After blindsiding allies, U.S. gives no details on Trumps plan for troops in Germany – Politico

“Why is Germany paying Russia billions of dollars for energy, and then we’re expected to protect Germany from Russia? How does that work? It does not work,” Trump said, adding, “So Germany is delinquent. They’ve been delinquent for many years, and they owe NATO billions of dollars. And they have to pay it.”

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg verified Tuesday that U.S. President Donald Trump did not inform the alliance prior to deciding to withdraw thousands of American troops from Germany. Stoltenberg last week decreased to talk about Trump’s decision, referring to reports of the planned withdrawal of approximately 9,500 soldiers as “media leakages” and “media speculation.”

“This was a concern I discussed with President Trump, I believe it was Monday recently,” he stated. “So, this is a concern which I then talked about with him. Last week this was media reports, because it was not confirmed by the United States. Now, these reports are verified and therefore it’s likewise, what should I say, much easier to comment since now it’s formally announced by the United States. And that’s precisely why I went into more details in my comments today than I did last week.”

During his news conference on Tuesday, the generally unflappable Stoltenberg was left stammering when asked to describe why he had actually dismissed the initial accounts as leaks.

“Germany, as you know, is extremely delinquent in their payments to NATO,” Trump said. “So they’re overdue of billions of dollars, and this is for several years. Delinquent. So we’re eliminating a number down to– we’re putting the number to 25,000 soldiers. We’ll see what happens. But Germany has actually not been paying.”

The withdrawal of troops in Germany is seen by numerous specialists as a benefit for Russia, which has actually long complained about the U.S. troop existence in Europe. But in his remarks at the White House, Trump criticized Germany’s support for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline task and insisted Berlin was paying billions to Russia for energy while relying on protection from the U.S. He likewise jabbed at Germany for its trade imbalance with the U.S.

“The U.S. presence in Europe is not just about safeguarding Europe, however it’s also about projecting U.S. power beyond Europe,” Stoltenberg stated. “We have seen that bases like the Ramstein Base, the Landstuhl medical facility and lots of other U.S. bases in Germany, they are necessary for what the U.S. has actually done over decades in the Middle East, Afghanistan, Iraq and in Africa. And for circumstances, the U.S. Africa Command is not in Africa. The U.S. Africa Command remains in Europe, in Stuttgart. And the command of the 6th Fleet– which is really patrolling down south of Africa– is in Italy.”

However Trump on Monday doubled down, not only defending his choice but suggesting that it was a way to penalize Germany for not investing enough on its military.

Trump’s decision has actually come in for blistering criticism, including from Republicans in the U.S. Congress and from retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, the former leader of U.S. Army Europe,

who informed POLITICO the move is “an enormous mistake.”

brain death.”” The U.S. presence in Europe is not only about protecting Europe, but it’s also about predicting U.S. power beyond Europe” — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg

In doing so, Trump firmly insisted, as he has previously, that Germany owes billions to NATO despite the fact that allied contributions to the alliance are determined in spending on their own armed forces– a point that Trump has either

stopped working to comprehend or deliberately neglected in more than three years of berating allies over their military budgets.

NATO allies have actually consistently voiced exasperation and discouragement over Trump’s unilateral military actions, which in many cases have actually put their own soldiers in mortal danger. Trump’s

targeted killing of the Iranian basic Qassem Soleimani at the start of this year required NATO to suspend a training mission in Iraq and some allies repositioned troops there as a result. And Trump’s surprise decision to pull out of northeast Syria last November produced dispute with Turkey, another NATO ally, and was one factor that French President Emmanuel Macron grumbled in an interview that NATO was experiencing”

At a news conference Tuesday ahead of a videoconference meeting of NATO defense ministers this week, Stoltenberg yielded that Trump only informed him about the strategy during that call– 3 days after the Wall Street Journal first reported Trump’s decision.

Shortly after those remarks, Stoltenberg

spoke with Trump by telephone however following the discussion NATO authorities still declined to validate Trump’s strategy, stating just that the leaders “also talked about U.S. military posture in Europe, as they always do.”

Stoltenberg repeated his usual talking points that the U.S. military presence in Europe is now bigger than it was when Trump took workplace in 2017, but he also explained that he did not view the prepared drawdown of forces in Germany as practical– either for NATO or the United States.

“So it just shows that U.S. presence in Europe, yes, it’s of fantastic value for European allies,” Stoltenberg stated, “but it likewise matters for the security of the United States.”

“The U.S. presence in Europe is not only about securing Europe, but it’s also about projecting U.S. power beyond Europe,” Stoltenberg said. “We have actually seen that bases like the Ramstein Base, the Landstuhl medical center and many other U.S. bases in Germany, they are essential for what the U.S. has actually done over years in the Middle East, Afghanistan, Iraq and in Africa. The U.S. Africa Command is in Europe, in Stuttgart. The withdrawal of troops in Germany is seen by numerous experts as a benefit for Russia, which has actually long grumbled about the U.S. troop existence in Europe. In his remarks at the White House, Trump criticized Germany’s assistance for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project and insisted Berlin was paying billions to Russia for energy while relying on protection from the U.S.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision has come in for blistering criticism

from WordPress http://troot.net/after-blindsiding-allies-u-s-gives-no-details-on-trumps-plan-for-troops-in-germany-politico/