Has Putin won?

It's not an emotional appeal, but a simple statement of fact. The bitter truth most don't want to hear about the party they support.

Sounds like Ronald Reagon's "It's the economy, stupid!" That sounds nice in theory, but in reality a majority of people vote based on emotional appeal. We saw this around 2015-2016 with Brexit and Trump.

Well they sent them Abraham tanks which aren't exactly outdated. We still use them to this day although I guess they could have sent those that were produced earlier. My issue is it would be nice if they secured our border before worrying about a war half way across the world.

I definitely agree we need to do something about the border; I'm tired of the games both sides play (liberals with their virtue signaling and pretending it's not a problem; the far-right being downright bigoted and pretending we are at war).

There is a problem we need to do something about, I'm just not sure why we can't help about Ukraine and secure our border.

I honestly don't know what we can do at our border, but Ukraine needs ammo and material and we can definitely afford to send them that.

Our border, though? Seems more like a policy and staffing issue. Might be worthwhile for Democrats to just suck it up and agree to build the wall. If it fails, they can say "Hey, now you see why we didn't want it" if it works they can say "Hey look we secured the border".

That's exactly why I post takes like this for many of you guys

Because you're a troll and only listen to other trolls?

@sargentd: I watched the videos you posted. They are sensationalist and not well thought. They don't provide a Smart , well reasoned right wing view.

If you actually would like to see a well though right wing view of politics and science I recommend Lex Friedman.

The guy is way smarter and nuanced than what you post.

Posting about "the liberals panicking" will convince 0 people.

@sargentd: Traitors.

https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1756448449619230922

The problem with the border is the GOP refuses to do anything about it because they want to use it as fear mongering. Walls don't work and they will be expensive. There is legislation written that will ease the burden on the border. Republicans refuse to pass it.

Pay your fair share

I know, that's my whole problem with the border issue in the recent few months: it wasn't an issue until the last few months. MAGA-GOP was losing a lot of stuff and gaining in unpopularity so they had to go to something a bit more wholesome than voting rights and abortions to get your more mainstream conservative and moderate, so they made up some stuff about the border.

They did the same thing with the trans community. No one gave two shits about the trans community (for good or for bad) ten years ago, now it's a big deal all of a sudden.

It'd be funny if it didn't have such a huge impact on our day to day. And if it didn't work. But sadly even some moderates I know are doing the whole "I don't really like Trump and the Republicans but they're right about the border blah blah blah"

No one that wants a strong border wants to talk about how the GOP just torpedoes a huge bipartisan bill that would have helped with the border/immigration, though. I mean they worked for months on this thing and even some of the Republican people that worked on it (McConnell and Grassley, iirc) on the bill ended up voting against it. Why? Because Trump said it would make Biden look good.

No one is going to watch this.

In the last two pages

1. Defended Russian Propaganda

2. Trump saying straight up, 100%, he will betray us and encourage Russia to commit genocide.

This man is an embarrassment, a threat to Europe, possibly the world. And you're a cult of unhelpable clowns.

The threat isn't the border. It's you.

You posted a 24 second clip with 0 context from some random Twitter account

from the same speech I shared.. which is 5 minutes in full...

He wants aid given out to be in the form of a loan where they will pay it back later.

I think that's a fantastic idea, money isn't free

Nato is an alliance not a protection racket.

And he said 100% defaco, he will betray them and encourage Russia to commit genocide, rape, murder, whatever they like.

He, is, a, disgrace.

He said I'm not going to defend you if you don't keep up your end of the deal

@uninspiredcup: a whole lot of European countries need to stop relying on the US for your entire ****ing millitary. The only European country right now actively pulling thier weight and not completely relying on us is Poland.

If you are so scared of Russia you'd think countries like France, Germany, and the UK would invest in a millitary, Europe as a whole is not pulling its weight.

In case you're unware, you're defending someone who said he would betray Nato, turn into a protection racket, and encouraged Russia to attack them.

I know you guys are like a cult needing deprogrammed, but even you have to at least have some semblance in that head of yours how farcical you sound.

I heard it like this, if we are a team.. show up and play your position

Sick of my country carrying the heavy load for Europeans

Germany has enough ammunition to last about... 2 days.. incredible

Why should any European country invest in its own defense.. when the dumb Americans will pay for it all

Citation?

Has anyone got Canada's spending figures to hand? Can't seem to find them in any tables.

I guess they aren't under immediate threat right now so contribution is less important... Is that how that works? @sargentd:

I do wonder how much trade deals between EU and US would be affected if Europe no longer needs US help against Russia.

Isolationism doesn't work and that's been shown in the past. But, you have a group that believe whatever a con man with little education tells them and they lap it up.

Well sadly some groups are allergic to facts.

