Europe--At NATO, Trump claims allies make new defense spending commitments after he upends summit
Jul 16, 2018 18:38:46 #
---19gH.,b40
July 12 -2018
BRUSSELS — President Trump upended a summit here to admonish leaders and demand they quickly increase their defense spending, although he ultimately reaffirmed U.S. support for NATO on Thursday.
Trump’s ambush jolted the t***satlantic alliance, and some diplomats perceived his comments as threatening a U.S. withdrawal from NATO. But Trump later declared in a news conference, “I believe in NATO,” and, as he prepared to depart Brussels, he reiterated that the United States is committed to its Western allies.
“I told people that I’d be very unhappy if they did not up their commitments very substantially,” Trump told reporters after the meeting. “Everyone’s agreed to substantially up their commitment. They are going to up it at levels never thought of before.”
NATO member nations committed in 2014 to each spend 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense by 2024, though only eight countries have been on track to reach that goal this year. It was not immediately clear what specific new commitments were made here. Trump said that leaders responded to his demands by agreeing to reach the 2 percent goal soon.
“Ultimately, that will be going up quite a bit higher than that,” Trump said at the news conference, after privately calling Wednesday on leaders to double their commitments to 4 percent of gross domestic product.
Chancellor Angela Merkel and Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen make their way to a news conference after the second day of a NATO summit in Brussels.
An official who was in the closed-door session where Trump made his demands said German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had been talking about Germany spending 1.5 percent of GDP by 2024, recommitted to spending 2 percent spending by that date. But there may be considerable wiggle room for leaders to do nothing new, many officials said. Leaders explained to Trump that they could not make firm commitments inside a closed meeting, since most of them needed parliamentary consent to expand budgets.
In a news conference afterward, Merkel did not announce any new pledges but said that “there was a clear commitment to NATO by all.”
She said that the meeting was a continuation of what has been discussed for months.
“We made clear that we’re on the way,” she said.
French President Emmanuel Macron also said that leaders agreed to live up to their existing spending commitments. But he said he questioned whether Trump’s push for even higher spending goals made sense.
“I don’t even know if it is a good measure and fits our collective security,” Macron told reporters.
Trump used a session to intended for discussion of Georgia and Ukraine — two countries that have tense relations with Russia — to trumpet his spending concerns and rail against European countries, including Germany and Spain, for failing to contribute more to their defenses and
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in Brussels July 12 that after President Trump raised "frank" talks on defense spending , NATO is "stronger." NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg later told reporters, “All allies have heard President Trump’s message loud and clear.”
“We understand that this American president is very serious about defense spending, and this is having a clear impact,” Stoltenberg said. “After years of decline, when allies were cutting billions, now they are adding billions. Before, the trend was down; now, the trend is up.”
Trump’s Thursday demands sent “everyone into a tailspin,” according to one diplomat briefed on the morning’s events. Trump came armed with facts and figures, and it appeared to be a well-planned attack.
In the closed-door session, Trump told his counterparts that if they did not meet their 2 percent targets by January, the United States would go it alone, according to two officials briefed on the meeting. The officials said Trump threatened to “do his own thing.” The comments appeared open to interpretation, and some officials said they never felt Trump was threatening a full pullout from NATO.
Another official who was in the room said Trump read out the spending figures for every single NATO nation, sometimes telling leaders sarcastically: “My friend, you’re so nice to me. I’m sorry you’re spending so little.”
Asked why NATO leaders rushed into a subsequent emergency meeting, Stoltenberg did not single out Trump and told reporters only, “We all felt that we needed some more time for a good discussion on burden sharing.”
When the summit began Wednesday, Stoltenberg said, there were “differences between allies,” but that after its conclusion Thursday, “I feel NATO is more united now.”
During Trump’s impromptu news conference, he was asked whether he could withdraw the United States from NATO without congressional approval. The president replied, “I think I probably can, but that’s unnecessary.” He added: “The people have stepped up today” as they never have before. “Everyone in the room thanked me. There was a great collegial spirit in that room. . . . Very unified, very strong. No problem.”
At a nearby discussion sponsored by the Atlantic Council, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) emphasized that Capitol Hill still fully supports the 29-member alliance, saying: “There is no applause line for ‘let’s get out of NATO.’”
“Again, ladies and gentlemen, the American Congress weighs in on all these matters,” Tillis said. “Unlike Russia . . . we have co-equal branches that weigh into these matters.”
At the news conference, Trump went on to call NATO “a fine-tuned machine,” a phrase he has used to describe his often-chaotic administration, and said that “NATO is much stronger now than it was two days ago.”
