In article <
4b0329d0-35bd-49c4...@googlegroups.com>,
davidbr...@gmail.com says...
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> Speaking at a rally in Conway, South Carolina, Trump recalled how as president he told an unidentified NATO member that he would withhold U.S. help and ?encourage? Russia to do as it wishes with allies that do not contribute enough to military spending.
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> ??You didn?t pay? You?re delinquent??? Trump recounted saying. ??No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You gotta pay. You gotta pay your bills.??
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> NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg shot back with an unusually strong statement saying that Trump was threatening the security of the entire trans-Atlantic alliance.
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> ?Any suggestion that allies will not defend each other undermines all of our security, including that of the U.S., and puts American and European soldiers at increased risk,? Stoltenberg said.
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> President Joe Biden, who is on track toward a rematch against Trump in November, also issued a statement criticizing Trump.
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> ?Donald Trump?s admission that he intends to give Putin a green light for more war and violence, to continue his brutal assault against a free Ukraine, and to expand his aggression to the people of Poland and the Baltic States are appalling and dangerous,? Biden said.
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> What did Trump get wrong?
> NATO members don?t pay to belong and don?t owe the organization anything other than contributions to a largely administrative fund. Trump clearly wasn?t referring to those administrative payments.
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> His frequent complaint during his presidency, and now, has been how much NATO countries put into their own military budgets.
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> U.S. presidents before him raised that concern. In fact, it was in 2014, during the Barack Obama administration, that NATO members agreed to move ?toward? spending 2 percent of GDP on national defense by 2024. Stoltenberg also has said members needed to invest more in their militaries.
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> At their last summit, in Lithuania in July, NATO leaders adjusted that pledge by agreeing to spend at least 2 percent of GDP on their military budgets. No target date was set for meeting the goal.
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> The 2 percent is a benchmark that each member should spend on its own defense in order to be able to contribute to the joint defense of the alliance. However, the goal is voluntary, and there is no debt or ?delinquency? involved.
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https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/fact-checking-trumps-comments-urging-russia-to-invade-delinquent-nato-members
So what? Joe got away with a crime because hes old and has a bad memory