Still two weeks away from taking office, Donald Trump has begun outlining an aggressive foreign policy with little regard to diplomatic considerations or the concerns of US allies.
  • oxjoxEnglish
    9·
    15 hours ago

    None of the alliance members, including the US, currently spends 5% of GDP on defence, according to NATO figures. Poland is the highest spender in GDP terms at 4.12%, followed by Estonia at 3.43% and the United States at 3.38%.

    I’d like to see people respond to a headline that reads, “Trump demands US increase NATO funding”.

    • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆OP
      94·
      16 hours ago

      NATO members can’t buy stuff from imaginary suppliers that don’t exist in the real world.

      • Viri4thus@feddit.org
        82·
        15 hours ago

        TIL SAAB, Rheinmetall, D’Assault, Glock, H&K, Thales, Airbus, et al are figments of my imagination.

        And that was just from the top of my head.

        Stridsvagn coming to NATO armies FTW!

        • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆OP
          74·
          13 hours ago

          Go look at the production numbers of these companies and compare them to the US, China, or Russia.

          • Viri4thus@feddit.org
            75·
            12 hours ago

            Oh, moving the goalposts already. First they were imaginary, now they have rookie numbers… Ok…

            • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆OP
              42·
              11 hours ago

              Nobody is moving goal posts. The scale of military industry in Europe is nowhere near what would be needed to replace the US. Expanding the industry to that scale would require an incredible amount of funding which can’t happen given the state of European economies, not to mention energy prices in Europe. The fact that you don’t understand such basic things really says volumes.

              • Viri4thus@feddit.org
                32·
                10 hours ago

                Yes yes, everyone knows the scale of military industry is measured in billions wasted spent and not in output or quality. Look at the F35s, a shining example of money well spent… The biggest problem of EU’s military Industry is that they’ve been preparing to fight a sci-fi war and forgot artillery et al are still a thing. Otherwise, not worried at all.

        • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆OP
          32·
          13 hours ago

          And they produce things on artisanal scale. Go look up what percentage of NATO military production the US accounts for.

          • Spacehooks@reddthat.comEnglish
            2·
            8 hours ago

            If they got more money, they could scale up for the contract? Might take a few years but best time to start is before you need it.

            • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆OP
              12·
              7 hours ago

              The west has been pouring billions into the military industry over the past three years and still isn’t able to meaningfully ramp up production right now. Simply pouring money into this isn’t the solution, it would take a lot of structural changes to create a functional military industry. Meanwhile, Europe is now in deep economic trouble, and diverting large parts of the budget towards military will only make domestic unrest grow as it will result in further austerity. Political stability is by far the biggest near term problem for the EU.