(02-08-2018 09:56 PM)Old Dominion Wrote:  Trump is no longer leader of the free world. He forfeited that role long ago. If you are to stupid to comprehend the very practical implications of being a decent human than you are hopeless. As much as you might like to be an isolationist the fact is in this day and age what the rest of the world thinks of you does matter.
No one in the free world respects Trump, and the Russians know he's a fool.

Good. So I guess we can bring all of our young men and women home now and quit shipping cash overseas to pay for other people's problems.

Oh wait.....Trump says jump and our NATO allies ask how high.

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articl...nse-budget

Quote:French President Emmanuel Macron will boost defense spending in the coming years to guarantee his country's domestic security and maintain French military engagement abroad, as he repeated his wishes for an increased European military cooperation on Friday.


Addressing soldiers onboard the assault ship Dixmude off the naval base of Toulon, Macron promised to increase spending by 1.8 billion euros ($2.2 billion) this year to 34.2 billion ($42 billion) euros.


He also pledged to bring defense spending to 2 percent of GDP —from about 1.8 percent currently — by 2025, in a move aimed at "stopping the erosion of our military capacity."

http://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2...ributions/

Quote:SPAIN has agreed to boost its military spending by more than 80% by 2024.

It comes after US president Donald Trump blasted NATO members for not contributing enough to the military alliance.

[urlhttps://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2018/02/02/norway-lawmakers-warn-of-slippage-from-nato-defense-spending-target/[/url]

Quote:Norway’s newly formed Conservative-led government is under pressure from opposition leaders to raise defense spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product by 2024.

Opposition leaders fear the lack of an ambitious capital investment plan for Norway’s military organization will lead to spending on defense falling from 1.5 percent of GDP in 2018 to 1.5 percent by 2020.

Quote:A fall in the defense spending-to-GDP ratio is certain to unnerve NATO and the United States, said Anniken Huitfeldt, a lawmaker and the Labor Party’s leader on the parliamentary Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee.

During talks with NATO and more recently the White House, Norway signaled its intent to increase spending and meet the 2 percent level sought by NATO, according to Huitfeldt. The Western alliance wants member nations to reach the 2 percent level by 2024.

[urlhttps://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2018/02/05/special-forces-allies-to-benefit-from-denmarks-defense-spending-deal/[/url]

Quote:Denmark has reached a landmark cross-party political deal that will reset the country’s defense infrastructure and lift military spending to record levels.

The deal was negotiated as part of the new defense agreement for 2018–2023.

Significantly, the agreement advances Denmark’s goal to raise spending on its military to 2 percent of gross domestic product ― a target set by NATO for its member states to hit by 2024.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/j...nding-nato

Quote:Canada has announced plans to increase its defence budget by nearly three quarters over the next decade, after coming under pressure from the United States to boost military spending.

Defence minister Harjit Sajjan said the budget would jump by 73% to C$32.7bn ($24.2bn) in 2026-27 from C$18.9bn in 2016-17, with the biggest increases coming in later years.

News flash Skippy.....if you aren't a leader people don't take action when you tell them to.