Seen on the street in Kyiv.

Words of Advice:

"If Something Seems To Be Too Good To Be True, It's Best To Shoot It, Just In Case." -- Fiona Glenanne

“The Mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” -- The TOFF *

"Foreign Relations Boil Down to Two Things: Talking With People or Killing Them." -- Unknown

“Speed is a poor substitute for accuracy.” -- Real, no-shit, fortune from a fortune cookie

"If you believe that you are talking to G-d, you can justify anything.” — my Dad

"Colt .45s; putting bad guys in the ground since 1873." -- Unknown

"Stay Strapped or Get Clapped." -- probably not Mr. Rogers

"The Dildo of Karma rarely comes lubed." -- Unknown

"Eck!" -- George the Cat

* "TOFF" = Treasonous Orange Fat Fuck, A/K/A Dolt-45,
A/K/A Commandante (or Cadet) Bone Spurs,
A/K/A El Caudillo de Mar-a-Lago, A/K/A the Asset., A/K/A P01135809

Sunday, May 1, 2016

Hand-Wringing Over NATO

Such as this guy:
A new survey of German attitudes towards security paints a grim picture for Europe. According to the survey, a majority of Germans oppose assisting their neighbors in case of Russian attack. The results mirror those in other countries, and begs the question: Is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization dying?

The survey, conducted by the Program for the Future of Europe and the Polish Institute of Public Affairs, reported that more than half (57 percent) of Germans polled do not support sending the German military to defend other NATO members "such as Poland or the Baltic states." Only 31 percent of Germans believe their country should fulfill its treaty obligations and assist those countries if attacked.
Unlike the author of that opinion piece, Germans can apparently read a fucking map. The Baltic republics are almost completely cut off from western Europe by either Russia or by Belarus, which is effectively a Russian puppet. Resupplying the Baltics in the face of Russian opposition will be a tough endeavor.

The Germans probably don't see a strategic interest in defending the Baltics. Neither does anyone else with a lick of sense. Which, of course, rules out a lot of think-tankers and columnists.

5 comments:

CenterPuke88 said...

NATO, at its current size and configuration, has become a paper tiger. Russia, while a concern for Europe, is about to face the ugly reality of a Chinese military with equal, or superior, weapons and millions of more troops. The U.S. Navy is on the verge of being unable to realistically patrol in disputed waters near China, without risking the loss of a carrier. China, for all its spending and military development, still keeps a wary eye on India, whose population increase is becoming a threat. India is concerned about the whole Islamic world, as is China and the U.S., while Europe is now starting to wonder if selling all that shit to the Arabs was a good idea. Oh, and did I mention the real possibility of the EU fragmenting.

So, given all that, an alliance with certain major European states (Germany, France, Italy, UK, Norway and Spain) and then another with SE Asian countries (Australia, Philippines, Japan and Korea (God help us keeping them off each other's throats)) is probably the best route forward. I'd like the Swedes, but they won't join, and the Poles, but the Germans wouldn't buy in. Adding India to the SE Asian group would be good, but might be a difficult sell.

Now, compare all that to tRump's foreign policy speech, and you'll see just how far down the rabbit hole we could go if we elected the moron....which is not to say we ain't got issues, like the farce that NATO has become, as you so clearly elucidated.

B said...

Not that the Germans could field a complete company of tanks, or a squadron of planes if they had to right now anyway....

Borepatch said...

Funny how the only candidate talking like this is The Donald. ;-)

Comrade Misfit said...

Borepatch, you know what they say about broken clocks. Or blind squirrels.

sglover said...

A Russian move into the Baltics is possible, I guess, but it's more the stuff of Beltway self-dealing fear-mongering than anything else. Moscow seems to be keeping their liberated brothers in Donbas at arm's length, and there the population would probably prefer closer ties, if only for some subsidies. It's very very hard to see what's gained from taking in several million avowedly hostile Estonians and Letts and Lithuanians, while at the same time boosting Polish paranoia even higher than it normally is.

On the other hand, I can see a President Clinton goosing the gratuitous hysteria level to eleven and beyond, so who knows?