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kuriboo · 3 years

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Aerial Twist

Fandoms: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga), Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V Words: 2,090 Characters: Kaiba Mokuba, Akaba Reira, Izayoi Aki Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Pre-Canon, Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Family, this is post arc v and pre 5ds, and takes place in the early duel monsters manga, Arcadia Movement, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Future, Panic Attacks, Trauma, we use dub names here but only most of the time I apologize in advance, Links in Notes

When Kaiba told Mokuba he was meeting with the CEO’s younger brother, Mokuba felt a little insulted. Even if they were the same age, Mokuba was KaibaCorp’s VP, and Riley held no position within the Leo Corporation. This was glorified babysitting while the ‘grown ups’ talked.

He never should have underestimated them.

The vice-presidential position included a lot of duties in its job description, but babysitting was not one of them.

To be honest, Mokuba felt a little insulted. He oversaw a lot of important projects within KaibaCorp, and usually wasn't involved with any big meetings with other corporations. Either that was Seto’s thing, or they both were too important and busy to get involved. So when Seto told Mokuba he was needed for a meeting with the Leo Corporation, he was surprised. When Seto told him he was seeing the CEO's younger brother, he wasn't happy. As the VP of KaibaCorp, Mokuba was aware of the hierarchies of many of the corporations his brother did business with. Even if he and Riley were around the same age, Riley held no position within the Leo Corporation . This was glorified babysitting while the ‘grown ups’ talked.

What did a kid their age who didn't help run one of the biggest companies in the world do? Before Seto acquired KaibaCorp, Mokuba spent most of his time being bullied and being rescued from bullies by Seto. Sure, he liked to duel and play capsule monsters and stuff, but that didn't mean Riley would. He'd never met Riley in/person before, so he didn't know what to expect.

Eventually, Reiji Akaba brought Riley into Mokuba’s office himself. He introduced himself as well as Riley to Mokuba. Then he bent down to Riley's level and calmly told Riley they would be spending time with Mokuba until he returned. Once he was sure Riley was okay with that, he left to attend his meeting with Seto.

The two of them were alone.

"I'm Mokuba." Mokuba had no idea whether to offer Riley a handshake or not. Riley stared at him blankly, not seeming to expect one." To be honest, I don't know what we're supposed to be doing,” Mokuba admitted. Talk business? Play with cars?

Riley shrugged. "Don't know."

Well, great, this was already going well.

Unfortunately Mokuba couldn't give up on this meeting altogether. Seto had warned Mokuba to leave a good impression with Riley; leaving a good impression with Riley meant leaving a good impression with Reiji, and good impressions were everything. Mokuba had to do his best to like, make friends and interact. Ew. He had to think of something.

"Do you like dueling?”

"Uh huh."

"Do you want to duel now?"

This was a more difficult question for Riley to answer. It took them over a minute to think. "Okay."

Well, for being such a hesitant duelist, Riley sure was a good one. Not better than Mokuba, of course. He liked the occasional Ritual Monster (Hungry Burger was a given), but he was mostly a dragon user. It was hard not to be a fan of dragons when your brother was Seto Kaiba. At least Mokiba had some monsters to help set himself apart. But while Mokuba’s deck used a lot of special summoning, Riley's was on a whole other level. Fusion, XYZ, they had it all. Mokuba wouldn't be surprised if they had any Ritual Monsters in there, too.

Mokuba still had the upper hand, obviously, but he never should have underestimated his opponent.

The duel never got to end.

At the sound of glass shattering, Mokuba immediately was alert. The glass came from the big window in his office -- it was supposed to be bulletproof, and he didn't work on the ground floor, but somehow this wasn't the first time this had happened. He'd been kidnapped enough times to know a kidnapping attempt when he saw one. Who was after him? Why now? He was the middle of very important work with a business partner. At least they should wait until Mokuba was alone. That’s Kidnapping 101! He turned to the window, but he couldn't immediately see anyone there.