When asked by a reporter whether he would change his tune about NATO once he boarded Air Force One and got on Twitter — a reference to his turnaround after a Group of Seven summit in Canada last month — Trump said he would not and called himself a “very stable genius.”
Trump pointed to what he said were $33 billion in NATO defense spending increases this year as evidence that his push was having an effect. He also said, inaccurately, that NATO nations had been decreasing their spending until he was elected. In fact, they began their spending increases following Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, although the increases have accelerated in response to his push.
President Trump held a news conference at the 2018 NATO summit in Brussels July 12, where he answered reporters' questions on international issues. (Joyce Lee /The Washington Post)
“They are spending at a much faster clip; they are going up to the 2 percent level,” Trump said. He said leaders committed to go to their parliaments to obtain the spending increases. He said the increase would happen in “a very short number of years.”
Trump last week told senior aides he was going to make threats about defense spending and that he was determined to flip the table over before he left, a senior administration official said ahead of Thursday’s drama, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive summit planning.
The message was t***smitted clearly in Brussels.
“Everyone in the room understood we would be coming to a disaster if we did not resolve this situation today,” one of the officials present for the conversation said. The official said there was fear that Trump could repeat his performance at the Group of Seven summit last month, when he pulled his consent from the closing declaration in a fit of pique after first agreeing to it. If that happened at NATO, officials said, the alliance could devolve into crisis.
[Trump says he will raise e******n meddling with Putin at summit]
“The discussion left many people in the room confused about what the actual position of the United States is or what the consequences would be,” said Amanda Sloat, a scholar at the Brookings Institution who was briefed by an official in the room. “His remarks were essentially a bombshell that went off and caused NATO officials to scramble to interpret what he meant.”
In his discussions with Europeans, Trump also complained about the expense of NATO’s new $1.4 billion headquarters. He noted that he knew the architect and believed NATO officials overpaid for the building, according to two officials with knowledge of the conversation.
Despite all the tensions, Trump and other leaders held a cordial dinner Wednesday night. He made no mention of the combative breakfast with Stoltenberg that morning, when Trump bashed NATO allies on defense spending and slammed Germany for its dependence on Russian energy.
Trump spent the evening bragging about the press turnout at his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, according to an official with knowledge of the dinner who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private gathering.
The official said Trump told his counterparts that he had recently called golfer Jack Nicklaus to boast: “They have 1,000 cameras at the Oscars, and we had 6,000 cameras in Singapore. The buzz was fantastic.”
Tim O’Brien, a Trump biographer, said Trump “likes the ideas of their leaders being destabilized and therefore easier to manipulate for him. He is trying to make everyone look weak and doesn't understand how all the moving parts work. He sees it as a zero-sum game where the United States can call the shots.”
SOURCE-Josh Dawsey, John Hudson, Seung Min Kim and Quentin Ariès- wash post---- by Michael Birnbaum and Philip Rucker-(Reuters) -
July 12 -2018
BRUSSELS — President Trump upended a summit here to admonish leaders and demand they quickly increase their defense spending, although he ultimately reaffirmed U.S. support for NATO on Thursday.
Trump’s ambush jolted the t***satlantic alliance, and some diplomats perceived his comments as threatening a U.S. withdrawal from NATO. But Trump later declared in a news conference, “I believe in NATO,” and, as he prepared to depart Brussels, he reiterated that the United States is committed to its Western allies.
“I told people that I’d be very unhappy if they did not up their commitments very substantially,” Trump told reporters after the meeting. “Everyone’s agreed to substantially up their commitment. They are going to up it at levels never thought of before.”
NATO member nations committed in 2014 to each spend 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense by 2024, though only eight countries have been on track to reach that goal this year. It was not immediately clear what specific new commitments were made here. Trump said that leaders responded to his demands by agreeing to reach the 2 percent goal soon.
“Ultimately, that will be going up quite a bit higher than that,” Trump said at the news conference, after privately calling Wednesday on leaders to double their commitments to 4 percent of gross domestic product.
Chancellor Angela Merkel and Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen make their way to a news conference after the second day of a NATO summit in Brussels.
An official who was in the closed-door session where Trump made his demands said German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had been talking about Germany spending 1.5 percent of GDP by 2024, recommitted to spending 2 percent spending by that date. But there may be considerable wiggle room for leaders to do nothing new, many officials said. Leaders explained to Trump that they could not make firm commitments inside a closed meeting, since most of them needed parliamentary consent to expand budgets.
