European leaders call Putin a bully – and tell the Ukrainians that they need to stand up to him. But in The Hague last week, they themselves readily submitted to another bully - Donald Trump. Why?
And bully he is ... because he can. No ideals or lofty aspirations behind it. Quite the opposite: A whim; something he read; 'getting back' at someone. The power has gone to his head and, sadly, he has a not very intelligent or functioning brain. How in hell did we get to the point that this shallow, obnoxious man has made so many people afraid?
I know it, you know it, every European leader, NATO personality and Ukrainian knows it.
Especially President Zelensky, victim of the Oval Office assault, knows it.
trump (always lower case) is also an authoritarian fan of Putin and fascist dictator wannabe. Sucking up to trump is clearly a short term political expedient, and nothing more. There is no doubt that all intelligent movers and shakers in Europe hold trump in some level of contempt, but are willing to do what it takes to avoid giving ‘disaster Don’ any excuse to make life easier for Putin, which he could do by unilaterally lifting sanctions on Russia, or pulling back even more on assistance to Ukraine. The U.S. is currently pretty much worthless (which pisses me off no end !!) for Ukraine support…, but d.t. could make it even worse, if his two year old temper tantrum mentality slipped into “I’ll show ‘em” mode.
Quite simple: if European countries want to get bullied around less, they need to become stronger themselves ánd develop a stronger European defence industry. 5/3.5% of defence spending only makes you more reliant, if you buy the majority of weapons from the US.
Hmm, having spent a good bit of my diplomatic career pondering the challenge of getting NATO to spend more on its own defense - the question occurs to me to ask myself if this was a ploy to further break up the alliance?
And bully he is ... because he can. No ideals or lofty aspirations behind it. Quite the opposite: A whim; something he read; 'getting back' at someone. The power has gone to his head and, sadly, he has a not very intelligent or functioning brain. How in hell did we get to the point that this shallow, obnoxious man has made so many people afraid?
Agree 100%, both with your anger and questions. How the h...
Pitiful, isn't it? Just pitiful.
That's putting it mildly.
Donald trump is a sheister, conman, asshole.
I know it, you know it, every European leader, NATO personality and Ukrainian knows it.
Especially President Zelensky, victim of the Oval Office assault, knows it.
trump (always lower case) is also an authoritarian fan of Putin and fascist dictator wannabe. Sucking up to trump is clearly a short term political expedient, and nothing more. There is no doubt that all intelligent movers and shakers in Europe hold trump in some level of contempt, but are willing to do what it takes to avoid giving ‘disaster Don’ any excuse to make life easier for Putin, which he could do by unilaterally lifting sanctions on Russia, or pulling back even more on assistance to Ukraine. The U.S. is currently pretty much worthless (which pisses me off no end !!) for Ukraine support…, but d.t. could make it even worse, if his two year old temper tantrum mentality slipped into “I’ll show ‘em” mode.
Good (sad, annoying, horrible) points, thanks.
Quite simple: if European countries want to get bullied around less, they need to become stronger themselves ánd develop a stronger European defence industry. 5/3.5% of defence spending only makes you more reliant, if you buy the majority of weapons from the US.
Yup. As you say, it's not really a complicated equation. But... we Europeans need to get off our back sides. And stand up.
Hmm, having spent a good bit of my diplomatic career pondering the challenge of getting NATO to spend more on its own defense - the question occurs to me to ask myself if this was a ploy to further break up the alliance?
I know that there were quite a few in European government who actually thought this when Trump first demanded the five percent....