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Responses to Facebook chats.
THIS Ukraine War gets complicated. Or more complex. <1> During the NATO summit, President Trump dared Europe to increase their budget share to the military alliance; the EU said they will. Already in Trump I, then U.S. share was lowered from 22 percent to 16 percent, currently almost equal with Germany.
Yet still, since the EU renewed its arms support of Ukraine this year, this war continues. The Kremlin is of course pissed. Vladimir Putin's previous peace chat with Donald Trump was negated or derailed. Volodymyr Zelensky's eyes shined! More war means more aid coming. And he stays as Ukraine's President.
<2> Last year, the U.S. Congress appropriated a $174 billion (total) aid package to Ukraine; the House approved $61 billion. (Numbers vary per source.) Mr Trump previously held the arms shipment as peace negotiations with the Kremlin ensued. But then here comes NATO (sans Trump's Washington) ready to continue the war.
What can The D do but go on, send more U.S. arms. But now he told NATO that now it's Europe's responsibility to toss weapons to Kyiv. Anyhow, fact is, if Mr Trump continues to refuse the aid that Congress approved, he might be impeached again.
<3> FEMA had a $7.4 billion deficit last year, which President Trump lowered to $2.9 billion. Then here comes the flooding in Texas. I mean, WTH? Send taxpayer money again to war and ignore the people? America!
Facebook Friend (from Manila): Yup, and it will get even more complicated because the Deep State (not just Trump) wants to wage a 3-front world war: Vs Russia via proxy Ukraine, Vs Iran via proxy Israel if not directly, and Vs China via Aukus or Quad or whatever alliance it could drum up including its most loyal puppy, the Philippines.
No POTUS can ever go beyond the Deep State. Some may divert a bit, but still things slide to the hawkish playbook.
Jimmy Carter was supposedly all-dove but he had Operation Cyclone dirt all over his "legacy" book. They propped up Barack Obama as a real cool, peace-loving prez. The gullibles bit it. Yet he is one of the most hawkish POTUSes. He prolonged the Afghanistan war and as he left, he installed a U.S -trained prez (Ashraf Ghani) so that didn't go well with the Afghanistan people.
Mr Obama also upgraded military aid to Israel in 2016. (And he also deported the most number of migrants, 400,000 average, in his first 4 years.)
Sans his unbelievable mouth, I am cool with Donald Trump's policy playbook but that doesn't mean he can ignore the Deep State. That's just the way it is.
The Philippines actually registered a fine economic growth, so far at 5.6 percent. The 9 U.S. military bases are a given, what can we do? We kicked Clark and Subic, only to be upgraded later, by more. President Marcos Jr. has to play economics with China, dance politics with the U.S. Pretty much like Vietnam. As long as there's no actual war in the South China Sea, besides the usual drama, all are cool. But then our politicians are such Washington suckers, LOL! Ah those USAID… But that is another huge subject to discuss. ☮️☮️☮️
