You're Paying for the Defense of Europe

By Chuck Marshall

(This article takes approximately 3 minutes to read.)

          I, like many Americans was shocked to hear President Trump speak with such venom regarding the lack of money being submitted by our "allies" across the Atlantic for their own defense.  If you're not familiar, NATO stands for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and is a consequence of the aggression of Russia (the Soviet Union) after WWII towards Western Europe.  Today the members include many countries of Eastern Europe that were once a part  the Soviet Empire, so it's a growing group that "rankles" the Russians.  The mission of NATO states that "an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us".   NATO was established in 1947.  There are now 29 nations that are a part of NATO.  These are our allies and all that is very good.  It is a good organization for maintaining the peace.

     After Trump used such heavy handed, and admittedly rough language I got to wondering what the details of the situation were.  In an unusual moment of naivete, I decided to google search the term NATO Trump and "surprise, surprise" the mainstream media was having a hysterical fit over Trump's language towards our European allies.   "He's lying" they kept saying and their hatred for the man was hardly containable so much so that they spent a lot of effort elaborating on how the other leaders body language revealed that Trump was "distancing" our country from Europe and he was left behind speaking to the leader of Turkey (?) while the group walked, "like an outcast high school student" (yes, they really used that term).    I wish I could go to the news media and get the information I need without having to google search the details and understand the story.  It's up to us to sort it all out because we're living in the "Age of Incompetence".   I finally googled "USA Financial Contributions NATO", and one of the first things to come up was an article by CNN MONEY from July 2016 listing out how out of balance the NATO contributions are.  Their own article supports what Trump is saying today !

       Anyway, we Middle class Americans are generally too busy making a living and taking care of our families to be obsessing with global politics enough to understand the nuance of how NATO works.  Trump said "They aren't paying their fair share" and "they owe us", which technically is NOT true but if you're explaining what's going on to most people in a 3 minute news clip, this is the only way to communicate the facts.  He isn't speaking to just the European leaders and the Anderson Cooper's of the world,  he's speaking to "Joe Blow".   I'm going to elaborate on this issue today because NATO funding is something I didn't understand either and I figure my loyal blog readers might gain something from it.  We're always seeking information and truth here at "Marshall in the Middle" ! 

     "So what's going on?" you ask.  There are two separate things.  The funding of NATO itself is not a lot of money as it's simply to maintain the "bricks and mortar" of the HQ in Brussels, Belgium.  It  does run into a few Billion $$ per year.  The USA pays 22% of that.  That's for the organization that defends Europe.  We're not in Europe.

     The second thing is the actual armies. The defense of Europe through soldiers and guns falls on all NATO members.  Each member is  supposed to spend 2% of their nation's GDP (Gross Domestic Product, in other word's their economy's $$ volume of output) towards their OWN defense as a way of "doing their part", so to speak.  The graph above shows just how that's playing out.  The bottom line is that they aren't paying for their own defense.  They are leaving much of it up to the USA.  In addition, they haven't been paying their fair share for a long time.  The total is easily in the hundreds of billions of dollars, probably even Trillions if you go back to 1947 and include all countries involved.  So, when Trump says they "aren't paying their fair share" and that "they owe us" it is essentially true, but you see it's not technically true - the fact of the matter is there's no way to explain it without writing a paragraph like I'm doing here.  But, he's right !  The USA pays 67% of the total defense of  NATO in a sense because we're  paying for the military that is most likely to protect NATO;  the American military.  Last year, 2017 that figure was $664,000,000.   It can be said, that indirectly, the USA spent more for the defense of itself and Europe than all other NATO members combined.  Europe has 1 Billion people  USA has 320 Million, and once again, we're  not in Europe.  Finally, keep in mind the generous social programs of our socialist European friends.  I'm sure they can afford a lot of goodies since their military defense is not an obligation they need to concern themselves with.

