On Saturday, Donald Trump again expressed his impatience with NATO members like Germany, who shirk defence spending because they can rely on American deterrence:
"The real reason that America continues to prop up NATO appears to be some combination of institutional inertia and what Stephen M. Walt has called the “full-employment strategy” of the interventionist American foreign policy establishment."
Allow me to offer a somewhat different explanation for this seeming incongruity. It involves making a conceptual distinction between two overlapping but at times orthogonally interested entities: the US Republic and the American Empire.
The former represents the interests of the median citizen of the US. The latter represents the interests of the average American. The median American earns $50k a year, never or rarely leaves the territory of the United States. His interests would be better served by less trade, closed borders and a smaller, less militarised federal government that engaged in few if any overseas adventures. He would like the US military to be regeared towards defense of US territories and interests narrowly defined. A simplified tax system that taxes all income and retained earnings on a simple scale with few if any exemptions.
The latter, the Empire, represents the interest not just of an average American on $80k a year, but in fact it also has constituents in the upper classes of its vassal states in Europe and its international community that spans the globe (with some notable black spots of course). This Empire is reliant on international trade, global patent protection and financial flows that cross borders and tax jurisdictions with ease. It depends on trade, and deploys a vast network of military bases across the globe to defend that trade. It is aligned with the interests of large corporations and run by a managerial class that is captured by the corporations it is supposed to regulate. It wants ever more military spending, and it is indifferent to the fate of US citizens whose interests are challenged by mass migration.
In short, the US republic does not want NATO; the American Empire considers NATO its own.
Simple solution. Trump lays it out. Fair. Square. Transparent. Reasonable. Logical. Common sense:
Pay your fair share. Per terms of the treaty. 2%. The terms. No free riders.
That's it. That's all that needs to be done and your beef with Trump (and more than half the US) over NATO treaty obligations disappears. You've violated terms of the treaty. Simple contract law, noncompliance with terms of a contract/treaty means it becomes null and void, the contract dissolves.
Pay. Or STFU. You welched. Historical offense to the Welsh acknowledged in the chosen term, but not apologized for.
To give Trump credit, I think he is paying the chess game that many moves deep: If the Europeans pony up, NATO will begin to dissolve because the EU countries, once they are paying, will want more direct control over what they are paying for.
If they don't pay up, then his threat will force the issue, and NATO will end on similar terms.
The problem, of course, is he is up against the Empire's interests on both sides of the Pond. They will not give up just because a populist leader asks them to. He will be taken on an open top ride through the streets of Dallas.
Some of us, when Trump said or did something off-putting, credited him with "playing 4-D chess", thinking there was something behind it that we didn't know about. It turned out that he was just being an oaf. Whether or not we vote for him, we won't be fooled again.
Obviously. Serious people put their money where their mouth is. They run their mouths. But put no money to back their mouth's up. Hence, they are unserious. Because they know that NATO is now defunct.
Enh. I'd put it a few years later, when the USSR collapsed, but certainly both of those events were over 30 years ago and NATO has long outlived its purpose.
The Nato should have been disbanded Long ago ,together with the U.N.Russia is no threat to Europe . It is more like the other way around ,as we can see in the Ukraine .The treat to us in most western countries is from our own Governments .Look what they gave us in the last four years and before that ,and Pandemic X for tomorrow .
NATO is a tale of how a bureaucracy plots to survive, long after the reason it was created has died a natural death. NATO was created as an alliance against the Soviet Union, which has been non-existent now for over 32 years. So many of today's leaders in Europe and the U.S. apparently never got the memo. This too, is why Communism and Socialism are always doomed to fail. The bureaucratic state they create becomes an insatiable monster that eventually consumes itself. The administrative bureaucracy is choking the life out of the U.S. and nearly all European countries. It must be dismantled systematically and the sooner the better.
Agreed. Yet, as of 2018, NATO is in the largest Naval Base in the United States.
"Joint Force Command - Norfolk (JFC-NF) is a joint operational level command part of the NATO Military Command Structure under Allied Command Operations. Its headquarters is located in Norfolk, Virginia, United States."
Yes, but as we all know: no matter how obsolete, no institution is ever dismantled as long as its people are still around to lobby for its continuation.
NATO and the EU are imperial structures. If the European NATO members contributed more, they might exert more influence, which is not part of the plan.
As a European, this is my vision too. I would like to see a US republic that defends its own interests and trades on neutral terms. And a confederate EU with a common security arrangement that defends the territorial interests of Europe and trades on neutral terms.
With these fortified blocs in place (EU, US, Russia, China, India, Mercosur) we can start to forge a 'real' United Nations; one based on equally balanced powers and forged on common principles of peace and respect for sovereignty.
Sadly, there is little evidence that this is the current direction of travel.
Certainly, I have received primarily opprobrium for having the gall to make the suggestion. And in increasing vehemence since I first floated the idea back in the 90s at some point. The reactions I got in say, 2018 were unhinged about it. I guess because Trump might have been in favor of it? Who knows.
Your description of the difference between the Republic and Empire are spot on. However, I would guess that your estimated earnings for each group is off by at least 4 fold.
Without going into details, there seems to me a striking resemblance between the GAE and the Roman Empire in the perhaps two centuries BC: An aristocracy with deep rooted interests in power, conquest, self aggrandissment and resource extraction (appropriate that they both had/have a "Senate") and lots of interested parties with an eye on the spoils of war on the one hand, and on the other the normal citizen on whose back and with whose blood and work the empire was built and who had nothing to gain from Caesar conquering Gaul or fighting Pompeius.
This is a nice summary. But the median 50 also rely totally on the American empire to supply his low cost life style thereby he has to choose between poor or poorer.
The low-cost lifestyle is needed because too much production has been outsourced. It's a vicious cycle where more outsourcing of goods erodes wages, and lower relative wages demands more outsourcing of goods.
Confounded only by the fact that it requires the reader to understand the distinction between the median and the average, which dooms the median reader to incomprehension.
