[YNet] - After more than a year of thinly-veiled threats to start pulling U.S. troops out of Germany unless Berlin increases its defense spending, President Donald Trump appears to be proceeding with a hardball approach, planning to cut the U.S. military contingent by more than 25%.
“Nothing personal, guys. I made you an offer. You refused.”
About 34,500 American troops are stationed in Germany - 50,000 including civilian Department of Defense employees - the plan Trump reportedly signed off on last week envisions reducing active-duty personnel to 25,000 by September, with further cuts possible.
But as details of the still-unannounced plan trickle out, there's growing concerns it will do more to harm the U.S.'s own global military readiness and the NATO alliance than punish Germany.
The decision was not discussed with Germany, nor with any other NATO members - additionally, Congress was not officially informed - prompting a letter from 22 Republican members of the House Armed Services Committee urging a rethink.
"The threats posed by Russia have not lessened, and we believe that signs of a weakened U.S. commitment to NATO will encourage further Russian aggression and opportunism," Rep. Mac Thornberry of Texas wrote in a letter to Trump with his colleagues. Sen. Jack Reed.
...The suggestion that removing troops will punish Germany, however, overlooks the fact that American troops are no longer primarily there for the country's defense, said retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, who commanded U.S. Army Europe from 2014 until 2017. To me it seems that the congressman and the general contradict each other.
...Trump indicated last summer that he was thinking of moving some troops from Germany to Poland, telling Poland's President Andrzej Duda during an Oval Office meeting: "Germany is not living up to what they're supposed to be doing with respect to NATO, and Poland is."
Duda has been trying to woo more American forces, even suggesting Poland would contribute over $2 billion to create a permanent U.S. base, which he said could be named "Fort Trump." In the current plan, at least some Germany-based troops are expected to be shifted to Poland. Well, at least, the congressman can calm down now. As for the general, betcha the troops will find living in Poland much cheaper - especially the services of the, ahem, seamstresses.
#5
Poland's President Andrzej Duda during an Oval Office meeting: "Germany is not living up to what they're supposed to be doing with respect to NATO, and Poland is."
So, let Poland annex Germany (they already took Silesia). Then our troops will be in Poland, not Germany. No relocation costs. (do I need to put a /sarc on that?)
[American Greatness] A mere day on, and the City of Seattle was de facto occupied territory, fallen to the "peaceful protesters"—the same counterculture media darlings who’ve been sacking cities across America.
The rabble—Black Lives Matter sympathizers, which, as police arrest records show are almost entirely locals—were further roused by Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant, formerly of Mumbai.
The pied piper Sawant led the "peace makers" to occupy City Hall in downtown Seattle, on Tuesday, June 10.
The altercation between Council Member Sawant and Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan gives new meaning to the "broad" sweep of ideas in this dysfunctional city. Sawant, a socialist, called on Mayor Durkan, a progressive, to resign over abuse of power (what power?) and systemic racism (a meaningless abstraction). This, as the city was being sacked.
SURRENDER MONKEYS
As of this writing, the Seattle Police have surrendered without defeat.
Seven blocks of downtown Seattle, renamed the "Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone" (CHAZ), have been appropriated by the "Peaceful Ones," with the imprimatur of the mayor and her police chief. Now loosed on the public, these buccaneering entrepreneurs are reported to have set up checkpoints to shake down residents who imagine they may come and go. Not in this satrapy!
On the positive side, Seattle now has that shithole-country vibrancy.
President of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, SPOG, penned an open letter to lunatic Mayor Durkan, pondering how he would fulfill his sworn oath of office to protect lives and property without so much as tear gas.
He got his answer. America got it, too. Across the United States, the message to law-abiding Americans from city, town, and county council members as well as other legislators came loud and clear: You’re on your own. Neither police nor politicians are coming to protect what’s left of your businesses or your banal, bourgeoisie little life.
Last I looked, there were 400,000 "guardian angels" in private security toiling to make up for the South African state’s failure to protect its people. Every year, millions in taxpayers’ money are forked out to private security firms in order to protect the new South Africa’s police stations. South Africa’s protectors, in other words, can’t protect themselves. Will Seattle’s neutered policemen be investigating this option? Is it time for them to cut the shafted taxpayers loose? Let us go private?
