Germany's Angela Merkel rejects Trump invite to attend G7 summit in Washington

If the summit is held at all, it will accomplish nothing. Every world leader is up to his/her eyes in their individual countries due the pandemic. Trump just wants the other leaders adulation on a world stage. But they don't have time to be issuing statements and forced to the podium to praise Trump for his lies, chaos and mismanagement.

Ha. She's just not that into him!

They should kick the US out of the G7 as it is no longer a liberal democracy.

[quote]They should kick the US out of the G7 as it is no longer a liberal democracy.

Clearly, has no idea what the G7 is or what the criteria for membership are.

They don't trust Trump not to poison them with the Rona at the WH banquet. It would be sweet revenge by Trump on his critics and they don't trust him. He would love to be the G7 survivor, what a Man!

I would love it if nobody shows up.

Nobody's gonna show. Fuck Trump with his narcissism.

They will all do the summit, via tele conferencing. The only thing that got cancelled is his vanity event on location.

What I'm really wondering: Why even have the summit? It's not that the seven could agree on one thing. And none of the countries are in the position to think strategically right now anyway. Everybody will agree that things are dire, and that's it.

I can get Big Macs in Germany if I want one.

If the summit were happening elsewhere other than the U.S., Trump would never decline a chance to be center stage. I wonder if this will happen. I love it that Merkel told him to go pound sand in the shadiest of ways.

Is he having it at one of his properties?

Ohhh, what a slap in the face! Anyone else (meaning anyone with a brain) would have quietly sounded out the other world leaders whether they felt comfortable attending a summit in DC (and in June no less!) before making a big announcement. Without Angela, there can't be a summit. It will be interesting to see how the other 6 respond. Trump needs this election year meeting more than they do.

No-one has any faith in Trump and his leadership. He's a complete embarrassment. No-one wants to have anything to do with him.

Good for Dr. Merkel. She doesn't need to have tRump's spittle landing near her face.

IMO, she really tried to get along with Trump. It was almost embarrassing. She had no chill. She has given up with Trump.

The rest of the world should give up on Trump as well. He’s such a fucking loser.

I bet the G7 leaders have been looking at the polling for the US election and think there's no point in investing any additional time and energy on Trump.

Atta girl Angie!!

She honestly gives fraus a good name. They are so lucky to have her.

R11, he tried to get it at one of his properties, but lots of protests made him change it to Camp David. Who wants to hang out at Camp David.

I hope all the other countries leaders say they will not attend. Fuck trump.

Merkel's a definite no, bless her. Trudeau and Macron are "I don't know," Abe and Boris are "yes" and the Italian hasn't responded in any way yet.

So let's say Merkel, Trudeau and Macron all say no - then it's off. Move to teleconference.

They have already set up a teleconference for mid June. Trump is proposing to meet in person instead at the end of the month.

Look guys, just Trump's BO was enough to keep them away but they couldn't say so; now they just cite the Rona, even though Trump says it is a Democrat conspiracy like his BO.

Boris Johnson said yes? Dammit. Birds of a feather.

[quote]Trudeau and Macron are "I don't know,"

Hopefully Trudeau and Macron will work together against Trump.

If Trudeau and Macron don't go, Trump will be hurt, again.

Of course there can be a summit without Merkel. She's wildly unpopular and single handedly responsible for allowing millions of criminal violent migrants into her country. She has blood on her hands. She's a lame duck who is being replaced.

Hi Boris @ r27, how's the borscht today?

Boris Johnson needs to be careful, as his polls are collapsing in the UK, as the death toll rises; the business with his vile advisor Cummings stirred up huge outrage, even (especially?) among Tory voters. Cringing in front of Trump will be unpopular in the UK in itself and may well be a total waste of time anyway. Sure, their majority makes the Tories safe in government for another four years, but they have no problem jettisoning a Prime Minister who becomes a liability, as they did with both Thatcher and May. There are already some signs of support for the Chancellor, who out of all the government ministers has had the closest to a 'good war' in the COVID crisis.

[quote]There are already some signs of support for the Chancellor

The British people can't even pronouce Rishi Sunak, much less make him Prime Minister of the country.

[quote] [Merkel is] wildly unpopular and single handedly responsible for allowing millions of criminal violent migrants into her country. She has blood on her hands. She's a lame duck who is being replaced.

Ok, let's add data to the troll posting: "millions of criminal violent migrants" - Merkel allowed millions of 'refugees' into the country, not migrants. A little under 1.5 million ended up requesting asylum in Germany. Within the three years of the refugee crisis 500,000 violent crimes were attributed to foreigners.

And more opinion based: By offering refugees a place to stay, she probably saved thousands of Syrians' lives. So, no blood on her hands.

And finally: "She's a lame duck who is being replaced.": All democratic leaders are replaced at some point. In the most recent polls from this month she is listed as the politician with the highest approval rating. She is probably the first German chancellor after WW2 who is leaving on her own terms.

It wouldn't be the British people, R30 - it would be the MPs of the Conservative Party, some of whom are muttering about it. It won't happen, I imagine, but it is a warning to Boris.

[quote]Hopefully Trudeau and Macron will work together

If we're hoping, let's hope they do more than that, they're naked, and there's film.

I'm hoping the other major players in the G7 follow Merkel's lead and make Trump's summit a massive failure. But we all know what will happen if they do. Trump will cancel the whole thing and claim it was because HE had scheduling conflicts, not because no one of any merit wanted to come. I just want it to end up a colossal embarrassment for him.

Merkel is one of the best respected leaders in the world, and like any self-respecting leader, she's not going to set foot in the Covid petri dish that is the US.

They may figure that Trump will be gone in January or before, and he’s so much work to tolerate. The smaller countries will attend, plus obsequious Japan. The larger countries, France, Canada, maybe a few others, may also decline.