Nonsense. Who is this average American who truly wants ‘less trade’? Not farmers and ranchers - half of US soybeans and big fractions of beef, corn, wheat etc are sold overseas. Maybe this Average American is a roughneck on an oil well or he drives a loader in an open pit coal mine. Well…30% of oil production and 15% of coal is sold overseas. Cut that off and Average American is getting laid off (as his home heating bill goes up and the gas he puts in his car gets more expensive) Maybe he works in a grocery store or as a receptionist in a doctor’s office in a town dominated by one of those industries…’less trade’ means the local plant/mine will shut down. When that happens supporting businesses close. And what about imports? Well, the ‘average American’ lives pretty well partly because the things around us - our clothes, our furniture, our appliances are all nice and cheap thanks to international trade. Less trade makes that $100 winter coat now cost $150. That $25 hairdryer is now a $45 hair dryer. The tractor the farmer uses in his fields? American made baby! The factory is in Illinois! Except uh…oops…the John Deere plant where it gets built is filled with robotics and assembly control components made in Germany…why? Because John Deere chose the most cost-effective supplier thanks to open markets, and it happened to be outside the US. And the blood pressure medication keeping that farmer alive on his tractor? Patented and manufactured in Norway, who just got invaded by Russia. Sorry you’re gonna run out of your pills, Mr Average American! Norway didn’t pay their NATO bill!!
So no, you don’t have to be a shareholding fatcat or a coastal elite or a member of the ‘managerial class’ to be a net beneficiary of international trade. You don’t have to leave the country to benefit from American security.
Some trade policies are disadvantageous and shitty for Americans, yes. Let’s make trading partners fight fair and we should absolutely protect industries vital to American long term interests. But *in general* when you say ‘less trade’ you are saying ‘more expensive’ and ‘worse’ - and I reject the notion that the average American wants that.
I think that's largely true. For sure, corporate controlled media outlets are all pushing a globalist agenda, and most leaders are also on board. The rhetoric around the Ukraine war, for example, is nothing short of insane.
However, there are some exceptions. Hungary remains very balanced, at least in its foreign policy. And independent media and populist figures have gained traction across the Western world - evidence the growth of the new right in Europe and the continued popularity of Trump, not to mention the surge in support for RFKJr.
Anyone remember SEATO? That, too, became obsolete for most of the reasons described above.
If you have friends in the UK, for example, they'll warn you before your visit that Americans are not well liked. They seem to hear about our dirty laundry before we do.
Graham: "a simple scale" at least appears to admit progressivism and differently taxed, diverse categories of "income". However, since the "16th" amendment provides no new power of taxation (Stanton v Baltic Mining), it must be an Excise. (As no Apportionment seems to be practised or contemplated, Stanton dismisses claims of an unapportioned direct Tax.)
Article 1, Section 8.
...all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.
Agree. I've been just some old lady online now for 3.5 years. In that time, I found out the truth about Covid, the vaccine, the UN/WEF/WHO/IMF cabal's Agenda, Gates and Soros teaming up, Gates funding newamerica.org...and back then, there weren't a lot of Americans who knew how involved this corruption was. Many more know now. (Yes, I've helped in that regard, and so have tens of thousands of others.) This is good news, and it gives us hope.
All these "peace" associations were a great idea after WWII. Playing together nicely to prevent a costly (in human, territorial, and financial terms), deadly war...only to have them replaced by proxy wars. I blame politicians on both sides, who are anti-American, anti-Constitution, anti-Bill of Rights for what...money? Power? Control? Certainly Henry Kissinger had an Agenda, propping up Klaus Schwab into starting the WEF. Until there's a real penalty for traitors or government workers who have nothing to lose, this won't easily change.
“ Agree. I've been just some old lady online now for 3.5 years. In that time, I found out the truth about Covid, the vaccine, the UN/WEF/WHO/IMF cabal's Agenda, Gates and Soros teaming up, Gates funding newamerica.org...and back then, there weren't a lot of Americans who knew how involved this corruption was. Many more know now.”.
Keep reading and learning. You’ll be amazed how far back the corruption of man actually goes. Pre-biblical might not be far enough back. Sad to say.
But Zelensky would a) fall out of an airplane or b) release any dirt he's got on Biden and Biden's backers or c) both.
The major question is, will Trump uphold the contracts given to US corporations to rebuild Ukraine?
US tax money to Ukraine to pay to the US corporations hiring local to do the job, while Wall Street pockets the profits and the US taxpayer gets to foot the bill, while the ukrainian people gets to do without, since for every dollar paid, six will disappear to grift by local gangsters allied to the foreign corporations.
That never stopped any multinational corporation before. If they want the mineral and agricultural resources of Ukraine, they will bring in the required personal, just as they do in Africa. The locals are just useless eaters who they only see fit as cannon fodder.
All western nations needs to quit the UN and stop funding such nonsense.
Just look at the history of the organisation: as long as western nations were in control of it, corruption was low and the UN was efficient. When Third World nations were given influence, starting in the 1980s and escalating ever since, corruption and grift and inefficiency took root immediately.
We need to leave it, all of us. We don't need the UN to have civil discourse among our nations.
Third World nations have less to do with the UN's corruption and folly. It was lalways meant to become what it has become: a proxy organ for unelected world government. Like the EU.
It’s true, he isn’t an eloquent speaker like Vivek. But I like that we know where he stands on things- everyone else lies to our faces. Plus, many quotes are horribly twisted. Like the whole NATO thing- he was speaking in past tense telling the story about how he threatened he would stop protection if they didn’t pay- they cut out the part where he said- and then they paid! It’s ludicrous and they will continue to misrepresent the truth going forward no matter what.
Decorum was never trumps strongpoint. Somehow I just have a feeling that won’t change. Another point, there truly is only so much one man can do to make a dent in the Washington establishment )I was going to say trough) where many Congress people have spent their entire lives. Term limits? I would vote in favour of that💖💖
Biden has actually had the most Executive Orders as President, in his first two years, with that total at 106. His goal was to erase Trump. FederalRegister.gov has the details. Here's the link, IF you can't find it from the above.