Mokibar looked towards Riley. They were staring at the broken glass, their hands covering their ears. Tears were forming in their eyes as they dropped to the floor.

This was all going to leave a really bad impression on the Leo Corporation.

At least both of them still had their duel disks. Maybe they could duel their way out of this.

Vines covered in thorns stretched through the hole in the window and into Mokuba’s office. Someone climbed up and jumped into the room. The way their face was covered by a mask prevented Mokuba from knowing if he recognized them or not.

"Who are you?” Mokuba demanded.

"I am the Black Rose Witch.”

A stranger, then. Mokoba forced himself to relax. “If you want to meet with me or my brother, you'll have to make an appointment with our secretaries. Both of us have very busy schedules; as you can see, I'm in the middle of an important meeting.”

“I don't need an appointment with the likes of you," the witch said, as they turned their face in Riley's direction. Tears were falling down Riley's face uncontrollably, but they seemed to be trying to pull their hands away from their ears. “Besides, this meeting does not seem so important."

Mokuba rolled his eyes. So the witch thought they were above everyone else, but that was nothing new to him. He grew up with Seto Kaiba. "So if you don't want an appointment, what are you here for, then?"

“I am here on behalf of the Arcadia Movement.”

"Arcadia?" Mokuba blinked. He hadn’t been expecting that, though the plants made more sense now. "The psychic duelist group?" Cult, more like, but he had no interest in calling out his would-be kidnapper on that and aggravating them. Of course he knew about Arcadia. KaibaCorp knew about everything.

“Psychic duelist?" Riley whispered. They didn't seem capable of much more than that. Mokuba was barely close enough to hear them.

"Duelists that can summon duel monsters and card effects to the real world,” Mokuba explained. "My brother doesn't believe in that stuff, but I'm not him. I mean, we do actually know a psychic duelist. Though they don't really call themself that.” He glared of the witch. “What do a bunch of psychic duelists want with me, anyway?"

“I told you, you are not the one I seek!” A violent wind started whipping through the room. There was no way the wind outside was this strong!

Mokobe reflexively lifted his duel disk in front of him. Yeah, that'll help a lot against a psychic duelist. "Then what do you want?"

“The Arcadia Movement is here for Riley Akaba.” The witch took a step towards Riley and Mokuba. The wind picked up, pulling cards from their duel disks and sending them flying around the room.

"The Leo Corporation apparently does a good job of making sure Riley is never alone, like a possession to be guarded. That's why we're here to free you. Of all the people you were to be around, Mokuba Kaiba, despite being the vice-president of Kaiba Corp, was determined to be the least threat, which is why we are here now.”

“Hey!” Mokuba allowed himself only a moment to feel hurt by that. He knew he had to be the one to act, he was used to these situations while Riley still didn’t look like they were doing too well. This was weird, though. Mokuba was used to the one being kidnapped, but not so much to being there during the kidnapping while not being the target. What was he supposed to do? What could he do? He jumped in front of Riley, putting himself between them and the witch. "Not on my watch! You'll have to get through me to get to Riley.”

The Black Rose Witch seemed unphased by Mokuba’s declaration (though it was hard to tell under their mask). They held up a card. "Ivy Shackles!"

Mokuba felt himself thrown towards the side of the room. He couldn't stop the scream that flew out of him. He didn't feel himself make contact with the wall, but the next thing he knew he was next to it, tangled up in a bunch of plants. This must be the Ivy Shackles, huh?

Riley turned to look at Mokuba. Tears were still falling down their face, slowly now. Yeah, this was going to leave a great impression. At this rate, Kaiba Corp would never get to speak to the Leo Corporation again, Shakily, Riley stood up on their feet. As they looked at Mokuba, he saw something change in their eyes. A darkness appeared that he hadn't seen before now.

The witch took a step towards Riley.

