@oralloy,
Quote Blickers:
Quote: I just think it's [Hillary's foreign policy] a refreshing alternative to Trump's "If my buddy Putin wants Eastern Europe back, by golly I'll give him Eastern Europe back" foreign policy.
Quote Oralloy:
Quote:But that's not a fair characterization of Trump's plans. He just wants the rest of the free world to start pulling their own weight instead of depending on us to defend freedom worldwide all by ourselves.
Five things wrong with this.
1. Eastern European countries are still in recovery from having their economies run for so long by totalitarian, economically retarded Russians. They need pretty much every nickel they have for necessities, I don't see any reason not to give them a break until they can bring themselves up to financial speed, which they are doing rapidly.
2. Europe's geographical position is a great aid to us in a showdown with Russia. There is little doubt that once Russia raped Europe of its economic and intellectual power, it would be a far more powerful foe for the US to face. And power hungry as the Russians have turned out to be, the US will have to face them eventually if they ever get close to us in power. NATO works so well because it is such a win-win situation for the US and free Europe-which, thanks largely to NATO, is now almost all of Europe.
3. About this business of the US shouldering the entire burden of freedom, that's not true. Romania and Poland now have NATO troops, and none of them are American.
4. Further about the other countries not paying their share of NATO's financial costs-do you have any idea of the many billions of dollars in US made armaments that NATO countries buy from us? It's staggering. With defense being one of the US' major industries, those weapons contracts we have with our NATO colleagues support hundreds of thousands of US workers in high paying technical and manufacturing jobs, and have added Trillions to the US GDP. Given these facts, it is not so surprising that up to now, the US might have said to Europe, "OK, if you buy this expensive hardware from us, we can look the other way if you fall back a little on your NATO financial commitments". Trump doesn't mention that, does he? Trump is so unqualified to be president, he probably doesn't even realize it.
5. Even if you ignore the above and suppose that Trump is right about European payments to NATO, what kind of statesman is he to broadcast this publicly? If Trump was serious about this and knew how to be President, within the first months of Trump taking office he would preserve NATO unity by bringing up US objections to European countries not meeting their financial obligations. Then, privately, he would lay down his plans on what to do if they don't comply-bearing in mind that if he cracks down hard on these European countries paying, the US might find some future arms deals from these countries going to other countries, not the US.
All in all, Trump has made a total ass of himself in this NATO matter, even if you want to say he was right about European payments. But then, Trump is Putin's buddy, and Putin's Number One Priority is to get rid of NATO, not keep it unified. Keeping NATO unified is the President's job. Another reason that Donald Trump cannot be President.