Executive orders aren't supposed to be edicts imposed on Americans. They're supposed to apply solely to employees of the executive branch, which are the only people an American president has the power to order around. But everyone keeps treating EOs as de facto fatwas, so here we are.
Be sure you are citing accurate facts. NPR and CNN both have an agenda that favors permanent Washington. Primarily the Democrat side. I might remind you that these are also the same networks that lied about the Russia hoax, the Covid vaccine, and the Hunter Biden laptop.
For a more recent switcheroo, CNN has been propping up Biden all this time. And now, an Obama holdover, has released the report claiming Biden has a "poor memory." The Obama team seems to have given the order to throw Biden under the bus. CNN's coverage switched on a dime.
For more generic coverage, try the John Droz Newsletter, news aggregate sites such as Citizen Free Press. JusttheNews.com is also fair-minded. Being on Substack is a great idea, because it's not censored, to the best of my knowledge.
Yup, I also noticed this. Multiple examples of this phrasing..."what *he wants us to pay*"
Which is obvious nonsense. They are legally obliged to pay it. It's not Trump's opinion. He's just the first one to demand they abide by the terms of the contract they signed.
Why should my son die to defend nations that refuse to defend themselves?
Naturally, Germans are not the only ones having a butthurt. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has said that Trump’s statements “undermine all of our security.”
None more so than Stoltenbergs's own job security.
Without NATO's fat salary and no heavy lifting, Jens might have to one day grow up and find a real job.
"Jens might have to one day grow up and find a real job."
And therein lies their real fear! If NATO, and the thousands of other redundant, past-their -prime, totally unnecessary organizations were wound up, cancelled, or dissolved, tens of thousands of bureaucrats might be forced to seek useful employment.
Org structure should resemble a thunb-tack, point up, I was taught. Looking at organisations both here at home in our local area as well as national and internation - ye gods of blood and stone!
Bloat for the Bloat God!, one could say. The org structures look like opened umbrellas.
'tens of thousands of bureaucrats might be forced to seek useful employment.'
Speaking of Charles Michel, who is never late to the head of any buffet line. His next sinecure is trying to get himself elected as MEP. Probably picked a very good time to keep his head down and out of the line of fire. The pitchforks are already out for most of those in charge across the E.U. Michel is almost entirely useless but his political maneuvering at least seems well-timed to keep his grift well-fed.
Stoltenberg was going to leave 2023, Biden's pick to take over - VanDerCrazy - wasn't interested. Stoltenberg was asked to stay on for another 12 months. He has a 'job' to go to.
He’s not ‘former’ yet, but still in function, as we still have no agreement among the ‘winners’ on a governing plan for the next four years. God forbid he gets it. Horrid lier with a bad memory. Most are. Psychopathic tendencies among that particular professional group.
With Germany already in the economic doldrums, it would probably bankrupt them if it had to pay its fair share.
Had Germany stayed neutral or had Angela M followed the Minsk Agreement, non of this would be an issue, the Nord Stream pipeline would still be intact and Germany's economy would be humming along.
we are one of the highest-tax countries in Europe and like 50% of all that tax revenue is spent on entitlements. we could easily meet the 2% target if we wanted to, and we could have a vastly more effective army even with present spending levels if we just invested in simpler more effective weapons systems rather than the expensive toys we have now.
The UK and France spend more but are both military eunuchs. The British military’s obsession with woke politics under a “Conservative” government is indicative.
The destruction of heavy industry in western Europe is beyond belief. It all looks very nebulous and expensive and you sort of understand that there's no subsidy to keep it open, but then you realize it's often literally one or two machines that enable a certain strategic capability in a country. And they get scrapped or shipped abroad, while we also quite quickly lose the capability to make new ones. It's more efficient that way, we just do banking and cut each others' hair.
If the US withdrew military protection, the Germans would figure out how to defend themselves in a hurry, especially if there were a threat. They'd get rid of their stupid, wasteful, globalist government, rebuild their military tradition (hey, they're GERMANS) and make treaties with potential foes.
True, but also remember one of the points of NATO is to keep the Germans weak and dependent upon US security umbrella, so as to neutralize them as a threat to European stability.
Ironic…they complain about Trump demanding they pay their 2%…meanwhile…Biden is blowing up Nordstream so the Scholz government wouldn’t get weak-kneed last winter and cut a side deal with Russia for more NG
According to Putin, 1 of the nordstream pipeline is intact and could be used. The German government is the one which decided not to use it. As well as a pipeline through Poland which the poles have closed. The energy situation is entirely self inflicted. It boggles the mind really.
It's a weird world when Trump says not to rely too much on Russian oil, and Europe laughs at him -- but when he says they better pay their 'fair share' in defense and they freak out like Trump declared war on the Eurozone.
Didn't I claim TDS is even stronger over here, than in the US?
Our politicos hitched their wagons to the US-controlled financial institutions in the 1990s, and are dependent on the "end of history" neoliberal rubbish started under Bush Sr not being challenged or changed.
Thanks for this, I always value the inside track on the German view of things.
This strikes me as further proof that the German political establishment’s principal role is to justify and support American hegemony in Europe.
Germany, based on your recent posts, seems an extreme case, albeit the same idiocy on a milder scale is found in the UK (and, interestingly, Ireland which is ludicrously supposed to be neutral).
I expect Trump to achieve nothing. I expect the AfD to achieve nothing, nor Farage, Le Pen, etc.
We are living through the collapse of the American Empire. Its motive power, in the form of desirable new consumer products, has died, and is being sustained now only by parasitical and destructive measures like the green agenda. Its liberating mission, in the form of the sexual revolution, has been an unmitigated disaster whose real-world effects have rendered the Empire’s population weak, unable to reproduce itself, and addicted to pleasure. Its political manoeuvres have finally failed, avoiding real redistribution of wealth post-2008 only to hand the keys to power to lunatics with an agenda which guarantees failure and incompetence.
This will inevitably end in the failure of the regime. I no longer believe there is much we can do about it. There is much of historical interest in what is going on, and the future is unusually uncertain.
I hope and pray we avoid the worst outcome on the road to something new and, God willing, better.