In a news conference afterward, Merkel did not announce any new pledges but said that “there was a clear commitment to NATO by all.”
She said that the meeting was a continuation of what has been discussed for months.
“We made clear that we’re on the way,” she said.
French President Emmanuel Macron also said that leaders agreed to live up to their existing spending commitments. But he said he questioned whether Trump’s push for even higher spending goals made sense.
“I don’t even know if it is a good measure and fits our collective security,” Macron told reporters.
Trump used a session to intended for discussion of Georgia and Ukraine — two countries that have tense relations with Russia — to trumpet his spending concerns and rail against European countries, including Germany and Spain, for failing to contribute more to their defenses and
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in Brussels July 12 that after President Trump raised "frank" talks on defense spending , NATO is "stronger." NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg later told reporters, “All allies have heard President Trump’s message loud and clear.”
“We understand that this American president is very serious about defense spending, and this is having a clear impact,” Stoltenberg said. “After years of decline, when allies were cutting billions, now they are adding billions. Before, the trend was down; now, the trend is up.”
Trump’s Thursday demands sent “everyone into a tailspin,” according to one diplomat briefed on the morning’s events. Trump came armed with facts and figures, and it appeared to be a well-planned attack.
In the closed-door session, Trump told his counterparts that if they did not meet their 2 percent targets by January, the United States would go it alone, according to two officials briefed on the meeting. The officials said Trump threatened to “do his own thing.” The comments appeared open to interpretation, and some officials said they never felt Trump was threatening a full pullout from NATO.
Another official who was in the room said Trump read out the spending figures for every single NATO nation, sometimes telling leaders sarcastically: “My friend, you’re so nice to me. I’m sorry you’re spending so little.”
Asked why NATO leaders rushed into a subsequent emergency meeting, Stoltenberg did not single out Trump and told reporters only, “We all felt that we needed some more time for a good discussion on burden sharing.”
When the summit began Wednesday, Stoltenberg said, there were “differences between allies,” but that after its conclusion Thursday, “I feel NATO is more united now.”
During Trump’s impromptu news conference, he was asked whether he could withdraw the United States from NATO without congressional approval. The president replied, “I think I probably can, but that’s unnecessary.” He added: “The people have stepped up today” as they never have before. “Everyone in the room thanked me. There was a great collegial spirit in that room. . . . Very unified, very strong. No problem.”
At a nearby discussion sponsored by the Atlantic Council, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) emphasized that Capitol Hill still fully supports the 29-member alliance, saying: “There is no applause line for ‘let’s get out of NATO.’”
“Again, ladies and gentlemen, the American Congress weighs in on all these matters,” Tillis said. “Unlike Russia . . . we have co-equal branches that weigh into these matters.”
At the news conference, Trump went on to call NATO “a fine-tuned machine,” a phrase he has used to describe his often-chaotic administration, and said that “NATO is much stronger now than it was two days ago.”
When asked by a reporter whether he would change his tune about NATO once he boarded Air Force One and got on Twitter — a reference to his turnaround after a Group of Seven summit in Canada last month — Trump said he would not and called himself a “very stable genius.”
Trump pointed to what he said were $33 billion in NATO defense spending increases this year as evidence that his push was having an effect. He also said, inaccurately, that NATO nations had been decreasing their spending until he was elected. In fact, they began their spending increases following Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, although the increases have accelerated in response to his push.
President Trump held a news conference at the 2018 NATO summit in Brussels July 12, where he answered reporters' questions on international issues. (Joyce Lee /The Washington Post)
“They are spending at a much faster clip; they are going up to the 2 percent level,” Trump said. He said leaders committed to go to their parliaments to obtain the spending increases. He said the increase would happen in “a very short number of years.”
Trump last week told senior aides he was going to make threats about defense spending and that he was determined to flip the table over before he left, a senior administration official said ahead of Thursday’s drama, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive summit planning.
The message was t***smitted clearly in Brussels.
“Everyone in the room understood we would be coming to a disaster if we did not resolve this situation today,” one of the officials present for the conversation said. The official said there was fear that Trump could repeat his performance at the Group of Seven summit last month, when he pulled his consent from the closing declaration in a fit of pique after first agreeing to it. If that happened at NATO, officials said, the alliance could devolve into crisis.
[Trump says he will raise e******n meddling with Putin at summit]
“The discussion left many people in the room confused about what the actual position of the United States is or what the consequences would be,” said Amanda Sloat, a scholar at the Brookings Institution who was briefed by an official in the room. “His remarks were essentially a bombshell that went off and caused NATO officials to scramble to interpret what he meant.”
