Showing posts with label NATO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NATO. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Scott McConnell: Joe Biden has had his hair on fire for NATO enlargement since at least 1998

Anatol Lieven has pointed out that not a single hawk during the Reagan era (which today’s Democrats pretend to respect in counterpoint today’s America First Republicans) imagined bringing Crimea under NATO jurisdiction and evicting the Russian fleet from Sevastopol would be a desirable or feasible goal for the West. ...
 
One can go back to the 1998 Senate debate over NATO enlargement, won inevitably by the side promising greater profits for the military industrial complex, to see its contours. That debate was spirited, and we might take solace from the fact (unlike the present) that it took place at all. 

Opposing NATO expansion, Senator Daniel Moynihan, the last intellectual in American politics, warned “We’re walking into ethnic historical enmities. We have no idea what we’re getting into.” Taking Moynihan’s side, Republican senator John Warner of Virginia warned of antagonizing Russia by building an “iron ring” around it. And from whom came the most strident objection to Warner and Moynihan? According to the New York Times, Joseph Biden, “took the floor and erupted…stalking the Senate floor, flailing his arms….” 

More.

Thursday, February 29, 2024

We have the Napoleon wannabe in Paris, Emmanuel Macron, threatening to send in NATO troops, to thank for Putin's explicit threat to use nuclear weapons

Referring to French President Emmanuel Macron’s refusal to rule out sending western troops to Ukraine this week, Putin said Russia remembered “the fate of those who once sent their contingents to our country. “Now the consequences for possible interveners will be much more tragic,” he added. “We also have weapons that can strike targets on their territory.”

CNBC similarly here:

The comments appeared to be a direct response to French President Emmanuel Macron’s suggestion earlier this week that European heads of state and Western officials, who had met in Paris on Monday, had talked about the possibility of sending ground troops into Ukraine.

The French leader on Monday said there was no consensus on the idea, but that it had not been “ruled out.”

The comments have since sent NATO countries scrambling to deny they’d send troops into Ukraine, with Russia warning that such a deployment would prompt an “inevitable” Russia-NATO conflict.

 

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

NATO chief concedes Trump has a point lol

 Stoltenberg knows damn well he might have to deal with Trump again if he's elected in November, and isn't about to alienate him now. After the election and Trump loses? Yeah, maybe then, but not now.

Reported here:


NATO chief concedes 'valid point' of spending criticism as allies up defense budgets


NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks during a press conference on the third day of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meeting, in Marrakech, Morocco, October 11, 2023.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg

Susana Vera | Reuters

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg conceded to criticism that some members have been underfinancing the coalition’s defense budget, saying he expects a record 18 allies to meet their military spending goal this year.

His comments come on the footsteps of the controversial remarks of former U.S. president and Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, who said he would not protect NATO nations from Russian hostilities if they fall behind on their membership payments.

Trump’s statements kindled widespread ire from the international community, including from fellow Republicans, drawing Stoltenberg to earlier this week accuse that such a suggestion “undermines all our security.”

“The criticism that you hear is not primarily about NATO, it’s about NATO allies not spending enough on NATO. And that’s a valid point,” Stoltenberg said during a press briefing on Wednesday, in response to a question on whether Trump’s comments aligned with the broader views of Republican officials that the NATO chief has engaged.

“It’s a point and a message that has been conveyed by successive U.S. administrations that European allies and Canada have to spend more, because we haven’t seen fair burden sharing in the alliance,” Stoltenberg added. “The good news is that this is exactly what NATO allies are now doing.”

Sunday, February 11, 2024

Trump is the accidental anarchist to Biden the intentional one

 Trump treating NATO like a plaything in South Carolina:

'No, I would not protect you [NATO], in fact I would encourage them [Russia] to do whatever the hell they want, you gotta pay! You gotta pay your bills.'

Also in South Carolina, Trump oblivious to Nikki Haley's husband's military deployment:

“Then she comes over to see me at Mar-a-Lago. ‘Sir, I will never run against you.’ She brought her husband. Where’s your husband? Oh, he’s away. He’s away. What happened to her husband? What happened to her husband? Where is he? He’s gone! He knew. He knew,” Trump said.

