Merkel warns US, Britain no longer reliable partners

[highplainsdem]

Source: AFP via Yahoo News

Frankfurt am Main (AFP) - Europe "must take its fate into its own hands" faced with a western alliance divided by Brexit and Donald Trump's presidency, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday.

"The times in which we could completely depend on others are on the way out. I've experienced that in the last few days," Merkel told a crowd at an election rally in Munich, southern Germany.

"We Europeans truly have to take our fate into our own hands," she added.

While Germany and Europe would strive to remain on good terms with America and Britain, "we have to fight for our own destiny," Merkel went on.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/merkel-warns-us-britain-no-longer-reliable-partners-130825785.html

[democratisphere]

1. What have we have become! The drumpf regime has destroyed our integrity

throughout the world. This situation will come back to bite US in the ass big time!

[cstanleytech]

26. I suspect thats what alot of Repugants wanted as they want us to pull back and

not get involved in other countries in the world.
Only problem is we have tried that before a few times and every time its ended up biting us in the ass.

[pangaia]

31. This is what PUTIN wants... He's the one behind all of this...

He told donnie what to say.. separate the US from NATO, then Putin can take what he wants, or so he hopes...

[Hekate]

37. From the other end of the ideological spectrum, American isolationism is what Bannon wants...

...and Bannon is actually at Trump's elbow.

[pangaia]

38. Yes, that too...

[cstanleytech]

43. Of course Putin wants that as well but so do alot of Repugnants

which could very well explain why some of them might have been colluding with Russia.

[geek tragedy]

44. This goes beyond Trump.

The dumbfuck racists who put him in power will continue to drive our national politics towards Putinism.

[Alice11111]

48. Ditto that, "the dumbfuck racists who put him in,

Will ethier be pissed when he is.gone OR or hardly notice, on to Pence.

Does Pence ever fly w DT, golf, ride?
Oh well, we have levels of Repubs to go thru, before we gt to someone rational

[workinclasszero]

51. Putin's aim all along

His employee Trump is carrying out his wishes to the letter!

[MousePlayingDaffodil]

2. It's rarely been a good thing for the world . . .

. . . when we hear Germany saying that it needs to "fight for [its] own destiny."

I suppose this represents "Mission Accomplished" for the Bannon cabal within the White House.

[karynnj]

4. Note she said EUROPE, not Germany nt

[milestogo]

3. Make America Great Again!

[truthisfreedom]

5. Losers gotta lose.

It's what mr bankrupt does. He's a loser.

[Liberalagogo]

6. And who's the happiest man in the world?

[dalton99a]

10. Yep.

[Johnyawl]

14. Do you think he'll be doing a happy dance...

...when Germany has a nuclear arsenal?

On the purpose of NATO: "To keep the Americans in, the Russians out, and the Germans down."
(Often attributed to Winston Churchill, the quote actually originated from British Gen. Hastings Ismay, Churchill's chief post war military assistant)

Without the USA and UK nuclear deterrent Europe's ability to counter Russia's nuclear threat rests entirely on the French nuclear forces. That won't be enough. smfh That demented old man is going to destroy the world. He's in the process of destroying the vehicle (NATO) that has prevented a major war in Europe for 70 years. and that's got to be a record for Europe.

[TomVilmer]

30. Though Germany only has US nukes...

Germany will soon have a bigger military budget them self than Russia has today, if Germany is raising their military budget to the NATO demanded two percent GDP-level. And by 2017 Russia will be spending less and less, they cannot afford the expenses and have decided to cut down.

[bigtime]

40. Russia has figured a lot of things out

Russia has figured out that they can accomplish more of their objectives through very inexpensive hacking, disinformation, interference, and general online shenanigans then they were ever able to accomplish through military spending. They are a post-military aggressor. They have no need for a bloated defense budget.

Meanwhile, the USA, and possibly NATO allies at DumMF's urging, are overextending themselves to build up costly conventional military capabilities. It is in the interest of Russia to see the Europe and USA squander their resources on outdated defenses which do nothing to counter Russia's most effective mode of aggression.

[sharedvalues]

19. His $$$$$ to Trump and on the US information war paid off.

[workinclasszero]

52. Trump is succeeding beyond Putin's wildest dreams

And is our worst national nightmare.