But a lot of the things that MAGA wants, will hurt the US standing long term.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/02/16/germany-military-bundeswehr-boris-pistorius/A promise to dedicate at least 2 percent of the country’s gross domestic product to defense — “now, year after year,” Scholz had said — has been pedaled back. The government aims to meet the 2 percent target in the next “few years,” Pistorius said.

“A complete year has been lost now in a situation in which we have a major war directly in Europe,” said Joachim Weber, a security expert at Bonn University’s Center for Advanced Security, Strategic and Integration Studies. He estimated that Germany could fight for only about two days with its current ammunition supplies.

As months have passed, more than 10 percent of the special 100 billion-euro fund for the military has been lost to inflation and interest payments. And even a Bundeswehr wish list derived from before the war remains unfulfilled.

“Many things that were considered important suddenly went off the list,” said Ralph Thiele, a retired colonel and chairman of the Berlin-based Political-Military Society, which aims to bring together policymakers and industry.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1704807/NATO-ammunition-running-out-Germany-defence-spending-Ukraine-vn

@sargentd: damn, only 2% dedicated to defense?

Granted, this is coming from an American perspective (where we spend arguably too much on defense), but 2% seems insufficient.

What's even more concerning is the Germans have one of the larger economies in Europe, and if they're only kicking in 2%, then what does that mean for other nations?

@mrbojangles25: 2.2:percent is the average. Ours is 3.5. The full list is below.

Link

They aren't even hitting 2%... that was thier initial promise.. now they are saying they will aim to hit 2% in a couple years..

They aren't going to invest in millitary, they just see America as thier millitary and expect us to carry the EU.

Respect to Poland for taking necessary steps to beef thier defense

Thank you for the context. That doesn't seem so bad, I guess. Still..."two days of ammo" is a little frightening. Then again, I'm wondering who is giving them these numbers; during the Cold War, defense officials often inflated enemy numbers (and deflated their own) in order to secure more funding. I'm wondering if that's still going on today.

I think maybe I'm just used to total dollar comparisons and when the US economy is so massive relative to all others the defense spending dwarfs what other countries spend.

Hmmm...I wonder what we could do in the US if we dropped it to 3%. That 0.5% could probably fix our K-12 education system, rebuild our infrastructure, establish a high-speed rail network that goes everywhere, build some nuclear power plants. A guy can dream, I suppose.

*Wow, Qatar and Saudi Arabia spending 7+%! Wonder what they have planned!? No wonder they're buying our fancy planes.

It stems from the aftermath of World War II when Germany and Japan were heavily restricted from having their own armies. They have their own armies now, but their laws still have restrictions on their military capabilities.

Well, I don't know if Putin has "won," but as of today there's no doubt that the leader of a major political party in the US is his stooge.

Given the defense of Russia's actions and goals by the party more broadly I shouldn't be surprised, but nonetheless this does not bode well....

The entire GOP, as far as I am concerned, is (as our Russian friends would say) kompromat.

Can't believe Trump actually said that. Good god. AND PEOPLE AGREE WITH HIM!

It's funny I always ask myself "Why do we have so many old farts in Congress and Senate?" and now I'm starting to think it's because the Russians won't let them quit.

Yes, I know that's getting a little tinfoil hat...but still.

Ahah, Trump telling Russia to attack European allies and do whatever he wants. That's absolutely normal!

How is the UK not pulling its weight, within or outside of NATO commitments?

Which figures are you drawing these conclusions from?

Honestly will give UK the 👍 up

Eyeing up Germany the most

Those **** are free loaders.

And they have been saying they will spend more on defense every year for like 7 years and never do.. they are supposed to be paying atleast 2% and never have!! So US pays for them!!

And therein lies the problem, not attuned to reality, fed fairytales that prey on insecurities and promote sociopathy.

If Trump wins then god fucking help us all.

This is a clown show.

NATO is not much of an alliance when only 25% of the countries in the alliance actually pay thier fair share .. 🤔

@sargentd: I don't think you quite understand what NATO actually is for the US.

1. Different sized economies

2. Priorities i.e. some countries are more at threat than others

3. Not every country prioritize defense (something probably regretting right now)

4. Alternate ways of contributing i.e. sending equipment (see Ukraine), training and, proving troops (i.e. people who will die)

5. Fluctuating leaders (i.e. unlike Putin leaders swap)

There's also a difference between implying they can do more, and straight up acting like they are your servants on a gangster protection racket with an encouragment "being invaded and fucking killed by Russia" as a threat.

Does that sound like an ally? It sounds like a dictator. Mighty so.

