FRANCE AND TURKEY SHOULD BOTH BE THROWN OUT OF NATO

ARTHUR HERMAN - VIA (ANDY MCCARTHY):

The Gaza convoy incident underlined the growing support of Iran and the terrorist group Hamas by Turkey -- a NATO member since 1958.

That one of the NATO allies now wants to ally with the jihadist cause -- and a country that is NATO's face in the Middle East -- should get everyone's attention.

France, having rejoined NATO's military structure in 2009 (after leaving in a huff back in 1966), is about to sell up to four Mistral-class helicopter assault ships to Russia. The warships include sophisticated technology that integrates the ships with the military command and information systems used by NATO and the United States, including in Afghanistan.

[IT GET'S WORSE!] ... only five of NATO's 28 members live up to the 2 percent defense-spending requirement. Worse, Karl Heinz Kamp, director of the research division of NATO Defense College, has found that, of Europe's 2 million men and women in uniform, only 3 percent to 5 percent are actually deployable in combat. And the cash-strapped Europeans want to cut NATO's budget almost out of sight.

... Today, NATO is letting the Americans and Afghans down, allowing the Russians and Iranians in -- and letting everyone else off the hook.

So why are we still part of it?

INSTEAD OF QUITTING NATO WE SHOULD THROW FRANCE AND TURKEY OUT OF NATO.

HOW? BY WITHHOLDING MONEY UNTIL THEY WITHDRAW.