Until the United States pulls out of NATO
by vermin05 (2024-02-26 12:39:56)

In reply to: Due to the sheer brilliance of Vladimir Putin  posted by sprack

Cannot Reply Return to Political

Which again, is a stated position of a presidential candidate.

It seems many of our NATO allies are sufficiently worried...
by Brahms  (2024-02-26 12:54:45)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Cannot reply

...they are getting their acts together on defense expenditures; the spate of recent donations to Ukraine are telling as well. There was an early report today of possibility of stationing NATO troops in Ukraine.

Our allies-for-now are wagering that both Putin and Trump are batshit nuts.

Good.
by krudler  (2024-02-26 13:02:06)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Cannot reply

Many of our European allies have acted more in a free rider capacity over the years, so it's good they're stepping up, even if the reason is a crazy one. Not to mention there is a limit to how much we can spend on our own defending these countries, with ~$33T of debt and China constantly threatening a Taiwan invasion.
I think it was less free-riding, and more risk assessment
by fontoknow  (2024-02-26 13:31:05)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Cannot reply

Until 2022, most of our Western European allies did not percieve a realistic threat of a land war on the continent.

Everybody reduced defense spending, including the US as a result of the collapse of the soviet union. We had 594 active navy ships in 1987. We currently have 299 deployable combat vessels. Similar declines have occured in the air force and the arm.

The creation of the euro zone, with the ECB restrictions on debt may have also contributed to the reduction of defense spending in some countries.