June 13, 2018

Why Canada and Germany Deserved a G7 Smackdown

Both nations are failing miserably to uphold their NATO commitments.

While the recent G7 summit is seen in Leftmedia circles as a disaster, appearances in the immediate aftermath of a summit are often deceiving. President Ronald Reagan was widely assumed to have blown a chance for peace at Reykjavik, but in actuality, walking away won the Cold War.

In particular, President Donald Trump’s smackdown of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has drawn criticism. Well, let’s be honest, Canada deserved a smackdown. First of all, it does have exorbitant tariffs on American dairy products and has had them for a while. But worse, when it comes to fulfilling obligations as part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Canada’s been slacking off. In 2015 and 2016, Canada needed Chile to bail it out when it was short on replenishment oilers.

So, Mr. Trudeau, where did the money from 270% tariffs that screwed over some American farmers go? This is the beef many Americans have: It’s one thing if Canada needed the cash for a strong military, but the Canucks obviously aren’t using it for such purposes. Heck, the United States might have been happy to have finished and given the Canadians two nearly complete Henry J. Kaiser-class oilers that sat around for most of two decades instead of scrapping them (that, itself, is a tale of the bipartisan responsibility for the decline of the U.S. Navy over decades). But Canada never asked.

As bad as Trudeau’s back-stabbing was, Canada isn’t the worst offender when it comes to failing to live up to NATO obligations. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has been a sharp critic of President Trump, has overseen her nation’s military readiness take a nosedive.

Remember that “green” fuel that grounded the Luftwaffe’s Tornado strike planes? Well, that story was bad enough. Here’s what gets worse: Germany might not have enough gear to properly lead the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force, which is intended to deter Russian aggression against Eastern Europe. Among the gear they are lacking? Tanks. And to hit Germany’s readiness even harder, it looks like setbacks in developing their new infantry fighting vehicle, the Puma, will force the aging Marders to serve for another decade.

If Merkel and Trudeau want to know why many Americans think they are freeloading on defense, their countries’ lack of military readiness is a clear example. It’s bad enough they are having these problems, but this stuff is occurring with an increasingly aggressive Russia. President Trump has been doing more to combat Russian aggression by selling arms to Ukraine and Georgia when Barack Obama wouldn’t, and yet he still must deal with claims of working in collusion with Russia.

Both Merkel and Trudeau, however, are darlings of a DC-Manhattan media axis that seems to be more interested in putting so-called “deplorables” in their place than actually reporting facts. So, these global leaders are likely to keep getting a pass, even though their countries have been less than ready to face much of any threat.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.