NATO head: Trump's tough talk has added $100B to alliance, helped deter Russia

FoxNews.com ^ | Jan 27, 2019 | Gregg Re | Fox News

[ETL]

"President Trump has been very clear," Stoltenberg told fill-in host John Roberts.

"He is committed to NATO. He stated that clearly just a few days ago and also at the NATO summit in July.

But at the same time, he has clearly stated that NATO allies need to invest more. And therefore at the summit in July last year, we agreed to do more to step up -- and now we see the results."

In all, Stolenberg continued, "by the end of next year, NATO allies will add hundred – 100 billion extra US dollars toward defense. So we see some real money and some real results. And we see that the clear message from President Donald Trump is having an impact."

In July 2018, NATO leaders pledged their “unwavering commitment” to boost defense spending, following stern words from the president. The U.S. and European allies signed a declaration stating they were “committed to improving the balance of sharing the costs and responsibilities of alliance membership.”

[ETL]

JULY 2017...

Trump, in Warsaw Speech, Criticizes Russia’s ‘Destabilizing’ Role in Ukraine, Syria

The president also reaffirmed his commitment to NATO’s mutual-defense pact

Jul 6, 2017

President Trump called Russia a “destabilizing” influence in Europe and the Middle East, and urged it to “join the community of responsible nations,” in his strongest remarks yet against the regime of Vladimir Putin, whom he is scheduled to meet Friday in Hamburg for the first time.

His remarks in Warsaw’s Krasinski Square, which marks the 1944 Warsaw uprising against the Nazis, came after the U.S. agreed to sell Patriot missiles to Poland. The president also used the opportunity to reiterate the NATO commitment to mutual defense, a declaration he did not make during the NATO summit in May, prompting consternation among U.S. allies wary of Russia’s ambitions.

“To those who would criticize our tough stance, I would point out that the United States has demonstrated—not merely with its words but with its actions—that we stand firmly behind Article 5, the mutual-defense commitment,” Trump said Thursday. “Words are easy, but actions are what matters. And for its own protection, Europe, and you know this, everybody knows this, everybody has to know this, Europe must do more.”

Trump has repeatedly said NATO members must spend more on defense—a position in line with past U.S. administrations. But he has been criticized because he appeared to suggest U.S. commitment to mutual defense was predicated on its allies’ defense spending. ...”

https://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2017/07/trump-russia/532761/

[ETL]

Donald Trump: 'Putin has eaten Obama's lunch, therefore our lunch, for a long period of time'

Mar 13, 2014
Eun Kyung Kim: TODAY SHOW (NBC)

Donald Trump slammed President Obama Thursday on TODAY for failing to take a stronger line against President Vladimir Putin in dealing with Ukraine, saying he feared Obama would now make up for lost time with imprudent moves to "show his manhood."

The real estate mogul and reality-TV star, who has criticized Putin for sending military troops into Crimea, said Obama must now take fierce steps to prevent the situation from escalating further.

"We should definitely do sanctions and we have to show some strengths. I mean, Putin has eaten Obama's lunch, therefore our lunch, for a long period of time," Trump said. ..."

http://www.today.com/news/donald-trump-putin-has-eaten-obamas-lunch-ukraine-2D79372098
_______________________________________________

Here’s the interview w/ Matt Lauer on YouTube...

Donald Trump (2014): ‘Vladimir Putin Has Eaten Obama’s Lunch’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzURUENf1ns

[ETL]

Trump says NATO is obsolete but still ‘very important to me’

January 16, 2017

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said NATO was obsolete because it had not defended against terror attacks, but that the military alliance was still very important to him, The Times of London reported.

“I took such heat, when I said NATO was obsolete,” Trump told the newspaper in an interview. “It’s obsolete because it wasn’t taking care of terror. I took a lot of heat for two days. And then they started saying Trump is right.”

Trump added that many NATO members were not paying their fair share for U.S. protection.

“A lot of these countries aren’t paying what they’re supposed to be paying, which I think is very unfair to the United States,” Trump said. “With that being said, NATO is very important to me. There’s five countries that are paying what they’re supposed to. Five. It’s not much.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-says-nato-obsolete-still-very-important-004548554—finance.html?ref=gs

_______________________________________________________________________________

Feb 9, 2017:

Exclusive: In call with Putin, Trump denounced Obama-era nuclear arms treaty - sources

By Jonathan Landay and David Rohde

February 9, 2017

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In his first call as president with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump denounced a treaty that caps U.S. and Russian deployment of nuclear warheads as a bad deal for the United States, according to two U.S. officials and one former U.S. official with knowledge of the call.