[NurseJackie]

7. She's correct, you know?

Time for our once-great nation to learn some humility, I guess.

[Ilsa]

8. This was option #5 in the Der Spiegel op-ed calling DfT dangerous:

"... the international community wakes up and finds a way to circumvent the White House and free itself of its dependence on the U.S. Unlike the preceding four options, the fifth doesn't directly solve the Trump problem, but it is nevertheless necessary - and possible."

[roamer65]

9. It's the beginning of the United States of Europe, with the Franco-German alliance at its core.

[leftofcool]

12. Bingo!

Who woulda thunk that the German leader would be the leader of the free world?

[Alittleliberal]

39. Foundations of Geopolitics

Germany should be offered the de facto political dominance over most Protestant and Catholic states located within Central and Eastern Europe. Kaliningrad oblast could be given back to Germany. The book uses the term "Moscow-Berlin axis".

France should be encouraged to form a "Franco-German bloc" with Germany. Both countries have a "firm anti-Atlanticist tradition".

[swag]

11. "No puppet! No puppet! You're the puppet!" Congratulations, Mr. Putin.

[BlueMTexpat]

13. As someone who used

to work for the US Department of State, I cannot even begin to describe how devastated I am by this.

I also cannot even begin to describe.how angry I am that ANY thinking person justified NOT voting for Hillary Clinton in 2016. I wll NEVER forgive those people.

[sharedvalues]

18. Voters were lied to by media

Blame the right wing media for their decades of propaganda. Murdoch, Bannon, Ailes, Koch, Walton are the people who really brought this about.

And blame CNN and Jeff Zucker for normalizing this president in the pursuit of ratings and profit.

[BlueMTexpat]

58. Amen. eom

[swag]

15. .

[Docreed2003]

34. Ugh....SMDH.

[sharedvalues]

16. Frum: long term Russian goal

Link to tweet

[riversedge]

29. This is so scary.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

54. Agree with Frum

Strange days indeed.

[sharedvalues]

17. Temporarily, Angela

Once this enemy of America is removed from the white house, we're coming back to join you.

[retrowire]

20. I'm sorry Germany. And I'm ashamed as well

And Trump, I work for an Austrian company that has given thousands of American's jobs.

If you cost me my job Mr. Trump, then my next job will be completely focused on your removal from office

[Bayard]

21. Our next president will certainly have their work cut out for them

To repair the mess Rump is making for us around the world.

[pangaia]

32. It too often seems that way.

republicans fuck everything up. democrats have to try to clean up the mess.... over and over...

[Still In Wisconsin]

22. That should help with combating terrorism...well done TRUMP!

[SaveOurDemocracy]

23. This was done in 4 months,

Imagine 4 years!

[DallasNE]

24. Merkel Sounds Nationalistic Here

Making for an alarming world going forward. Trump is so stupid in siding with Putin. The winners, beside Putin, are Iran for sure and possibly North Korea - so what can Trump be thinking (or McMaster, for that matter). Beside Europe and America, Israel is a big loser. It will be full circle when Trump pulls America out of the Paris agreement on climate. Things could not have gone worse.

[pangaia]

33. Why do you think trump is thinking about it? LOL

he is doing Putin's/Russia's bidding.. it's that simple.
He doesn't give a shit or even understand any of it..

he's been blackmailed....

[TheDebbieDee]

25. Is it possible that the Russians hacked the BREXIT vote, too?

Just wondering... I don't know what kind of voting system the Brits use - it's just that everyone seemed very shocked at the results. Maybe everyone was shocked for GOOD REASON.

And I wonder how many OTHER elections that the Russians may have hacked...

[mwooldri]

41. UK uses paper & humans.

A lot of local government employees are drafted to run the election. Yes, the electoral register is on computer, but ballot is by hand and paper count.

So no anyone hacking the count.

Local, National and European elections are generally held separately in the UK so there's fewer races to count each time. Plus there's no votes for the head of state nor upper chamber of Parliament... so fewer races to be had.

