Fresh off the heels of a dust-up with Britain, President Trump attacked another key ally — Germany.

At a news conference Friday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Trump “reiterated” his “need for our NATO allies to pay their fair share for the cost of defense.” He followed up Saturday with an impolitic double-barreled tweet shot, writing that Germany owes America “vast sums of money” for NATO. And, he argued, the country should pay more “for the powerful, and very expensive, defense it provides.”

Despite what you have heard from the FAKE NEWS, I had a GREAT meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Nevertheless, Germany owes…..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2017

…vast sums of money to NATO the United States must be paid more for the powerful, and very expensive, defense it provides to Germany!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2017

 

Security experts quickly attacked the flaws in Trump’s logic. On Twitter, former U.S. ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder wrote that increased defense budgets by Germany aren’t transferred to the United States. He also pointed out that NATO decided to make the 2 percent requirement mandatory just a couple of years ago. The alliance gave all member states until 2024 to reach that goal, and Germany is on track. 

“Trump’s comments misrepresent the way NATO functions,” Daalder told us. “The President keeps saying that we need to be paid by the Europeans for the fact that we have troops in Europe or provide defense there. But that’s not how it works.”

Despite these critiques, this line of argument has been a near-constant refrain for Trump and his administration. Since the campaign, he’s argued that other countries aren’t contributing what they should for the defense alliance. NATO members are urged to contribute 2 percent of their GDP to defense spending. Germany pays 1.2 percent; the United States kicks in more than 3 percent. Four other countries also meet their obligation, including Greece, Estonia, Poland and England.

President Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel participate in a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House on Friday. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Those numbers, though, don’t tell the whole story.

Since World War II, Germany has intentionally kept its military small. The country defines itself by its pacifism and its commitment to the idea of “never again.” Germany’s defense spending — or lack thereof — has frequently been criticized and mocked in the past. In 2014, for instance, German forces made headlines when they were forced to use broomsticks instead of machine guns during a NATO exercise, exposing the state of its underequipped military.

But, Germans argue, they make up for this in other ways. As Merkel argued in a speech last month, mutual security goes beyond military spending. International development aid on things like hospitals and schools does as much for peace as warheads in Europe. “When we help people in their home countries to live a better life and thereby prevent crises, this is also a contribution to security,” Merkel said in Munich. “So I will not be drawn into a debate about who is more military-minded and who is less.”

She and other German leaders also point out that they’re bearing the brunt of the Syrian refugee crisis, spending 30 to 40 billion euros a year. If that was included in the tally, they say, they’d be putting more than 2 percent of their budget a year toward security. (They’re also quick to note that U.S. military interventions are one reason there are so many displaced people from the Middle East.)

Not everyone agrees. For the countries on Europe’s eastern border — places like Poland, Latvia and Lithuania — military might isn’t an abstract idea but an insurance policy against Russian invasion. (Russia, for its part, keeps tanks and missiles stocked right up against the NATO border.) At last month’s conference, Artis Pabriks, a former defense minister of Latvia, responded curtly: “For me, as a Latvian, it sounds a little bit bitter that support for my borders and the security of my country will be challenged because some other European nations will not pay their share.”

And Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary general of the alliance, told Time magazine last month that, “it’s not either development or security. We need both.” “When we live in more challenging times, we need to invest more in defense,” he went on. “We need peace and security to facilitate development.”

Germany says it will increase its military spending by about 3 billion euros per year for the next eight years. By 2024, the country will be meeting its NATO commitment. That plan though, still needs to be approved by the German government and parliament.

And Trump may be making that harder. As Marcel Dirsus, a German security politics scholar, argued, the president’s public criticism of German defense spending could backfire, making it harder for Merkel to increase the country’s defense budget, particularly just months before a tough reelection campaign.

An “increase in defense spending is unpopular, and so is Donald Trump. By ‘ordering’ Merkel to increase spending, he will make it harder for her to sell that increase at home,” he said. “Nothing would be worse for Merkel than being seen as taking orders from Trump. Ultimately, I predict Germany will increase spending — but at the pace it had already committed to.”

Rick Noack contributed to this report.

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BEIJING The United States and China will work together to get nuclear-armed North Korea take « a different course », U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Saturday, softening previous criticism of Beijing after talks with his Chinese counterpart.

China has been irritated at being repeatedly told by Washington to rein in North Korea’s surging nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, one of a series of hurdles in ties between the world’s two largest economies.

But Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi described the talks with Tillerson as « candid, pragmatic and productive ». The two sides appeared to have made some progress or put aside differences on difficult issues, at least in advance of a planned summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump.

On Friday, Tillerson issued the Trump administration’s starkest warning yet to North Korea, saying in Seoul that a military response would be « on the table » if Pyongyang took action to threaten South Korean and U.S. forces.

Tillerson took a softer line after the meeting with Wang. He told reporters both China and the United States noted efforts over the last two decades had not succeeded in curbing the threat posed by North Korea’s weapons programmes.

« We share a common view and a sense that tensions on the peninsula are quite high right now and that things have reached a rather dangerous level, and we’ve committed ourselves to doing everything we can to prevent any type of conflict from breaking out, » Tillerson said.

He said Wang and he agreed to work together to persuade North Korea « make a course correction and move away from the development of their nuclear weapons. »

Wang said U.N. resolutions on North Korea both mapped out sanctions and called for efforts to resume efforts for a negotiated settlement.

« No matter what happens, we have to stay committed to diplomatic means as a way to seek peaceful settlement, » he said.

Wang said he and Tillerson « both hope to find ways to restart the talks ».

« Neither of us are ready to give up the hope for peace, » he said.

Tillerson had said on Friday that any talks on North Korea could only take place after it began the process of unwinding its weapons programmes.

A U.S. official had told Reuters in Washington earlier this week that Tillerson may raise the prospect of imposing « secondary sanctions » on Chinese banks and other firms doing business with North Korea in defiance of U.N. sanctions.

Trump said in a tweet on Friday that North Korea was « behaving very badly » and accused China, Pyongyang’s neighbour and only major ally, of doing little to resolve the crisis.

XI-TRUMP SUMMIT

However, the two sides appear to have toned down differences as they work on finalising a trip by Xi to the United States, possibly next month, for his first summit with Trump.

Wang said the two countries were in « close communication » on arranging the meeting, but gave no details.

The state-run Chinese tabloid the Global Times said on Saturday that it was in China’s interests to stop North Korea’s nuclear ambitions but to suggest China cut the country off completely was ridiculous as it would be fraught with danger.

« Once there is chaos in North Korea, it would first bring disaster to China. I’m sorry, but the United States and South Korea don’t have the right to demand this of China, » it said in an editorial.

A former oil executive with no prior diplomatic experience, Tillerson will meet Xi on Sunday.

North Korea has conducted two nuclear tests and a series of missile launches since the beginning of last year.

Last week, it launched four more ballistic missiles and is working to develop nuclear-tipped missiles that can reach the United States.

Washington has been pressing Beijing to do more to stop North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes.

China has called for a dual track approach, urging North Korea to suspend its tests and the United States and South Korea to suspend military drills, so both sides can return to talks.

China has also been infuriated by the deployment of the THAAD, or Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, missile defence system in South Korea, which it says will both harm China’s own security and do nothing to ease tensions.

China says the system’s powerful radar will extend into the country’s northeast and potentially track Chinese missile launches, and maybe even intercept them. Russia also opposes THAAD, for the same reasons.

There are other tricky issues too, including the self-ruled island of Taiwan which China claims as its own.

The Trump administration is crafting a big new arms package for Taiwan that could include advanced rocket systems and anti-ship missiles to defend against China, U.S. officials said, a deal sure to anger Beijing.

Wang said Saturday’s talks included discussions on THAAD and Taiwan but did not give details.

(Additional reporting by Elias Glenn; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Google is due to appear before the government after advertising funded by the taxpayer was displayed alongside extremist material on YouTube.

The Cabinet Office, Channel 4 and the BBC are among the companies to pull marketing from YouTube following a report from the Times into hate preachers receiving revenue from adverts placed against their videos.

Google, which has owned YouTube since 2006, said it had “strict guidelines” over its advert placement,  but that “we don’t always get it right”.

Advertisers are able to create marketing material to appear on websites and videos through Google’s free AdSense service, and receive money for how often the adverts are seen and clicked on. Adverts are allocated to websites and videos automatically, meaning there is propensity for legitimate adverts to end up being run alongside unsuitable and extremist content.

YouTube is getting rid of its unskippable 30-second adverts

A BBC 2 programme advert was run against a video posted by far-right group The National Rebirth of Poland, while the Guardian newspaper advertised against a Britain First clip.

