Under Pressure From Trump, Germany Boosts Military Spending

[CaptainAmerica]

LOL, yea a country with foreign troops on its land is the most autonomous country in Europe. The big lie is that this is some ploy to encourage Europe to be more independent when it is obvious to anyone with any understanding of TPTB that this is a scheme to encourage countries in peace time to stimulate the military industrial complex with them buying equipment they do not need.

Germany is no Hong Kong who spend little to no money on defense, they have actively participated in wars in Serbia, Iraq I and II, Afghanistan, Libya etc. They are very capable of defending herself with the military they have now and it addition project their military power outside their borders. If Trump really wanted to encourage German independence, he would start by withdrawing the troops we have in that country now.

I promise you if he ever did that, the German people will not beg him to stop. They would instead cheer him on. Another lie is that we ever needed to protect Europe from anyone. The best move Germany can do is to call Trump's bluff and ask him to stop supporting them if he is going to whine all day about it. Ask him to stop the funding now and withdrawn the troops and equipment tomorrow. This is when you people will the true aim of Trump's whinning.

the german people I am sure do not like it, they understand history of september 11th better than the rest of the world ....and have come out of fascism, they understand what America has become.

[Ender]

I think it worked out well for us, Europe was destroyed, the US became the sole super power, it brought us the Bretton woods monetary system. I think it worked quite well for the US.

Why anyone would oppose a country arming themselves is beyond me, its Germany's fault that France and Britain decided to declare war on her and when they got their arses kicked called in the US for help. I think the world would have been very peaceful had US stay out of WWI and Europe were left alone to sort their problems.

Yep.

There would have been no WWII or Hitler.

[Swordsmyth]

Germany is poised to renege on its promise to boost NATO spending, backtracking on a public commitment last year by Chancellor Angela Merkel to increase German military expenditure to 1.5% of gross domestic product by 2024 - bringing it closer to the 2% level set by NATO themselves, according to the Wall Street Journal.

If confirmed at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, the move would mark a fresh step in the gradual estrangement between the U.S. and its erstwhile loyal European ally and comes after Mr. Trump’s repeated attacks of North Atlantic Treaty Organization leaders for not meeting a 2% military-spending target. -WSJ

Berlin currently spends around €43 billion ($49 billion), equal to just over 1.2% of GDP on defense. Under a new plan unveiled on Monday by the finance ministry, the spending would rise to just 1.37% of GDP next year, then decrease again to 1.33% in 2019, 1.29% in 2022 and 1.25% in 2023.
"The commitment we have made to NATO states that spending should reach 2% if the budget conditions allow for it. We haven't abandoned the target but it remains a challenge that the federal government wants to master," said a senior government official.

"NATO members clearly pledged to move towards, not away, from 2% by 2024. That the German government would even be considering reducing its already unacceptable commitments to military readiness is a worrisome signal to Germany’s 28 NATO allies," said the US ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell.

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-...-full-throttle


TIME TO LEAVE!

[Swordsmyth]

German politicians on Tuesday threatened to expel U.S. Ambassador Richard Grenell over his sharp criticism of Germany’s low defense spending. Grenell took Germany to task for failing to meet its own spending goals, let alone its commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Several German politicians responded to Grenell with outrage, notably the deputy speaker of the Bundestag and vice president of the Free Democratic Party, Wolfgang Kubicki.
Kubicki compared Grenell to “a high commissioner of an occupying power” and said his interference in “political questions of the sovereign Federal Republic” should not be tolerated. He recommended declaring Grenell persona non grata and expelling him from Germany.
“Diplomatically, Mr. Grenell is a complete failure. This entire thing seems like the behavior of a naughty schoolboy,” added Carsten Schneider, parliamentary manager for the Social Democrat party.
“Mr. Grenell damages transatlantic relations with his repeated clumsy provocations,” Schneider declared.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s response was a bit more diplomatic, as she conceded it was understandable why President Donald Trump and Germany’s European allies might find Germany’s defense contributions inadequate.
“We have always said that we’re headed in the direction of two percent, and that by 2024 we will reach 1.5 percent,” Merkel insisted – a rather bizarre assertion given that Grenell was responding to a German budget that would not get anywhere near 1.5 percent, not in 2020 and not by 2024. If Merkel has “always said” something else, her finance minister appears not to have heard her.
Ambassador Grenell has allies in Germany as well as critics. Green Party legislator Omid Nouripour, who has previously applauded Grenell for saying undiplomatic things Berlin needs to hear, denounced threats to expel Grenell as “nonsense” and said he represents a line of communication with the White House “needed more than ever before.”
German armed forces commissioner Hans-Peter Bartels agreed on Tuesday with Grenell’s assessment that the new military budget is dangerously now. Bartels cited painful defects in German military hardware and said German soldiers believe their country’s pledge to NATO should be “predictably and reliably implemented.”
Germans who were critical of Merkel’s open-door refugee policies over the past few years will not be pleased to hear their government cite the soaring cost of refugee services as one of the primary reasons the military budget cannot be increased.

More at: https://www.breitbart.com/national-s...ense-spending/

[Swordsmyth]

US Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday strongly criticized Germany at NATO's 70th anniversary gathering, saying the ally's level of defense spending and work with Russia on a gas pipeline were "simply unacceptable.""Germany must do more. And we cannot ensure the defense of the West if our allies grow dependent on Russia," Pence told a forum as part of two days of alliance events in Washington.
"It is simply unacceptable for Europe's largest economy to continue to ignore the threat of Russian aggression and neglect its own self-defense and our common defense," Pence said.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly voiced annoyance that Germany is not on track to meet a goal set by NATO in 2014 of each member spending two percent of GDP on defense.
Pence highlighted a report to parliament on Germany's armed forces, saying it showed "glaring deficiencies" in military readiness.
Germany, despite political concerns about Russia, has forged ahead with the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline that would double the capacity of the existing link with Russia.
"If Germany persists in building the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, as President Trump said, it could turn Germany's economy into literally a captive of Russia," Pence said.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/pence-calls-g...jtc_news_index

[Swordsmyth]

Germany’s left is talking about dissolving NATO

[Pauls' Revere]

Good, maybe we can draw down our troops there.