Actually, neither is worth the crap I wiped off of my shoes last week after hitting a land mine left by my dogs in the back yard.


As to his NATO rhetoric, it's a lot of wind as he's not an elected official, nor an appointed official. Most people who arrive in the White House undergo a pretty steep learning curve on "now that you're here, the real deal is ..."


I'd not worry about his noise on NATO unless he gets elected. Then, if he has something to say, maybe pay attention to it.

Obviously guys like him are dangerous when given real political power. However, this issue seems to be rather in the economical plane and nothing is wrong in promising to nail down some scrooges :-)
Would be fun to see some "fighters against eastern monster" and "partners for peace" buying a single F-35 (or a half of it) per country to spend the required 2% of the budget.

I don't know, as he's never held political office. I get the feeling that he doesn't actually understand the job he's trying to get. It makes for good copy, good luck with any actual result. Better off with Super Hornets. Cheaper, ready to fly now, spare parts / maintenance system is well understood.

LW, I think A V was being sarcastic, ante up enough to but an F17.5, it high lights just how little 2% is for some States.

I am aware of that. I was also involved in Partnership for Peace in an official capacity.


I recall working with some Russian colleagues, and IIRC the Russian Federation joined the PfP in 1994. Hell Russia had a liaison office at SHAPE in the 90's, and the Russian airborne brigade worked with the Americans in the Northern sector in Bosnia during IFOR ... not sure what A Van is getting at.

I hope you all are not stupid enough to believe what the BBC states about Mr. Trump. The BBC is a left-wing propaganda outlet.

First, Mr. Trump has not been elected President or sworn into office yet, so he has no authority in the matter. More importantly, the dimwits at the BBC fail to grasp the fact that Article II of the US Constitution requires the President to get approval from Congress before any international treaty agreement he negotiates becomes binding US law.

Ever wonder what the "T" in NATO stands for?

The real point that Donald Trump made was that he sees the USA as being finished with providing funding etc to NATO countries that don't shoulder their fair financial burden and expect the USA to pay in men and material...

Freeloading for security is over!

Clearly then, Trump does not understand that geographical location of some countries might be worth more to NATO (And indeed the US) than what the countries might be able to contribute payment wise.

The baltic countries is a good example.

It is not out of kindness that the US has part funded the Norwegian Military Intelligence service since the early 50s either......I don´t know, but I suspect the US might have those kind of interests in the baltic countries as well.

What you say may have been true when the US cared about the expansion of communism across Europe.

Since Trump doesn't give a cr@p about anything outside the borders of the US, that hardly holds true if he were to come into power.


I do agree with him about freeloading though.

Trump is an admirer of Putin and has business interests in Russia. He does say that he will let his kids handle the business if he is elected. I would not be surprised to see Russia expand its territory quite a bit under a Trump presidency.

He might sell Alaska back to them....................