While stationed on the nuclear-powered Fleet Ballistic Missile (FBM) submarine USS Andrew Jackson in Charleston, South Carolina, Walker opened a bar, which failed to turn a profit and immediately plunged him into debt.[1]
Walker began spying for the Soviets in late 1967,[8][9] when, distraught over his financial difficulties, he walked into the old Soviet embassy in Washington, D.C., sold a top secret document (a radio cipher card) for several thousand dollars, and negotiated an ongoing salary of $500 to $1,000 a week.[1]
Last year, President Trump suggested a move tantamount to destroying NATO: the withdrawal of the United States.
Senior administration officials told The New York Times that several times over the course of 2018, Mr. Trump privately said he wanted to withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Current and former officials who support the alliance said they feared Mr. Trump could return to his threat as allied military spending continued to lag behind the goals the president had set.
In the days around a tumultuous NATO summit meeting last summer, they said, Mr. Trump told his top national security officials that he did not see the point of the military alliance, which he presented as a drain on the United States.
he president has repeatedly and publicly challenged or withdrawn from a number of military and economic partnerships, from the Paris climate accord to an Asia-Pacific trade pact. He has questioned the United States’ military alliance with South Korea and Japan, and he has announced a withdrawal of American troops from Syria without first consulting allies in the American-led coalition to defeat the Islamic State.
lpetrich wrote:I recently found a possible missing piece of the puzzle. Trump Discussed Pulling U.S. From NATO, Aides Say Amid New Concerns Over Russia - The New York TimesLast year, President Trump suggested a move tantamount to destroying NATO: the withdrawal of the United States.
Senior administration officials told The New York Times that several times over the course of 2018, Mr. Trump privately said he wanted to withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Current and former officials who support the alliance said they feared Mr. Trump could return to his threat as allied military spending continued to lag behind the goals the president had set.
In the days around a tumultuous NATO summit meeting last summer, they said, Mr. Trump told his top national security officials that he did not see the point of the military alliance, which he presented as a drain on the United States.
It would be a great payoff for Vladimir Putin, something great for him in return for those bailouts and that electioneering.
It is not just NATO.he president has repeatedly and publicly challenged or withdrawn from a number of military and economic partnerships, from the Paris climate accord to an Asia-Pacific trade pact. He has questioned the United States’ military alliance with South Korea and Japan, and he has announced a withdrawal of American troops from Syria without first consulting allies in the American-led coalition to defeat the Islamic State.
By doing that, the US would become more internationally isolated, and thus weaker. Something that Putin would be very happy to see.
Trump gets along with Putin much better than he does with fellow leaders of democratic nations. By contrast, Barack Obama and Angela Merkel are good friends.
Plantagenet wrote:This move by Trump is turning out to be brilliant.
Newfie wrote:Salon article, if you can stomach the adds.
https://www.salon.com/2019/01/09/god-he ... something/
ROCKMAN wrote:P - I have to chuckle at both sides of the debate over our "massive" deployment in Syria. From a purely practical standpoint I don't consider the US to have a military presence in the country
PALATINE, Ill. ― Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) challenged President Donald Trump to state his administration’s “endgame” for military involvement in Syria following the U.S. military’s missile strike on a Syrian air field last week.
Speaking to a full house of constituents at a town hall in the Chicago suburb of Palatine on Tuesday night, Duckworth was asked what was accomplished with the first direct assault on the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad and what the long-term strategy would be.
Duckworth said that she wants to know, too ― and that Trump needs to provide those answers quickly.
“The Trump administration needs to come forward and [state] its goal. Come forward and tell us the truth,” Duckworth responded.
Bottom line, I was appalled," she tells Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson of the attack. "[Trump's] unilateral decision against his military commanders and his then-secretary of defense, Secretary [James Mattis] to decide to withdraw, pull U.S. troops without any type of a plan out of Syria contributed to ISIS' increased boldness."
In his speech, Obama also said that, "while I believe I have the authority to carry out this military action without specific congressional authorization, I know that the country will be stronger if we take this course, and our actions will be even more effective."[35] Introduction of S.J. Res. 21 in the Senate soon followed.
U.S. forces have now surpassed 2,800 strikes against targets in Iraq and Syria under President Obama’s war against the Islamic State, all as part of a conflict Congress has yet to specifically authorize — and amid worries lawmakers won’t ever act.
Under intense pressure from Capitol Hill, Mr. Obama finally submitted a draft authorization for the use of military force against the Islamic State in February, but it’s since languished, caught in the stalemate between those who want tighter restrictions and those who want the president to have as free a hand as possible.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist."
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