Friends, while Donald Trump criticized our NATO "friends" during his first term, in those days it was basically inconceivable that he would have the guts to withdraw the U.S. from the longstanding alliance. Well, it ain't inconceivable no more. Friedrich Merz, a "conservative" who will likely be Germany's next Chancellor, is talking openly about the possibility that NATO will collapse, and some kind of European Bloc will have to take its place. What a novel idea! My advice to DJT is: don't let this golden opportunity go to waste! NATO has been withering on the vine for a long time. The illusion of "strength" during the Russia-Ukraine War has been based on entirely voluntary support for a non-NATO member, i.e. NATO commitments were never at issue in the first place. It has never been proven, in fact, that most NATO members would uphold their commitments to one another, because the alliance has never been tested by any enemy. The important point, however, is this: Europe faces no enemy more powerful than Russia, and almost any major European state, even with its presently pathetic military forces, could hold Russia at bay on its own. Combined, they are quite capable of deterring Russia and preserving their sovereignty and territorial integrity. In fact, they are quite able to "liberate" Ukraine any time they please -- they just prefer not to. I advise the Europeans to get on with it and make whatever arrangements they feel are necessary to secure their peace and security. I advise the Trump Administration to keep us out of any such arrangements altogether. America First!!!
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpv4n0dg3v3o
Finally, today a federal judge took the unusual step of allowing the Trump Administration to make its own decisions. No injunction was forthcoming that would require the Associated Press back into the White House. Hooray! That's one sane judge among several hundred. It's a start.
Nick, there’s no injunction NOW, but there’s a new hearing around March 20. The Trump-appointed judge did have trouble with the administration’s action.
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Dr. Waddy from Jack: I agree almost completely with you :America First and I see that eloquent tocsin as justified not only by present circumstance but also by the historically proven, on balance, beneficial record of the American way. Let Europe defend itself; its time we left.
ReplyDeleteI only disagree with you in that I do not think even a united Europe could liberate Ukraine from the onerous consequences of proximity to the Bear. Russia would turn everything from Warsaw to Paris into a parking lot if they were to be denied deliverance from the unendurable presence of a Ukraine serving as Europe's salient against them. They have proven it in the last three years, which strongly import the reality that they will do ANYTHING to destroy what they see as such a fundamental threat. This is a reality as sure as that which would befall one who steps between a she bear and her cubs:absolute Russian onslaught!
Dr. Waddy from Jack: There are of course mixed benefits in this Federal District Court judge' s exercise of his questionable authority. A Judge at that level should not have had jurisdiction in the first place . What if he had ordered the Administration to allow AP to come back? Ok , he didn't and that is all well and good in its way. But. . .
ReplyDeleteI sense the antiamerican far left is beginning to "feel" the sickening realization that the roof is caving in on them. They can't COUNT on the judiciary anymore. What then, WHAT THEN??!!
Dr. Waddy from Jack: I would suggest also that Nato's solidarity was tested in the early '50s when hell hound Stalin, perhaps not fully deterred by the Berlin Airlift and anticipating the realization of his stolen possession of the Hbomb was still a highly creditable threat . My understanding is that evidence was revealed after the fall of the Soviet Union that Stalin seriously considered an onslaught all the way to the Bay of Biscay once he got the Hbomb.Perhaps the newly formed Nato gave him pause(?) Luckily he was summoned in good time back to the fetid depths of hell from which he crept. I mean , what did HE have to lose? He had weathered the harrowing Nazi horde's offense, after all. He might simply have repaired to one of his dachas as millions of Russians were vaporized. "Oh well!"
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: If "peacekeepers" are proposed as part of the prospective Ukraine settlement, let them be from Peru, Luxembourg, the Cayman Islands , the Malagasy Republic etc. Let them be places for which Russia need not have any concerns about incursion into the borderland they consider Ukraine to be. Placement of troops from Nato powers like the UK, France or, of course, Germany, even if not under the formal aegis of Nato, would in all probability be utterly unacceptable to Russia. After all the blood and treasure brutal Russia has expended I doubt they will allow themselves to be, as they see it, nickel and dimed into losing the peace.
ReplyDeleteRod, I trust there will be oodles more injunctions between now and 2025, but, like every Republican, I'm counting on SCOTUS to have Trump's back.
ReplyDeleteJack, I simply meant that the Russia-Ukraine War is currently in stalemate. Thus, one assumes, the injection of European airpower into the mix, let alone the deployment of several Western European divisions, could shift the dynamics in Ukraine's favor. Would the Russians nuke everything in sight in response? Well, maybe, but it's a moot point since the Euro-weenies would never intervene in the first place.
Jack, I wonder if the Left really does sense the roof caving in, or if it believes its own propaganda that the American people are OBVIOUSLY turning against Trump and Musk and deliverance is thus at hand. I tend to the latter view. The Left's capacity for self-delusion is immense.
Jack, Stalin COULD HAVE tested NATO's resolve, sure, and he might have considered it, but he didn't do it, and thus NATO has always been a purely theoretical exercise...
Quite right: peacekeepers will have to come from neutral parties and certainly not NATO. They will be more of a tripwire than anything else.
Dr. Waddy from Jack : Yes! The 'trip wire" metaphor is spot on.
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