The US has multiple races at once - take NC as an example... President, US House, US Senate, NC Governor, NC House, NC Senate, NC "Star Chamber" (all the state commissioners), County races, City races... that's a lot of things to vote on, and a lot of votes to count. And people want quick results. No wonder machines are attractive for vote counting.

[Alice11111]

47. It has occured to me. I live w a Brit &his family is omni-

Present. The are Brexit all the way, baby, labor party, but love Bo Johnson (he's why we had Brexit ). It did turn the poles upside down. They are like the US. They don't realize the world has changed, faster &faster. They think they are going to be Beatles british cool guys who one likes. The EU doesn't like them, and DT is not a dependable ally. He said something to the effect, why negotiate w 60 mil when we can first negotiate w multiples of that, as one body. They thought they will always have Nato, but DT 's waffling has made thet insecure

[Beartracks]

27. Trump hates personal responsibility, so why not have America shrug it off, too?

Apparently, "greatness" means "abandon your friends."

==============

[riversedge]

28. Merkel Says Europe Can No Longer Rely on U.S. Following Trump's Overseas Trip...

I think Europe, in general, was ready to give him a chance. Then they saw his rudeness and heard his policies. He just ran himself into his stinking swamp even more.



New Civil Rights? @newcivilrights 13m13 minutes ago

Merkel Says Europe Can No Longer Rely on U.S. Following Trump's Overseas Trip... http://buff.ly/2ra6Nub

Link to tweet

[pangaia]

35. And since any news outside the USA is pretty much 'blacked out' by American mass media..

right-wingers will have no idea what is truly going on.
How many trump voters ever heard of Duerte, for instance?

How many even know where Iran and Iraq are in relation to each other geographically?


blechk.....

[Doreen]

36. It just truly hit home with me.

I am now more frightened in this country than I have been so far. Yes, I was nervous and a little scared but now I am truly frightened. I am crying ( really, I am. ) I feel like a traitor myself in some sense because I feel like I hate this country now, I do not think I fully do but it feels like it is coming.

[ElementaryPenguin]

45. You're no traitor, Doreen, Benedict Donald is!

And don't be frightened, this idiot is going down - and in fairly short order. He's actually going to prove to us that our system works - even during a period of insane partisanship by the Republicans. You don't win a war with our intelligence community - and this amateur is so over-matched it's almost comical.

You don't hate the country - you have this outlaw, treasonous administration. So do we all.



But it's going to be alright. Trump, Kushner, Flynn, Manifort, etc... - these are the people that need to be worried.

[Doreen]

46. I also worry about Pence. I think he has a lot to do with it but

it does not seem like they are investigating him. Well, at least not enough. the entire administration scares me. How far down the line is this danger of corruption. How many are we going to have to expose until we are once again safe?

[Alice11111]

55. Probably at least a dozen, who are often in charge of the

Investigations.

[Doreen]

56. That is what scares me.

Will we ever be able to get the truth out? Is there going to be ones who can not be fired once they start exposing the truth? I mean how many have already been fired because of their knowledge? Trump has gotten rid of half of the government and we now know why. There is something wrong with having to small of a government particularly when it involves as much of family as possible.

[Alice11111]

57. In normal times we would have investigated all of these guys

for perjury. Now, we have to just take the biggest ones, and there are not enough resourse for them.

[Alice11111]

59. We may never know all, if Repubs are in control...CYA

[ucrdem]

42. That's deeply disturbing.

I get that she's speaking to the home team in an election speech but she should NOT be using this kind of language. Also, it's being reported internationally. Also, she's been in politics all her life and Trump has been at it for 6 months. So she has no excuse.

[Alice11111]

49. If might backfire even w the home team... drasric change...why not just help us get rid of him

[ucrdem]

50. She's taken a lot of heat on the immigrant issue

and while her own election was in February there's apparently a Bundestag election in September that might unsettle her centrist coalition. So she seems to be giving up on the high road of globalism and giving in to the anti-immigrant right that would like nothing better than to renege on Germany's international agreements and arm to the teeth. With the best intentions of course (sarcasm). And once she's declared her intention so publicly I don't see how she's going to walk it back in September even if she intends to. So statements like this while perhaps warranted by US indifference are very dangerous.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

53. Not with Drumpf in charge