The counter-point.
And the view from the originator in 1951.
"General Dwight D. Eisenhower—who later became president—expressed concern about a permanent US military presence in Europe. As the first Supreme Allied Commander of NATO (1951–52), he said, “If in 10 years, all American troops stationed in Europe for national defense purposes have not been returned to the United States, then this whole project [NATO] will have failed.”"
We are well past 1961.
....
Trump may have made a bad decision. But if Europe expects America to rescue it from the consequences of its bad decisions then it needs to tolerate America's bad decisions. Any agreement requires both parties to get their hands dirty, accept the rough with the smooth, in good times and in bad, for better or worse, in sickness and in health. Both parties agree to share risk jointly.
And this is America we are talking about here. Not just Donald Trump. He is just giving a P.T. Barnum voice to that which American Presidents, politicians and diplomats have been mumbling in private since 1951.
...
"in 1965 when Pearson made a speech at Temple University, proposing a "Pause for Peace." Later, at Camp David, an infuriated Johnson grabbed the Nobel Peace-Prize winning Prime Minister by the lapels and screamed: "Don't you come into my house and piss on my rug!""
Much more diplomatic than Trump, I'm sure. Especially as it was a Democrat President holding the lapels.
www.theguardian.com
