by WorldTribune Staff, April 2, 2025 Real World News
President Donald Trump is demanding that America’s allies and partners increase defense spending and strengthen warfighting capabilities.
The response?
“European elites are angry,” analyst Grant Newsham noted in a March 27 AND Magazine analysis on Substack. “Germans would-be leader, Friedrich Merz, complains America can’t be counted on and mutters about having access to nuclear weapons. Britain isn’t much different. The French are bad-mouthing the Americans as is their wont – but are no substitute.
U.S. allies should explain ‘the unspoken part… why Americans should die defending your nation.’“Further afield, Australian leaders and former leaders, with their eleven-ship navy and a defense force hemorrhaging troops, are similarly incensed that American coverage might not be total.
“Canada is also irked. The Japanese are quietly fretting.”
Newsham is a retired U.S. Marine officer who served as reserve head of intelligence for Marine Forces Pacific and as the first Marine advisor to the Japan Self-Defense Force.
The reality of these nation’s current defense situation, with the possible exception of France, is that Trump’s “tough love” is spot on.
“The British army is the smallest it’s been since the Duke of Wellington’s day – over 200 years ago. It reportedly has only 25 serviceable tanks,” Newsham noted.
“The German Bundeswehr has difficulty outfitting a single division and meeting NATO commitments.
“The French are in better shape, but that’s only by comparison.
“Japan plans to spend a lot more on defense, but its military is about half the size it needs to be and can’t fight a war. In fairness, they look good compared to the Europeans – though not compared to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
“Australia’s 11-ship navy speaks for itself.
“There are bright spots such as the Poles and the Finns, but overall, America’s partners just aren’t serious.”
If they were serious, America’s allies would make their case to MAGA country instead of whining to DC and coastal elites, Newsham noted.
“That’s local Rotary Clubs, Chambers of Commerce, church groups, and PTA’s – Parent Teachers Associations, often the parents of children who will join the U.S. military.
“There’s a big difference between these Americans and just about anyone in Washington, DC – too many of whom know little about ‘fly over’ Americans – that’s Obama’s ‘clingers’, Hillary’s ‘deplorables,’ and Biden’s ‘garbage’ – other than that they despise them.”
America’s allies and partners, Newsham continued, should “put together a ‘road show’ explaining how your country is spending and doing as much as it possibly can to defend itself.
“And the unspoken part… why Americans should die defending your nation.”
Increasingly, young people of these nations aren’t joining up to defend them, “but young Americans are supposed to do what your own people won’t do – or even aren’t being asked to do,” Newsham wrote.
If allies want America’s continued help, “what matters is to explain what you are doing and what you are going to do – and do it soon,” Newsham wrote.
“That’s what the ‘other’ Americans who pay the price of America’s overseas commitments want to know. They will know if you are lying. And say ‘thank you.’ If you do these things, you’ll be surprised what the ‘other’ Americans will do for you.”
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In defense of Trump’s tough love for allies: No more free national security added by Editor Two on April 2, 2025
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