Tag Archives: NATO

Newsweek: Why do MAGA Republicans hate Europe?

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In May 1988, Republican President Ronald Reagan spoke from the Oval Office in an address not targeted at the American people, but the citizens of Western Europe. The president was planning a trip to meet with Soviet Union General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev and wanted to make his commitment to Europe clear.

Staring directly at the camera, Reagan said: “Shared [moral] standards and beliefs tie us to Europe today. They are the essence of the community of free nations to which we belong.”

Thirty years later, in July 2018, while sitting for an interview with CBS at his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland, Republican President Donald Trump was asked to name America’s top global foe. “Well, I think we have a lot of foes,” Trump said. “I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us in trade. Now you wouldn’t think of the European Union, but they’re a foe.”

Why do MAGA Republicans hate Europe?
The Trump administration’s stance on Europe has grabbed headlines, but the Republican Party’s icy posture toward internationalism goes back decades.

https://www.newsweek.com/maga-republicans-donald-trump-jd-vance-europe-2071814

Raw Story: Trump’s henchmen are driving him to Supreme Court clash that he doesn’t care about: expert

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President Donald Trump seems likely to stage a major showdown with the U.S. Supreme Court that a legal expert believes is an intentional effort to gather up authoritarian powers.

The president has been attacking judges who rule against him in legal challenges to his executive orders, and Stanford Law School’s Matthew Seligman told The New Republic’s Greg Sargent that Vice President JD [“Dunce”] Vance and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen [“Goebbels”] Miller were even more eager than Trump to break the courts.

“This implicates an important distinction between Trump as an optical authoritarian versus [“Dunce”] Vance and [“Goebbels”] Miller as substantive authoritarians,” Seligman said. “Trump wants the trappings of authoritarianism. He wants everybody to talk about how he’s the most powerful person, and he wants it to look like he’s in charge.”

“He wants the big parade,” …

But:

The vice president and Trump’s deputy chief of staff want to break the court’s opposition to Trump so the president carry out the “pure will of the people,” meaning the MAGA base, without bureaucratic obstacles, as Sargent put it.

“[“Goebbels”] Miller and [“Dunce”] Vance, I think, are much more committed to substantive authoritarianism,” Seligman agreed. “They actually want to exercise the power. They actually want to degrade the rule of law because they actually want to impose this particular vision — very dark vision — of America’s future on the country. 

Trump’s henchmen are driving him to Supreme Court clash that he doesn’t care about: expert

https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-supreme-court-2672130148

National Security Journal: NATO Is Now Dead

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NATO, in its current form, is depicted as a “corpse,” its strategic effectiveness undermined by decades of European defense underfunding (“free-riding”) and US strategic overstretch.

-Most member states fail to meet spending commitments, rendering the alliance a hollow shell, a reality starkly exposed by the war in Ukraine where the US carries the primary burden.

-President Trump’s approach is seen not as the cause of NATO’s decline but as a catalyst for a necessary reckoning, forcing Europe to confront its defense responsibilities.

-A fundamental reset towards a European-led security framework, with US support rather than dominance, is essential for future relevance.

NATO Is Now Dead
President Trump’s approach is seen not as the cause of NATO’s decline but as a catalyst for a necessary reckoning, forcing Europe to confront its defense responsibilities.
NATO Is Now Dead

Irish Star: Donald Trump melts down in major tantrum as Ukraine war plan in tatters

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He went on to blame Ukraine, which Russia invaded over three years ago, sparking the war, for the situation.

“I’m starting to doubt that Ukraine will make a deal with Putin, who’s too busy celebrating the Victory of World War ll, which could not have been won (not even close!) without the United States of America. HAVE THE MEETING, NOW!!!”

President Trump vowed to end the war in Ukraine on his first day of his second term. He later clarified to TIME Magazine that he was speaking “figuratively,” though he emphasized his commitment to ending major global wars, from Russia-Ukraine to Israel-Hamas.

He’ll end the Ukraine war by giving Ukraine back to Russia.

He’ll end the Israel-Hamas war when the Palestinian is dead.

Right now Trump so busy sucking up to Qatar that the doesn’t know which end is up.

Donald Trump melts down in major tantrum as Ukraine war plan in tatters
U.S. President Donald Trump has called on Ukraine to join him at the negotiating table with Russia after setting a date later this week.

https://www.irishstar.com/news/us-news/donald-trump-melts-down-major-35207736

RBC Ukraine: Trump may skip NATO summit if Europe fails to meet his demands

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US President Donald Trump may skip the upcoming NATO summit, which will take place in The Hague this June. This will happen if European member states of the Alliance do not increase defense spending, Der Spiegel reports.

According to the outlet, the new US ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, has been pressing allies at every NATO ambassadors’ meeting to raise their defense budgets to 5% of GDP.

Would the buffoon’s absence really be a negative?

Trump may skip NATO summit if Europe fails to meet his demands
US President Donald Trump may skip the upcoming NATO summit, which will take place in The Hague this June. This will happen if European member states of the Alliance do not increase defense spending, Der Spiegel reports. According to the outlet, the new US ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, has been pressing allies at every NATO ambassadors’ mee…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/trump-may-skip-nato-summit-if-europe-fails-to-meet-his-demands/ar-AA1E4Nf1

NBC News: Germany hits back at Rubio’s defense of far-right AfD party

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Germany rebuked Secretary of State Marco Rubio after he slammed the country’s intelligence agency for classifying the far-right political party Alternative for Germany a “proven-right wing extremist organization.”

“We have learnt from our history that right-wing extremism needs to be stopped,” Germany’s foreign office wrote on X, in direct reply to Rubio.

