One of the key topics of the two-day online talks held by NATO defense ministers, which kicked off on Wednesday, was US President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out 9,500 US troops from Germany. The White House occupant earlier said he had no idea why the US should spend money on protecting Germany from Russia while Berlin buys Russian gas. Washington’s partners in NATO were puzzled over the move but the Trump administration’s position essentially irritated Berlin. Germany, which used to be a loyal US ally, is becoming a major US opponent in Europe and this is playing into Russia’s hands, Kommersant writes.
Trump clearly signaled that he is punishing Germany. First, Berlin buys Russian gas instead of importing it from America. Second, Germany owes multibillion debts to the US and NATO because Berlin has been unable to increase its defense spending to 2% of the GDP as demanded by the 2014 NATO summit decision. Last year, Germany allocated 1.38% of its GDP to the military budget and came in second after the US in terms of contributions to NATO. However, Trump made it clear that this payment was insufficient. Berlin expressed regret over the US administration’s decision on cutting its contingent. Another issue for criticism by German politicians and experts was the fact that the German authorities found out about the upcoming troop withdrawal from US mass media reports.
Meanwhile, Germany is running out of common interests with the United States under the Trump administration, Kommersant writes. This comes after the US halted its participation in the Paris climate deal and withdrew from the Iranian nuclear deal and the Open Skies Treaty. The fiercest clash between the US and Germany was over energy. The Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany was at the heart of this dispute. Washington is threatening to impose sanctions against the pipeline, which could also target European companies, including those in Germany. Now Gazprom continues active preparations for laying down the Danish section of the underwater gas pipeline. Although the German government has stressed many times that this was a private business project, the efforts to preserve it were taken by Germany at the highest level. Given the remarks by German politicians, they don’t even anticipate that bilateral ties will improve under Trump.
However, Moscow is very upbeat over the prospects that America’s military presence in Europe will be reduced. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Russia was convinced that European countries were capable of defending their security independently without persistent US patronage.
