Trump keeps his word and Merkel (and WaPo) throws a hissy fit

[Alamo]

Actually moving some troops to Poland could be a nice touch. It would serve both as a warning to Russia and reward to Poland for their support and it would twist the knife in Germany a bit.

A further twist would be to base them on the western border of Poland...

Whelp...

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/08/05/army-v-corps-headquarters-will-be-first-unit-move-poland.html]Army V Corps Headquarters Will Be First Unit to Move to Poland[/url]

Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville made it official Tuesday: A headquarters group will be going to Poland as the first move in the major realignment of forces in Europe brought on by President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw about 11,900 troops from Germany.

...


In a ceremony in the Polish city of Krakow, McConville promoted John Kolasheski, the Army's V Corps commander, to the rank of lieutenant general and officially unfurled the headquarters' flag for the first time on Polish soil.

Elements of V Corps' headquarters had been scheduled to be based in Germany but, under the new plan, about 200 of 630 personnel will now be sent to Poland. The rest will remain in Fort Knox, Kentucky, according to the Army.

...

At the briefing, Esper and Air Force Gen. Tod Wolters, who doubles as the head of NATO and U.S. European Command, said that EUCOM's headquarters will move out of Germany to Belgium, and two Army battalions will relocate to Italy.

...


U.S. Africa Command will also move out of its current headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. AFRICOM will likely go to Belgium, although a location has yet to be designated, Esper said.

Most of the troops withdrawn from Germany will come back to CONUS, and the rest:

In a Pentagon briefing last Wednesday, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that the withdrawal of 11,900 troops from Germany, reducing the U.S. presence there to about 24,000 personnel, would be accompanied by a shift in the U.S. and NATO force posture to the Black Sea region, the Baltic states and Poland to counter Russia.

Trump has put the screws to Putin with US gas exports, convincing European countries to drop Russian gas contracts and buy from US and Israel and others, killing their contractors in Syria, diplomatic sanctions, selling AT weapons to the Ukraine, and now this.

As Instapundit says, "Worst Putin puppet ever!"

 

[SheepDog4Life]

National Review: Goodbye — Sort of — to Germany?
https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/08/american-troop-drawdown-germany/

Good summary by Hanson on the state of things. Rather than the pledged 2% of GDP, Germany comes in at 1.4%. And as the richest European country in NATO, shirking their responsibility gives cover for others to do likewise. And, wisely, this drawdown is a shot across the bow versus a complete withdraw because of the third reason for NATO:

According to its founders, NATO was created for three reasons: to keep the always aggressive Russians “out” of Europe, to keep the often isolationist Americans “in” to help protect Europe, and to keep the supposedly restless Germans “down” in order to avoid a replay of their invasions that ignited both world wars.