When Putin raised the possibility of extending the 2010 treaty, known as New START, Trump paused to ask his aides in an aside what the treaty was, these sources said.

Trump then told Putin the treaty was one of several bad deals negotiated by the Obama administration, saying that New START favored Russia. ...”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-call-putin-trump-denounced-obama-era-nuclear-171036908.html?ref=gs

or,

https://web.archive.org/web/20170209182918/https://www.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-call-putin-trump-denounced-obama-era-nuclear-171036908.html?ref=gs

[ETL]

March 2012...

"Obama was talking with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev when neither of them realized that their conversation was being picked up by microphones. Here is what they said:

Obama: "On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved, but it's important for him to give me space."

Medvedev: "Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you ..."

Obama: "This is my last election. After my election, I have more flexibility."

Medvedev: "I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir."

"This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility." That statement tells us much about the president's mindset.

The specific mention of missile defense is worrisome enough. Mr. Obama has retreated from the missile defense plan that was negotiated with European allies during the George W. Bush administration.

Apparently, he is signaling Moscow that he intends to retreat further. The clear implication from the president's comments is that he cannot tell the American people before the election what he plans to do after the election.

In addition, there is the phrase "on all these issues," implying more is at stake than just missile defense."

Article: Obama plans double cross on missile defense
When it comes to keeping America safe, we shouldn't be too flexible:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/mar/29/obama-plans-double-cross-on-missile-defense/print/

March 2012...

"Obama was talking with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev when neither of them realized that their conversation was being picked up by microphones. Here is what they said:

Obama: "On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved, but it's important for him to give me space."

Medvedev: "Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you ..."

Obama: "This is my last election. After my election, I have more flexibility."

Medvedev: "I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir."

"This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility." That statement tells us much about the president's mindset.

The specific mention of missile defense is worrisome enough. Mr. Obama has retreated from the missile defense plan that was negotiated with European allies during the George W. Bush administration.

Apparently, he is signaling Moscow that he intends to retreat further. The clear implication from the president's comments is that he cannot tell the American people before the election what he plans to do after the election.

In addition, there is the phrase "on all these issues," implying more is at stake than just missile defense."

Article: Obama plans double cross on missile defense
When it comes to keeping America safe, we shouldn't be too flexible:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/mar/29/obama-plans-double-cross-on-missile-defense/print/

[Zhang Fei]

As I’ve said repeatedly, Trump’s foreign policy style is to make nice publicly with America’s major adversaries, while kicking them under the table. Max Boot and Ralph Peters are either oblivious to this, or they think open borders are more important than a strong defense.

[BradyLS]

We can’t get Mexico nor their DNC allies to pony up ~6B for the wall, but Europe has finally offered up $100B to deal with whatever the Russians may be up to.

Chalk it up as another win for President Trump!

[ETL]

Vice President Pence on Russia:

(from the VP debate on Oct 5, 2016)

“What we’re dealing with is the — you know, there’s an old proverb that says the Russian bear never dies, it just hibernates.

And the truth of the matter is, the weak and feckless foreign policy of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has awakened an aggression in Russia that first appeared a few years ago with their move in Georgia, now their move into Crimea, now their move into the wider Middle East.

[ETL]

From Investor's Business Daily, Jan 2012:

Obama To Betray Missile Defense Secrets To Moscow

Investor's Business Daily ^ | January 9, 2012 | IBD staff

Appeasement: From ObamaCare to recess appointments, honoring the Constitution has not been an administration hallmark. But when it comes to betraying secrets to mollify the Russians, it becomes a document the president hides behind.

It was bad enough that the 2012 defense authorization bill signed by President Obama set America on a downward spiral of military mediocrity.

He also issued a signing statement, something he once opposed, saying that language in the bill aimed at protecting top-secret technical data on the U.S. Standard Missile-3 - linchpin of our missile defense - might impinge on his constitutional foreign-policy authority.

Section 1227 of the defense law prohibits spending any funds that would be used to give Russian officials access to sensitive missile-defense technology as part of a cooperation agreement without first sending Congress a report identifying the specific secrets, how they'd be used and steps to protect the data from compromise.

The president is required to certify that any technology shared will not be passed on to third parties such as China, North Korea or Iran, that the Russians will not use transferred secrets to develop countermeasures and that the Russians are reciprocating in sharing missile-defense technology. ..."

"In his signing statement, Obama said he would treat these legal restrictions as 'non-binding' and that 'my administration will also interpret and implement section 1244 (sic) in a manner that does not interfere with the president's constitutional authority to conduct foreign affairs and avoids the undue disclosure of sensitive diplomatic communications.'

