McCain: NATO key to stopping 'Russian misbehavior'

[babylonsister]

http://thehill.com/policy/defense/311871-mccain-nato-alliance-key-to-stopping-russian-misbehavior

McCain: NATO key to stopping 'Russian misbehavior'
By Mallory Shelbourne - 12/27/16 11:10 AM EST


Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Tuesday that a strong North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), an organization President-elect Donald Trump has promised to reexamine, is crucial to stopping future Russian aggression.

"And the best way to prevent Russian misbehavior is by having a credible, strong military and a strong NATO alliance,” the Armed Services chairman said to reporters during a visit to Estonia, according to Reuters.

snip//

Lithuania’s former ambassador to the United States told Reuters that the Baltic states fear Trump and how his administration could handle the U.S.-Russian relationship.

"There is fear in the Baltics about the incoming Trump administration's relationship with Russia, that sanctions against Russia will be weakened or called off, and not strengthened as the Congress would want," Zygimantas Pavilionis told the news outlet.

McCain said that to his knowledge, the United States would not end sanctions issued against Russia following its 2014 annexation of Crimea.

"That is certainly not the case today as I know it,” McCain said.

[gratuitous]

1. Suggest you take that up with the president elect, Sen. McCain

While most of the grown-ups around here understand NATO and its function, the fellow from your party who will soon be living in the White House has a tenuous (at best) grasp of what our nation's historic alliances mean and how they serve the country. Nobody from our side of the aisle seems to have any way of getting his attention. Good luck.

[gordianot]

2. This is the end result of gaming politics and ignoring security.

The Republicans created this mess and worst of all will allow a mad man to have the nuclear codes. Trump and Putin would be wise to study Hitler and Stalin only the stakes are much higher.

[Xolodno]

3. What a dumb ass...

We've weakened NATO by including questionable nations and promising heavily corrupt nations NATO membership. It's gotten so bad that the EU is considering an army separate from NATO.

And yes, we are not likely to give up on sanctions as we have little to lose. But European nations are hurting from them and Japan has gotten very close to blowing them off. Hell, for all we know, they may have already blown them off unofficially by looking the other way.

Schmuck is pandering for the "good o'le days" of the cold war. Only problem is, Russia isn't spending anywhere near we are for the military and we should be spending the money on better cyber security. The doofus doesn't understand that more tanks doesn't make our servers, energy grid, etc. more secure.