Trump's playing Putin's game

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Trump is threatening to take territory from a fellow NATO member, seems set on splitting the alliance may split the alliance by illegal and contemptuous actions and has managed to insult the veterans of his allies who saw comrades fight, die or be severely wounded in combat alongside the USA.

Putin and Xi Jinping must be laughing their heads off as Trump is doing exactly what they want.

Prince Harry says sacrifices by Nato troops in Afghanistan deserve 'respect' after Trump comments

Veterans and bereaved families call the comments "very disrespectful" and "soul-destroying", as Keir Starmer says they are "insulting and frankly appalling".

www.bbc.com

 

[mindlight]

The new US national defense strategy uses a comparison of non US NATO GDP with Russian GDP (not PPP) to make the point that Europe should be able to handle Russia using its own resources with only minimal US involvement. The US wants responsible worthy allies not weak freeloading ones. But it is clear that the rhetoric here has clearly outpaced the reality as NATO allies have expended considerable blood and treasure supporting US interests in recent decades. Some acknowledgment of that by Trump would go a long way to restoring broken relations. Also America has no right to simply annex the sovereign territory of an ally. It seems the US wants NATO to stay in place but it seems to be doing its darndest to split the alliance by illegal and contemptuous actions.

https://media.defense.gov/2026/Jan/23/2003864773/-1/-1/0/2026-NATIONAL-DEFENSE-STRATEGY.PDF

 

[mindlight]

Trump says UK soldiers in Afghanistan 'among greatest of all warriors'

The US president's praise follows his claim that allied forces avoided the front lines during the Afghanistan conflict.

www.bbc.com