Riley's head snapped back in the witch's direction. One remained in their Extra Deck; Riley looked down as if as if he were listening to something, then drew the card out of their duel disk. "Psychic duelist... " They stared at the card as they held it in their hand. “Dark Rebellion Supreme King Dragon, I need help.”

A huge dragon curled itself around Riley, roaring; there was bavely enough room for it in Mokuba’s office. Riley placed one of their hands against it. It was as real as the Ivy Shackles of the Black Rose Witch. The dragon bent its head towards Mokuba. Mokuba flinched, not knowing what to expect, but the dragon used its mouth to tear away the Ivy Shackles and free him.

The Black Rose Witch took a step back. “You’re..."

“I don't need your help. I don't need to be freed." They bared their teeth, scowling at the witch. "I want to be here! I want to be with my brother and my friends. This is what I want!”

Dark Rebellion Supreme King Dragon stepped around Mokuba and Riley before roaring at the witch, swiping at them with its claws. Pretty soon the witch was retreating, even though Mokuba had the feeling they could have fought back. He wondered if they would come back, if they would go after Riley again.

Mokuba looked to Riley again. He could still see that darkness there, but it was disappearing. Now he couldn't believe the way he'd looked down on them , how incompetent he'd thought they were when they first walked into his office.

"I'm not being watched because I need to be guarded. It's because I'm dangerous.”

“Uh, thanks," he said weakly.

The door to Mokuba’s office flew open. "What happened?" Reiji ran into the room; the commotion must been able to be heard in Seto's office, then. Reiji ran to Riley's side to check on them. He did not appear phased by the giant real dragon in the room that disappeared the second Riley saw him.

“I am so sorry, we should have better security than this,” Mokuba immediately said. "I did my best--"

Reiji silenced Molaba with a look. His expression was hard to read. "I am not mad with you." Reiji was able to quickly tell that Riley was unharmed.

“Someone tried to kidnap me," Riley told Reiji. "But Mokuba and I were able to chase them away.”

Mokube really hadn't been able to do much besides getting smacked around, but at the moment he didn't have it in him to protest.

He blinked, and Seto was by his side. His brother had come, too. "Mokuba, what happened?"

“It was Arcadia.” A wave of exhaustion was hitting Mokuba. He hadn't realized it until it really hit him that they were safe now.

Selo frowned. He looked closely at Mokuba. "This meeting is over. You need to get checked out”

“I'm fine," Mokuba protested. He wasn't so weak that he needed to be helped with every little thing. Reiji and Riley Akaba were right there. This was embarrassing.

Seto rolled his eyes. “You’re covered in scratches and you hit your head against the wall. I won't let you take chances with your health like this, Mokuba."

Did he hit his head against the wall? Mokuba didn't remember that happening, but his head did hurt. The scene melted away for a second. For just a moment it wasn't KaibaCorp’s president checking on his vice president after an attack during a business meeting. It was Seto and Mokuba alone in the world, Seto checking on Mokuba after a bully came after him. Mokuba tried not to tear up. He hadn't thought about those days in a long time. He’d hardered up since those days, a conscious effort to become more self-reliant. Seto had changed since then, too.

But in all the time that had passed, Seto still had Mokuba’s back when he needed it. In all that had changed, they hadn't lost each other.

#yugioh #yugioh 5ds #yugioh arc v #tater writes #tater.txt #this takes place in the miracle synchro fusion universe for anyone that cares about that universe ig

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kjllerbass · 5 years

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Slice of Life: A Total Drama Fanficiton

Chapter 1: First Day Jitters

Point of View(s): Cody Anderson and Heather Mendoza

Chapter Summary: The teens go back to school for their sophomore year of high school! Will a new teacher and new classmates cause strife for class nobody Cody Anderson and queen bee Heather Mendoza?