Germans are out of control. We want Trump exactly because he’s telling everyone the gravy train is over. The American tax payer is not responsible for Germany’s security…the Germans are.
If they don’t pay the 2% of GDP everyone agreed to then you don’t get protected. Europeans need to understand that Trump supporters have had enough.
Jln (and UnvaxxedCanadian): Deep State, not non-Deep State typical Germans. I heard (I think from Leonard Coldwell), ordinary Germans still act fairly on a handshake. No written contract required.
Another excellent piece, 'gyp, and your first point is number one for a reason. Combine this with another wrinkle from the American perspective, and it's apparent what the tension is here. Americans see Europeans enjoying "free" healthcare, pensions, six weeks off every summer, etc. None of that is what they enjoy. How is this possible? Because the USA subsidises all of it by footing the bill for Europe's military defenses, so the euros stay in-country on the societal goodies. The spotlight of all those billions flooding from US taxpayers (read: the Fed printing press) into Ukraine has really drawn Americans' focus on the need to prop up our own infrastructure and society, and where all those dollars might better be spent. Interesting times, but one thing remains constant: Trump and Putin are EVIL!
All the American regime stooges are losing their minds over Trump's comment, and of course it's all in complete bad faith. As they so often do, the press-titutes take Trump's words literally, like they were typed in a policy document, and ignore the obvious bluster and hyperbole of his delivery and the context of the remark.
The press storyline in the US is, without any shame for their chicanery, "Trump says he will let Putin conquer Europe" and words to that effect. It's embarassing.
'the press-titutes take Trump's words literally, like they were typed in a policy document, and ignore the obvious bluster and hyperbole of his delivery and the context of the remark.'
Agree. I'm not a Trump fan, but any reasonable person would understand that he blusters and uses words loosely. This is seized upon by the sensationalistic press.
Last time around I remember seeing something to this effect: Trump's supporters take him seriously but not literally, and his detractors take him literally but not seriously.
Every time I’m with someone who doesn’t like Trump (I’m sure gonna vote for him!), I have them watch this video so they can see how ridiculous the coverage is
many excellent points here, but also we should consider that given recent German leadership the German people would actually benefit from Russian rule.
Yes. It's quite interesting to see all the problems we have and how easily they could be "solved" by just looking at how they "evolved" in the first place.
This is a perfect example of what bureaucrats are unable or unwillingly to do. So easy to see.
"The real reason that America continues to prop up NATO appears to be some combination of institutional inertia and what Stephen M. Walt has called the “full-employment strategy” of the interventionist American foreign policy establishment."
Allow me to offer a somewhat different explanation for this seeming incongruity. It involves making a conceptual distinction between two overlapping but at times orthogonally interested entities: the US Republic and the American Empire.
The former represents the interests of the median citizen of the US. The latter represents the interests of the average American. The median American earns $50k a year, never or rarely leaves the territory of the United States. His interests would be better served by less trade, closed borders and a smaller, less militarised federal government that engaged in few if any overseas adventures. He would like the US military to be regeared towards defense of US territories and interests narrowly defined. A simplified tax system that taxes all income and retained earnings on a simple scale with few if any exemptions.
The latter, the Empire, represents the interest not just of an average American on $80k a year, but in fact it also has constituents in the upper classes of its vassal states in Europe and its international community that spans the globe (with some notable black spots of course). This Empire is reliant on international trade, global patent protection and financial flows that cross borders and tax jurisdictions with ease. It depends on trade, and deploys a vast network of military bases across the globe to defend that trade. It is aligned with the interests of large corporations and run by a managerial class that is captured by the corporations it is supposed to regulate. It wants ever more military spending, and it is indifferent to the fate of US citizens whose interests are challenged by mass migration.
In short, the US republic does not want NATO; the American Empire considers NATO its own.
yes, I also agree with this.
NATO became obsolete the day the Berlin Wall fell. It deserved to go into the dustbin of history along with the Warsaw Pact.
Simple solution. Trump lays it out. Fair. Square. Transparent. Reasonable. Logical. Common sense:
Pay your fair share. Per terms of the treaty. 2%. The terms. No free riders.
That's it. That's all that needs to be done and your beef with Trump (and more than half the US) over NATO treaty obligations disappears. You've violated terms of the treaty. Simple contract law, noncompliance with terms of a contract/treaty means it becomes null and void, the contract dissolves.
Pay. Or STFU. You welched. Historical offense to the Welsh acknowledged in the chosen term, but not apologized for.
A very good solution, except that the excuse for NATO is now defunct.
NATO has become an illegitimate exercise.
Then it's a win-win. Either the deadbeats pay, or (more likely) the US walks away from a meaningless alliance.
To give Trump credit, I think he is paying the chess game that many moves deep: If the Europeans pony up, NATO will begin to dissolve because the EU countries, once they are paying, will want more direct control over what they are paying for.
If they don't pay up, then his threat will force the issue, and NATO will end on similar terms.
The problem, of course, is he is up against the Empire's interests on both sides of the Pond. They will not give up just because a populist leader asks them to. He will be taken on an open top ride through the streets of Dallas.
Some of us, when Trump said or did something off-putting, credited him with "playing 4-D chess", thinking there was something behind it that we didn't know about. It turned out that he was just being an oaf. Whether or not we vote for him, we won't be fooled again.
There is that "America First" claim of "dindu nuffin'!
The Fatmericans have OCCUPIED Europe for 8 decades now.
They owe the U$A NUFFIN'!
Obviously. Serious people put their money where their mouth is. They run their mouths. But put no money to back their mouth's up. Hence, they are unserious. Because they know that NATO is now defunct.
Just like an insurance policy. If you don't pay the full premiums the company denies you coverage.
Enh. I'd put it a few years later, when the USSR collapsed, but certainly both of those events were over 30 years ago and NATO has long outlived its purpose.
The Nato should have been disbanded Long ago ,together with the U.N.Russia is no threat to Europe . It is more like the other way around ,as we can see in the Ukraine .The treat to us in most western countries is from our own Governments .Look what they gave us in the last four years and before that ,and Pandemic X for tomorrow .