     So, I'm all about defending the world's Democracies against tyranny and invasion and working to right all the wrongs of the world,  but that there is some "major bullshit, ya'll"......In My Humble Opinion. 


*MSM- Mainstream Media

Fidel Castro's Death Reveals A Lot in the USA

By Chuck Marshall
   

After a bruising year of elections here in the United States,  the death of Fidel Castro somehow seems to clarify the state of American politics and media here in 2016.  It's like putting on new reading glasses and marveling at how clear a page seems now.

     First I must confess a personal slant.  I am  more acquainted with Cuba than most Americans being a Floridian with its massive population of Cuban-Americans.  Also, my wife is Cuban-American.  I've heard many stories of  Fidel Castro that most Americans might not have heard before.  My wife's family left after waiting many years to emigrate to the  US.  Her family left with not much more than the shirts on their back.  They left an apartment, furniture, personal photos, books, friends, and the comfort of what's familiar.  They didn't sell it to leave, they had to leave it all for the government to confiscate.    Their desire to leave Cuba was a well kept secret lest their neighbors scorn them.  My wife would have to sneak into church.   There was no Christmas.  There was no Easter.  Religious freedom was nonexistent.   All human individuality was removed from society for the good of the state.  It is a historical fact that Fidel had many innocent people executed for refusing to bow to his power.  Usually it was by firing squad.  Many people vanished into the night.  People drowned in the ocean by the thousands because they were so desperate to leave Cuba.  It was and still is a hell hole of Communist dictatorship with absolutely no human rights, freedoms or liberties.

     Keep all that in mind as you can imagine my wife and her family watching as President Obama extended his condolences to the "family of Fidel Castro" and mentions that "history will judge Fidel Castro".  There was no mention of his brutal dictatorship or the millions of Cubans displaced and oppressed for the last 60 years.   Why did he not mention it?    I can only suppose because President Obama admired Fidel's accomplishments at  "redistribution of wealth".   I can also only assume that President Obama along with the leftist media secretly admired his ability to silence all of those who don't think like him.  He silenced contrary thought., and they yearn for such an ability.   They are the "thought police" (as in George Orwell's novel 1984)  without the power to enforce their ambitions and Fidel Castro was their patron saint.  It is a sad day for them.

     This is all very revealing as Trump condemns Fidel Castro as a dead tyrant who brutalized his people while Obama offers condolences to the Castro family and looks to history to "judge" Castro.  Many people are concerned with  Donald Trump becoming a dictator of some sort, but in reality we've been living on the edge of a communist regime for 8 years now.   If not for a Republican congress and Senate, we very well could have been  there now as the liberals and Barack Obama would slowly choke our liberty and freedom of thought  quietly and "oh so very eloquently" into submission.  Let history judge ?  I think it's safe to go ahead and judge right now, Mr. President,  and I'm thinking it's already safe to judge you too.

In Trump's Mind; You're a Loser

By Chuck Marshall

Ironic Fact:  "To fool or deceive" in French is translated "Trompe"


Let me first confess my position.  With all due respect to his ambitious plans for an "amazing wall"  and his plans to make us all winners.......such winners that we're "going to get sick of winning"......  I don't understand a vote for Donald Trump unless the voter has no need for any real solutions.  I have not heard one yet from Trump.  

If you listen to Trump, a lot of his positions are actually business savvy and make sense to  frustrated Americans looking for answers, but they are woefully short on solutions that could really be implemented.   He vents.  The  best example of that is the impossibility of deporting all 11 million illegal immigrants back to their origin as soon as he is President.  Yes, he could enforce the law more strictly (and he should)  but due process is a necessity that he conveniently leaves out of his tirades.   Trump (and now Cruz!)  is only too happy to let uninformed Americans believe that power would come to him miraculously as President (don't ask him how!).   Really the only way he could maneuver that would be if he became a tyrant through some sort of collapse in our government and then proceeded to order it done by his military minions.   That is, of course,  unlikely but with the ego we've witnessed in Trump I'm not totally convinced it hasn't lurked around in his gigantic head.  "Telling it like it is" is all fine and dandy but the power and ability to do these things you rage displays his lack of experience and, to be perfectly frank, his lack of intelligence.  Still, a huge percentage of Republicans seem to follow him like the Pied Piper.  On they march right over a cliff.


