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> Also, while they happily spend US money Are you claiming that the EU is spending US money under NATO? This is a textbook trumpian fallacy: a gross oversimpli
by TooSmugToFail 2y ago
> Also, while they happily spend US money
Are you claiming that the EU is spending US money under NATO? This is a textbook trumpian fallacy: a gross oversimplification aimed at spinning facts so they support his false premise.
Truth is that US defense spending benefits primarily US companies and US economy.
Further to this, EU defense spending also primarily benefits US companies and US economy: 63% of it actually goes to US suppliers [1].
So Trump insisting on 2% GDP spending on defense for NATO members was a pretty effective racket: forcing them to spend more of their public budgets in the US.
Incidentally, this also benefitted EU NATO members in the context of the Europe’s developing security situation, but Trump was not interested in giving his EU partners some tough love, he simply wanted them to buy more US weapons.
Now, your claim is even worse than Trump’s false re-framing: you go even further, claiming that somehow EU (NATO?) is spending US money. This fabricates an image where poor US is somehow forced to foot the bill for entire NATO, which is false, naive, and frankly ridiculous.
In reality, NATO is effectively a US-dominated organisation. The only country to ever invoke Article 5 was US in 2001, after September 11, leading to a series of devastating wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and ultimately Syria, in which US dragged its NATO partners.
NATO exists primarily because it is in US interest. I believe it is also in the interest of European member states, but the US has been driving it because the administration knows it is in US interest. In the long term, dismantling NATO, or distancing US from it would hurt US the most.
It will lead to further strengthening of defense spending by the European countries, accelerated development of EU-specific defense structures and organisations independent of NATO, and it will give tailwinds to (dominantly French) efforts to decrease European spending on US-made systems and increase buying those built at home.
This is either yet another short-sighted populist move aimed at scoring points at home, or if it’s somehow strategic, it’s a sign of US scaling down its global ambitions, realising its waning power and influence.
[1] https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20240909-the-eu-buys-too-much-defence-equipment-from-abroad-report-says https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20240909-the-eu-buys-too-...