NATO is a tale of how a bureaucracy plots to survive, long after the reason it was created has died a natural death. NATO was created as an alliance against the Soviet Union, which has been non-existent now for over 32 years. So many of today's leaders in Europe and the U.S. apparently never got the memo. This too, is why Communism and Socialism are always doomed to fail. The bureaucratic state they create becomes an insatiable monster that eventually consumes itself. The administrative bureaucracy is choking the life out of the U.S. and nearly all European countries. It must be dismantled systematically and the sooner the better.
This. ^
Agreed. Yet, as of 2018, NATO is in the largest Naval Base in the United States.
"Joint Force Command - Norfolk (JFC-NF) is a joint operational level command part of the NATO Military Command Structure under Allied Command Operations. Its headquarters is located in Norfolk, Virginia, United States."
Yes, but as we all know: no matter how obsolete, no institution is ever dismantled as long as its people are still around to lobby for its continuation.
I agree with this analysis completely.
NATO and the EU are imperial structures. If the European NATO members contributed more, they might exert more influence, which is not part of the plan.
If they pay more, they lose their vassal status as you pointed out.
Love your name! Got a good laugh. He's woke as hell, though, unfortunately.
Sigh.
We don't need to "end" it, we just need to hand the keys over to the Europeans.
As a European, this is my vision too. I would like to see a US republic that defends its own interests and trades on neutral terms. And a confederate EU with a common security arrangement that defends the territorial interests of Europe and trades on neutral terms.
With these fortified blocs in place (EU, US, Russia, China, India, Mercosur) we can start to forge a 'real' United Nations; one based on equally balanced powers and forged on common principles of peace and respect for sovereignty.
Sadly, there is little evidence that this is the current direction of travel.
Certainly, I have received primarily opprobrium for having the gall to make the suggestion. And in increasing vehemence since I first floated the idea back in the 90s at some point. The reactions I got in say, 2018 were unhinged about it. I guess because Trump might have been in favor of it? Who knows.
Your description of the difference between the Republic and Empire are spot on. However, I would guess that your estimated earnings for each group is off by at least 4 fold.
Without going into details, there seems to me a striking resemblance between the GAE and the Roman Empire in the perhaps two centuries BC: An aristocracy with deep rooted interests in power, conquest, self aggrandissment and resource extraction (appropriate that they both had/have a "Senate") and lots of interested parties with an eye on the spoils of war on the one hand, and on the other the normal citizen on whose back and with whose blood and work the empire was built and who had nothing to gain from Caesar conquering Gaul or fighting Pompeius.
This is a nice summary. But the median 50 also rely totally on the American empire to supply his low cost life style thereby he has to choose between poor or poorer.
The low-cost lifestyle is needed because too much production has been outsourced. It's a vicious cycle where more outsourcing of goods erodes wages, and lower relative wages demands more outsourcing of goods.
How to break the cycle I know not
Absolutely the best succinct comment I think I have ever read on this subject!! Many thanks for this clarity.
Confounded only by the fact that it requires the reader to understand the distinction between the median and the average, which dooms the median reader to incomprehension.
That’s our problem- our citizens have been dumbed down for too long.
It is a terrible thing to realize the fully half of all people are below average.
the first wealth is mostly via earnings (which are heavily taxed)
The second's wealth is mostly via economic rent (economic title is heavily subsidized).
Bad money drives out good and rent-seeking drives out earnings.
Nice analysis, I think you’ve summed it up well
Nonsense. Who is this average American who truly wants ‘less trade’? Not farmers and ranchers - half of US soybeans and big fractions of beef, corn, wheat etc are sold overseas. Maybe this Average American is a roughneck on an oil well or he drives a loader in an open pit coal mine. Well…30% of oil production and 15% of coal is sold overseas. Cut that off and Average American is getting laid off (as his home heating bill goes up and the gas he puts in his car gets more expensive) Maybe he works in a grocery store or as a receptionist in a doctor’s office in a town dominated by one of those industries…’less trade’ means the local plant/mine will shut down. When that happens supporting businesses close. And what about imports? Well, the ‘average American’ lives pretty well partly because the things around us - our clothes, our furniture, our appliances are all nice and cheap thanks to international trade. Less trade makes that $100 winter coat now cost $150. That $25 hairdryer is now a $45 hair dryer. The tractor the farmer uses in his fields? American made baby! The factory is in Illinois! Except uh…oops…the John Deere plant where it gets built is filled with robotics and assembly control components made in Germany…why? Because John Deere chose the most cost-effective supplier thanks to open markets, and it happened to be outside the US. And the blood pressure medication keeping that farmer alive on his tractor? Patented and manufactured in Norway, who just got invaded by Russia. Sorry you’re gonna run out of your pills, Mr Average American! Norway didn’t pay their NATO bill!!
So no, you don’t have to be a shareholding fatcat or a coastal elite or a member of the ‘managerial class’ to be a net beneficiary of international trade. You don’t have to leave the country to benefit from American security.
Some trade policies are disadvantageous and shitty for Americans, yes. Let’s make trading partners fight fair and we should absolutely protect industries vital to American long term interests. But *in general* when you say ‘less trade’ you are saying ‘more expensive’ and ‘worse’ - and I reject the notion that the average American wants that.
Excellent synopsis. That said, what Western Govt represents the views of the median citizen anymore? None. They all push the globalist agenda.
I think that's largely true. For sure, corporate controlled media outlets are all pushing a globalist agenda, and most leaders are also on board. The rhetoric around the Ukraine war, for example, is nothing short of insane.
However, there are some exceptions. Hungary remains very balanced, at least in its foreign policy. And independent media and populist figures have gained traction across the Western world - evidence the growth of the new right in Europe and the continued popularity of Trump, not to mention the surge in support for RFKJr.
Anyone remember SEATO? That, too, became obsolete for most of the reasons described above.
If you have friends in the UK, for example, they'll warn you before your visit that Americans are not well liked. They seem to hear about our dirty laundry before we do.