Republican voters around the country need to think about this really hard as they have a decision to make in the next month.  Do you  really want such a person representing your party in the general election ?   He is already known and the majority of the public has made up their minds about Trump.  He is an egomaniac, he's crude, he's inexperienced, he's not eloquent, he holds a grudge, he mocks disabled people, he disrespects women, he feeds off anger, he argues with the pope, he provokes the Muslims, he alienates our allies, he's a poor winner, he's a poor loser, and in some ways he's just plain "weird".   To a large  extent, you can decide whether or not Hillary Clinton will be our next president because I doubt his ability to beat her given his personality and lack of experience.   She waits and watches as Republicans vote with rage for her favorite option.  You are on a chess board and you can see the opponent's queen lurking and waiting.  Don't move the pawn to expose your King in the very next move for a check -mate.  You have a choice to make, don't throw a glass of water on the fire and expect to save your house.   You have a choice to  make, don't try a quarterback sneak when a field goal would win the game.

My fellow Americans, I know that if Trump read this blog he would call me a "nobody" and a "loser" and any other personal insult he could come up with.  Don't think for a moment he thinks anything more of you.

"The Donald" Doesn't "Get It"

By Chuck Marshall



     Today there was a lot of play time in the media regarding Ben Carson's surge past Donald Trump in a key national poll.  Donald Trump was quick to express his confusion and said on several occasions that he "didn't get it".   What doesn't he get ?  Haven't his "handlers"explained how polls work?  I suppose he's being rhetorical but something in his voice is truly confused by all this.  The egomaniac is getting a dose of reality.  I have already written my opinion of Trump in this blog a couple of months ago.  In case you missed it, here it is from August 5th, 2015 titled "The Donald and Hillary";  "Our country has truly dropped to a new low with these two as the front runners to be President.   Donald Trump is a wind- bag egomaniac with not one ounce of class.  He calls his opponents names and gives out their phone numbers to the public.  It's like watching a mob boss run for President.  He runs his mouth about what he's going to do with no explanation of how he'll do it.  The only thing I've agreed with that has come out of his mouth was the comment he made on O'Reilly that our country is in trouble and on the decline.  He is living evidence of that fact."

     Now, here we are over 2 months later and the Republican party still struggles to find a potential candidate  to replace the "community organizer" we have in the White House right now.  The fact that Trump is still way ahead in the polls truly frightens me and is evidence that the frustration in the country is much worse than I thought.  On the other hand,  it's good because there's a chance the American people will wake up and start paying attention to what our leaders are doing or "not doing" (as is usually the case).  It's easy to imagine that  "The Donald" as president would certainly NOT be boring and he would most assuredly DO something., I'm just convinced the bulk of it would be BAD things.  How can commerce and prosperity flourish when we're  all on edge regarding what outrageous comment will come out of the president's mouth next ?  Will he get us in a war today?

     If nothing else, Obama is boring but safe and steady.   The college professor wouldn't dream of getting into something so serious that he could feel compelled to stand up and ask something of us.  His ringing oratory is strictly for ideals and theories.   The Donald would not only not speak to us but would probably speak AT us and I'm afraid we'd all eventually be "fired" in his mind because we don't "get him" and his brilliance.   His egomania is disturbingly similar to tyrants throughout history. He's truly confused and baffled by criticism and reacts with exaggerated venom often referring to critics by name calling.   A potential President, Really ?    You don't "get it" Donald ?   Again, I agree with you.  You definitely don't get it.  You don't get the American people and you never will and I am hoping that the "rank and file" of the  Republican party is starting to see that too.







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