Let me explain something to the MAGA crowd, because clearly someone needs to.
They seem to think NATO is cosmic room service. You pick up the phone, say “hello, we’re having a bit of a war here,” and thirty-one countries march to your rescue. A continental Uber for military adventures.
That is not how it works.
Article 5 is a mutual defense clause. The clue is in the word mutual. And it has been triggered exactly once in NATO’s entire history. After September 11. When America was attacked. Not Europe. America.
Every NATO member showed up. They went to Afghanistan. They fought. They bled. They died. In America’s war. On America’s behalf.
Now imagine they hadn’t.
Over 1,100 allied soldiers died in Afghanistan. British, Canadian, German, Danish, Polish. And yes, even Ukrainian soldiers, who had no NATO obligation whatsoever. Gone. Without them, those are American names on those graves. Sons from Ohio. Fathers from Georgia. Kids from Nebraska who never came home.
Then there is the money. NATO allies spent over 100 billion dollars on a war that started on American soil. Without that, Washington pays every cent. On top of the 2 to 3 trillion the war already cost.
And without allied bases across Europe and Central Asia, American supply lines collapse entirely. Without British forces in Helmand and Canadians in Kandahar, the Taliban reconstitutes in three years instead of ten. The gaps get filled one way. More American deployments. More American coffins arriving at Dover.
Afghanistan was bloody. But NATO took the hit. Without them, every single one of those casualties would have had an American name.
Trump called allies like these losers. Suckers.
If you are a certain kind of broken person, that probably makes sense to you. But for the rest of us, what those soldiers did has a different name. Honor. The bond between men who have been in the same dirt, under the same fire. Between Brits and Americans, Frenchmen and Norwegians, Canadians and Danes. Not a diplomatic relationship. A blood bond. Brotherhood forged in places most people will never see and cannot imagine.
In that culture, you do not mock a fallen ally. You do not sneer at the dead. It is the lowest thing a human being can do. Trump did it to a standing ovation.
If you are a MAGA supporter travelling to NATO countries, understand this. There are no friendly pats on the back waiting for you. No one will buy you a beer. The governments who share your worldview sit in Minsk, Moscow and Pyongyang. Brutal dictatorships where journalists disappear, elections are theatre and dissent is a medical condition treated in basements. Not London. Not Paris. Not Rome, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Berlin or Ottawa.
You have abandoned the open societies, the free press, the rule of law, the places where people actually want to live. You traded the best of civilization for a very small, very dark room. Frankly, it serves you right.
Gandalv / @Microinteracti1
🚨NEW: Bank trades are coming out against the @krakenfx master account approval.
📌@bankpolicy says the Kansas City Fed front ran the Board’s public comment period and “violated policy” on seeking public comment when it intends to make significant changes to the payments system.
📌@ICBA, on behalf of the nation’s community banks, says they are “very concerned” by the approval because they see crypto as a risk.
“Granting nonbank entities and crypto institutions access to the master accounts traditionally limited to highly regulated insured depository institutions poses risks to the banking system.”
🚨NEW: Details from the White House stablecoin yield meeting, per banking and crypto sources in the room:
People on both sides called the meeting ‘productive,’ but, again, no compromise was reached by the end of the meeting. However, deal specifics were discussed in more detail today.
For example, banks and the banking trades came prepared with a written set of ‘prohibition principles’ (in the pic below) which detailed what they are willing and not willing to compromise on when it comes to stablecoin rewards. One source pointed out a key concession from the banks being the “any proposed exemption” language in paragraph two, because they were previously unwilling to discuss any exemptions with respect to offering rewards on a transaction-based basis at all.
Chief Legal Officer at @Ripple, @s_alderoty, said “compromise is in the air.”
There was heavy focus on so-called “permissible activities,” aka what kinds of account activity could be allowed in order for crypto firms to offer rewards. Crypto wants definitions on this to be broad, banks want it to be narrowed.
For next steps, further discussions between the present parties are expected to happen in the coming days, but it’s unclear whether another meeting of this scale will take place before the end of the month. The White House has urged both parties to reach a deal on the matter by March 1st.
This gathering was also notably smaller than the first one. Led by Executive Director of the President’s Crypto Council @patrickjwitt, Senate Banking Committee staff were also present. On the crypto side, attendees included @iampaulgrewal of @coinbase, @milesjennings of @a16z, @s_alderoty of @Ripple, @JoshRosner from @Paxos, @SummerMersinger of @BlockchainAssn and @_jikim of @crypto_council.
Banks in the room were @GoldmanSachs, @jpmorgan, @BankofAmerica, @WellsFargo, @Citi, @PNCBank and @usbank, along with trade groups @bankpolicy, @ABABankers and @ICBA.
Bottom line: It was a smaller, more productive meeting than the first and both sides are talking about ways to solve the issues at hand, but no final resolution has been reached yet.
@BitcoinPulseX Talking rubbish.... unfollow this person
The post claims a U.S. Senate floor vote at 2:00 PM on 9 February 2026 for a Bitcoin and crypto market structure bill, potentially unlocking $3 trillion in capital, but no official schedule confirms this.