Name:   copperline - Subject:   Let's break that down.... Date:   5/30/2017 2:48:16 PM

I have to disagree with your assessment here.   Trump’s determination to embarrass NATO allies is just designed to churn up his base… but also serves to undermine historic defense alliances in place for over 50 years.   Claiming that NATO members owe us money is just wrong….  

Here’s a description of the situation from the New York Times   May 26, 2017

“Are NATO nations violating a rule? 

No. The 2 percent standard is just a guideline, not a legally binding requirement. In 2006, even as the United States was increasing military spending because of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, European allies were shrinking their military spending. NATO defense ministers that year adopted a guideline suggesting that each spend the equivalent of 2 percent of its annual economic output on its military — but it was a target, not a rule, and not endorsed by heads of state. 

Only in 2014, after Russia annexed Crimea and intervened militarily in eastern Ukraine, did NATO leaders meeting in Wales agree to the 2 percent standard, and even then they urged members to “move toward” that goal by 2024, still seven years away. 

Gary J. Schmitt, a scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said Mr. Trump was putting it in layman’s terms and “doesn’t care whether it’s technically accurate.” 

But Mr. Schmitt identified two problems: “One, because it’s not technically correct, it is too easily dismissed by the very folks he wants to put pressure on. Two, and more important, it tends to bury the point that we’re invested in European security for our own strategic reasons.”

The important point is that if Germany doesn’t make defense spending 2% of their annual GDP, it does NOT mean that the US has to cough up more spending to make up for that.   NATO’s annual budget is $2 billion per year… with member contributions based on the size of each ally in the collective... The US pays 22.14% of that $2 billion annually. Germany comes in second, supplying 14.65%.

Trying to humiliate our allies does not make for good security strategy.  It does, however, play to Trump's base who may want to believe that the US is so strong that we do not need any strategic alliances in the world.   On the other hand, alienating these allies and damaging NATO is, however, a primary strategic goal of Vladimir Putin.  

 We would all do well to remember who is really benefiting from Trump’s efforts here.   And it ain’t US taxpayers by any stretch of the imagination……