The government has suspended its YouTube advertising “pending reassurances” from Google, while Channel 4 said it was not convinced the video platform was “a safe environment”.

The Guardian also confirmed it has stopped advertising through Google “with immediate effect until we receive guarantees that this won’t happen in the future.”

A government spokesperson confirmed Google had been “summoned to the Cabinet Office to explain how it will deliver the high quality of service that government demands on behalf of the taxpayer.”

Google is banning adverts for payday loans

“Google is responsible for ensuring that the high standards applied to government advertising are adhered to and that adverts do not appear alongside inappropriate content,” they added.

Google UK’s managing director Ronan Harris said: “We’ve begun a thorough review of our ads policies and brand controls, and we will be making changes in the coming weeks to give brands more control over where their ads appear across YouTube and the Google Display Network.”

“We have strict guidelines that define where Google ads should appear,” a Google spokesman added. “In the vast majority of cases, our policies work as intended, protecting users and advertisers from harmful or inappropriate content.

“We accept that we don’t always get it right and that sometimes, ads appear where they should not…We will make changes to our policies and brand controls for advertisers.”

 

Google’s programmatic advertising network is coming under fire for supporting extremist sites and content at the expense of the brand safety of its advertisers.

On Thursday, The Guardian reported it has pulled its advertising from Google and YouTube, after learning its ads were appearing next to extremist content. It was not alone. The British government also found its ads running next to inappropriate content and has summoned Google to address the British Cabinet Office about the issue. British advertising trade group Ibsa has called on Google to address brand safety concerns on its programmatic exchanges.

A subsidiary of global marketing giant Havas said it pulled its UK ad spend with Google on Friday over brand safety concerns for its clients. The Guardian reported Havas UK was not satisfied with Google’s response, stating it was “unable to provide specific reassurances, policy and guarantees that their video or display content is classified either quickly enough or with the correct filters.” Update: Within hours, the Paris-based parent company reversed the decision, calling it “extreme”. Yannick Bolloré, Havas CEO said, “We will continue to negotiate with Google to find solutions”.

The Guardian says its ads were purchased through Google’s DoubleClick AdX, a programmatic ad exchange that encompasses millions of sites, to promote Guardian subscriptions. The ads appeared alongside videos of “American white nationalists, a hate preacher banned in the UK and a controversial Islamist preacher” on YouTube. Guardian chief executive David Pemsel wrote to Google’s EMEA president, Matt Brittin:

The decision by the Guardian to blacklist YouTube will have financial implications for the Guardian in terms of the recruitment of members to fund our journalism. …

Given the dominance of Google, DoubleClick and YouTube in the digital economy, many brands feel that it is essential to place advertising on your platform. It is therefore vital that Google, DoubleClick and YouTube uphold the highest standards in terms of openness, transparency, and measures to avoid advertising fraud and misplacement in the future. It is very clear that this is not the case at the moment.

Pensel said the Guardian would not resume its ad buying until Google can guarantee such placement will not continue. Pensel also encouraged other brands and advertisers to stop running ads through Google exchanges until Google provides “guarantees that advertising placed on YouTube will not sit next to extremist content in the future.”

A spokesperson for the British government told The Guardian, “Google is responsible for ensuring the high standards applied to government advertising are adhered to and that adverts do not appear alongside inappropriate content. We have placed a temporary restriction on our YouTube advertising pending reassurances from Google that government messages can be delivered in a safe and appropriate way. … Google has been summoned for discussions at the Cabinet Office to explain how it will deliver the high quality of service government demands on behalf of the taxpayer.”

Google’s response

A Google spokesperson told The Guardian, “We have strict guidelines that define where Google ads should appear, and in the vast majority of cases, our policies work as intended, protecting users and advertisers from harmful or inappropriate content. … We accept that we don’t always get it right, and that sometimes, ads appear where they should not. We’re committed to doing better, and will make changes to our policies and brand controls for advertisers.”

Ronan Harris, Google UK managing director, in a blog post Friday, reiterated that the company’s policies work as intended in most cases, stressed its investment of millions of dollars every year to employ thousands of people to stop bad advertising practices and cited the results of its annual bad ads report. But Harris also said Google “will be making changes in the coming weeks to give brands more control over where their ads appear across YouTube and the Google Display Network” and “do a better job of addressing the small number of inappropriately monetized videos and content.”