We’ve seen before that Trump’s emotionalism and disrespect for diplomatic methods throw everybody off and cause him embarrassment because he didn’t work things out quietly in advance; like the various, diplomatically pointless North Korean meetings.

If he’s given another four years, he still wouldn’t learn how it’s done. He never learns anything. He’s incapable of it.

BoJo has already had COVID so he can't catch it again by meeting with Typhoid Trump. Gonorrhea, syphilis, herpes and/or chlamydia, sure. But not the COVID

Boris will do anything for America - he's quite literally up shit creek without a paddle, and (with Brexit) using his hands to sweep us over the cliff edge into shit gorge...

Mango Mussolini has now cancelled the June summit. He says he will reschedule it for September and wants to add Russia (of course), Australia, India, and South Korea to the new G11 anti-China conference.

So he pisses off the rest of the G7 by not consulting them and pisses off all the other countries who can say, well if them, why not us? Such diplomatic finesse. It's like the age of Metternich and Talleyrand reborn!

I knew it! I knew he'd cancel it and tell a lie about why he did. Trust me you fat fucker, you cancelled it because no one wanted to come, not any other reason. The real G7 countries should refuse to attend any future summits held in the US until after Trump is gone.

It's not going to happen in September, either. None of the other leaders is eager to give him a platform two months before the elections, all get more support at home by staying home, and most would likely still have to quarantine themselves on arrival in the US or back at home if, as expected, the US is still a hotspot. There's no upside to coming and a perfectly valid reason to stay home.

The cancelled meeting he was calling for, as Merkel rightly noted, had none of the planning completed let alone begun in advance as is always the case before one of these shindigs. They all rightly see a meeting now as a shitshow he's trying to convene to bolster his nonexistent foreign policy cred. Some are more reluctant than others to come out and say so, but there's nothing in it for them that's positive until the pandemic is under control and Trump is out of office.

And other that the head fake of inviting South Korea (and leaving out his butt buddy Brazil) - he's proposing to expand the membership to a full authoritarian (Russia under Putin), a problematic democracies with a populist proto-authoritarian (India under Modi) and a right wing government without similar GDP. The G7 is meant to be the liberal (the economic definition, not the stupid American one) democratic governments with the largest economies in the world.

Russia, India, and U.K.

The rest won’t show or participate.

Angela Skypes with Trump

Trump expanded the new September meeting to "11."

Guess what? Russia is the 11th largest economy in the world.

Right on, Angela.

R31 if your research claims 500,000 foreign criminal out of 1.5 million thats a HUGE percentage. Those are just the crimes that get reported to boot. Don't forget the mass increase in rape and sexual assaults, including gang rape, which migrants introduced to Europe. People and especially women the world over are appalled what she has done. She's leaving her position at the end of the term because of this issue. In Europe their call her a monster. How many young European women must be killed at the expense of "saving lives"?

r48, first let's talk about your your loose use of data and information. In your r27 you voice outrage based on made up facts. Answer that first, then we talk about the crimes.

What made up facts? There are millions of these predators all over the EU and UK. If you actually did the research, as I have you would know what a huge problem this has become. Do your research and get back to me.

Yes, R46, I thought "September 11" had a nice ring to it.

R50 etc., I am not going down that rabbit hole you keep laying out. You state lofty allegations as facts (like in your R50 post again) to incite outrage, and I refuse to get sucked into your troll game. You get me actual and verified data, then we'll talk.

Trudeau wastes no time in letting his position be known:

"Russia was excluded from the G7 after it invaded Crimea a number of years ago, and its continued disrespect and flaunting of international rules and norms is why it remains outside of the G7, and it will continue to remain out."

Love it!

BoJo says NO.

Pandemic or not, Russia was removed from the G7 for a reason. He just can't invite them, it's not a fucking party.

Johnson and his team made a lot of fuss about Jeremy Corbyn over his (admittedly inept) response to the Salisbury poisonings. No way can he let Putin into the club and smile. Trump will have to backtrack in his usual spluttering way, otherwise its him lining up with Putin and a gang of second-rank countries (assuming any of them turn up, of course).

Someone on TV pointed out that he doesn't play chess; he eats the pieces.

William Drozdiak, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who wrote a book about French president Emmanuel Macron, shared an anecdote about Macron and Merkel with the Times. He claims that Merkel told Macron, “Be my guest, be the interlocutor, I don’t want to be in the room with the guy.”

Amusing how former Swiss PM Carl Bildt became "Bidet" from one bullet point to the next in a publication called "The Intellectualist."

^Sorry, Swedish PM

R57, at this point it's doubtful a second-rank country would want to be seen aligning itself with the US. By the time of the election Trump might have to be cosying up to the Dafur Orphan.

Trump directs Pentagon to pull 9,500 troops from Germany, report says

STUTTGART, Germany— President Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to pull nearly 10,000 troops out of Germany by September, which would mark a sharp drawdown in a country that is home to the largest number of forces in Europe, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

Pentagon officials on Friday said they were unaware of the plan. But the Journal, citing unnamed government officials, said White House National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien recently signed off on it

The move would cut 9,500 troops from the 34,500 that are stationed in Europe, the Journal reported. The plan also would put a cap on the number of forces that could be in Germany at any given time to 25,000 personnel, which would put tight restrictions on the types of training missions that U.S. European Command could carry out in the country.

In recent years, the military has relied heavily on rotational forces to move in and out of Germany for NATO related exercises. During major drills, the total force can increase to roughly 50,000 depending on the nature of the training.

The move above only harms U.S. military capabilities and options. Germany won't care a bit, and the German people will be glad of fewer American troops, who, frankly, are a bit too arrogant when stationed there.

But I guess he showed her!

Trump only wants the G7 to bring Russia back in.