Betraying our secrets is easy for a president who betrayed allies Poland and the Czech Republic to placate Moscow.

Poland was to host ground-based interceptors such as those we've deployed in California and Alaska, with missile-tracking radar deployed in the Czech Republic.

Obama pulled the plug when Moscow objected. Never mind, he said, we have a better approach: a four-phase plan that calls for using three versions of the Navy's Standard SM-3 interceptor missile that forms the backbone of its Aegis missile-defense system.

The fourth phase consists of a missile still on the drawing board scheduled for deployment by 2020, a version of the SM-3 called the Block IIB. It would intercept hostile missiles in the "early intercept" phase before an enemy missile could release its warheads and decoys. The Russians want the SM-3's secrets, and Obama appears to be willing to turn them over.

The president wants to save the New Start Treaty, which the Russians have threatened to abandon if we try to fully implement President Reagan's dream of defeating a nuclear missile attack.

Russia has unilaterally asserted that any qualitative or quantitative improvement in U.S. missile defenses would be grounds for withdrawal from the treaty.

Read More At Investor's Business Daily:
http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/010912-597158-obama-gives-russia-missile-defense-secrets.htm#ixzz3jXmMbVwY

[ETL]

[Mase]

Bookmark

[USS Alaska]

"President Trump has been very clear," Stoltenberg told fill-in host John Roberts.

"He is committed to NATO.

This is not what the mushy john roberts wanted to hear.

To be transparent, I like John and he was an email pal of mine back in the 90's when email was brand new and he was still with CBS.

He has always been a lefty, but mostly fair.

Back then, email was so new and unique, that you could develop a real back and forth, semi-friendly relationship with TV talking heads.

Today, he is about as fair as fat faced bretbear, which means he tries, but his environment usually wins, and he falls toward first base.

So after Stoltenberg backed President Trump, Roberts changed the approach... no need to hear praise for The President.

These squishy lefties can do more damage than jim acosta because of the sheep skin vest that they wear over the wolf fur.

[Dick Bachert]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rVfWCBaFp4&t=339s
If the video at the link above doesn’t have you alternating between FURIOUS & REASSURED, watch in again until FURIOUS wins.
WHY? Because the centuries old struggle between freedom and slavery, liberty and domination...GOOD vs EVIL has VISIBLY surfaced right here in America in our lifetimes. And that BATTLE will require that EVERY citizen who cares about those things burn with a FURY deep and strong enough to see the battle through to victory. 
Let that fury move you to join the battle by, at the very least, spreading this information to as many others as you can.  Yes, it’s frustrating as you will meet far too many who are either clearly on the other side, can’t be bothered or simply don’t care.  I’ve met hundreds in my 40+ years of doing what little I can to preserve for MY progeny the freedoms I knew in my early life.
Let me close with the wise words of Judge Learned Hand:
“Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; if it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it.”  Judge Learned Hand, 1944
(While not a household name, Judge Hand is the jurist most often cited by OTHER judges. You don’t know that because very powerful people don’t WANT YOU TO!)
(If you’re short on time, put the audio on in the background while doing other stuff.  But know that if you do that, you’ll miss some very interesting & informative graphics in his presentation.)
Mr. Jefferson wrote a few words on the topic as well: 
“We have the greatest opportunity the world has ever seen, as long
as we remain honest — which will be as long as we can keep the
attention of our people alive. If they once become inattentive to
public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, judges and
governors would all become wolves.”
Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 1787. ME 6:58
(We have met the enemy and he is US! Now you know HOW WE GOT HERE!)

[BeauBo]

“As I’ve said repeatedly, Trump’s foreign policy style is to make nice publicly with America’s major adversaries, while kicking them under the table.”

Walk softly, but carry a big stick.

Another key aspect of his approach, is to choke off the funding of enemies, rather than spend a lot to rent allies or use our Military.

[unlearner]

This is clearly an attempt by President Trump to hide his being a “stooge of Putin” and also represents another example of his obstruction of justice because he keeps doing things that make it difficult to impeach him. /s

[ETL]

This is clearly an attempt by President Trump to hide his being a “stooge of Putin”

In reality, it's an obvious attempt by the slime ball, notoriously traitorous democrats to cover up all they did to strengthen Russia's hand.

[unlearner]

Precisely. Everything they scream loudly about, with their nasty libel and slander, is exactly what they themselves either do, would do, or intend to do.

It is hard to understand the mindset of diehard socialists and communists, but it is clear that many of these folks have a passionate desire to destroy America. Thus, they have a vitriolic reaction to the very idea of MAGA.

[trebb]

Kind of makes a parody of Crazy-Eyes Nancy’s latest collusion claim....