theatlantic.com - Arms sale europe trump colby ukraine

As part of the “America First” agenda, the Department of Defense is stockpiling weapons. The first clue that something had changed in the U.S. approach to selling military equipment to Europe came as Denmark neared a decision on the purchase of a multibillion-dollar air-defense system. For weeks, American and French negotiators had aggressively pursued the deal. But as the deadline approached, the Pentagon suddenly lost interest.

“We couldn’t understand why,” a contractor who had been tracking the discussions told me. “It seemed like a no-brainer, but they just weren’t into it.”

Then, on a call earlier this month with the State Department, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby said that he didn’t believe in the value of certain foreign military sales, according to two administration officials with knowledge of the discussion. He added that he didn’t like the idea of selling Patriots—which can intercept incoming missiles—to Denmark, because they are in short supply and should be reserved for the United States to use as needed.

Jeff wonders if this is to all of Europe or just to Denmark who owns Greenland - a place the administration has not ruled out using the US military to acquire.

Jeff