former Soviet republics, Moldova is perhaps the most neglected country in Europe. And recent calls from the south for Moldova and Romania to reunite foretell of the wider neglect of nations in the region. Hungary to the west has begun a Russia lean as well, and Bulgaria to the south of Romania was never fully a western satrap. Upheaval in Bucharest over real or perceived corruption by leadership, Greeces ongoing plight, the old sounds of Serbia and even countries like Slovenia send a clear signal. Weve seen the evidence of a collapse of confidence in the western alliance for some time. Tom Kosteleck, Director of the Institute of Sociology at the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague had this to say about a series,25 Years after the fall of the Berlin Wall:

Overall I think the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland are examples of countries that came out well, whereas for others it was not so successful.

A poll conducted in Czech Republic in 2014 showed that more than half the people there considered life before and after Soviet rule the same. In other words, most people in even the richest former Soviet bloc countries see no difference in the two systems. Many people see the spread of so-called democracy as a total lie. While free movement allowing Romanians (for instance) to travel to Germany for better paying jobs is a plus, Romanians choosing to stay home have been devastated by corruption, austerity, and the loss of potential to globalization.

In Romania a poll conducted back in 2014 showed half of Romanians held a positive view of their condemned leader Nicolae Ceausescu and believe that life was better under him.The same poll showed that of the 1,460 respondents, 54 percentclaimedthat they had better living standards during communism, while 16 percent said that they were worse.I make this point because of the strategic and ideological importance of Romania. Of all the countries in the EU, Romania was by far the most pro-democracy the people there betting all their futures on the American promise. I know this because my wife is from Romania and her father was one of the unsung heroes of the revolution there in 1989. Romania has a history of picking the wrong side, and EU membership did about as much for Romanians as their brothers and sisters in separated Moldova.

In Hungary the recent visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin sent western mainstream media on a rant. But the fact the Hungarian economy has been hammered by the food embargo introduced by the Kremlin in response to US and EU sanctions against Moscow is but one sour note on EU policies in the region. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade for Hungary, Peter Szijjarto told Kommersant the other day:

According to our estimates, the loss of profit for Hungary amounts to $6.5 billion over the last three years. We are speaking about exports. Given that the annual volume of Hungarian exports is about $90 billion, the losses are biting,

Hungarys recent overtures toward Russia are freaking the parliamentarians in Brussels out at the same time leaders like Germanys Angela Merkel try and come to grips with thawing of relations between Moscow and Washington under U.S. President Donald Trump. A new wave of populism sweeping all Europe is seen by the left wing as some Russian conspiracy, when in reality the movement is a change of errant course. These former Soviet bloc countries are a kind of litmus tests that shows the EU was never a fair game in the first place. Germany and the central Europeans thrived for a time, while other nations were left to stagnate. In a recent poll conducted in Hungary, 75% of those asked favored pragmatic relations with Russia as opposed to only 5% saying that Hungary should not even talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin at all.

The Turkish reset with Russia, especially the renewal of the so-called south stream pipeline project mirrors the Russia tilt in Greece, Macedonia, Slovenia, Italy, and other formerly devout NATO-EU devotees. President Putin just recently praised Slovenia for an invite for a Trump-Putin summit in the countrys capital ofLjubljana. Slovenia, the native country of First Lady Melania Trump, is a literal stepping stone in what some will remember from Putins Vladivostok to Lisbon initiative. No matter how one classifies all these geo-political moves, the clear trend in favor or Russia ties is crystal clear. The globalist Washington Post called the trend Europeans bowing to the power of Putin, when in reality the motives are pragmatism and logic. Moving away from big promises and failure toward a change is only a natural thing.

Finally, in 2014 Germanys former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder blamed European Union policy for the current situation in Ukraine, and he also urged the West to stop new sanctions on Russia. Now we are seeing that Schroeder was right. At the other end of the German political spectrum, German Left Party (Die LInke), Dr. Sahra Wagenknecht has railed against Chancellor Angela Merkel, NATO, and the west in general for failed policies and the destruction of dtente with Russia. At the center of her arguments lay a cerifiable truth of Eastern European affairs since the fall of the Berlin Wall. In an interview with German Radio, Dr. Wagenknecht spoke about Americas substantial economic interests (handfeste wirtschaftliche Interessen) in the Ukraine, as a big part of Europes problem:

There are substantial economic interests: the Americans have been in the Ukraine since the beginning. They have even made agreements with Ukrainian companies, even investing in some of them. So there are substantial economic interests, and it is all the more critical that Europe not be dragged into this (by the Americans), but that we act in our own interests. This means peace and cooperation of course with Russia, improving the relationship which has cooled off markedly in the past months.

The common thread running through the new west-east crisis is financial interest. This will be the focus of my next report. For now though, it is not the Trump White House that seems in disarray, but Brussels and the NATO alliance. Stay tuned.

Phil Butler, is a policy investigator and analyst, a political scientist and expert on Eastern Europe, exclusively for the online magazineNew Eastern Outlook. http://journal-neo.org/2017/03/17/brussels-nato-and-the-globalists-in-total-disarray/

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Brussels, NATO, And The Globalists: In Total Disarray - Center for Research on Globalization

Some womenare paying tens of thousands of dollars to look like Ivanka Trump,according to USA Today.

According to Dr. Franklin Rose, a Houston-based plastic surgeon, there has been an uptick in customers who want to more closely resemble the president's eldest daughter. Patients seeking plastic surgery often show up for their first appointment with a photo of a celebrity to indicate the type of work theyd like to have done, he said; for example, one might show a surgeon a photo of Angelina Jolie if the patient is seeking a lip filler. According to Rose, Ivanka is sort of the new style icon for plastic surgery within his practice.

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USA Today reports that one of Roses patients, 37-year-old Jenny Stewart, spent $30,000 to look more like Trump. That large sum was also a discounted fee because Stewart agreed to talk to reporters. Another one of his patients paid $60,000 to look like Trump and was profiled inPeople magazine. Rose said he isnt surprised by the demand to look like Trump, given that the first daughter is a beautiful woman with covetable features, such as a small nose and high cheekbones.

Dr. Rob Rohrich, another plastic surgeon based in Texas, agreed with Rose's assessment of Trumps popularity and influence.

Yes, absolutely, I have had a lot of patients in the past six months or more who ask about Ivankas great and sculpted, clean facial features, including her high cheekbones and beautiful skin and elegant nose, Rohrich said.

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 08: Ivanka Trump attends at a luncheon she was hosting to mark International Women's Day in the State Dining Room at the White House March 8, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

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Germany rejects Trump's claim it owes NATO 'vast sums' - WHIO