Nato says record number of allies hit defence target
Nato says record number of allies hit defence target
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says 18 states are set to spend 2% of GDP on defence this year.
I hate that Trump said that, and I deeply hope he loses in November, but I must say I am glad that one of the outcomes of that idiocy appears to be that Europe is actually, truly starting to take its own strategic and military security seriously.
I agree with the article here that the increased spending has more to do with the Russian invasion. On the other hand Trump's comments on NATO in 2016 were where we saw NATO sentiment explode as people saw supporting NATO as resisting Trump. It really was key to rehabilitating the image of NATO after Libya and Afghanistan.
I think it’s a little of both, to be honest. Eastern Europe was taking things seriously since last February. Most of the rest of Europe took a while to really get their heads in the right place. There’s still a lot of work to do, though.
It has nothing to do with Trump. Even theoretically that can't be the case European budgets haven't suddenly changed in the last couple of days.
Who is talking about this lunatic. European nations are spending more on defence because of Putin, not Trump!
It probably is simply because of Russias aggression lately, more incentive to contribute and easier to excuse to the populace why you're increasing the spending. I highly doubt it's because of Trump's comments.
What an awful time to be a pacifist when everyone glorifies wasting arbitrarily large amounts of money on militaries 😮💨
It’s not arbitrary.
It’s not wasted.
It’s not glorified.
It is necessary. Unfortunately.
If it weren't for Russia, it'd be arbitrary.
What a stupid way to waste money, producing weapons capable of hurting other people because of politics and human hatred. One would expect humanity to have evolved beyond that point by now, but nope, we still produce nuclear bombs, and other weapons of mass destruction and we are one lunatic away from a real world nuclear war.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz declared on social media on Wednesday that his country would have the "highest defence budget" in Europe and would maintain the 2% target "in the decades to come... for safety and reliability".
Estonian intelligence chief Kaupo Rosin warned on Tuesday that Nato could face a "Soviet-style mass army in the next decade".
Speaking at a rally on Saturday, Mr Trump said he had once told a Nato leader he would not protect a nation behind on its payments, and would "encourage" the aggressors to "do whatever the hell they want".
The remarks were denounced as "dangerous" and "un-American" by President Joe Biden, and condemned by the Nato secretary general and German chancellor.
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 heavily influenced Western defence spending last year, and 11 countries were expected to have met the 2% target in 2023.
Seven more countries are likely to follow suit in 2024, and Germany's projected spending is set to climb to the equivalent $73.41bn (€68.5bn;£58.5bn), according to German press agency DPA.
The original article contains 645 words, the summary contains 172 words. Saved 73%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