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September 3rd, 6:15 in the morning. The alarm on Cody’s phone started. It was officially his first day of sophomore year at the teenager-dubbed “hellhole,” more commonly known as Wawanakwa High School. After what seemed like the shortest summer vacation of his life, he had strong disbelief that going back to school was the right idea. The crisp fall morning brought an attitude of freshness to Cody, despite his dread to leave his bed. He finally crawled out after a self pep-talk and a few tears. Little did he know that sophomore year held more in store for the young man than he could handle.

“I don’t understand why you’re so apprehensive to go to school, Cody. It’s not like you’re getting, like, tortured in hell for eight hours every day.” Izzy laughed, still bounding a few steps ahead of the male. His morning walk for the last three years, now four, had consisted of chasing his neighbor down a block or two before barely catching up to her for conversation. It was a blessing and a curse, but a great deal of cardio each weekday morning.

“Except I AM!” Cody sighed. He was now at an equal pace with the redhead. Her energy levels at such an early time were not understood by the male, but he brushed it aside to continue getting his thought out. “I have a literal fear of Heather Mendoza. That’s not good.” Cody was too busy playing with the straps of his backpack to notice Izzy almost double over in laughter.

“It’s a rational fear. I think everyone fears that-” Izzy stopped laughing as a horn stopped her, causing the friends to peer into the street. What they didn’t expect to see was Noah Archya waving them into his older brother’s car.

“You’re gonna be late.” The brunette whined unenthusiastically, and Izzy compiled by dragging Cody into the street with her. What was the girl thinking? He grumbled in protest as she forced him to climb into the backseat. Why would he want to get into Noah’s car? The two were barely friends, but Izzy was the buffer for the time being. “What were you guys talking about? Seemed funny.” He chimed sarcastically, making Cody’s face go red.

Izzy smiled enthusiastically as she started speaking on the topic again. “Cody’s fear of Heather! Isn’t that so crazy?” She said, almost speaking a mile a minute. The scrawny brunette sent his friend a glare. No one deserved to know about his fears. Especially not Noah.

“Priceless.” Noah chuckled. “I had to work on freshman council with her last year. Sucked ass.” He said plainly, shrugging his shoulders. “I gave up all thoughts of running for president this year.”

Before Cody could even muster up the courage to answer, the car reached its destination. It was quite an oddity, getting a positive and meaningful answer out of Noah Archya. He had no time to mull over it, though. Izzy had already booted him out of the car and chided at him for being a slowpoke. Cody watched the students file over the school campus. Some, mostly freshman, were socializing in the middle of the pathway. Others could care less about conversation and made themselves straight inside.

“The first bell is in three...two...one!” counted Noah, who led the threesome through the wilderness called the hallways. Turns out, they were all in the same homeroom. And to think Cody had a break from the brunette.

On the other side of things, Heather Mendoza couldn’t wait to be back and reigning the halls of Wawanakwa High School. Freshman year was a bit rough, yet she still made quite the reputation for herself. Who knew telling half of the student body about Gwen’s crush on Trent would boost her popularity? And getting her hair cut by Gwen as a result? The perfect catfight. Everything was normal. She was the top of the food chain. The presidential election would come as a piece of cake to her. That was until she entered homeroom.

Wawanakwa’s current sophomore class was one of the smallest in its current cast of students, only being split into two or three homerooms that haven’t changed since freshman year. Heather walked into the classroom, immediately taking the middle seat Lindsay was saving for her. The two had fallen out over summer, but their status of the most popular girls in school kept them together.

“Hi Heather, how was-” Lindsay attempted to start a conversation, before noticing Heather’s drastic change in hair length. “Heather! Where did it go?!” She exclaimed, only for Heather to give a sigh as a response. Sometimes the blonde’s reaction time wasn’t too... outstanding.

“Pasty cut it off. As if she wasn’t already busy enough sucking Courtney’s boyfriend’s face off.” Heather said, loud enough for Gwen to hear. The goth ignored it though because everyone else had already assumed she and Duncan were a couple just because of their appearances. The chatter of the room was brought down by this year’s homeroom teacher, Mr. McLean. He was the new head of the drama department and taught English to teenagers who really didn’t care about why Harper Lee chose to write about Southern racism. Oh, and rumor had it that he once was famous.