In his discussions with Europeans, Trump also complained about the expense of NATO’s new $1.4 billion headquarters. He noted that he knew the architect and believed NATO officials overpaid for the building, according to two officials with knowledge of the conversation.
Despite all the tensions, Trump and other leaders held a cordial dinner Wednesday night. He made no mention of the combative breakfast with Stoltenberg that morning, when Trump bashed NATO allies on defense spending and slammed Germany for its dependence on Russian energy.
Trump spent the evening bragging about the press turnout at his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, according to an official with knowledge of the dinner who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private gathering.
The official said Trump told his counterparts that he had recently called golfer Jack Nicklaus to boast: “They have 1,000 cameras at the Oscars, and we had 6,000 cameras in Singapore. The buzz was fantastic.”
Tim O’Brien, a Trump biographer, said Trump “likes the ideas of their leaders being destabilized and therefore easier to manipulate for him. He is trying to make everyone look weak and doesn't understand how all the moving parts work. He sees it as a zero-sum game where the United States can call the shots.”
SOURCE-Josh Dawsey, John Hudson, Seung Min Kim and Quentin Ariès- wash post---- by Michael Birnbaum and Philip Rucker-(Reuters) -
Jul 16, 2018 18:45:36 #
thebigp wrote:
---19gH.,b40 br July 12 -2018 br BRUSSELS — Presid... (show quote)
Trump doesn't seem to realize that the countries that make up NATO are democracies and it's the people who will determine how much they spend on the military. With Trump playing a bully I don't know if I would be willing to have my country spend anymore than necessary on defense...
Jul 16, 2018 18:49:56 #
PeterS wrote:
You are obviously upset at the idea of Putin facing a stronger NATO.Trump doesn't seem to realize that the countries that make up NATO are democracies and it's the people who will determine how much they spend on the military. With Trump playing a bully I don't know if I would be willing to have my country spend anymore than necessary on defense...
Did you forget you're supposed to be pretending to h**e Putin?
Jul 16, 2018 20:35:11 #
PeterS wrote:
Trump doesn't seem to realize that the countries that make up NATO are democracies and it's the people who will determine how much they spend on the military. With Trump playing a bully I don't know if I would be willing to have my country spend anymore than necessary on defense...
It was the Europeans, not the Americans that experienced the last full-scale global war on their own soil. If they feel comfortable with what they are spending on defense it's probably because they KNOW what they actually need. So, they're not going to be fooled into unnecessary sales being pushed by our military-industrial complex. NATO members did the same thing Kim Jong-un did... They smiled at Trump and shrugged their shoulders and said "eh..." Then Trump takes bows calling his meeting a tremendous success while the leaders he met with scratch their heads...
Why do they scratch their heads? Because they know that despite Trump, America still represents the hegemonic force that established the neoliberal order. They're not going to blow 80 years of partnership over one blowhard. So they smile at Trump and cater to his "royalness" and say things like... "we'll see."
Jul 16, 2018 20:48:22 #
Super Dave wrote:
You are obviously upset at the idea of Putin facing a stronger NATO.
Did you forget you're supposed to be pretending to h**e Putin?
Did you forget you're supposed to be pretending to h**e Putin?
Dave, you should stop and think about this... How silly it is for a president to tell people they need to spend more money on defense against Russia while at the same time profusely denying that Russia had anything to do with influencing our own 2016 e******n?
I mean, seriously... who needs to invade us if they can just influence us?
And this isn't just a personal disagreement... The investigations are actually finding proof that Russians were involved in meddling with our e******ns. Trump could have held back on any comment waiting instead for the investigation to conclude, but he didn't. Instead, he stood right there next to Putin and chastised American intelligence while exonerating Putin.
What we saw there in Helsinki was the U.S. giving Russia a blow job. The most disgraceful thing a U.S. president has done since the Russian Revolution. And on the same trip, he telling NATO they need to spend more money to defend themselves from Russia. LOL
Jul 16, 2018 20:52:57 #
straightUp wrote:
So, computer hacking and running Facebook ads are the only bad things you know about that Russia does?Dave, you should stop and think about this... How silly it is for a president to tell people they need to spend more money on defense against Russia while at the same time profusely denying that Russia had anything to do with influencing our own 2016 e******n?
You need a broader variety of news.
Jul 16, 2018 21:04:49 #
Super Dave wrote:
So, computer hacking and running Facebook ads are the only bad things you know about that Russia does?
You need a broader variety of news.
You need a broader variety of news.