Graham: "a simple scale" at least appears to admit progressivism and differently taxed, diverse categories of "income". However, since the "16th" amendment provides no new power of taxation (Stanton v Baltic Mining), it must be an Excise. (As no Apportionment seems to be practised or contemplated, Stanton dismisses claims of an unapportioned direct Tax.)
Article 1, Section 8.
...all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.
wow that was great
Well said.
Trump said he would defund the WHO, and he did. We desperately need him back in office before our country is completely ruined!
i want to believe!
Agree. I've been just some old lady online now for 3.5 years. In that time, I found out the truth about Covid, the vaccine, the UN/WEF/WHO/IMF cabal's Agenda, Gates and Soros teaming up, Gates funding newamerica.org...and back then, there weren't a lot of Americans who knew how involved this corruption was. Many more know now. (Yes, I've helped in that regard, and so have tens of thousands of others.) This is good news, and it gives us hope.
All these "peace" associations were a great idea after WWII. Playing together nicely to prevent a costly (in human, territorial, and financial terms), deadly war...only to have them replaced by proxy wars. I blame politicians on both sides, who are anti-American, anti-Constitution, anti-Bill of Rights for what...money? Power? Control? Certainly Henry Kissinger had an Agenda, propping up Klaus Schwab into starting the WEF. Until there's a real penalty for traitors or government workers who have nothing to lose, this won't easily change.
“ Agree. I've been just some old lady online now for 3.5 years. In that time, I found out the truth about Covid, the vaccine, the UN/WEF/WHO/IMF cabal's Agenda, Gates and Soros teaming up, Gates funding newamerica.org...and back then, there weren't a lot of Americans who knew how involved this corruption was. Many more know now.”.
Keep reading and learning. You’ll be amazed how far back the corruption of man actually goes. Pre-biblical might not be far enough back. Sad to say.
I would like to present you with trump in a large box so you can have him. But I think Germany has enough trumpers already
Excellent news!
Trump would sit down with Putin and end the war in Ukraine within month of taking office.
But Zelensky would a) fall out of an airplane or b) release any dirt he's got on Biden and Biden's backers or c) both.
The major question is, will Trump uphold the contracts given to US corporations to rebuild Ukraine?
US tax money to Ukraine to pay to the US corporations hiring local to do the job, while Wall Street pockets the profits and the US taxpayer gets to foot the bill, while the ukrainian people gets to do without, since for every dollar paid, six will disappear to grift by local gangsters allied to the foreign corporations.
You know, business as usual.
Once it becomes clear that US officials are no longer getting a piece of the pie, Congress won't be sending any more "aid" to Ukraine.
"hiring local to do the job..."
Now that zelensky is having to recruit retirees and women for his army, will there be many/any locals left to do much of anything?
Attack of the knitting needles.
That never stopped any multinational corporation before. If they want the mineral and agricultural resources of Ukraine, they will bring in the required personal, just as they do in Africa. The locals are just useless eaters who they only see fit as cannon fodder.
Redundant to say, but say it I must: Disgusting.
And the USA needs to QUIT the United Nations.
All western nations needs to quit the UN and stop funding such nonsense.
Just look at the history of the organisation: as long as western nations were in control of it, corruption was low and the UN was efficient. When Third World nations were given influence, starting in the 1980s and escalating ever since, corruption and grift and inefficiency took root immediately.
We need to leave it, all of us. We don't need the UN to have civil discourse among our nations.
Third World nations have less to do with the UN's corruption and folly. It was lalways meant to become what it has become: a proxy organ for unelected world government. Like the EU.
At this point, the UN is just full of corporate lobbyists and spies. Frankly, at this point they might be the same thing.
Yeah. I'm gonna vote for him a 3rd time because we need a bull in a sacred cow shop right now.
But we can't make the bull the golden calf either.
Irreverence to our ruling class should be our only sacred cow.
If you bullshit too much you just end up being the rodeo clown.
He needs to get the job done this time! Part of that is knowing when to keep his mouth shut.
It’s true, he isn’t an eloquent speaker like Vivek. But I like that we know where he stands on things- everyone else lies to our faces. Plus, many quotes are horribly twisted. Like the whole NATO thing- he was speaking in past tense telling the story about how he threatened he would stop protection if they didn’t pay- they cut out the part where he said- and then they paid! It’s ludicrous and they will continue to misrepresent the truth going forward no matter what.
Decorum was never trumps strongpoint. Somehow I just have a feeling that won’t change. Another point, there truly is only so much one man can do to make a dent in the Washington establishment )I was going to say trough) where many Congress people have spent their entire lives. Term limits? I would vote in favour of that💖💖
Well I agree and I actually can tolerate his lack of decorum. It's what's needed at times....but not all the time.
Sometimes he just needs to zip it.
We have to stop playing nice.
Agree
There comes a time when decorum no longer gets the job done. And boy, howdy do we need a job done.
Agree and that's why I'm voting for him again.
He actually succeeded in defunding the WHO? Then why are they still on track to take over the world the next time they decide to declare a pandemic?
He stopped our contributions. Biden reinstated them.
Ah. Thank you.
Biden has actually had the most Executive Orders as President, in his first two years, with that total at 106. His goal was to erase Trump. FederalRegister.gov has the details. Here's the link, IF you can't find it from the above.
https://www.federalregister.gov/presidential-documents/executive-orders
Executive orders aren't supposed to be edicts imposed on Americans. They're supposed to apply solely to employees of the executive branch, which are the only people an American president has the power to order around. But everyone keeps treating EOs as de facto fatwas, so here we are.
An Executive Order reversed Trump policy and opened our own borders for this invasion. How is that not imposed on Americans?
Those EOs Biden signed his very first day in officer were written months before. Obama running the show.
He transferred the contributions to the Gates Vaccine Alliance (GAVI). As he rolled out Warp Speed
Because Biden reversed trumps decision.
he did not, I have not seen one word about it and I don't believe it.