Addressing ‘inappropriate content’

Marketing Land has reported on numerous examples of brand advertisements bought and sold through Google appearing on extremist and hyper-partisan sites that are part of Google’s ad networks, both through audience targeting and retargeting efforts in the US.

“Inappropriate” can be subjective, but it is becoming clear that Google, Facebook and others can no longer say they’re doing their best. A snowballing of blacklisting by advertisers and government pressure to draw clearer policy lines and improve policing may finally lead to decisive action.

Google’s ad networks include millions of sites, apps and YouTube videos, a daunting amount of content to oversee and police. But controls available to keep ads from appearing alongside extremist content or partisan-driven hoaxes and lies are relatively weak and put the onus on the advertisers  — essentially requiring advertisers to manually block sites they don’t want to appear on. Harris mentioned topic exclusions and site category exclusion tools in his blog post, but these fall short in their current forms, as we’ve detailed.

Sites are often clever about walking right up to the line of Google’s hate speech policy, and there is no policy that specifically addresses whether ads can appear alongside misinformation and hyper-partisan content, as Marketing Land reported last month.

For all its benefits, the rise of programmatic ad buying has created an environment in which reach and expediency have come at the cost of brand safety. That imbalance may have reached its tipping point in the UK. Whether the backlash will extend to the US in a meaningful way remains to be seen.

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About The Author

Sean Kingston celebrates his Caribbean roots on his forthcoming 10-track mixtape aptly titled Made in Jamaica, scheduled for release in the next few weeks on his Time Is Money Entertainment label. Now, Kingston is sharing an exclusive premiere of the first single « Chance » with Billboard. 

“The reason we called it Made in Jamaica is because every song on the mixtape was either written or recorded in Jamaica; the songs’ concepts, melody structures, riddims, vibes, everything, is all about embracing the real culture of Jamaica,” Kingston tells Billboard on the phone from his Los Angeles home.

The mixtape includes productions by Murder Beatz, Retro, Xclass, Will I Dap and Jamaica’s Stephen McGregor and Dunwell Productions. Guest artists include actress/singer Zendaya and controversial Jamaican dancehall superstar Vybz Kartel, who is featured on Made in Jamaica’s first single « Chance, » produced by Murda Beatz and Frank Dukes.

Sean, who has been friends with Kartel since 2008 and visited him at Kingston General Penitentiary earlier this year (Kartel is currently serving a life sentence for murder), doesn’t know how Kartel recorded his vocals on « Chance. » “I don’t know if this was a recent verse that Kartel did in jail or an old verse, I don’t know when or how it was recorded. I got the vocals from his engineer [Mario Dunwell of Dunwell Productions],” Sean explains to Billboard. “I told Dunwell I wanted to do a new song with Kartel, we were bouncing ideas around for about a year, and he picked ‘Chance’; when I got it back, I was like, ‘Wow, this is dope, Kartel did his vocals to my beat.’ However it was done, it is pretty dope to get a verse from Kartel in his situation because I heard he wasn’t doing verses for anybody and he has turned a lot of big artists.” 

The Caribbean-influenced, radio-friendly « Chance, » all about a guy asking his girl for another try at their relationship, marks a return to form for Kingston whose last radio record, 2013’s « Beat It » featuring Chris Brown and Wiz Khalifa, peaked at No. 17 on the Hot RB/Hip-Hop Songs tally. “’Chance’ was the right song to lead off the mixtape with, because I am known for doing music that crosses island pop but also has an RB flair,” Sean says. “A lot of people are doing that sound now, but I started out with it and that’s what set me apart from many artists.”

The video for « Chance » was shot in Jamaica, Sean’s third video filmed on the island, including « Letting Go (Dutty Love) » with Nikki Minaj, shot in Ocho Rios. « Chance » was filmed in the capital, Kingston, and in the suburb of Portmore known as Gaza — where Kartel was raised and rose to prominence. Despite the somewhat volatile connotations of Gaza, the « Chance » video depicts a lighthearted love story and a bubbling club scene, shining a spotlight on the synchronized dancehall moves of the 703/Team Kingston dance group. “I just wanted to keep the video fun and authentic and bring those street dance vibes,” comments Sean.

Jamaica’s open-air sound system sessions, or street dances — a distinctive component in Kingston’s vibrant nightlife — have been crucial to the promotion of every genre of the island’s music since the dawn of its recording industry in the late 1950s. “In Kingston, there are street dances every night, Uptown Monday, Boasy Tuesday, Weddy Weddy Wednesday, etc., and ‘Chance’ kicked off at those events with selectors like Boom Boom, Foota Hype, Stone Love playing the song and getting great responses,” offers Sean “Contractor” Edwards, CEO of Contractor’s Marketing who is handling marketing and promotions of the « Chance » single/video in Jamaica. 

