International News
See other International News Articles
Title: John Bolton: We May Punish Europe If They Don’t Pull Out Of Iran Deal Too
Source:
YouTube
URL Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osyxJFa6188
Published: May 20, 2018
Author: Kyle Kulinski
Post Date: 2018-05-20 09:57:00 by A Pole
Keywords: Iran, Europe, sanctions
Views: 4135
Comments: 31
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 17.
#2. To: A Pole (#0)
Have to agree Trump is overplaying the US hand, acting like we have a full house but only holding 2-pair. He's making Russia look friendlier to Europe.
Hooey. The EU will whine and complain, dodge and weave and look for some dodge, then they'll finally fall into line. Like the colonies of the American empire that they truly are. Trump won't even have to threaten to withdraw all NATO forces from Europe. But he could do that and a lot more if he wanted to. And our Congress and our allies could do nothing about it. Zero. It's good to be commander-in-chief.
That is indeed the truth. The risk, however, is that they learn this. Certainly there is no desire by any developed country to be perceived as a US vassal. Good thing, as Trump would never want to do such a thing, though I certainly wouldn't object, as there is no defensive reason to have them there. No he couldn't. The US **wants** troops in Europe. Pulling them out would be cutting ties & control of Europe. It won't happen until countries in Europe demand they leave, or the US economy collapses. Trump would face huge R backlash for even threatening to do such a thing. Won't happen. With our massive national debt, the US is vulnerable economically. Russia already sold off their holdings of US debt, about $100 billion worth, in the aftermath of the Skripal case, Syria bombing and sanctions, which no doubt contributed to Treasury yields rising above 3%. The USA only holds about 5% of the world population, and pissing off our allies will only give them reason to WANT to stop doing business with the US, and looking for ways to do the same. As it's said: "Seek, and ye shall find". Alienating US allies is something the US can't much afford to do. We may be happy to see a president act as his own man, not taking orders from other countries, but we still have one giving orders to other countries. Though on second thought, if such actions put the US on course for severing unnecessary ties around the world, I guess I could view this as a means to a better end.
You forget our trade relations and banking dominance. We don't need the NATO threat to bring them into compliance. Japan and China won't be selling our debt any time soon and the large majority of it is US-held anyway. The Europeans hold a tiny fraction of US debt, mostly because their own financial house is in such bad shape.
All of Europe combined holds about $1 trillion in US debt. If they combined wanted to hurt us, they could, without firing a shot. Even half that amount would hurt a lot. Certainly the first order of business would be ceasing to buy more, which we're giving them political reason to do. The US has a massive debt. It's our Achilles Heel. Believing out of pride that we are invulnerable is dangerous.
Crashing the U.S. economy is not in the EU's interest. See what happened for them in 2009. And their finances are still quite shaky. Any such effort would be a MAD scenario (mutually-assured destruction). And they still would hurt themselves overall more than they had hurt us. We would survive it but they would be hit very hard. Don't forget how much they export to us.
#18. To: Tooconservative (#17)
Agreed, but it's not a binary choice. It's a sliding scale between doing everything they can to crash the economy to doing everything they can to keep it afloat. No they won't do everything they can to crash it, but they are probably now less inclined to keep it afloat, which equates to buying more US Treasury bonds. Our continued deficit spending means we **need** loans to keep operating, and countries we piss off will be individually less inclined to play the part. There is a limit to how far any country can be bullied, and it's a fool's errand to take delight in such a thing, as it won't go on forever.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#4. To: Pinguinite (#2)
Have to agree Trump is overplaying the US hand, acting like we have a full house but only holding 2-pair.
#10. To: Tooconservative (#4)
Like the colonies of the American empire that they truly are.
Trump won't even have to threaten to withdraw all NATO forces from Europe.
But he could do that and a lot more if he wanted to.
And our Congress and our allies could do nothing about it. Zero.
#13. To: Pinguinite (#10)
No he couldn't. The US **wants** troops in Europe. Pulling them out would be cutting ties & control of Europe. It won't happen until countries in Europe demand they leave, or the US economy collapses. Trump would face huge R backlash for even threatening to do such a thing. Won't happen.
With our massive national debt, the US is vulnerable economically. Russia already sold off their holdings of US debt, about $100 billion worth, in the aftermath of the Skripal case, Syria bombing and sanctions, which no doubt contributed to Treasury yields rising above 3%. The USA only holds about 5% of the world population, and pissing off our allies will only give them reason to WANT to stop doing business with the US, and looking for ways to do the same. As it's said: "Seek, and ye shall find".
#15. To: Tooconservative (#13)
#17. To: Pinguinite (#15)
All of Europe combined holds about $1 trillion in US debt. If they combined wanted to hurt us, they could, without firing a shot. Even half that amount would hurt a lot. Certainly the first order of business would be ceasing to buy more, which we're giving them political reason to do.
Replies to Comment # 17. Crashing the U.S. economy is not in the EU's interest.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 17.
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]