Former Secretary of State John Kerry slammed 72-year-old President Donald Trump for daring to criticize NATO in Brussels today, telling foreign ministers that the 70-year-old alliance must pony up for its own defense. “I’ve never seen a president say anything as strange or counterproductive as President Trump’s harangue against NATO and Germany,” said Kerry. Kerry complained that Trump accused Germany of being captive to Russia, buying 60%-70% of its natural gas from Moscow. Trump mentioned that if the NATO alliance is trying to restrain an aggressive Russian Federation, how does that help the alliance paying Russia billions for energy. “It was disgraceful, destructive, and flies in the face of actual American interests,” said Kerry, whose Iranian Nuke deal signed July 15, 2015 was invalidated May 8 by Trump. Trump called Kerry’s Nuke deal the worst in U.S. history.
Kerry negotiated the Iranian Nuke Deal over two years with U.S.-educated Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, giving Iran $1.6 billion in cash and $150 billion in sanctions relief. Trump called former President Barack Obama’s Iranian Nuke deal the worst agreement ever negotiated by the U.S. Now Kerry gets another shot to humiliate Trump, ripping the real estate mogul for insulting Germany and NATO allies. NATO’s response so far to Trump’s demands to pay a higher fraction of GDP on defense seems to be working. “Germany is totally controlled by Russia,” said Trump, referring to the new natural gas pipeline that supplies some 69-70% of Germany’s natural gas needs. Trump couldn’t understand how an alliance formed April 4, 1949 to protect the Free World or Western Europe against an unrelenting advance by the former Soviet Union would now pay Russia billions.
Germany’s now buying 60-70% of its natural gas from Russia, strengthening Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation. Despite Kerry’s partisan attack on Trump, Trump’s made some valid points to the NATO alliance in Brussels, whether they want to hear it or not. “Because they will be getting from 60 to 70 percent of their energy from Russia and a new pipeline. And you tell me that’s appropriate, because I think not,” Trump said. While Kerry touts his great diplomatic successes under former President Barack Obama, he harms U.S. foreign policy rebuking Trump in public. Kerry talks about his quiet diplomacy behind the scenes with NATO and others but thinks nothing of blasting Trump when he’s on foreign soil. Kerry’s attacks on Trump show his ire after Trump cancelled the Iranian Nuke Deal. Kerry’s lost all restraint now that he’s a private citizen.
Whether liked or not by Democrats, the press in the U.S. or abroad, Trump wants the NATO alliance—especially Germany—to pay its fair share. Trump’s criticism of NATO and Germany prompted calls in Germany to remove U.S. troops. Since the end of WW II, U.S. forces have served as a buffer against a potential Russian invasion, but, more importantly, against Germany militarization. It was Germany’s re-arming after WW I that led to WW II only 15 years after the Jan. 21, 1921 Treaty of Versailles. Asking Germany to spend up to 2% of its $3.47 trillion GDP.in no way supports German militarization, only spending more on collective NATO defense. Trump displays “woeful ignorance of the work he and Obama did to improve NATO’s share of defense spending.” Kerry admitted that he and Obama tried to get NATO to spend more on defense, something that didn’t happen. Going ape on Trump hurts American credibility on the world stage.
Kerry’s been known to rip Trump’s foreign policy, especially when it comes to his differences with the Obama administration. “Today’s announcement weakens our security, breaks America’s word, isolates us from our European allies, puts Israel at greater risk, empowers Iran’s hard liners, and reduces our global leverage to address Tehran’s misbehavior while damaging the ability of future administrations to make international agreements,” Kerry said shortly after Trump cancelled the Iranian Nuke Deal. Trump cancelled the deal precisely to have more leverage on Iran. Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu 100% backed Trump’s decision. Yet Kerry thinks he knows more about Israeli national security than Netanyahu. Trump saw the Iranian Nuke Deal as handcuffing the U.S. in restraining growing Iranian aggression in the Mideast and Arabian Peninsula.
Publicly rebuking Trump while in Brussels at a NATO security conference shows Kerry has no restraint when it comes to savaging Trump. Instead of letting Democrats and the mainstream press do the job, Kerry tries to humiliate a sitting president on foreign soil. “The United States does not need John Kerry’s possibly illegal Shadow Diplomacy on the very badly negotiated Iran Deal,” Trump tweeted. “He was the one that created the MESS in the first place,” referring to the cash and leverage used by Tehran to start a proxy war against Saudi Arabia. Kerry backed the Saudi proxy war against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for seven years, creating the worst humanitarian disaster since WW II. Whatever Trump does at NATO or in Helsinki with Putin to advance American interests should have Kerry’s blessings. Attacking Trump while on foreign soil shows Kerry’s shameful self-interest.
