American Secretary of State Marco Rubio thinks that the United States of America has been subsidizing the defense of Europe and it's time for European nations (and Canada) to start paying more to defend Europe against Russia. According to Rubio, the other NATO countries have been taking advantage of the United States by cutting back on defense spending and using the money to fund social programs. (Gasp!)
Yeah, but our like-minded partners have to have capability and that's been part of the problem is the erosion in European defense capabilities because they've taken vast amount of the monies that these are rich countries and because of the NATO umbrella they it gave them the flexibility to spend a tremendous amount of their revenues on social programs and not on defense. Now maybe that trend line will begin to change.
First, let's be very clear about the huge US military budget. Only a fraction of that money is being used in the direct defense of Europe from Russian aggression. Canada, Poland, and France do not need to spend billions on B2 bombers that spend most of their time sitting on airfields and only occasionally are used to bomb targets in Iran. They do not need to spend billions on nuclear powered aircraft carriers positioned in the Caribbean or the South China Sea. They do not need to pay for troops in Iraq and Syria. They do not need to give Israel almost four billion dollars a year in military aid. And they do not need to spend huge amounts of money to fund a National Guard that can be used to police their cities.
Second, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has shown us that the threat from Russia is not that serious. Russia can't even conquer a medium-sized country right on its border. (Although it can do a lot of serious damage.) The idea that Russia poses a serious military threat to the main NATO countries is ludicrous.
Third, for all its posturing about defending Europe, the United States has failed to provide Ukraine with the supplies and equipment needed to prevent a gradual Russian takeover of Ukrainian territory. I guess the Americans decided to use the money to fund social programs instead.
Fourth, Canada and the European NATO countries are pretty much done with the constant bullying and insults from American leaders. We may be on the verge of finding out whether the United States needs allies.
4 comments :
It's relevant to debunk the claim by the USA that European countries spend too little on defense, comparing percentages of GDP. This video does a good job of explaining why the numbers are not comparable. For example, the US includes the healthcare costs of the armed forces, while in other countries such costs are part of universal healthcare programs.
https://youtu.be/BrzunwO_g1M?si=FLUyR2payJJCYmWb
There's no constant bullying and insults from American leaders. There's only constant bullying and insults from Trump and his lackeys. He's not an American leader, though it works better if you say it in German.
Last I checked, Trump won the election and controls both houses (hopefully that changes in November assuming elections even happen) so Trump is indeed the American leader. This is a problem caused by US citizens and part of the solution involves them taking responsibility for their actions and the harm they are inflicting on the world.
And I would add that the brave citizens of Minneapolis are taking responsibility and paying with their lives . I suspect that there will be much more violence before this is over.
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