‘A momentary lapse of honesty?’ US Defense Secretary Esper
says NATO must ‘avoid PEACE in Europe’
FILE PHOTO. © Pool via REUTERS/Greg Nash; REUTERS/Ints Kalnins
US Defense Secretary Mark Esper seemingly mistook the word ‘peace’ for ‘war’ when he made a gaffe in the middle of a speech on the relocation of American troops in Europe.
Esper was delivering important news to reporters: the Pentagon has laid out a plan to withdraw nearly 12,000 American soldiers from its NATO ally Germany.
The blunder occurred just when Esper was arguing that Germany, as the “wealthiest country in Europe,” can and should boost its defense spending.
I’ve said that very publicly, I’ve said that very privately to my
counterparts as well – about the importance of NATO, any
alliance, sharing the burden so we can all deter Russia and…
avoid peace in Europe.
The awkward phrase spurred jokes on Twitter, with some users calling the slip “a momentary lapse of honesty” and “the NATO slogan 2020.”
The Pentagon is planning to pull out a third of its forces stationed in Germany and relocate a part of them across other NATO countries, including Belgium, Italy and Poland.
So, I have been saying for years now that NATO's Raison d'être disappeared with the iron curtain. They have been looking for an excuse to exist ever since. How many wars have they been complicit in fanning the flames? How many times have they demonized the leaders of Syria and Russia in order to justify their continued presence? How many countries have they pursued in violation of the peace agreement with Gorbechev? How many weapons systems have the USA, UK, and France sold to trembling countries which were never under serious threat? NATO's new purpose is to sell weapons. No doubt Secretary Esper accidentally spoke the truth, inconvenient and accidental, but truth.
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