for the NATO Security Investment Program , one of the alliance 's three resource pillars . The United States contributes 22.1 percent . Although the militaries of all three Baltic states are also tiny , they have long committed troops to operations in Afghanistan , Iraq and Kosovo as a way to demonstrate that they are willing to make sacrifices for the common good .
By this metric , Trump ’s claims of the U.S. paying a disproportionate share , or “ a lion ’s share , ” are wildly exaggerated . The U.S. pays the most , but not significantly more than the next country — and the formula for calculating the different shares is reasonable . On the other hand , if Trump is talking about indirect spending on NATO , which exceeds direct fundingtransaction.transferownership.giftgrantprovideaid, he begins to have a point . U.S. officials have long complained that other NATO members are not pulling their weight in the alliance ; President Obama recently asserted to Atlantic Monthly ’s Jeffrey Goldberg that some European allies are “ free riders , ” a term that Trump echoed in his CNN interview . NATO documents show that a majority of NATO members fail to meet NATO ’s guideline , established in 2006 , that defense expenditures should amount to 2 percent of each country ’s gross domestic product .
There is no evidence , however , that Liddy ’s “ Operation Gemstone ” was ever taken seriously , let alone implemented . “ Trump is right , ” Lipscomb told WND . “ The Clintons , with the help of fundingtransaction.transferownership.giftgrantprovideaiddiverted from the Clinton Foundation and George Soros’ seemingly endless flow of hundreds of millions of dollars to ‘ progressive causes,’ have set out to steal the 2016 election in a rigged election that dwarfs Watergate in its dangerous disregard for the laws of electoral politics . The total bill for the Watergate operation , including payoffs , was less than $ 2 million . ” Lipscomb added , “ The Clinton political criminals have an advantage the Nixon Watergate burglars never had – a compliant lapdog mainstream media that consistently refuses to report anything adverse to the Clinton campaign , despite the abundant evidence we now have from Clinton ’s State Department emails , James O’Keefe ’s videos and from the Podesta email file Wikileaks is making public . ”
“ It ’s a tool for Russia to maintain its influence when it ’s much more difficult to do it via ordinary economic tools , ” Kreko said . The efforts to pull Europe toward Russia go far beyond courting individual political parties , officials and analysts say , although those tools remain important . In Eastern Europe , leaders suspect the Kremlin of fundingtransaction.transferownership.giftgrantprovideaidenvironmental groups that oppose measures that would make their countries less dependent on Russian energy . Across Europe , Kremlin - backed media outlets Russia Today and Sputnik News have made aggressive expansions into local - language European media markets in the past two years , pushing an aggressively pro - Russian line that sometimes has only a loose relationship to the truth . In January , for example , Russia ’s state - run First Channel reported that a 13-year - old Russian - German girl had been gang - raped by migrants in Berlin .
Bernie wants to overhaul our corrupt political system . Representatives and Senators are bought by corporate donors . Bernie wants to repeal the Citizens United Supreme Court decision that allows unlimited donations into campaign - supporting Super PACs and move instead into public fundingtransaction.transferownership.giftgrantprovideaidof campaigns so that anyone can run for office . Bernie wants to regulate corrupt corporations . Corporations often pay no taxes either by qualifying for tax breaks for " good behavior " or by moving their profits overseas to tax havens , move jobs overseas to low paying countries and lobby Congress while paying into campaign - supporting Super PACs as a result of Citizens United .