Look it up
the CNN article from 2019 states the govt moved to cut back the nato funding - not stop it. And I found no confirmation that it actually did
https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/27/politics/trump-nato-contribution-nato/index.html
In fact a later article says the opposite, that the funding increased
https://www.npr.org/2019/12/03/784444270/under-trump-nato-nations-get-more-u-s-troops-and-military-spending
so I am not sure what exactly happened
Be sure you are citing accurate facts. NPR and CNN both have an agenda that favors permanent Washington. Primarily the Democrat side. I might remind you that these are also the same networks that lied about the Russia hoax, the Covid vaccine, and the Hunter Biden laptop.
For a more recent switcheroo, CNN has been propping up Biden all this time. And now, an Obama holdover, has released the report claiming Biden has a "poor memory." The Obama team seems to have given the order to throw Biden under the bus. CNN's coverage switched on a dime.
For more generic coverage, try the John Droz Newsletter, news aggregate sites such as Citizen Free Press. JusttheNews.com is also fair-minded. Being on Substack is a great idea, because it's not censored, to the best of my knowledge.
I know but this is all i could find. So I am still not sure if or if not he limited the subsidies
CNN and NPR are the Democrat's mouthpiece...and the WEFs.
No one trusts their news' reporting.
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/04/14/politics/donald-trump-world-health-organization-funding-coronavirus/index.html
I saw this one too, but it is only a He Said. Did he?
Please edit to insert a space after "did".
"Trump insanity: a former US president invites Russia to attack its allies …"
Actual insanity - O'Biden did attack it's European allies. See Nord Stream......
Bush and Clinton and how they allowed Saudi Arabia and Jemen to ship mujahedin to Jugoslavia during the war in the 1990s, comes to my mind.
Just because the serbs were allied to Russia, and Saudi was important to the US.
Thanks.
In 1999 I committed to a Conscientious Objection to Canada's decision to join the U$A in destroying Serbia.
When they came after me I declared bankrupcy and they had to be resigned to grifting <1/3 of what taxes I owed.
I was lucky that there was a robust black economy at the time (Cannabis cultivation)!
Give this man a cigar :)
'States that do not pay what Trump wants, he said, “are fair game. This primarily refers to us Germans.”'
What Trump wants, or what they are obligated to pay under the treaty?
well-spotted. they need to obfuscate this point, lest they assume any responsibility for their own delinquency.
Notice how the Germans didn’t not make that point- deliberately.
Yup, I also noticed this. Multiple examples of this phrasing..."what *he wants us to pay*"
Which is obvious nonsense. They are legally obliged to pay it. It's not Trump's opinion. He's just the first one to demand they abide by the terms of the contract they signed.
Why should my son die to defend nations that refuse to defend themselves?
Naturally, Germans are not the only ones having a butthurt. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has said that Trump’s statements “undermine all of our security.”
None more so than Stoltenbergs's own job security.
Without NATO's fat salary and no heavy lifting, Jens might have to one day grow up and find a real job.
"Jens might have to one day grow up and find a real job."
And therein lies their real fear! If NATO, and the thousands of other redundant, past-their -prime, totally unnecessary organizations were wound up, cancelled, or dissolved, tens of thousands of bureaucrats might be forced to seek useful employment.
Which would never do.
with all the illegal immigrants they might have to learn how to cook middle-eastern, or here, mexican. Imagine being served by a senile old man....
good one, Ingrid
I very seldom go out to eat so he cannot ruin mine, nor drop it in my lap LOLOL
Make that millions of bureaucrats.
Org structure should resemble a thunb-tack, point up, I was taught. Looking at organisations both here at home in our local area as well as national and internation - ye gods of blood and stone!
Bloat for the Bloat God!, one could say. The org structures look like opened umbrellas.
'tens of thousands of bureaucrats might be forced to seek useful employment.'
Speaking of Charles Michel, who is never late to the head of any buffet line. His next sinecure is trying to get himself elected as MEP. Probably picked a very good time to keep his head down and out of the line of fire. The pitchforks are already out for most of those in charge across the E.U. Michel is almost entirely useless but his political maneuvering at least seems well-timed to keep his grift well-fed.
Jens has a fresh political position lined up in the Norwegian government, so ensuring a smooth transition to another well-paid job.
Stoltenberg was going to leave 2023, Biden's pick to take over - VanDerCrazy - wasn't interested. Stoltenberg was asked to stay on for another 12 months. He has a 'job' to go to.
Apparently the former Dutch Prime Minister is to take over from him
He’s not ‘former’ yet, but still in function, as we still have no agreement among the ‘winners’ on a governing plan for the next four years. God forbid he gets it. Horrid lier with a bad memory. Most are. Psychopathic tendencies among that particular professional group.
With Germany already in the economic doldrums, it would probably bankrupt them if it had to pay its fair share.
Had Germany stayed neutral or had Angela M followed the Minsk Agreement, non of this would be an issue, the Nord Stream pipeline would still be intact and Germany's economy would be humming along.
we are one of the highest-tax countries in Europe and like 50% of all that tax revenue is spent on entitlements. we could easily meet the 2% target if we wanted to, and we could have a vastly more effective army even with present spending levels if we just invested in simpler more effective weapons systems rather than the expensive toys we have now.
Or just get along with neighbors like Russia and recognize that an arms race is no longer necessary or obsolete or both.
The arms race is totally necessary to the military industrial complex, which has huge influence over pretty much everything.
How about build a more effective military AND engage in realistic diplomacy?
The UK and France spend more but are both military eunuchs. The British military’s obsession with woke politics under a “Conservative” government is indicative.
Germany especially DOES NOT DO SIMPLE. Besides the western MIC currently is only good at profits, the good of the nation isn't in the cards.
Do you know the Brit's don't and CAN'T make tank barrels anymore, the Challenger barrel factory closed over a decade ago.
The destruction of heavy industry in western Europe is beyond belief. It all looks very nebulous and expensive and you sort of understand that there's no subsidy to keep it open, but then you realize it's often literally one or two machines that enable a certain strategic capability in a country. And they get scrapped or shipped abroad, while we also quite quickly lose the capability to make new ones. It's more efficient that way, we just do banking and cut each others' hair.
Or restart diplomacy.
Russia is not Germany's enemy; it is a natural ally.
Germany for BRICS+!
A century after the fact, Europe continues to fear a German army. Collective PTSD.