What do you think a broader variety of news is going to do big boy?
Are you going to break out all those old stories about Stalin and the gulags? Are you going to gripe about how they took back Crimea? Put it this way... influencing e******ns is the most effective weapon the Russians have ever used on us directly. Yes, computer hacks and facebook ads... Show me another weapon that they have used directly on the United States of America with the the same potential for damage. I dare you.
Jul 16, 2018 21:28:51 #
straightUp wrote:
Well... Since the Russians managed to change the v**e count exactly ZERO, the weapon you seek is a dull set of toenail clippers.What do you think a broader variety of news is going to do big boy?
Are you going to break out all those old stories about Stalin and the gulags? Are you going to gripe about how they took back Crimea? Put it this way... influencing e******ns is the most effective weapon the Russians have ever used on us directly. Yes, computer hacks and facebook ads... Show me another weapon that they have used directly on the United States of America with the the same potential for damage. I dare you.
Are you going to break out all those old stories about Stalin and the gulags? Are you going to gripe about how they took back Crimea? Put it this way... influencing e******ns is the most effective weapon the Russians have ever used on us directly. Yes, computer hacks and facebook ads... Show me another weapon that they have used directly on the United States of America with the the same potential for damage. I dare you.
Jul 16, 2018 21:42:54 #
nwtk2007
Loc: Texas
thebigp wrote:
---19gH.,b40 br July 12 -2018 br BRUSSELS — Presid... (show quote)
Facts are facts. They don't pay their fair share or we get out. They are so worried about the corrupt and bad Putin?? then put your money where your mouth is. Fact is, I think they trust Putin. He has no desire to "conquer" the EU. He just wants stability and economic growth for his people.
Jul 16, 2018 22:39:16 #
Super Dave wrote:
Well... Since the Russians managed to change the v**e count exactly ZERO, the weapon you seek is a dull set of toenail clippers.
There is no way to prove that the Russian meddling did or didn't have an effect, so unless you're trying to convince me that you're a complete i***t, you might want to rethink that statement. What CAN be proven is that meddling *did* happen... How effective it was is anyone's guess.
This seems to be a point that none of you folks can ever get your head around. You're so sensitive about Trump's legitimacy that you automatically think that's what all this is about. Trump of course thinks everything is about him. But the investigation isn't focused on Trump... It never was. It's about Russian meddling - period. Granted, there are a LOT of Americans that hope Muller will find reason to bring Trump down in the process, but that isn't the purpose of the investigation.
The purpose is to learn who did it and more importantly HOW they did it.
I noticed you ignored my dare. (No surprise there. ha ha) You can't find a weapon that the Russians have used on United States that carries the same potential impact as their meddling in our e******ns because there isn't any.
You just cling to this faith that the meddling didn't actually sway any v**es so that you can write the whole thing off as a non-issue. But even if no v**es were swayed it still a serious issue... If Russia launched a war head at the U.S. but missed it's target would you write that off too? It's essentially the same thing.
That kind of makes you a t*****r to your own country.
Is it really worth all that just to show your support for a president that knows how to push your buttons?
Jul 16, 2018 22:42:16 #
PeterS wrote:
Trump doesn't seem to realize that the countries that make up NATO are democracies and it's the people who will determine how much they spend on the military. With Trump playing a bully I don't know if I would be willing to have my country spend anymore than necessary on defense...
Not any more they aren't and you'd be happy if we were at war with Russia in Syria if it helped your political position. Fk the people who will die.
I'm very happy you delusional losers are losing your grip.
Jul 16, 2018 22:43:53 #
straightUp wrote:
There is no way to prove that the Russian meddling... (show quote)
If there's no way to prove it why do you cling to it like a drowning man in your misguided quest to unseat the president?
Do you even know why you do what you do?
Jul 16, 2018 22:47:48 #
nwtk2007
Loc: Texas
I'll need a show of hands. If Russia influenced you to v**e for someone other than you had planned to v**e for, raise your hand!
Ok, there you have it!
Ok, there you have it!
Jul 16, 2018 23:18:00 #
straightUp wrote:
So now everybody that isn't a progressive Drama wanting to undo the e******n is a t*****r.There is no way to prove that the Russian meddling... (show quote)
My my....
Jul 16, 2018 23:23:47 #
nwtk2007 wrote:
Maybe Russia used their "Forget Ray" on the v**ers that made them v**e Trump and forget why..I'll need a show of hands. If Russia influenced you to v**e for someone other than you had planned to v**e for, raise your hand!
Ok, there you have it!
Ok, there you have it!
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