Just in case you missed it, Merkle vs POTUS Trump, NATO Debt and Trade...

[Big A]

Poland, an actual ally.

If you take a longer view on history, it has always been the issue of someone trying to assert control over continental Europe. Britian has always tried to counter balance the stronger party to keep some kind of divide with the strategic goal of not allowing someone the ability to dictate terms to or control them. Britian declared war on Germany for invading Poland, and when Russia invaded, crickets. Not quite that simple, but the model for a couple of centuries. We adopted the role of the British post WWII.

That Germany would like to rise to be dominant country in Europe is just history repeating itself. That they would sacrifice the Baltic states and the Ukraine for more influence is certain. Hell, they'd probably split Poland with Russia again when the time comes.

If Poland doesn't have a nuke program, they are historical and strategic retards.

Giving Trump crap over Article V is complete BS when we walked away from even the assurances we gave Ukraine.

Trump has said that the NATO countries need to do more for their defense, and it seems that they will. That Germany has been skirting their responsibilities to the tune of 1% of GDP, they have a lot of money to make up. So the Germans at least are going to stand up, sounds like Trump gets what he wanted.

It would be interesting to levy an import tariff on German goods to make up the difference, of course, we get to spend it on stuff to defend Europe...

Yup. And after looking up all the military assets we have in Germany if I was Trump after the reception he got I'd definitely get SecDef Mattis working on moving the majority of it to Poland and Estonia since they meet their NATO obligation so they could get the benefits of our soldiers spending their hard earned money in their countries. Germany doesn't seem to need it anymore. Plus it's not like the cold war when the Soviets occupied the eastern part of Germany.

[Averageman]

http://www.breitbart.com/news/trump-...nds-by-stance/
President Donald Trump has renewed his criticism of Germany following Chancellor Angela Merkel’s suggestion that her country needs to adopt a more independent stance in world affairs.
Trump posted a tweet Tuesday saying “we have a MASSIVE trade deficit with Germany, plus they pay FAR LESS than they should on NATO & military. Very bad for U.S. This will change.”
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017...u-s-president/
Chancellor Angela Merkel cautioned Monday against seeking “simple answers” to complex global issues, a day after suggesting that Europe’s relationship with the U.S. had shifted significantly following NATO and G-7 meetings with President Donald Trump that produced disappointing results.
The comments at an election rally Sunday in Bavaria, where Merkel stressed that “we Europeans must really take our destiny into our own hands,” were widely seen as acknowledgement from Europe’s most powerful leader of the changing dynamic of trans-Atlantic ties.
Her foreign minister, a political rival, upped the rhetoric Monday by declaring that with Trump’s policies, “the West has become smaller.”

I'm guessing with an election coming, perhaps Angela Merkel will be on her way out the door.
If Germany doesn't want to play by the rules of NATO, the simple answer would be for us to realign NATO without Germany in it. By simply cutting Germany out of having anything to do with our Military or funding their part in NATO we could force an economic change to their economy that would emphasis our position.
Then perhaps we can renegotiate some EU trade rules allowing us to trade with individual Nations within the EU?
Just another point you may not be aware of, Germany places a high tax rate on the military equipment we send there for training Soldiers. An example I know of was the replacement of a computer screen on a training aide. It was actually cheaper to ship it back than to dispose of it in Germany, the initial tax alone was twice the value of the screen itself. They also tax military retiree's that use the Post Exchange or Commissary.

[MegademiC]

Plus it's not like the cold war when the Soviets occupied the eastern part of Germany.

Now they run the government.


Yea, not literally, but the results are starting to look alike.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

The Germans are more socialist than the Russians... WTF.

[sgtrock82]

The Germans are more socialist than the Russians... WTF.

Marxism did originate in Germany or at least Marx and Engels were german. IIRC Germany had socialized medicine or some primative form of it prior to WWI. The germans if anything are the epitome of a socialized culture. Just with less "Auslander Heraus!" Nowadays. Theyve not managed to gain control over the continent with boots and tanks so now they are trying to do so politically, all while tricking the rest of europe into thinking it has a real say in the matters.

[Averageman]

I'm surprised as I found Germans on the whole to be rather xenophobic and very guarded. They had regular dust ups with Turkish guest workers while I was there. For the most part they were pretty quick to exclude many people from entrance to their Clubs and Night spots.

[glocktogo]

Yup. And after looking up all the military assets we have in Germany if I was Trump after the reception he got I'd definitely get SecDef Mattis working on moving the majority of it to Poland and Estonia since they meet their NATO obligation so they could get the benefits of our soldiers spending their hard earned money in their countries. Germany doesn't seem to need it anymore. Plus it's not like the cold war when the Soviets occupied the eastern part of Germany.

Germany doesn't really need it, because they're primarily funding their nation by fleecing the rest of the EU. That doesn't mean they want to give it up, because a bird in the bush giving you everything it has, beats one in your hand that's shitting where you have to clean it up.

[Averageman]

Germany doesn't really need it, because they're primarily funding their nation by fleecing the rest of the EU. That doesn't mean they want to give it up, because a bird in the bush giving you everything it has, beats one in your hand that's shitting where you have to clean it up.

They've carried a lot of lesser economies along the road to securing the EU economically, however all of that drama could still come back on them.
I'm not sure what the current crop of immigrants is going to cost them down the road, nor am I sure they could handle the economies of a combined Spain, Italy and Greece hitting the tanks again.
Being that they are the forth largest economy in the world, they have no small amount of leeway to work with, but telling Trump to F' off means they aren't likely to get a lot of help from us as long as Merkle is at the helm.

[Big A]

Marxism did originate in Germany or at least Marx and Engels were german. IIRC Germany had socialized medicine or some primative form of it prior to WWI. The germans if anything are the epitome of a socialized culture. Just with less "Auslander Heraus!" Nowadays. Theyve not managed to gain control over the continent with boots and tanks so now they are trying to do so politically, all while tricking the rest of europe into thinking it has a real say in the matters.

They control the banks and therefore the continent...