Kingston also plans to release a Made in Jamaica documentary in the coming weeks, which, he says, will present his authentic side and that of his island namesake. “Made in Jamaica shows my roots, my culture and what makes me different from other artists,” he says. “I feel like people think of Sean Kingston as being a pop star from Jamaica but they don’t really understand the essence of it. The Made In Jamaica projects will make that connection clear in people’s minds.”

Watch the video for « Chance » below.

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SEOUL U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday issued the Trump administration’s starkest warning yet to North Korea, saying that a military response would be « on the table » if Pyongyang took action to threaten South Korean and U.S. forces.

Speaking in Seoul after visiting the Demilitarized Zone dividing the Korean peninsula and some of the 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, Tillerson said former President Barack Obama’s policy of « strategic patience » towards Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs was over.

« We are exploring a new range of security and diplomatic measures. All options are on the table, » Tillerson told a news conference.

He said any North Korean actions that threatened U.S. or South Korean forces would be met with « an appropriate response, » turning up the volume of the tough language that has marked President Donald Trump’s approach to North Korea.

« Certainly, we do not want for things to get to a military conflict, » he said when asked about possible military action, but added: « If they elevate the threat of their weapons program to a level that we believe requires action, that option is on the table. »

In spite of Tillerson’s warning, U.S. officials have stressed that while an ongoing review on North Korea policy includes military options, such contingency planning has been conducted for decades and that the preferred course is to press Pyongyang to abandon its weapons programs through increased sanctions and other diplomatic pressure, particularly on China.

Tillerson, a former oil executive with no prior diplomatic experience, travels to China on Saturday, where he will press Beijing, North Korea’s only ally, to do more to rein in its neighbor.

The main focus of Tillerson’s trip, his first visit to Asia as secretary of state, has been on developing a « new approach » to North Korea after what he described as two decades of failed efforts to persuade it to denuclearize. Tillerson also visited Japan on his trip.

Trump said on Friday that North Korea was « behaving very badly » and accused China of doing little to resolve the crisis over the North’s weapons programs.

« They have been ‘playing’ the United States for years. » Trump said in a tweet, referring to North Korea. « China has done little to help! »

ACTION WOULD BE HIGHLY RISKY

For now, U.S. officials consider pre-emptive military action against North Korea far too risky, given the danger of igniting a regional war and causing massive casualties in Japan and South Korea and among tens of thousands of U.S. troops based in both allied countries.

Such ideas could gain traction, however, if North Korea proceeds with a threatened test of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the United States. Just before he took office in January, Trump tweeted: « It won’t happen! » when Kim said North Korea was close to testing an ICBM.

Any preemptive attack on North Korea carries huge risks.

« As a practical matter I don’t see the administration deciding to preemptively strike North Korea’s capabilities, » Asia expert and former White House official, Mike Green of Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies said this week.

« We wouldn’t get them all and there’s a risk North Korea would open fire with its hundreds of missiles and thousands of artillery tubes and its nuclear and chemical and biological weapons on Japan and Korea and even China. »

Tillerson will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at the weekend and press him to do more on North Korea.

He called on Beijing to implement sanctions against North Korea and said there was no need for China to punish South Korea for deploying an advanced U.S. anti-missile system aimed at defending against North Korea.

China says the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system’s powerful radar is a threat to its security.

North Korea has conducted two nuclear tests and a series of missile launches since the beginning of last year.

Last week, it launched four more ballistic missiles and is working to develop nuclear-tipped missiles that can reach the United States.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se told a joint news conference the missile system was only intended to defend against North Korea, not any other country.

China resents U.S. pressure to do more on North Korea and says it is doing all it can but will not take steps to threatened the livelihoods of the North Korean people.

It has urged North Korea to stop its nuclear and missile tests and said South Korea and the United States should stop joint military exercises and seek talks instead.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying reiterated that talks were the best way to resolve the problems of the Korean peninsula.

« As a close neighbor of the peninsula, China has even more reason than any other country to care about the situation, » she told a briefing.

(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in BEIJING, Christine Kim in SEOUL and David Brunnstrom and Susan Heavey in Washington; Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Alistair Bell)