And so it begins. Nine months still to go before the next US presidential election and already the Republican party favourite and former President Donald Trump is sending eyes rolling skywards with his seemingly outlandish statements.
And yet they will delight many of his supporters.
Suggesting at a rally in South Carolina that he would “encourage” aggressors (for example Russia) “to do whatever the hell they want” with Nato countries that fail to pay their dues has prompted an immediate slap down from the White House. A spokesman called the comment “appalling and unhinged”, saying it was “encouraging invasions of our closest allies by murderous regimes”.
Nato Secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg has also responded forcefully, saying: “Any suggestion that allies will not defend each other undermines all of our security, including that of the US, and puts American and European soldiers at increased risk.”
I love this sentiment simply because the idea that the US would be spending less on the military if they weren’t in NATO is ridiculous. There’s no stopping US military spending without absolutely crippling the US economy. Other NATO members spending more on their militaries will not save the US taxpayer a dime.
I’s about selling more weapons made by the US military industrial complex to NATO countries. Which does bring more money into the US economy, but only by growing the military industrial complex larger.
Kinda like franchising out McDonald’s but with more death machines involved.
But personally, I like Ike, “Beware the military industrial complex.”
I’m actually okay with the idea that perhaps Europe ought to be more interested in bolstering their own defenses. The part about urging Russia toward aggression I think any reasonable person can see what’s wrong with that.
But the military presence worldwide, in more instances than not, exists to protect corporate interests. I’m almost okay with the idea of scaling it all back. Tax money shouldn’t go to line pockets of the wealthy. The obvious issue is the immediate effect on the economy, but where do we draw the line? I know this site leans towards stopping the global corporatocracy, but I don’t know that anyone’s ready for things to really grind to a halt.
So I guess we will just have to wait til next January and then we will see what happens!
Trump wants to sell weapons to Russia so they can take over Europe. I honestly think Trump just doesn’t like that there’s no many countries and leaders in Europe to keep track of and wishes it was all just run by one guy he can try him art of the deal bullshit on.