“Alright, campers,” The man started, standing up from his desk. “I’m Mr. McLean, call me Chris. I don’t mind it.” He shrugged, now using the surface as a seat. He dressed casually for such a job and looked about in his mid-thirties to Heather. Sort of like the brother she never speaks of. “Enough about me though! Today, we have-”

Mr. McLean was interrupted by Beth Kanassis, resident nerd and wannabe friend of Heather. “Weren’t you on that figure skating show? The one where that guy dropped the girl? Right on her head?” She asked, and you could see the teacher get more and more flustered with every specification she gave.

“What a dumb assumption!” replied Chris, his face reading an emotion Heather couldn’t place. A girl from the back of the room stood up. “It was him! I’ve only seen it about sixteen times, though.” She said with a certainty that some students believed to be...unsure of.

“Speaking of new students, thank you, Sierra, for the confirmation!” An already aggravated Chris said. “Class, we have two new students joining us today!” He continued, staring the purple-haired girl down. “Please give a warm Wawanakwa welcome to Sierra West and Alejandro Burromuerto!” Chris waved the girl and a new, Latin-looking man into the front of the classroom. Given how many girls, and Tyler, were staring at him, Heather could tell Alejandro would be even more trouble than Justin.

“Hello! I’m Sierra, and I can’t-” Sierra already froze up during her introduction. Was it because she finally caught the daggers Heather was sending? The girl gave herself a mental pat on the back before softening her features. Even after she did, Sierra was still starstruck by something in the back of the room. Heather followed Sierra’s sightline to a brunette boy slouched in his desk. Cody Anderson? Oh god.

“Next!” Chris said, nudging Sierra back to her seat. Attention was now focused on Alejandro, the guy who Heather already hated. “Hello, I’m Alejandro. Always Alejandro. Never...Al.” He stated, his voice falling to a malicious mumble towards the end of his introductory statement. Most girls were already tuned out and just in awe, but Heather was listening, alright.

“Sorry, Al, could you repeat that?” Owen, another person Heather wasn’t fond of, asked the question to set him off. Instead of losing it, Alejandro kept his composure. “Please, el gordo, just stop talking.” He chided, returning to his seat after speaking.

So he was transparent, fake and...deliciously seductive? Well, not to Heather. Maybe he would be an easy target to gain as an ally, like Lindsay. But Owen pissed him off, so he was smart enough to comprehend that already. He didn’t know that Heather Mendoza was a force to be reckoned with, though.

Throughout the day, it was like she couldn’t escape the Latin Lover. He was in her honors classes, where she thought she could catch a break from at least some people. Lunch was the only period where she didn’t feel the threatening eyes of the new student. She made her way from the line to the table, immediately stopping when she spotted who Lindsay had already directed to the table. It couldn’t be real.

“Hello, you must be Heather. Lindsay has only said the most wonderful things about you!” Alejandro said, giving Heather that charming smile that made all of the girls, and Tyler, fall earlier in homeroom. He was good, too good, and so perfect. Heather would have to get it through the blonde’s thick skull that hanging around with him was bad news.

“That’s right. And you’re Al, right?” She asked, an emphasis on the nickname he hated. He kept his charming smile, and just blew a kiss to the girl who became an annoyance. Heather gasped, turning her head away from the boy in front of her. She could tell what was running through his mind, but it wasn’t until they were walking back to their lockers when Heather confirmed her suspicions.

“So, what do you think your purpose here will be?” Heather asked, still very uninterested at the thought of this boy. She was only playing nice for Lindsay’s sake. Yeah, for Lindsay’s sake. “You know, when you’re not too busy making everyone look more stupid than you do?”

