Quote:
Originally Posted by spence
Sure everyone should pitch in but this notion that NATO is freeloading off the US is absurd. Military spending in the EU alone dwarfs Russia. The US has been the only nation to ever benefit from Article 5 directly and I'd be willing to wager NATO inhibiting westward expansion of communism over the past 1/2 century has benefited the US more than any other nation by far.
Trump is either just creating creating chaos so he can claim to be a savior or genuinely working to undermine the institution. Neither is a good thing and will do lasting harm.
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Spence, European NATO members, excepting the UK, have not met their baselines for over 20 years. Only a couple nations in the past year or two have hit the 2% baseline.
If OBama was so magical he would have been able to get Europe to manage their own defense spending to meet minimum safe levels eight years ago. This mostly benefits Europe. Europe is strong enough and wealthy enough to meet THEIR obligations for their own defense.
But this is has been a serious topic of people in Diplo/Security for a decade plus - you probably know that - and it came LONG before Trump.
And yes Trump is doing it in typical miserable fashion