The problem with this threat is that, since the US has forced all the other NATO members to question whether it has their back, the threat to expel Spain is kinda a nothing burger.
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The problem with this threat is that, since the US has forced all the other NATO members to question whether it has their back, the threat to expel Spain is kinda a nothing burger.
"An internal Pentagon email outlines options for the United States to punish NATO allies it believes failed to support U.S. operations in the war with Iran, including suspending Spain from the alliance and reviewing the U.S. position on Britain's claim to the Falkland Islands, a U.S. official told Reuters."
Did they miss the part where NATO is a *DEFENSIVE* organization and isn't obligated to help in *OFFENCE*?
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The problem with this threat is that, since the US has forced all the other NATO members to question whether it has their back, the threat to expel Spain is kinda a nothing burger.
@Remittancegirl funny that Spain is located on another important strait.
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"An internal Pentagon email outlines options for the United States to punish NATO allies it believes failed to support U.S. operations in the war with Iran, including suspending Spain from the alliance and reviewing the U.S. position on Britain's claim to the Falkland Islands, a U.S. official told Reuters."
Did they miss the part where NATO is a *DEFENSIVE* organization and isn't obligated to help in *OFFENCE*?
@ZDL Hey, they missed the fact that Iran would close the strait of Hormuz in response to an attack, so missing things seem to be their modus operandi.
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@Remittancegirl funny that Spain is located on another important strait.
@CynAq Indeed one has to wonder if Morocco and Spain couldn't earn some cash charging a passage fee.
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@ZDL Hey, they missed the fact that Iran would close the strait of Hormuz in response to an attack, so missing things seem to be their modus operandi.
@Remittancegirl Fair.
Also, perhaps the relationship could go the other direction: NATO could vote to suspend the USA's membership.
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@Remittancegirl funny that Spain is located on another important strait.
@CynAq @Remittancegirl As is the UK... On that same strait.
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@Remittancegirl Fair.
Also, perhaps the relationship could go the other direction: NATO could vote to suspend the USA's membership.
@ZDL I think it is exciting to think of grand gestures, like removing the US from NATO, but those gestures are seldom necessary to achieve goals, while prompting a hyperbolic reaction.
Probably better simply to actively strengthen NATO based alliances and expand them, while simply leaving the US out of the loop.
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@CynAq Indeed one has to wonder if Morocco and Spain couldn't earn some cash charging a passage fee.
@Remittancegirl next floating pentagon memo: let’s invade Morocco.
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"An internal Pentagon email outlines options for the United States to punish NATO allies it believes failed to support U.S. operations in the war with Iran, including suspending Spain from the alliance and reviewing the U.S. position on Britain's claim to the Falkland Islands, a U.S. official told Reuters."
Did they miss the part where NATO is a *DEFENSIVE* organization and isn't obligated to help in *OFFENCE*?
@ZDL @Remittancegirl Most of the Spanish people: "You don't have the balls to do it, you orange-faced baboon."
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Frankly, after seeing what Trump's US has done to Ukraine and his threat to invade Greenland, I suspect no one in NATO actually believes the US is a reliable, trustworthy member of NATO anyway.
@Remittancegirl Don't forget Panama Canal.
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@ZDL @Remittancegirl Most of the Spanish people: "You don't have the balls to do it, you orange-faced baboon."
@ZDL @Remittancegirl In Spanish we can say "Ni me empuñes con ardor ni me guardes sin honor." ("Wield me not in anger, Put me not away without honor", old inscription in daggers, etc.) or "El que saca una pistola es pa' usarla. El que la saca sólo pa' enseñarla es un parguela." and it is beautiful.
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@Remittancegirl Don't forget Panama Canal.
@darkpixel I read they are already auctioning off turns to go through it at 1/2 million dollars
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@peterbrown Indeed. Exactly this.
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@ZDL @Remittancegirl In Spanish we can say "Ni me empuñes con ardor ni me guardes sin honor." ("Wield me not in anger, Put me not away without honor", old inscription in daggers, etc.) or "El que saca una pistola es pa' usarla. El que la saca sólo pa' enseñarla es un parguela." and it is beautiful.
@Illuminatus @ZDL @Remittancegirl
Hang on - since when has Iran been situated in the North Atlantic? (I don't understand how Turkey qualifies either). Just strengthen European alliances and forget the USA.
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@ZDL @Remittancegirl In Spanish we can say "Ni me empuñes con ardor ni me guardes sin honor." ("Wield me not in anger, Put me not away without honor", old inscription in daggers, etc.) or "El que saca una pistola es pa' usarla. El que la saca sólo pa' enseñarla es un parguela." and it is beautiful.
@Illuminatus @Remittancegirl That second one is
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@Illuminatus @Remittancegirl That second one is
!@ZDL @Remittancegirl Absolutely. It's the spirit of Tuco in 'the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly'.
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@Illuminatus @ZDL @Remittancegirl
Hang on - since when has Iran been situated in the North Atlantic? (I don't understand how Turkey qualifies either). Just strengthen European alliances and forget the USA.
@linuxgnome @Illuminatus @ZDL @Remittancegirl NATO was constituted in the cold war era, where the potential aggressor country was the USSR. Russian still is the threat, as its aggression against Ukraine and less overtly against other European countries (whether in NATO or not) shows.
So including Turkey, so protecting Europe eastern flank, in that defensive alliance made sense then, and still makes sense today. -
@EricLawton @peterbrown @Remittancegirl Eric: spot on.
Let's write our MP's.
Seriously.
We have a brow-beaten, risk-averse bureaucracy that just dropped $200 million on an un-serviced concrete pad in Nova Scotia that's about as much a "space port" as Dildo Newfoundland is a container terminal. (sorry, NL, we love you...)
Meanwhile, I see serious R&D going unfunded or getting outright stolen (and yes, I have a horse in this race), struggling to get past a wall of glassy-eyed, procedure-drunk juniors who only see technology they don't understand, and a lost job if they get it wrong or pester their boss too much.
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