Pentagon Renews Efforts to Boost European Defense Spending at NATO Summit

© Sputnik / Anton Denisov / Go to the mediabankCities of the world. Warsaw
Cities of the world. Warsaw - Sputnik International
Subscribe
Defense spending will most likely be a major topic at NATO's upcoming summit in Warsaw. The United States has already indicated that it will renew its efforts to convince the bloc's European allies to boost their contributions to the budget, but these calls might largely fall "upon deaf ears," as defense analyst Dave Majumdar described it.

"Convincing America's NATO allies to meet minimum defense spending targets remains a vexing problem and solving it has eluded previous US administrations – Republican and Democratic alike," he observed.

Soldiers from NATO countries attend an opening ceremony of military exercise 'Saber Strike 2015', at the Gaiziunu Training Range in Pabrade some 60km.(38 miles) north of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, Monday, June 8, 2015 - Sputnik International
World
Debunking of 'Russia's Myths About NATO' is Nothing but Hot Air
True, only five countries, the US, Greece, Poland, the UK and Estonia, met the 2-percent threshold last year. France, Turkey, Germany and Canada spent between 1 and 1.8 percent of their GDP on defense, with Italy spending 0.95 percent.

This is not the whole story. In absolute terms, the US spent more than 665 billion in 2015, more than all the other NATO members combined. The next largest contribution came from Great Britain, whose defense budget amounted to nearly 60 billion last year. For comparison: France spent nearly 44 billion, while Germany – 39.7 billion.

Soldiers park their amphibious vehicles on a ship as they participate in a massive amphibious landing during NATO sea exercises BALTOPS 2015 that are to reassure the Baltic Sea region allies in the face of a resurgent Russia, in Ustka, Poland, Wednesday, June 17, 2015 - Sputnik International
Steinmeier's Comments on NATO's 'Warmongering' Spark Firestorm
Needless to say, Washington has not been happy with its allies for not sharing the burden.

In June 2011, Robert Gates, who served as the US defense chief at the time, famously called NATO a "two-tiered alliance" that comprises those, who provide funds and conduct combat missions, and those, who enjoy the benefits, but do not contribute. For Gates, this situation was unacceptable.

Although it might look like nothing has changed since then, NATO's 2014 summit in Wales became a watershed moment for the bloc when leaders and not only defense ministers said they were committed to the 2-percent goal.

"Many European states – as of last year – have stopped cutting their defense outlays and have started to slowly boost their spending," Majumdar noted, citing an unnamed senior NATO diplomat. "After more than two decades of defense cut backs, NATO's defense budgets stopped shrinking last year and have started to increase with 1.5 percent growth per annum."

It follows then that the bloc's officials have finally found a tactic that works, namely overhyping the non-existent threat emanating from Russia. For its part, Moscow has expressed concerns with NATO's increasingly aggressive behavior that is detrimental to European security and stability.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала