Carlton Supporters Club

Say again? So, if Russia becomes an ally, the US will disarm? That suggests the US has no concerns about China, North Korea, Iran, Syria, ISIS, Al Qaeda etc. etc. Or is there a class of weapon which can only be used against the Russians?

... his stated desire to improve relations with them. This undermines the narrative that they are a very dangerous enemy of the US and the main justification for a $1Trillion annual defence budget.

You said:You suggested therefore that improved relations would lead to reduction in the annual defence budget. I disagree.

In particular, improved relations with Russia wouldn't reduce the need for the US to be able to confront the Russians if the relationship worsened.  And it certainly wouldn't justify reducing the ability of the US to meet challenges from hostile or adversarial forces elsewhere in the world.

Quite an assertion but where's the evidence? Whether the Russians are classed as dangerous or potentially dangerous given their military might does not affect the annual defence budget.  The US has to be equipped to meet a blitzkreig land war in Europe in either case.  More importantly, there are numerous other current or potential enemies against whom the US needs to be armed. And more important still is the fact that Trump is actively committed to increasing the annual defence budget which makes the suggestion that the funding issue is the source of resistance.

I think you missed the point of what DJC was pointing out. Have another look at his list... pretty damning stuff and all with on-going ramifications.

Last week he told Reuters: “His father dies, took over a regime. So say what you want, but that is not easy, especially at that age.”

Mr Trump was careful to add that he was not praising the North Korean dictator, whose brutal regime executes dissidents (and is believed to be responsible for murdering Mr Kim’s estranged half-brother in Malaysia this year), simply pointing out that taking power in such circumstances was a tough thing to do.

The words have prompted intense speculation that Mr Trump is trying to find some common ground with his adversary and open a diplomatic channel by suggesting that Mr Kim is not irrational but was simply thrown into a very difficult situation at a tender age.

Unless Russia becomes a true ally which cooperates militarily with the US, the US has no choice but to guard against a sudden military conflict. 

Why is Australia spending billions on the JSF?  We can't stand against China anyway unless the US defends us. Whether we have a few JSFs won't matter much overall We have good relations with the Chinese anyway as we do with our immediate neighbours.  Yet we clearly are arming ourselves to maintain air superiority over the Indonesians, for example.  IOW, we are arming ourselves not against any existing threat but against the possibility of the relationship worsening in the future.

When the media start misquoting or verballing Trump, and they do so regularly to try and boost their ratings, they play directly into his hands!

I wouldn't be surprised to find they have their own people out in regional media deliberately misquoting him.

But isn't trying to normalise relations with them a step towards this?

If we were living in Disneyland, that would be possible.  And when the Soviet Union collapsed, that was the hope.  Remember when there was the talk of an end to history?  But it's very clear that Russia under Putin wants to be a geopolitical power rather than a US ally like Britain and Germany.  The US has no alternative but to work on a worst-case scenario.  Russia has the military strength to successfully invade Western Europe or annex bits of it as Hitler did prior to going one step too far by invading Poland.  In fact, it's already annexed part of Ukraine albeit that it was part of the old Eastern bloc.

Improving relations with Russia may well be beneficial, depending on whether Putin acts in good faith (and that is debatable).  But until there is a true alliance, the US would need to maintain its military preparedness to counter Russian aggression.  Pray to God, but keep your gunpowder dry.

3. Sharing secret information with the Russians. - This is not that big a deal.  I'm sure its happened before, and it will happen again perhaps a little more deliberately, but to quote the guardian "The intelligence Trump shared involved an Islamic State plot to use bombs hidden in laptop computers to bring down planes".  Had no one told the media, would this be a problem?? As per usual, the media are the issue.  Don't tell and no one will find out we have sources with this information.