America is a democracy. That means that the government and the people help rule the country. Meanwhile a country like Russia is a dictatorship. That means that one person, rules the whole country. If you were to choose between the two forms of government, communist or democracy, which one would you choose? Personally, I would choose democracy, however Donald Trump has something else in mind.
Today, on CNBC news there was a news story about Donald Trump. He was speaking at a rally in South Carolina on Saturday, February 10. Apparently, some of our NATO(North Atlantic Treaty Organization) countries weren't doing their part in spending at least 2% of their domestic product on the millitary. Because of this, Trump said he would not protect the NATO countries from Russian attacks, and instead he would incourage Russia to do whatever they wanted to the countries failing to pay their military bills. Trumps logic to this is, "You didn't pay, you're delinquent." He says, "You got to pay. You got to pay your bills."
Although this news seems sudden, Trump has had a history with Putin. On the Vox Politics website, there is a news story called, "Trump chooses Putin's word over the US intelligence community's-again." This article was written during the time that Trump thought the 2016 election was rigged. Earlier that year the FBI, CIA, and the NSA told Trump that Putin had something to do with the rigged election. However, Trump did not believe them, he trusted everything Putin said. Trump has a strong friendship with Putin, and doesn't really trust our intelligence system.
While the U.S. historically has had the most military personnel out of all the NATO countries, not having the NATO countries would be a huge loss to our military. On April 4th, 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty (Washington Treaty) was signed and formed the basis of the organization. The treaty affirms the rights of independent states and to individual or collective defense. When this alliance was founded, NATO had 12 countries from Europe and North America. However, right now, NATO has 31 member countries. They all come together to talk about political and security issues and how to solve them.
Supporting a communist country, even just in a public speech, does not seem appropriate or safe for a possible future president of our country. Both democratic and republican lawmakers have criticized and been concerned with Trump's comment. Joe Biden said Trump's remarks were "appalling and dangerous."
Sources:
https://www.vox.com/2017/11/11/16636906/trump-russia-putin-intelligence
https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_67656.htm
Questions:
Do you think that Trump meant what he said about allowing Russia to attack other NATO countries?
Do you think Russia should be an ally of the United States?
What punishments do you think should be given to the NATO countries that don't pay their fees?
Replies
Good topic and summary Allie! I do think you could have commented a few more times. Check back Thursday night.
I believe Trump meant what he said, and says what he can to please people. I think there are benefits and huge risks of having them as an ally. NATO contries that dont pay their bills should be punished some way but I'm not sure how.
I think Trump meant what he said because those countries weren't paying bills so he decided that America wasn't going to help them if Russia attacked them. I think Russia shouldn't be an ally but instead, they should be an asset because we could use their materials to help us when we are in need.
I would choose democracy I think that the way the United States is now works for us and has for a while. I don't think Trump should be allying with Russia I don't think it's a good idea. I didn't hear about trump saying this till now and I don't believe he meant it.
No, I don't think trump ment what he said because he could really get hurt from that, I feel like people would start rioting. I don't think the U.S.A would benifit from being an allie of russia. If NATO countries don't pay there fees then they should be on there own.
No, I don't think Trump would leave other friendships with military personnel and equipment he probably would end up helping in that situation. I don't think anyone would benefit from Putin being closer to the U.S. because he could turn on us and destroy the U.S. No punishment because they will eventually all pay if you keep them up to date on all the payments.
I'm not sure if Trump meant what he said about allowing Russia to attack other NATO countries, but I wouldn't necessarily be surprised. I don't think it is a good idea for the United States to become an ally with Russia. I think if NATO countries don't pay their fees they should just be forced to be on their own.
I dont think he meant what he said. I don't think Russia should be an ally because they are a communist country and I personally don't think America should support communist countries. I think we should start putting tariffs don't he countries that don't way.
I think there are some positives and negatives of not being or being allied with Russia as they are a strong counrty and if we allied with them we would be very save in most wars having a strong ally and we can steer them away from attacking other countries the downfalls are though that they might just not listen and we would be allied with a country thats fightings other countries.
I didn't hear about Trump saying any of that but I don't think that if very safe or smart to allow Russia to attack other NATO countries. It would just cause a lot of harm. I don't think Russia should be an ally of the US but I don't think they should be treated like an enemy or something.
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