Breaking: Trump defence chief Mattis threatens less commitment to Nato

[inanna]

Source: BBC

5 minutes ago

The new US defence secretary has told Nato countries that Washington will "moderate its commitment" to the alliance if they do not increase their spending on defence.

James Mattis's comments repeat President Donald Trump's demand that many countries raise their spending.

Mr Mattis met Nato defence ministers for the first time on Wednesday.

Earlier, he reaffirmed the US commitment to the trans-Atlantic alliance.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38984947

[dalton99a]

1. There was a specific reason Putin chose Mattis for the job.

[potone]

3. If he didn't do it ...

he might as well have. I am beginning to think that we need to send the administration a dictionary. None of them seem to know what the word "ally" means.

[Hortensis]

12. HOLD ON! 23 of 28 nations do NOT spend NATO'S minimum 2%

or more of their GDP on defense. All NATO nations agreed to that, but only 5 do. The slackers include Germany at 1.19% and France at 1.78%.

Right now, the U.S. spends over twice as much on defense as all the other NATO nations put together. Of course, demanding they put up will have costs and benefits. When other nations pay their share, some of the extra power our money purchased for us in NATO will be lessened. Oh, well. And maybe some would feel we should be spending less on defense. Oh, well.



Maybe a little less knee-jerking? This isn't a conservative forum.

[Lurks Often]

15. Shhh, didn't you get the memo that facts are irrelevent now?

[Hortensis]

19. And knee-jerk reactionism Yeats' "spiritus mundi"?

For facts, take door on left. All others, take door on right.

[iluvtennis]

2. Don't like this approach of threats trying to extort money from our allies...do they need to pay...

...a bit more - it's possible. But i just expect it to be done with negotiation and diplomacy, nit threats. TRump and entire cabinets are a bunch of asswipes.

[Freethinker65]

5. +1

[PSPS]

6. It's called a "shakedown racket" and, as pointed out, also follows Putin's playbook.

[hack89]

10. They just need to keep their promises

each NATO country committed to spending 2% of their GDP on defense spending. Half are not.

[C_U_L8R]

4. The Trump admin needs a time-out.

They are so discombobulated and mired in corruption.
In the words of their orange figurehead, we need to find out what's going on !!!
Meaning no more pronouncements and orders, no new initiatives
and no new nominations. In fact that SCOTUS nom. needs to stop right now.
We aren't even sure this President is legit.

[inanna]

7. + 1,000,000!!

[JTFrog]

17. I hope they all get free rooms at Guantanamo for their efforts. nt

[Zoonart]

8. WTH?

I thought that Mattis was opposed to be the sane General.

[inanna]

9. More from AP:

Feb. 15, 2017 10:47 AM ET

BRUSSELS (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Wednesday issued a sharp ultimatum to NATO Wednesday, telling allies they must start increasing defense spending by year's end or the Trump administration will "moderate its commitment" to them.

He did not detail what the United States might do if NATO members failed to fall in line.

Echoing a demand made repeatedly by President Donald Trump, Mattis said NATO must adopt a plan this year that sets milestone dates for governments to meet a military funding goal of 2 percent of gross domestic product.

<snip>

"No longer can the American taxpayer carry a disproportionate share of the defense of Western values," Mattis told the alliance's 27 other defense ministers, according to a text of his remarks. "Americans cannot care more for your children's future security than you do."

http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2017-02-15-EU--United%20States-Europe/id-0d829d74553a4818b29044219cd8be66

[Blue_Tires]

11. To be fair, he has a point

and most NATO partners have been shorting the customary 2% guideline for a while...









Granted, most NATO partners have good reasoning -- Pressing domestic financial matters, the complacency of peacetime, etc. But mafia-like extortion tactics from D.C. are NOT the way to get this gap covered...

[titaniumsalute]

13. I hate to agree but I do in this case

Why does the US pay 3.6% of GDP? Shouldn't it be equal or very close to equal?

[CanonRay]

14. Exactly what the Russians would like.

Hmmmmm.

[Crowman2009]

16. Since Mattis is not married, I think Putin's agents have dirt on him as well.

[Javaman]

18. the orange menace and his room of halfwits attempt to play chicken with Europe.

not wise, not wise at all.

more over, mattis knows the value of NATO and chooses to side with the orange jackasses love affair with the russians.

mattis should be stripped of his position and kicked out of the military for following blatantly stupid orders.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

20. Watch what they do, not what they say.

This shakedown is closer to a "what they do" than tRumps "100%" assurance to the British Prime Minister. Essentially tRump lied to one of the very best US allies.

Perhaps Mattis and tRump has switched good-cop / bad-cop roles. For now. Until the next tweet, anyway.

[Kaleva]

21. He has a point.

Germany, despite bring wealthy, would have serious trouble moving its force's outside her borders without considerable US support. It us also in dire need of modernization.

[GliderGuider]

22. It's a distraction

Everything like this is simply window-dressing for the Putin/Dugin/Surkov plan to realign the world power structure in Russia's favor by knocking the USA off the table and destroying multilateral organizations. In the USA that goal is to be accomplished through destabilization (i.e. the Trump presidency), fomenting violent internal strife (i.e. demonizing Muslims) and shaping US opinions to support withdrawal from multilateral agreements (i.e. NATO, NAFTA and the UN).

Keep your eye on the ball that's in play - Flynn/Putin. That points to the heart of the matter.