Posted on 02/13/2024 5:54:28 PM PST by NoLibZone
NATO is expected to announce Wednesday that a majority of its members are set to hit their defense spending goals for 2024, days after former President Donald Trump told those who don’t pay their share that he wouldn’t protect them if re-elected.
It is estimated that 18 of the 31 NATO members will hit their minimum goal of spending 2% of total gross domestic product on defense budgets for 2024, compared to roughly one-third of the alliance who hit that goal in 2023, according to three alliance officials who spoke to The Financial Times.
Trump warned in a speech on Saturday that he would tell Russia “to do whatever the hell they want” to members if they don’t pay their share, should he win a second term.
“NATO expects about two-thirds of allies to hit 2% in 2024,” an alliance official told the Financial Times.
Trump has long had issues with NATO members and their failure to meet the spending goal, feeling that the U.S. was footing too much of the bill. The U.S. is the largest financial backer of NATO, according to The Washington Post.
Donald Trump has said he would ‘encourage’ Russia to attack any Nato member that fails to pay its bills. https://t.co/skp3jzdZXT pic.twitter.com/Z2dh30u400
— Sky News (@SkyNews) February 11, 2024 EU officials say that NATO members are working to hit their targets once more in preparation for a second Trump presidency, according to the Times. NATO members will also try to put importance on issues Trump finds the most pressing – such as China and terrorist threats – and win over his good graces.
“There’s a lot of talk about [Trump]… What is the best way to handle a future President Trump?” one senior NATO diplomat said, according to the Times. “Basically a combination of flattery and a firm hand.” “You can’t worry about the rhetoric too much, but instead focus on the points being made and make sure you give credit to Trump if and when he is right,” former NATO chief spokesperson Oana Lungescu said, according to the Times.
Roughly two-thirds of NATO members missed their defense spending targets in 2023, according to the Post.
“NATO was busted until I came along,” Trump said at the rally. “I said, ‘Everybody’s gonna pay.’ They said, ‘Well, if we don’t pay, are you still going to protect us?’ I said, ‘Absolutely not.’ They couldn’t believe the answer.” “One of the presidents of a big country, he stood up, he said: ‘Well sir, if we don’t pay, and we’re attacked by Russia, will you protect us?’ I said, ‘You didn’t pay, you’re delinquent … no I would not protect you, in fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want,” Trump said.
NATO did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
...remains at peace.
1 Thessalonians 5:3 KJV For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. |
interesting stats. Many of the most loudmouthed foreigners here urging the US to aid Ukraine are from those countries below 2%.
It APPEARS Trump’s tactic worked. We will see…
America is coming back. Explode a few leftard heads, charge around in a China shop (haha), and things happen.
What a coincidence
Putin deserves ALL the credit. No country suddenly raised its military spending after Trump railed against the alliance.
Show me the receipts at the end of the year.
“If in 10 years, all American troops stationed in Europe for national defense purposes have not been returned to the United States, then this whole project [NATO] will have failed.”
Dwight David Eisenhower
Prediction: They’ll say that they are going to do it but for some reason or other it will never actually happen.
Still, nowhere near the billions, trillions we spend on them.
Other than the UK, and to a lesser extent, Canada, NZ and Australia which the US can ally as the Five Eyes without the NATO apparatus, is there any war we engaged since the formation of the alliance where the contribution by continental European allies made a significant difference to the outcome and yes, that question applies to Afghanistan, the only time Article five was invoked with US special forces militarily winning within two months and then changing the mission and proceeding to lose over the next 20 years. Vietnam, Iraq 1 and 2, Libya, the Balkans (which was of national security interest to continental Europe and little to the Five Eyes)? We do fine on our own militarily winning wars at the outset and ultimately losing them by changing the mission to pacification and reconstruction. My point is that continental European mlitary contributions, although nice for the feel good optics of multinationalism, have always been militarily insignificant and irrelvant to ultimate war outcome Quite honestly, IMHO that is much too high a price to pay for the fiction of a NATO alliance of equally contributing partners that is in reality a NATO reliance on one with the fat guy doing all the substantial rowing in defending continental Europe that has more population and GDP in the aggregate than the US. Maybe a little tough love is in order requiring them to form their own joint standing army and alliance for their defense with a separate Five Eyes alliance that operates independently and has no hard baked in commitments to a continent reluctant to defend itself.
Trump gave the a get off your a$$ moment good deal.
the average (in dollars) of what each country spends should have always been our maximum contribution!
these welfare mongers need to pull their own weight.
#MAGA
France and Germany are falling behind.
Let’s just get the Hell out of NATO!!! Europe needs to put their Big Boy pants on, and defend themselves, without our help and finances...
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