To be honest, there were at least two facts involved, possibly more.
If the US withdrew military protection, the Germans would figure out how to defend themselves in a hurry, especially if there were a threat. They'd get rid of their stupid, wasteful, globalist government, rebuild their military tradition (hey, they're GERMANS) and make treaties with potential foes.
See? That wasn't so hard.
Bingo
True, but also remember one of the points of NATO is to keep the Germans weak and dependent upon US security umbrella, so as to neutralize them as a threat to European stability.
Ironic…they complain about Trump demanding they pay their 2%…meanwhile…Biden is blowing up Nordstream so the Scholz government wouldn’t get weak-kneed last winter and cut a side deal with Russia for more NG
According to Putin, 1 of the nordstream pipeline is intact and could be used. The German government is the one which decided not to use it. As well as a pipeline through Poland which the poles have closed. The energy situation is entirely self inflicted. It boggles the mind really.
dondonsurvelo: A stiff (more than standard VAT) tax on LNG might cover it.
It's a weird world when Trump says not to rely too much on Russian oil, and Europe laughs at him -- but when he says they better pay their 'fair share' in defense and they freak out like Trump declared war on the Eurozone.
Didn't I claim TDS is even stronger over here, than in the US?
Our politicos hitched their wagons to the US-controlled financial institutions in the 1990s, and are dependent on the "end of history" neoliberal rubbish started under Bush Sr not being challenged or changed.
Even conservative people over here fear Trump. Everything from the US comes filtered trough 2 layers of regime media.
The obvious question is why these Euroatlantists are not spending 2% of GDP as they commited. No presstitute will ask the question either.
Trump asked and they all melted. I love it.
Thanks for this, I always value the inside track on the German view of things.
This strikes me as further proof that the German political establishment’s principal role is to justify and support American hegemony in Europe.
Germany, based on your recent posts, seems an extreme case, albeit the same idiocy on a milder scale is found in the UK (and, interestingly, Ireland which is ludicrously supposed to be neutral).
I expect Trump to achieve nothing. I expect the AfD to achieve nothing, nor Farage, Le Pen, etc.
We are living through the collapse of the American Empire. Its motive power, in the form of desirable new consumer products, has died, and is being sustained now only by parasitical and destructive measures like the green agenda. Its liberating mission, in the form of the sexual revolution, has been an unmitigated disaster whose real-world effects have rendered the Empire’s population weak, unable to reproduce itself, and addicted to pleasure. Its political manoeuvres have finally failed, avoiding real redistribution of wealth post-2008 only to hand the keys to power to lunatics with an agenda which guarantees failure and incompetence.
This will inevitably end in the failure of the regime. I no longer believe there is much we can do about it. There is much of historical interest in what is going on, and the future is unusually uncertain.
I hope and pray we avoid the worst outcome on the road to something new and, God willing, better.
Germans are out of control. We want Trump exactly because he’s telling everyone the gravy train is over. The American tax payer is not responsible for Germany’s security…the Germans are.
If they don’t pay the 2% of GDP everyone agreed to then you don’t get protected. Europeans need to understand that Trump supporters have had enough.
Angela Merkel herself told the world why Germany is faltering- “Multiculturalism was a failure!”
After Brexit- what does England have now in leadership? Invaders, the Muslim call to prayer is now public.
Jln (and UnvaxxedCanadian): Deep State, not non-Deep State typical Germans. I heard (I think from Leonard Coldwell), ordinary Germans still act fairly on a handshake. No written contract required.
Another excellent piece, 'gyp, and your first point is number one for a reason. Combine this with another wrinkle from the American perspective, and it's apparent what the tension is here. Americans see Europeans enjoying "free" healthcare, pensions, six weeks off every summer, etc. None of that is what they enjoy. How is this possible? Because the USA subsidises all of it by footing the bill for Europe's military defenses, so the euros stay in-country on the societal goodies. The spotlight of all those billions flooding from US taxpayers (read: the Fed printing press) into Ukraine has really drawn Americans' focus on the need to prop up our own infrastructure and society, and where all those dollars might better be spent. Interesting times, but one thing remains constant: Trump and Putin are EVIL!
Yup, this is exactly right.
Germans enjoy top-notch public benefits while I have none, precisely because my tax dollars subsidize German security.
Euros don't understand this, for some reason.
All the American regime stooges are losing their minds over Trump's comment, and of course it's all in complete bad faith. As they so often do, the press-titutes take Trump's words literally, like they were typed in a policy document, and ignore the obvious bluster and hyperbole of his delivery and the context of the remark.
The press storyline in the US is, without any shame for their chicanery, "Trump says he will let Putin conquer Europe" and words to that effect. It's embarassing.
The good news is that this tactic seems to be working on fewer and fewer people.
'the press-titutes take Trump's words literally, like they were typed in a policy document, and ignore the obvious bluster and hyperbole of his delivery and the context of the remark.'
Agree. I'm not a Trump fan, but any reasonable person would understand that he blusters and uses words loosely. This is seized upon by the sensationalistic press.
Last time around I remember seeing something to this effect: Trump's supporters take him seriously but not literally, and his detractors take him literally but not seriously.
It's all in the eye of the beholder ;)
Every time I’m with someone who doesn’t like Trump (I’m sure gonna vote for him!), I have them watch this video so they can see how ridiculous the coverage is
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1eq0X4qDlR0
many excellent points here, but also we should consider that given recent German leadership the German people would actually benefit from Russian rule.
Someone suggested allowing Russia into NATO. Well, that would mean that NATO would no longer be needed. See how this silly problem is easily solved.
Yes. It's quite interesting to see all the problems we have and how easily they could be "solved" by just looking at how they "evolved" in the first place.
This is a perfect example of what bureaucrats are unable or unwillingly to do. So easy to see.
None of this shit is tough...
Apparently nobody understands hyperbole or humor anymore.
“Germany's status in arrears of its treaty obligations proves once again how unpredictable, unscrupulous and unreliable Germany's government is.”
There, that's better.
Just following the US Merry Cat example. Germany remains occupied.
Well put