Trump wants to strengthen NATO

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Jul 31, 2016 at 04:03

Hi, Stein

I think Daniel would like a break on his Trump decision. We used to play a game called "sheepshead:, which was usually played with five people. Players counted on their partners to make the right move; and if someone would "trump" when they were supposed to "fail", or "failed" when they were supposed to "trump", they were often made to feel uncomfortable. Wives, especially, did not like this game for that reason. I've "Trumped" and Daniel "failed". Shuffle the cards... next hand. Even with the stakes as high as they seem, it's still just a game.

Concerning NATO, The Donald says he will make members pay or take care of themselves. That policy is meant to strengthen NATO, not weaken it. Counties already paying their fair share, besides the US, are strong ally Britain and stragegic partner Greece, along with Poland and Estonia. Falling behind, are countries like Germany, which is interested in its own "Europe-only" version of NATO anyway. The bottom line is, that countries that really WANT to be part of the alliance will cough up the money. The others really aren't interested; and it's not worth our while and our scarce resources to try to accomodate these "Summer soldiers and sunshine patriots".

Europe is fast approaching a crisis point, and will soon be completely re-worked. NATO may well be replaced then, with a more practical arrangement.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".