In Michigan Ron DeSantis is still on the ballot Tuesday February 27th:




Tuesday, January 24, 2023

Turkey's Erdogan is back at it, trying to stop Sweden's entry into NATO

Finland Floats Solo NATO Entry After Erdogan Rejects Sweden

. . . on Monday, Erdogan ruled out supporting Sweden’s bid after a far-right activist burned Islam’s holy book in Stockholm.

 Erdogan has an election coming up, and needs the Koran crowd's vote.

Friday, August 5, 2022

LOL, would be Immanentizer of The Eschaton Josh Hawley is lone No vote in US Senate to admit Sweden and Finland to NATO

 Rand Paul votes Present!

Hawley had a perfect chance to vote for global thermonuclear war, and missed it!

Story.

Wednesday, June 29, 2022

The price of NATO membership for Sweden and Finland is for them to throw the Kurds under the bus to please Turkey


 Same as it ever was.

The Kurds have been pretty much voiceless in the West since Winston Churchill first threw them under the bus in 1919 and used British air forces to attack them, advocating eventually that Turkey be given control of northern Iraq.

 

 

 

NATO members once more are ignoring Turkey’s role against the Kurds. This concerns internal Kurdish oppression in Turkey, bombing the PKK and Yazidis in Northern Iraq and killing and cleansing Kurds in Northern Syria. ...

NATO, the European Union, and the G7 anti-Russian Federation alliance ignore human rights in Turkey and the fact that this nation is occupying two nations (Northern Cyprus and Northern Syria) – while also bombing Kurds and Yazidis in another nation (Iraq). At the same time, the EU and G7 seek Saudi Arabia to increase energy production. Therefore, ignoring the conflict in Yemen: the Saudi Arabia-led war that has been bombing this nation for many years (weapons bought from America, France, and the United Kingdom).

The Kurds are perennially thrown under the American and NATO bus. Hence, Finland and Sweden are set to join the anti-Kurdish power plays of NATO before even being accepted. 

More.

Sunday, March 27, 2022

All NATO has is 100-150 B61 thermonuclear gravity bombs vs. thousands of Russian theatre nuclear weapons aimed at Europe

 

Russian hypersonic missiles armed with nuclear warheads could destroy these B61s in their bunkers in Western Europe before NATO even orders them deployed on aircraft.

Saturday, March 26, 2022

I swear Joe Biden is going to get us all killed


 So far on this trip to Poland to rally NATO to the defense of Europe, Joe Biden has

1) threatened to respond "in kind" if Russia uses chemical or biological weapons;

2) told members of the 82nd Airborne they're about to deploy to Ukraine ("when you’re there, you’re going to see women, young people standing in the middle, in the front of a damn tank saying 'I’m not leaving.'");

3) specifically called for regime change in Russia (“For god’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.”).

 

 

 

 

We're not supposed even to possess chemical and biological weapons.

Russia has stated NATO intervention in Ukraine is a cause for war with NATO.

Making removal of Putin the NATO objective is the existential threat Putin also says is a cause for war.

At least in 1984 when Ronald Reagan quipped in a sound check, "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.", he was only joking.

The Reagan joke was deliberately leaked to embarrass him, which it did. But today's White House scrambles to correct all these Biden statements because none of them are jokes.

Joe Biden is the loose cannon on the ship of state. 

And they used to call this guy a dunce.


 

 

Tuesday, March 22, 2022

LOL Wall Street Journal: "The S-300 from Belarus wasn’t among the systems that are being sent to Ukraine, one U.S. official said"

 That right there is an unnamed US source quoted for plausible deniability, primarily for Russian consumption. The link is free to read at Drudge.

USA Sending Soviet Air Defense Systems...
 

The story is an example of US disinformation involving a shell game of transfers of maybe this, maybe that, maybe here, maybe there.

Happy to see it!

