Tillerson, Russia, NATO

[CathyA]

What do you all think of Tillerson going to Russia, as opposed to going to the NATO conference? Seems sort of like a bad idea to me.....especially at this particular time with the investigation into Russia and hacking, etc. Isn't NATO sort of important??

[Teacher Terry]

Every time you think that things can not get any worse they do.

[bae]

What do you all think of Tillerson going to Russia, as opposed to going to the NATO conference?

Not being privy to the things on his plate, or his instructions, I don't think anything one way or the other of it.


Isn't NATO sort of important??

Not really.

[LDAHL]

Of the twenty-eight members of NATO, only five have honored their commitment to spend 2% of GDP on defense (the US, the UK, Poland, Greece and Estonia). Trump has remarked on this in his usual lurid terms. Tillerson’s “scheduling issues” may be a not so subtle expression of dissatisfaction with the laggards. I think NATO may be more important now than at any time since the early nineties, but I’m less worried about the Trump administration’s overheated rhetoric than about so many of our allies’ refusal to maintain a robust military capability.

[bae]

I don't see why US taxpayers should subsidize the defense budgets of European nations, allowing them to be "the happiest nations on Earth", while our highway bridges are crumbling and falling into rivers.

[LDAHL]

I don't see why US taxpayers should subsidize the defense budgets of European nations, allowing them to be "the happiest nations on Earth", while our highway bridges are crumbling and falling into rivers.

Neither does Trump, apparently. A lot has happened since American power held back Stalin and starvation from Western Europe, and it may be that the Pax Americana is coming to an end. If Europe needs to relearn history's lessons about rich, weak countries with predatory neighbors (not having profited from the examples of Moldova, Georgia or Ukraine), there may ultimately be little the US can do.

I think it would be a tragedy, though. and not just for Europe.

[creaker]

I don't see why US taxpayers should subsidize the defense budgets of European nations, allowing them to be "the happiest nations on Earth", while our highway bridges are crumbling and falling into rivers.

Then maybe we should be decreasing defense budgets instead of augmenting them by raiding other budgets?

[flowerseverywhere]

I don't see why US taxpayers should subsidize the defense budgets of European nations, allowing them to be "the happiest nations on Earth", while our highway bridges are crumbling and falling into rivers.

so true. But worse is the amount of US troops that are in harms way. I disagree with a lot of trumpisms, but on this I see his point.

[bae]

Then maybe we should be decreasing defense budgets instead of augmenting them by raiding other budgets?

Stop making sense.

[bae]

so true. But worse is the amount of US troops that are in harms way.

Bring most of them home.

[razz]

Bring most of them home.
After WW2, the biggest challenge was dealing with all the returning soldiers and what to do to employ them. What would all the US soldiers do if they returned home? How many soldiers and their support structures are employed around the world?

[LDAHL]

After WW2, the biggest challenge was dealing with all the returning soldiers and what to do to employ them. What would all the US soldiers do if they returned home? How many soldiers and their support structures are employed around the world?

According to Wikipedia, about 130,000 service members are deployed overseas. Hardly a demographic tsunami.