“I was planning on running for class president. Lindsay suggested it to me. Nothing like a little bit of healthy, friendly competition. Right, Mendoza?” He said, opening the locker that lived three doors away from Heather’s. Thank god that he couldn’t see her face right now, for it was redder than his shirt. How dare Lindsay tell him about her plan? She would have no competition until the dumb blonde opened her fat mouth. Plus, the idea that he could just go and call her Mendoza like that? Unthinkable! No one disrespects the queen bee like that. Maybe behind her back, but certainly not to her face.

“May the best man win, Al.” She sneered, leaving the lockers with a thud and a growl that even scared herself.

#total drama #tdi #tda #TDWT #TDROTI #tdas #tdpi #tdrr #ridonculous race #total drama fanfiction #fanfiction #total drama heather #total drama alejandro #total drama cody #aleheather

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melindarowens · 7 years

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NATO Recoils From Trump Spending Salvos

Authored by Finian Cunningham via The Strategic Culture Foundation,

When US President Donald Trump addressed the opening of the NATO summit last week, it was an embarrassing display of American bullying. As Trump lectured the other leaders of the military alliance about laggardly financial commitments, there was much shuffling of feet and grimacing of faces. There were also contemptuous smirks as the president spoke.

Speaking outside the new North Atlantic Treaty Organization headquarters in Brussels, Trump declared that many members «owed» the US a lot of money for their defense. He said it was unfair to American taxpayers that only five out of 28 current NATO members meet an agreed target of allocating 2 per cent of GDP to military spending.

At a photo-op line-up, Trump was seen to push Montenegrin Prime Minister Dusco Markovic out of the way in order to get himself into a prime front row position. The fleeting moment spoke volumes of the American view of fellow NATO members.

It was Trump’s first meeting of the US-led military alliance since his inauguration four months ago. During his presidential campaign, Trump derided the organization as «obsolete». After becoming president, he kind of retracted that complaint to civilian titular head Jens Stoltenberg at a meeting in Washington, when Trump performed a typical U-turn and said he no longer considered NATO obsolete.

Other senior Trump administration officials have sought to repair the damage to relations by making earnest statements on American commitment to NATO. Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of Defense General James Mattis have described the alliance as a bedrock of American policy.

Trump’s debut in Brussels last week, however, has renewed the strains within NATO. His incessant demand for other members to cough up is aggravating relations – particularly between the US and Germany. His address in Brussels sounded boorish and ill-informed. Trump’s omission to pledge American commitment to «shared defense» under NATO’s Article 5 – as all US presidents customarily do – was also seen as another sign of Trump playing hardball.

Nick Burns, a former US ambassador to NATO under George W Bush, told American news channel CNN that he was «stunned» by Trump’s speech.

«This is the first president since 1949 not to mention Article 5. Every president has reaffirmed collective defense and today was the day for him to do it», said Burns, adding: «I support him on asking allies to spend more on defense. But there is a time and a place. And this wasn’t it. The lecture was the wrong tone and this was the wrong time».

Trump has previously hinted that the US would not automatically come to the defense of other NATO members because of their relatively low financial contributions. That he again pointedly omitted mention of Article 5 in Brussels will unnerve some NATO members, particularly the Baltic states and Poland, who claim they are threatened by Russia, despite Moscow’s repeated assurances that it has no aggressive designs on Europe.

Also of note, Trump cited terrorism as the main threat facing NATO. He did mention Russia as a security challenge in a perfunctory sort of way, but it was noticeable that the American president did not appear to view Moscow as an existential threat. That will further unnerve «Russophobes» within NATO.

The frosty meeting in Brussels was in stark contrast to Trump’s glad-handing with Saudi and other Arab leaders days before. He kicked off his inaugural official foreign trip by first of all visiting Saudi Arabia during which Trump signed a $ 110 billion arms deal (part of a larger $ 350 billion sale over 10 years.)

