The European Union has
used hefty U.S. defense spending and its willingness to send American troops
into harm's way to protect Europe for 69 years. It is in effect a kind of
social welfare subsidy: we spend money on arms, they build ever-more generous
welfare states.
And then, from the
safety of their left-leaning think tanks, universities and EU bureaucracies,
they complain about American “militarism”, “imperialism” and “aggression”.
It's getting tiresome,
but it bears repeating. NATO's 28 members are required by the treaty that
established the mutual defense organization to spend 2% of their gross domestic
product on defense.
In 2016, President
Obama's final year in office, the U.S. spent 3.6% of its GDP on defense,
Greece 2.4%, the U.K. 2.2%, Estonia 2.16% and Poland 2%. Everyone else was
below 2%. Everyone.
And note that those
that are pulling their weight are among Europe's poorest nations. The others
should be ashamed, but shame is in short supply in Europe these days.
President Trump entered
the summit committed to harshly criticizing the alliance members for continuing
to shirk the agreed upon 2% target of GDP spending on defense.
During a breakfast
meeting at NATO Headquarters the President said, “I think it is very sad
when Germany makes a massive oil and gas deal with Russia. We are supposed to
be guarding against Russia and Germany goes out and pays billions and billions
of dollars a year to Russia.”
“We are protecting
Germany, we are protecting France, we are protecting all of these countries and
then numerous of the countries go out and make a pipeline deal with Russia
where they are paying billions of dollars into the coffers of Russia. I think
that is very inappropriate.”
“It should never have
been allowed to happen. Germany is totally controlled by Russia because they
will be getting 60-70% of their energy from Russia and a new pipeline. You tell
me if that’s appropriate because I think it’s not. On top of that Germany is
just paying just a little bit over 1% whereas the United States is paying 4.2%
of a much larger GDP. So, I think that’s inappropriate also.”
“Germany’s plan to
increase its defense expenditure to the NATO target of 2% of GDP by 2030 was
not good enough,” Trump said. “They could do it tomorrow.”
“President Trump’s brazen insults and denigration of one of
America’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.”
Sen. Diane Feinstein
tweeted, “NATO countries have fought alongside Americans for almost 70 years.
His insults weaken our security and undercut our national interests.”
The most ludicrous
tweet came from NBC’s Andrea Mitchell who claimed:
“Can only imagine what @SecPompeo, COS Kelly, US NATO
Ambassador Hutchison thinking watching them look down awkwardly as @realDonaldTrump
harangues NATO Secretary General saying Germany is captive to Russia. Unreal.
Putin wins.”
My favorite Twitter parody
account summed it up best:
All these people sound the same: “We are stronger together”. Blah, blah. Trump’s like: “You are stronger because we defend you, mother effer. Pay the money”— Sean Spicier (@sean_spicier) July 11, 2018
The President’s
criticism of a German deal with Russia on energy relates to the Nord Stream 2
pipeline Germany hopes to build on the floor of the Baltic Sea. Eastern European countries vehemently oppose
it fearing it could potentially cut them off from critical energy supplies and
make Europe helplessly dependent on Gazprom, the Russian-state gas exporter.
As you might expect, the
arrogant Frau Merkel pushed back saying, “I have experienced
myself how a part of Germany was controlled by the Soviet Union. I am very
happy that today we are united in freedom. Because of that we can say that we
can make our independent policies and make independent decisions. That is very
good, especially for people in eastern Germany.”
“Germany does a lot for
NATO,” she said. “[We] are the second
largest provider of troops; the largest part of our military capacity is
offered to NATO and until today we have a strong engagement towards
Afghanistan. In that we also defend the interests of the United States.”
Is that so? Well…
After the end of World
War II, much of Europe lay in ruins. In Germany, it has been estimated, 70% of
housing had been obliterated. Factories
and workshops were rubble; fields, forests and vineyards ripped to pieces. It looked
as though Germany would never rise again.
The Marshall Plan
(officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative to aid Western Europe, in which the United
States gave over $12 billion (approximately $120 billion in
current dollar value as of June 2016) in economic support to help rebuild
Western European economies after the end of World War II.
Poland’s Foreign
Minister Jacek Czaputowicz suggested the President has a point on the Nord
Stream pipelines. “Some countries are too close” to Russia, he said on a panel
at a parallel event to NATO, accusing the pipelines which transit gas to
western Europe under the Baltic Sea of funding Russia’s military buildup.
Poland and Ukraine also
fear that Russia may be diversifying its gas routes into Europe to be able to
exploit its grid for political reasons.
Turkey’s Foreign
Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also took a pop at Germany, complaining that Merkel’s
government withdrew its patriot missile system from Turkey’s Syrian border.
When German Defense Minister Ursula Von der Leyen responded that it was a
rotation and Germany stayed 3-4 years, Cavusoglu said: “Italy has been
prolonging, like a real ally.”
