Germany is drawing more and more Communist lines as it vilifies Trump over his refusal to pay for and/or support: the Liberal Order, Climate Change, BREXIT and a common stance on Russia. DW.com cites, US “eminent” political scientist, G John Ikenberry, as stating that this is not just neglect, but sabotage, and a hostile revisionist power play. WOW! No mincing words…
First, Ikenberry is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a known voice of activism and hate speech. Working on ‘several projects for the Council on Foreign Relations, Ikenberry is a well known proponent of World Order, global domination, and the squeezing out of any country who is not on board with this regime, aka Russia. To consider him ‘eminent’ is rather arrogant and pompous to say the least.
The true angst within the EU and Germany is the fact that the US under Trump will henceforth no longer prop up their economies with US taxpayer funds. Including, defense.
Germany’s defense budget accounts for about 2.5% of the total world budget, 1.2% of it’s GDP, and 6.7% of what the US spends NOT including NATO. As a percent of GDP, Germany would need to triple it’s spending to equal that of the US – topping roughly $120 billion. The EU is squeezing Germany for more money as a result of BREXIT, and if the US let’s NATO go by the wayside, Germany and France will be left holding an empty bag of trick-or-treats.
Climate Change?
The Paris Agreement is about two things 1) money, and 2) pinky swear goals. Trump pulling out of the money part will have absolutely no effect on the climate change outcome given the money is slated for countries whose economies have no impact on climate change whatsoever. It’s a Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme. As Trump refuses to fund the scheme, US businesses vow to reduce emissions… Isn’t that the goal? Or is the true goal to create another waste committee to spend billions on infrastructure so as to take over small country’s resources in ‘land grabs’? Because that’s what the Climate Change money is slated for!
According to National Geographic, 1400 businesses, 20 states and 110 US cities have pledged to reduce emissions. Given that the Paris Agreement is all about ‘pledges’, it would appear that the US is doing it’s part without giving billions to a ‘committee’.
Basically, Germany and other co-dependent countries are whining because they have been given a free ride for so long and haven’t the wherewithal to actually provide for themselves as independent. They have been ‘welfare’ countries for so long that being weaned is making them angry as they cry for entitlement.
Sound familiar? It should, because that is ‘Socialist Communism’.
In addition to NATO, 25 member states of the EU formed PESCO in 2017. PESCO is a joint effort to create a European military outside of the US welfare budget. Countries have already begun complaining that these funds will stress their other welfare programs and tax government spending. While a formal budget has yet to even be declared, a goal of 2% has been defined. But it isn’t just spending – it is about the size of the military itself.
Germany has a land force of just over 60,000 personnel. Conscription may become a compulsory future for German males, or they may require conscription in order for immigrants to obtain citizenship… France’s military is considerably larger with a manpower of over 365,000. Sweden has an active personnel log of 22,500, The Netherlands is roughly 59,000 and Norway boasts about 23,000 active.
As a comparison, the US has an active duty personnel of roughly 1.3 million.
Germany’s equipment is in worse disrepair. The Ninth Tank Brigade, which is scheduled to take over NATO’s Very High Readiness Task Force in 2019, has exactly 9 tanks and 3 armoured personal carriers. It is an embarrassment for Germany and a complete failure of Merkel to compose a ready military.
Germany’s notion that the US is “ambivalent” because Trump is refusing to support the EU while they continue to vilify, demean, and reap the benefits of US taxpayer dollars, is incredibly morally, ethically, insanely hypocritical at best. The real problem is the fact that despite decades of US demands that the EU ramp up their military, they shrugged. There were no consequences, and now they are facing a Trump who is refusing to bow to their grumbling querulous snipes.