The same ballpark figure cropped up again later during Trump’s tetchy speech to NATO members. He said that if all members who do not currently meet their 2 per cent of GDP spending commitment were to do so then that would generate $ 119 billion in military allocation per year. Much of that extra cash would go directly into the US economy in the form of new orders for F-16 and F-35 fighter jets, Abrams tanks, Patriot anti-missile systems and other Pentagon-contracted hardware.

It seems clear that the main purpose of Trump’s meet-and-greet the world tour was to drum up as much business as possible for US military industry. No wonder he was effusive in his praise for Saudi and Arab leaders when they were writing such mega checks for American weapons. Not so in Europe, where Trump evidently feels most of the NATO members are cheating the US out of tens of billions of dollars every year from their allegedly feckless commitment to defense.

Has Trump got a point though? That is, are the European members of NATO are freeloaders on American chivalry? It’s not just Trump who thinks that way. His predecessor Barack Obama also griped about «freeloaders» not pulling their weight. There is a general American conception that its military presence in Europe and elsewhere around the world is a chivalrous act of protection, which countries should pay more for. Trump just happens to articulate this view in an unvarnished, gruff manner.

NATO’s 2 per cent of GDP target is an arbitrary guideline. It is not binding. Each member spends on a separate national basis. There is no collective fund and there are no debts to others from those members who do not spend 2 per cent of GDP on military.

It is true that the US is way and above the highest NATO military spender, allocating around 3.6 per cent of GDP annually – well over $ 600 billion. That represents over 70 per cent of the entire NATO budget.

This compares with relatively low-spending Germany on 1.2 per cent of GDP, Italy on 1.1 per cent and the Netherlands on 1.2 per cent. Ironically, Belgium, which hosts the NATO headquarters, spends less than 1.0 per cent of GDP on military. These countries argue that they allocate a lot more than the US to overseas development aid in Africa and the Middle East, thereby addressing security concerns in a broader, civilian way other than narrow military terms.

Only five members of NATO meet the arbitrary 2 per cent target: US, Britain, Greece, Poland and Estonia.

But the gargantuan US spend is more a reflection of its economy being heavily dependent on a military-industrial complex, than on any supposed noble commitment to defending allies.

Trump’s tour of the Middle East and Europe – while billed by the White House as a peace-building itinerary – was all too evidently really about pushing America’s military industry and global exports of US weaponry.

By doing so, Trump is recklessly adding fuel to an already explosive Middle East. And on relations with Europe, the US president is acutely straining relations with his petulant, unfounded demands that they pay up more for NATO, and in effect subsidize the American economy.

This will lead to further deterioration in relations between Washington and its European allies, especially Germany. Trump has castigated Germany as being not only a laggard in defense spending (a freeloader) but also exploiting the US consumer market with trade surpluses.

Trump’s abrasive attitude to other NATO members last week brings out the real nature of the US relationship. The so-called alliance is really just a spending vehicle for the American economy. In these austere global times, such American bullying will only chafe on the Europeans. This will in turn reinforce calls already underway for an independent EU defense pact, separate from NATO, and possibly led by Germany and France.

source http://capitalisthq.com/nato-recoils-from-trump-spending-salvos/ from CapitalistHQ http://capitalisthq.blogspot.com/2017/05/nato-recoils-from-trump-spending-salvos.html

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everettwilkinson · 7 years

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NATO Recoils From Trump Spending Salvos

Authored by Finian Cunningham via The Strategic Culture Foundation,

Nick Burns, a former US ambassador to NATO under George W Bush, told American news channel CNN that he was «stunned» by Trump’s speech.

Only five members of NATO meet the arbitrary 2 per cent target: US, Britain, Greece, Poland and Estonia.

But the gargantuan US spend is more a reflection of its economy being heavily dependent on a military-industrial complex, than on any supposed noble commitment to defending allies.

from CapitalistHQ.com http://capitalisthq.com/nato-recoils-from-trump-spending-salvos/

#TrumpNews #CapitalistHQ.com

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