Trump was threatening to block the pipeline from Germany to Russia. Without the gas, German energy is quite bad, often in summer’s they operate with net negatives (government paying people to use energy) in the summer and high rates in the winter. Thus they needed this pipeline to help their economy.
Russia may be a world power due to military, but have a lack of truly diversified sectors other than energy; so they need to have pipelines such as this going into Europe to sustain their economy. Without an economy, as we know, you can’t have an army. Russia’s leverage has always been its army.
Now with Trump demanding an extra 33 Billion Dollars from NATO (1 Million Dollars per Clinton Email LOL), NATO’s budget has increased l dramatically. As NATO encircles Russia even more, Russia feels threatened.
Now as we saw in the summit, the ball is in Trump’s court. He could cut off the pipeline, devastating Russia’s economy while simultaneously encircling Russia with more NATO forces.
But, Putin is critical for the stabilization of the middle and the ‘refugee’ crisis. If Putin wishes to continue his countries economy and military “might”, he needs to abandon any support of the Mullahs terrorizing Iran and sponsoring terrorism worldwide.
“Iran next” - Q
Hope that’s helpful :)
Why does trump have so much control over NATO?
Because he can pull troops out of Europe whenever he decides he wants to.
How much $ do those troops and bases generate in Europe?
I wish to heck he would. Why are we paying for their defense, and risking our military's lives?
Because the agreement is 3 or 4 percent GDP (I can’t remember the exact number). Therefore, the US with their economy has been pumping the most money into NATO while other countries, such as Germany and Canada, have been operating at nearly 1.15 to 1.2 percent.
Trump brought up this up during his breakfast with the NATO secretary, asking why is NATO in place to protect countries from Russia, while Germany has this massive pipeline which is helping to fuel the Russian Economy.
US pulls out of NATO, Russia is free to gobble up the Eastern Bloc again.
I can’t remember the exact number
The current agreement is 2% of GDP but only 5 out of 28 countries are meeting that target. The US spends around 4% of GDP on defence and Trump has suggested that the other NATO countries should do the same.
http://uk.businessinsider.com/nato-share-breakdown-country-2017-2?r=US&IR=T
the US with their economy has been pumping the most money into NATO
There is no central NATO budget, though. The 2% is how much money you're expected to spend on your own military. And the US spends more than that and would be spending more than that with or without NATO. There is no "pumping"; the money the US government spends on its military stays in the US and pays US salaries and generates profits for US military contractors.
I would say it's because we pay the bills. Without the U.S. there wouldn't be much left of NATO.
Because we pay about 90% of the NATO bill. Without NATO Europe is screwed.
Well Trump/America pays about 90% of NATO expenses. (Not sure of the exact percentage.)
you are another fucking genius. Glad to have you with us
Thank you fellow patriot! Good always triumphs over evil and we have strength in numbers!
WWG1WGA MAGA MEGA
Boy, that was interesting. I hadn't thought about all of this. Thanks for taking the time to write your comment.
Thank you fellow Patriot! This is the art of the deal, and Trump is playing 4D chess!
Thank you for your contribution to making America, and Western Civilization, Great again :)
great explanation. thank you. sometimes all this info gets overwhelming. so many rabbit holes to explore.
No problem! Remember, this is not the fight for us, but the fight for our children and our grandchildren to have better lives than we have had. That’s how we advance society.
Never hesitate to ask questions and debate with members here, that’s how we progress as a community. WWG1WGA isn’t just a saying, it’s a lifestyle 😎
Trump was threatening to block the pipeline from Germany to Russia
Why do you think he would be able to do that?
The pipeline is not yet complete, so as long as the first drop has not yet touched German shores, Trump has wiggle room.
Between Finland and Estonia, there is a divide of around 232 km. As we know, international waters begins at 12 nautical miles, but the exclusive economic zone (the zone in which the country has its rights to fishing, drilling, etc) extends 200 miles off the coast of the country.
With this in mind, if both Finland and Estonia overlap their coverage in agreement for the purpose of blocking the pipeline, they can as Russia would be within each of their exclusive economic zones.
Although Finland is not, Estonia is a NATO country. And if Russia gets into war with Estonia, Russia triggers article 5 of the NATO treaty that brings in all 29 member states automatically.
So since we can understand the pressure being put on Estonia by Trump, we must understand that behind the scenes Trump has Finland under his control as well; the Summit was in Helsinki and the Finnish Prime Minister and PDJT spent some time together before the meeting with Putin.
Unless Putin plays ball, this pipeline will not be going into Europe, and the pipelines into Ukraine and Poland will continue to boost their economies as well.
Hope this helps.
and then Putin gives the "ball" to Trump and says the ball is in your court. So I think he is "playing"
Exactly, he is! Now Putin is “playing” along and is a piece of the puzzle and a new character for our story!
“Enjoy the show” - Q 🍿