POTUS Trump and the World

[Arakan]

As a poster mentioned in the US politics thread, it might make sense to discuss the DJT presidency and its effect on the world in a separate thread. 

I will start: Trump starts his foreign policy with ridiculing his supposed closest allies, the Europeans. Furthermore he tries to pro-actively harm them (NATO, import tariffs). At the same time he plays BFF with Putin. 

Bizzaro World. 

But anyway, DJT finally forces many European governments to finally open their eyes. The US are not our "friends", at best they are partners in some fields. But as we can see with DJT's threats wrt starting a trade war he also sees us as competitors. 

The one positive thing about DJT might be that the EU finally realizes its potential and acts accordingly. With the U.K. leaving the EU the chances are great. After all it was the U.K. which was used by the US to influence EU politics in their favor. Best example is Turkish EU membership which was always pushed the most by the U.K. on behalf of the US. 

 

[Mindwalker]

Good thread. I probably won't partake. Just one question: What does POTUS mean? US, I guess, but the POT part?

[Xray the Enforcer]

President of the United States

[Bennis of the Brown Shield]

Well, the Swedish government seems to be panicking a little with regard to the new geopolitical situation in the Baltic Sea area, so they are trying to speed up the military rearmament process that previously was a little half-hearted. Looks like we'll be getting some Patriot missiles in a couple of years, for example. 

[The Marquis de Leech]

The headache here is the danger of a US/China trade war turning ugly. Australia sells coal and minerals to China, and we sell milk-powder - yet Australia is in a military alliance with the US and we're "very close friends" even if ANZUS is inoperable.

China has been cosying up to Fiji's nasty military junta  government for some time too. Goodness knows how Trump's going to react to that. 

[Savannah]

40 minutes ago, Arakan said:

 

I will start: Trump starts his foreign policy with ridiculing his supposed closest allies, the Europeans. Furthermore he tries to pro-actively harm them (NATO, import tariffs). At the same time he plays BFF with Putin. 

 

How did Trump do that exactly? 

If it's the german defence budget it's not the fault of the US it falls short. 

[Free Northman Reborn]

Consider a lot of his talk negotiating tactics. He wants other NATO countries to pay their fair share of the costs. Up their military spending, in other words.

By threatening to pull out completely, he will get them to the negotiating table, and get the deal he wants.

 

 

 

[ljkeane]

9 minutes ago, Free Northman Reborn said:

By threatening to pull out completely, he will get them to the negotiating table, and get the deal he wants.

 

 

 

I rather doubt it. The reality is Western Europe isn't under any realistic threat of military attack with France and the UK being nuclear powers. So military spending is only needed to project military power, which outside of France and the UK the rest of Europe doesn't particularly care about.

[Martell Spy]

Corbyn: Theresa May needs to be ‘extremely careful with Trump’
Trump’s rhetoric of ‘America first, America only’ is a warning sign, the UK Labour leader said.

http://www.politico.eu/article/corbyn-theresa-may-needs-to-be-extremely-careful-with-trump/

[Liffguard]

9 minutes ago, ljkeane said:

I rather doubt it. The reality is Western Europe isn't under any realistic threat of military attack with France and the UK being nuclear powers. So military spending is only needed to project military power, which outside of France and the UK the rest of Europe doesn't particularly care about.

Even taking nuclear weapons off the table, Russia's conventional power projection capabilities are extremely limited. Western Europe is not under direct military threat from Russia. Some of the former soviet satellites though? That's a different story.

[Einheri]

1 hour ago, Savannah said:

How did Trump do that exactly? 

If it's the german defence budget it's not the fault of the US it falls short. 

Germany and the rest of Europe have no one to blame but ourselves, true, and it’s a darn shame that it’s only now people (or perhaps I should say our politicians) are starting to realize why it’s beneficial to maintain a strong (or at least as strong as possible) military of your own even if you have powerful allies.

Russia have been rebuilding their forces for years now while we have made cuts after cuts to ours, and now that the US has signalled that they might not be willing to take responsibility for our security anymore, we find ourselves in a very weakened state (yes, France and the UK still have nukes, but conventionally, we are weak), and it will take years to rebuild our forces.

[Liffguard]

3 minutes ago, Einheri said:

Germany and the rest of Europe have no one to blame but ourselves, true, and it’s a darn shame that it’s only now people (or perhaps I should say our politicians) are starting to realize why it’s beneficial to maintain a strong (or at least as strong as possible) military of your own even if you have powerful allies.

Russia have been rebuilding their forces for years now while we have made cuts after cuts to ours, and now that the US has signalled that they might not be willing to take responsibility for our security anymore, we find ourselves in a very weakened state (yes, France and the UK still have nukes, but conventionally, we are weak), and it will take years to rebuild our forces.

 

Again, Russia's conventional military forces are not a direct threat to western Europe. They don't have the ability to project the required level of force for a sustained campaign. The concern is whether or not NATO is willing to step up to the defence of Ukraine or the Baltic states.