This is real, btw.

https://www.statista.com/chart/14636/defense-expenditures-of-nato-countries/

The concept that NATO countries should spend 2 percent of their GDP on defense was debuted in 2014 and by 2024, members of the military alliance should technically have "moved towards" or beyond this goal. While the definition as agreed upon during NATO's Wales summit 10 years ago is vague, the 2-percent target has nevertheless been considered a hallmark of NATO's success as well as a point of contention within the organization and in public discourse.

According to data released as of July 1, the number of NATO countries which have reached or exceeded the spending level was only 11 out of 30 members with armed forces. The list encompasses the U.S., the UK, Poland, Greece, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as well as new member Finland, showing overall that Eastern European nations have been more attuned to military threats in Europe arising again. While this means that only around a third of members are reaching the 2024 goal, the number was up from nine as of mid-2022. New additions are Romania and Hungary, where military spending as compared to GDP rose substantially in 2023 opposite 2022. Despite recent gains, larger and wealthier NATO members stayed behind the goal - often by a large margin. This includes Germany, Canada, Italy and Spain.

Croatia and France, which had previously hit the 2-percent goal, stayed slightly below in 2023. The next closest to hitting the threshold were more of NATO's newer members, Montenegro and North Macedonia at 1.87 percent of GDP in defense spending each, followed by Bulgaria, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

According to its Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, NATO is currently undergoing “the biggest overhaul of collective defense and deterrence since the Cold War” after the organization has emerged as the chief supporter of Ukraine in its defense effort against a Russian invasion. But even before war on the European continent became a reality again in 2022, tensions had been running high about the state of NATO's military infrastructure as most European nations had adopted a lackluster approach to defense spending in peace times. U.S. President Donald Trump in 2018 brought the issue to the forefront once more as he criticized a number of NATO member states, especially Germany, for not making enough enough effort to meet the 2-percent-of-GDP spending threshold.

@sargentd: You do, I assume, know that we are the only country to ever invoke article 5 of the NATO treaty (post 9/11), and after doing so the other member countries joined us in the Afghanistan war. They sacrificed not only aid to do so, but their soldiers' lives.

Not sure what point you're trying to make here.

It confirmed what I said.

Further, Ukraine, the thing he doesn't want to support and actively is blocking support for, that's restructuring it. Not Donald Trump.

Aside from being a detriment, he's threatened them and aligning with their enemy encouraging them to attack.

This, isn't how Nato works. It's not how it's suppose to work. What he described is akin to the mafia threatening shopkeepers to pay up or suffer an accident. A Don. (which is what Putin is referred to btw)

America is the threat, the one that will open the door to your doom, not a partner.

Regardless of whatever problems Nato has, this man should not in any shape or form be at the table.

This def, def, def doesn't sound like a dictator.

General Wesley Clark -

@uninspiredcup: Germany, France, Canada, Italy, Netherlands got to step up.

Despite recent gains, larger and wealthier NATO members stayed behind the goal - often by a large margin. This includes Germany, Canada, Italy and Spain.

Croatia and France, which had previously hit the 2-percent goal, stayed slightly below in 2023. The next closest to hitting the threshold were more of NATO's newer members, Montenegro and North Macedonia at 1.87 percent of GDP in defense spending each, followed by Bulgaria, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

According to its Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, NATO is currently undergoing “the biggest overhaul of collective defense and deterrence since the Cold War” after the organization has emerged as the chief supporter of Ukraine in its defense effort against a Russian invasion. But even before war on the European continent became a reality again in 2022, tensions had been running high about the state of NATO's military infrastructure as most European nations had adopted a lackluster approach to defense spending in peace times. U.S. President Donald Trump in 2018 brought the issue to the forefront once more as he criticized a number of NATO member states, especially Germany, for not making enough enough effort to meet the 2-percent-of-GDP spending threshold.

If this is how you see us then why should we continue to pay to carry the load..

Why not be pissed at Germany, France, and Canada that contribute such a small percentage to our defense as an alliance??

Why doesn't America take Germany approach? Maybe we should only spend 1.4% of our GDP on defense. People criticize USA for not providing free college or free healthcare.. yet we foot the bill for countries like Germany who refuse to even contribute the 2% they agreed too..

It's not fair, they are a wealthy nation, they should contribute more.. Germany is much closer to Russia being a threat and still sit there with a thumb up thier ass.. doesn't want to pay.. then if these countries don't have to pay... why does the US have to???

Because they haven't actively signaled to Putin he can invade, massacre and carve up Europe as they do mexican waves. Coming across as a traitor and a massive threat.

What you're doing here is trying to divert, re-contextualize and justify vile behavior.

Average MAGA stuff.

@uninspiredcup said:

Sounds like a supervillain speech... But I'm calling the bluff. He made the same promises back in 2016, yet he did jack all and was busy playing golf in the four years he was in power.