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Originally Posted by JohnR
Generally mixed on this. Trump is doing a good job to eff up a situation that both needs more stability, and needs more accountability by its member states. I really wish we had a better understanding on how beholden to VVP he is.
T has been pretty hard on NATO but in the big picture he is not wrong - though the delivery sucks in Trump fashion.
He is basically stating that NATO member nations should be paying their fair share of their own defense (absolutely correct) and instead are relying, at our expense, the USA to bail them out if the sh!t hits the fan.
Only a handful (4?) of NATO members are actually meeting the 2% GDP baseline. Germany is the most guilty as they are a little over 1% (1.1%) yet have one of the strongest economies in the world. They are also the most resistant to growth. German tanks now cannot fight, their planes not fly, and their ships not sail.
Promising to meet 2% by 2025 is a chuckle. This was always the unofficial baseline and dipped below that in the mid 90s. At the height of the Cold War the percentages were 3-4% of GDP spending to hopefully hold the Fulda Gap. The repeated hounding by the US for member nations to pull their weight is not new.
We do need a strong NATO but we also need NATO members to do their fair share and few of them are, particularly those with the means.
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The lack of serious effort to provide for their own defense may be an indication that they are not really worried about Russia. Maybe the next step is to actually engage Russia economically. Perhaps, good relations are better than defensive standoffs.
Europe has not yet been able to solidify a governmental unity. The EU is now as much a threat to its member states as it is a comfort. Eastern Europe wanted into membership as a protection against Russia. But it has a long memory of Western Europe dominating and pillaging it as it has of Russia doing it. And the Eastern Europeans didn't exactly get along with each other.
The European cultural divide may be stronger than any desire for unity. Everyone is a member of the UN. But there is no overall unity.
The progressive desire has long been for a unified world. Russia and China would be a huge portion of that world. To be unified requires satisfying self interests. If that is to be achieved, everyone's interests must be satisfied.
What would convince Russia and China and the West to harmoniously join in that One World? War or Trade?
As an aside, Trump asking NATO members to pay their share is referred to as "attacking" NATO. That seems, to me, like saying that parents attack their children when they scold them for misbehaving.