WASHINGTON—The U.S. is sending some of the Soviet-made air defense equipment it secretly acquired decades ago to bolster the Ukrainian military as it seeks to fend off Russian air and missile attacks, U.S. officials said. ... in 1994 ... a Soviet-made transport plane was observed at the Huntsville, Ala., airport within sight of a major highway. It was later disclosed that the plane was carrying an S-300 air defense system that the U.S. had acquired in Belarus ... The S-300—called the SA-10 by NATO—is a long-range, advanced air defense system intended to protect large areas over a much wider radius. ... At least some of what the U.S. sent was from that base, said officials, who added that C-17s recently flew to a nearby airfield at Huntsville. ... [SECDEF] Austin last week visited Slovakia to explore if the country would send an S-300 from its arsenal. Slovakia has said that it would do so if the U.S. would provide it with a replacement . . ..

Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Hi, I'm president Joe Biden and the buck stops with COVID-19, Vladimir Putin, and high fuel costs, not with me

 Joe just wants you to forget that his anti-fossil fuel policies pushed gasoline from $2.09 to $3.44 in one year from his election, that he did nothing to dampen the NATO connections with Ukraine which have inflamed Putin, and that he failed to shut down the virus.

He also omits that his ignominious withdrawal from Afghanistan broadcast the very weakness which was later on display when he promised Putin that US and NATO troops would not get involved in Ukraine. 

"Step right this way, Vladimir!"





Tuesday, March 8, 2022

Remember when Pat Buchanan wanted to pull all US troops out of Europe, basically out of everywhere but Guam?

 Latvia yesterday:

In a press conference Monday, Rinkevics said that public opinion and policymakers’ decision-making had shifted with regards to military deployments, noting that now “we need a permanent stationing of NATO troops, including U.S. troops, on our soil” — something he had called for before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

On the day Russia invaded Ukraine (Feb. 24), Biden ordered the deployment of an additional 7,000 U.S. troops to Europe, and moved forces already in Europe to NATO’s eastern flank, including to Latvia. ...

Even though the Baltic states have been a part of NATO and the EU since 2004, with all three using the euro as their currency, their geographic location makes them vulnerable. Like Ukraine, they all share a border with Russia. Latvia and Lithuania also share a border with Russia’s ally Belarus, which is widely believed to be supporting Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.

More.

Buchanan with Hannity and Colmes, November 26, 2007, Putin's seventh year in office:

COLMES: You want — yes, you want us to get out of Russia, too. You want us to pull the troops back, get the troops out of all — wherever we have United States troops.

BUCHANAN: Look, the Russians got up and walked out of Eastern Europe. They moved their army behind the Urals. They let Eastern Europe go free. They let 15 nations break up. What did we move NATO into their face for?

More.

Friday, March 4, 2022

As usual Americans are mentally ill, wanting mutually exclusive things

74% want a no fly zone!

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-americans-broadly-support-ukraine-no-fly-zone-russia-oil-ban-poll-2022-03-04/

But fewer than half want the broader war that implies.

 

Not a serious country.
 

 

Half of the country doesn't seem to get it that a wider war in Europe would oblige us to participate under NATO

 Q:

"If a wider war breaks out in Europe, should the U.S. military be involved?" 

A:


 

 

Friday, February 25, 2022

Russia threatens neutral Finland

 

Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Friday that any attempt by Finland to join NATO would have “military and political repercussions.” ...

On Thursday, Finish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said the Russian invasion would shift the long running debate in Finland around NATO membership.

More.

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Alexander Vindman is a Ukrainian-American who thinks Ukraine should be NATO's spearhead poking Putin's ass

Go ahead and impeach Trump over a foreign policy difference. That's what this whole thing has been about from the beginning anyway. Hillary Clinton, DNC, John McCain, Neo-con NeverTrump, the whole lot of them hate Trump for this. The American people decided otherwise in 2016. It's their foreign policy Vindman and the rest want to impeach. GFY! 



Monday, March 18, 2019

Germany rebuffs Trump, reverses pledge to increase NATO spending as economic growth slowdown looms


The government has yet to endorse the draft, which will be put to the cabinet on Wednesday. It will again approve the final plan in early summer before parliament has the last word.

Yet while this means the figures aren’t cast in stone, an economic slowdown, its expected impact on tax revenues, and the reluctance of both parties in Ms. Merkel’s coalition to fight for unpopular military spending or appear to appease Mr. Trump, make a reversal unlikely.