AfD, whose staunch supporters include Vice President JD Vance and billionaire Elon Musk, was already under surveillance for suspected extremism by Germany’s intelligence services, which on Friday classified the party as a “proven right-wing extremist organization.” 

Marco Rubio & J.D. Dunce & F’Elon Musk seem to thing that neo-Nazis are cool. Thankfully Germany has learned from its past mistakes and has no intention of repeating history.

Germany hits back at Rubio’s defense of far-right AfD party
Germany rebuked Secretary of State Marco Rubio after he slammed the country’s intelligence agency for classifying the far-right political party Alternative for Germany a “proven-right wing extremist organization.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/germany-hits-back-at-rubio-s-defense-of-far-right-afd-party/ar-AA1E6mLU

CNN World: Why Trump’s Crimea proposal would tear down a decades-old pillar of the global order

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US President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Ukraine should recognize Russia’s control over Crimea, the southern Ukrainian peninsula that Moscow annexed more than a decade ago, is threatening to upend international law and order.

…

Is this legal?

No. If the Trump administration was to somehow recognize Russian sovereignty over Crimea, it would be breaching international law as well as multiple declarations and agreements made by the United States, including by the first Trump White House.

“In terms of international law, such a pronouncement would be null and void,” said Sergey Vasiliev, an international law expert and professor at the Open University in the Netherlands.

“That territorial acquisitions that result from the use of force shall not be recognized as legal is basically one of the bedrock principles of international law,” Vasiliev told CNN.

Recognizing Crimea as part of Russia would put the Trump administration in breach of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, in which the US made a commitment to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and borders, in exchange for Kyiv giving up its nuclear weapons.

In 2018, during the first Trump administration, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement reaffirming the US’ refusal to recognize the Kremlin’s claims of sovereignty over Crimea.

Why Trump’s Crimea proposal would tear down a decades-old pillar of the global order | CNN
President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Ukraine should recognize Russia’s control over Crimea, the southern Ukrainian peninsula Moscow siezed by force more than a decade ago, is threatening to upend international law and order.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/25/world/trump-ukraine-crimea-explainer-intl

New York Post: Marco Rubio’s bodyguard arrested in Brussels after ‘behaving erratically’ and brawling with cops at hotel bar

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A bodyguard in Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s security detail was arrested after “behaving erratically” at a hotel in Brussels and fighting with police officers in the Belgian capital, according to reports.

The experienced agent in the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) was cuffed last Monday after becoming irate when staff at the iconic Hotel Amigo refused to reopen the bar after hours, the Washington Examiner reported.

The bodyguard then became physically aggressive when staff, including the hotel night manager, tried to persuade him to return to his room, sources told the outlet.

Marco Rubio’s bodyguard arrested in Brussels after ‘behaving erratically’ and brawling with cops at hotel bar
The experienced agent in the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), was seized by police last Monday after becoming irate when staff at the iconic Hotel Amigo in Brussels refused to reopen the bar afte…

https://nypost.com/2025/04/08/world-news/marco-rubios-bodyguard-arrested-in-brussels-after-hotel-cop-brawl

The Trump administration upholds its image as a bunch of ill-disciplined, mishbehaving thugs. This bozo should request a lateral transfer to ICE — he’ll fit right in.

As America’s reputation slips deeper into the sewer …

Express: Greenland’s new prime minister explodes at Donald Trump – ‘We don’t belong to you’

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Jens-Frederik Nielsen has told Donald Trump “We don’t belong to anyone else”.

Greenland’s new prime minister has issued a strong message to Donald Trump following the US president’s claims over the island. In a defiant message, Jens-Frederik Nielsen said: “We must listen when others talk about us. But we must not be shaken. President Trump says the United States is ‘getting Greenland.’

“Let me make this clear: The U.S. is not getting that. We don’t belong to anyone else. We decide our own future. We must not act out of fear. We must respond with peace, dignity and unity.

Greenland’s new prime minister explodes at Trump – ‘We don’t belong to you’
Jens-Frederik Nielsen has told Donald Trump “We don’t belong to anyone else”.

Greenland’s new prime minister explodes at Trump – ‘We don’t belong to you’ | World | News | Express.co.uk

The Independent: Under Trump, 80 years of collective security have been dismantled in as many days

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The Atlantic Alliance used to believe it had liberal democratic values in common and a shared interest in collective security and free trade. That, thanks to the US president, is no longer true. Europe must adjust to this altered reality, or die.

It may be that the US’s tilt to the Kremlin, accompanied by the twin-track diplomatic and trade wars now being waged on friends and allies, will before long drive Europe to stand on its own two feet and be the independent force in world affairs that the founding fathers of the project of European unity dreamed about. At long last, Europe begins to assert itself. To borrow a famous phrase from a happier era of US-European relations, Europe, like president Barack Obama, is saying: “Yes we can.”

The “coalition of the willing” (or “coalition of action”, as French president Emmanuel Macron prefers to call it) is a concrete example of this emerging European consciousness. The project is to provide a safe and secure future for Ukraine, irrespective of what Russia or the US might desire. Russia is rightly distrusted, while there is still hope that the Americans can contribute in some way to keeping the peace in Ukraine – and in Europe more widely.

Under Trump, 80 years of collective security have been dismantled in as many days
Editorial: The Atlantic Alliance used to believe it had liberal democratic values in common and a shared interest in collective security and free trade. That, thanks to the US president, is no longer true. Europe must adjust to this altered reality, or die

Under Trump, 80 years of collective security have been dismantled in as many days | The Independent