As IF Times

Source: Leaving NATO Would Make The U.S. And The World Less Safe | HuffPost

There has been ample teeth gnashing over recent geopolitical events, centering of course, around the adventures of Donald Trump.  This nemesis of the entrenched status quo has dared to question the arrangement of the decades old NATO agreement.  We did some research on the history of NATO because there should be a reality check on the howls of outrage emanating from the usual quarters.

As the link shows, the formation of NATO post WW2 was envisioned as a bulwark against the intrusion of influence from communist states, namely the old Soviet Union. Financial and military support would be provided to member nations, principally by the US and Great Britain, to rebuild after WW2 and to create stability to those nations with preferred western alliances.  The treaty provided a collective defense: if one of their nations were attacked, then all of the nations were bound to defend them.

This has worked quite well, since in the many years following the war, East Germany is gone and many of the old Soviet satellite states have moved into the western orbit.  The Soviet Union has shrunk to become the Russian Federation and their geographic reach has been reduced considerably.  Economically, Germany, France, Poland, Italy and Spain and many former Eastern bloc nations have flourished in world trade.  There’s no question that Europe has recovered.  And yet, the Americans are still providing the bulk of the funding for NATO’s defense operations even as the contracted amount of GDP spending of member nations for their own defense has fallen.  For those who believe in statistics, here is a graphic depiction of the trend:

This is an old set of statistics sourced from NATO and the trend clearly shows that the US bears the majority of the costs involved not only in absolute dollars but even worse, in terms of percentage of GDP.

So this is very much analogous to a parent giving financial support to their children while they develop and then to see the children buying iPhones and electric cars instead of providing for their own self sustenance.

The bizarre part of this is that while the alliance was established to protect them from an adversary, long since diminished, many of these countries have willingly allowed themselves to be effectively taken over by massive immigration, principally by refugees from Muslim dominated regions.  It’s not a secret that the flood of immigration has brought along all kinds of social and political unrest in the host nations even as funds are funneled towards supporting these policies and away from self defense.  So, while everyone watches the front door for an enemy long gone, their nations are hollowed out, with open arms, by enemies welcomed at the rear door.

Why would they be characterized as enemies?  Well, historically when a group comes into a nation en masse and wants to change the entire form of government, the foundations of religion and the very structure of society including language and law, that was considered an invasion.  NATO is worrying about the dog at the door, long gone, while the mice are ravaging the rest of the home.

Source: Donald Trump’s treatment of a crying baby reveals his total lack of empathy | Jonathan Freedland | Opinion | The Guardian

The word of the day is now faux.  Not to be confused with the Vietnamese soup, pho, which is savory and delectable.   No, I mean faux as in the affected outrage, angst and furor directed at The Donald for any and all of his utterances, which is definitely un-savory.  Like jackals baying and snapping at a presumptive victim, the popular media are circling Trump looking to exploit any possible weakness to tear him apart.

It’s like a large scale version of junior high girls whereby any and every utterance of the bullied victim is subject to ridicule and taunting.  Of course this is delicious irony since Trump is also no stranger to puerile insults.  Name calling now passes as witty debate during this election cycle.  But for those with naïve and already made up minds, faux outrage can make an indelible impression on their views.

We recall the last election when Mitt Romney set tongues a cluckin’ with his revelation of placing the family dog on the car roof during road trips, Beverly Hillbillies style.  The wailing from the PETA crowd was like keening at an Irish funeral.  Unlike eating a dog, which is acceptable if you one day become President, roofing a dog is beyond the pale.  So, Romney antagonized the dog crowd and was painted as an insensitive rich guy.  Romney didn’t address the incidents directly since it was too ridiculous to answer for.  The Donald ain’t takin’ any of that.

The recent ‘trumped up’ incident involving  Khizr Khan, father of the hero veteran stirred predictable media outrage at Trump because his retort was ‘insulting’.  While Trump did not in fact disparage the heroism of the son, he made an oblique remark about the ability of the Muslim wife to make comment, which would not be unusual for Muslims.  So the cascade of ‘racist’, ‘shameful’, ‘intemperate’, yada yada yada condemnations from media and pundits alike, rained upon Trump like expletives at a rap concert.  Meanwhile the mother of an American killed in Benghazi was criticized for grandstanding when she spoke of her son’s heroism.  Clint Eastwood spoke for many when he today said, “The pussy generation needs to just ‘f**king get over it”  Eloquently and succinctly said; the oppression of politically correct speech may finally be coming to an end; which is the primary reason for Trump’s ascendancy to popularity.

The faux indignation for anything connected to Trump would have more validity if not for the Orwellianly labelled Progressives’ penchant for ascribing anything not aligned with their worldviews as being evil and malevolent. Meanwhile, they tie themselves up in Gordian knots explaining the illogical positions of their culture warriors; for example, John Kerry’s assertion that air conditioners are a bigger threat to mankind than ISIS.  Laugh out loud stuff from over there. Can’t wait to see what Trump will do next to set the left off in sputtering faux rage.  He can tell them they fight like 12 year old girls.