When all is said and done, the George Floyd riots are a law and order event. Nothing else matters in the overarching context of a failed state, in which ordered liberty is dead, and the law-abiding are utterly forsaken, even vilified.
Yes, victims are now villains and villains are martyrs.
Unbeknownst to Nikolas Fernandez, a gainfully employed security guard, the Capitol Hill district of Seattle now belongs to the "peaceful protesters." Fernandez dared to drive in that district, only to be mobbed by the barbarians and in the struggle forced to shoot an attacker. Legacy media quickly turned the narrative on its head. Fernandez, whose brother is a policeman, had invaded "peaceful protester" turf. His attacker took a bullet for peace. The attacker is now a hero.
KNEELING NINNIES
Next came the national kneeling. Once again, Washington state led the way. On June 1, after hundreds of looters ransacked major shopping malls in Bellevue, including the spectacular Bellevue Square, that city’s police chief, Steve Mylett, knelt down like a girl, instead of standing tall like a man for law and order.
#1
Mercer: Scenes From The Sacking of America's Cities
FIFY. Some day when academia is burned and rebuilt someone may have the guts to write a thesis on the consequences of importing votes for power with 'free stuff' was unsustainable. The more you subsidize the more you get.
#2
Some perspective; the author is an American and daughter of a rabbi. They now live in Texas (if he is still living). They were formerly residents of South Africa.
#3
Not spending money in blue cities is actually much easier than not spending money on all the polluted online streaming media garbage. And the latter really isn't all that hard.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
06/14/2020 8:51 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Steve Mylett, knelt down like a girl,
That offends girls everywhere. A girl these days would have kicked the shins of anybody telling her to kneel.
Who wrote that thing about 'we take the spines out of men and expect them to walk upright', or something like it ? Clever guy.
#5
Decided prior to the riots (when it became OK for bums to freely camp anywhere) to aviod spending any time or money in Seattle. Only have to pass through to get to airport or visit kids/grandkids. No more Mariners games or weekends doing 'big city grown up stuff.'
[American Greatness] - When its name is mentioned on the small screen or featured by the established media, the Black Lives Matter movement is treated as a populist uprising of black youth and their allies against the merciless boot of police repression. But there are organizations, many of them in fact, that are collecting money on behalf of BLM and then distributing those dollars in ways that would surprise the average Instagram warrior urging friends to give.
Of course, many of these donors are none too concerned about how that money is spent given that their motivation for chipping in is the expiation of their guilt for not being oppressed enough. And now that the spigots of guilt are flowing freely, there are numerous BLM copycat groups that have opened GoFundMe accounts and no one knows where that money is going. So if the reader is planning to donate to this slush fund for fake outrage, make sure it isn’t going to a guy in Vancouver raising cash for more Playstation games and Gatorade.
Shaun King, the Carrot Top of the civil rights movement, has been so defensive of what he does with fundraisers for the families of blacks killed by police like Tamir Rice that he has threatened legal action against (actual) black activists who criticize him. But there have been rumblings periodically from supporters of the BLM movement about what they see as the opaque and secretive nature of BLM the actual organization. Raheem Kassam and Natalie Winters recently published the news that BLM’s #DefundThePolice initiative organizes its donations through ActBlue, the national fundraising arm of Democratic campaigns including the presumptive presidential nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden. It may not be presentable to say in public, but honest observers cannot help but remark that this "civil rights movement" seems to be just as much about greenbacks as it is about black lives.
Continued on Page 49
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[YNet] - After more than a year of thinly-veiled threats to start pulling U.S. troops out of Germany unless Berlin increases its defense spending, President Donald Trump appears to be proceeding with a hardball approach, planning to cut the U.S. military contingent by more than 25%.
[American Greatness] A mere day on, and the City of Seattle was de facto occupied territory, fallen to the "peaceful protesters"—the same counterculture media darlings who’ve been sacking cities across America.
