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> Asking NATO to pay their fair share was fair. Imposing tariffs on China because they were devaluing their currency was fair. "fair" has little relevance in g

> Asking NATO to pay their fair share was fair. Imposing tariffs on China because they were devaluing their currency was fair. "fair" has little relevance in geopolitics. Spending on military used to be politically difficult in Europe and US has so far decided to be lenient on the 2% rule since pressing the issue would achieve little but burning the relationship and thus influence. Choose your battles wisely, apply your limited political capital where it has the biggest impact. This 2% rule is likely not it. In general, the international relationships will get more transactional and "multi-polar". One probably unintentional effect is that Europe will get closer to China, not bound by loyalty to US, and thus doing more fence-sitting. (China is a much bigger concern in US than in Europe)

asdasdsddd 2y ago
Fair is when the participating countries do not meet the spending they agreed to
- The_Colonel 2y ago
  Sure, it's not fair, but that's irrelevant. The real dilemma is - will pressing this issue hard have positive or negative effects on the future US strategic position? It's not just the GDP percentage which is on the line, you can't isolate it from the rest of the relationship. I'll use an analogy from my personal life. A friend is consistently late to meet ups. It bothers me, since I'm losing time by showing up on time. It's clearly not fair. When I bring it up, he apologizes, but ultimately his lack of punctuality never changes. Now I could go hard on him - give him ultimatums, send reminders before the meetup etc. The question is - will I be able to change him and get him punctual? Is it possible I will seriously harm or even destroy the relationship by continually pressing this apparent weakness of his?
  - thunky 2y ago
    You can show up later than him. Disrespect his time the same way he disrespects yours. That would be "fair". Or, try not to work with him anymore.
    - The_Colonel 2y ago
      > You can show up later than him. Disrespect his time the same way he disrespects yours. That would be "fair". Right, it would be "fair", but would it do something good for our relationship? Perhaps it's worth a try once, but should I just keep trying to one-up (be later than) him every time? > Or, try not to work with him anymore. I think it comes down to this in the end - is the relationship worth it for you even with some faults? To me, it is, so I choose to overlook the faults.
      - thunky 2y ago
        > I choose to overlook the faults Fair enough.
- microtonal 2y ago
  You know that the vast majority of NATO countries spend according to the 2% norm this year? https://www.politico.eu/article/defense-spending-target-nato-joe-biden-jens-stoltenberg/ https://www.politico.eu/article/defense-spending-target-nato...

asdasdsddd 2y ago

Fair is when the participating countries do not meet the spending they agreed to

The_Colonel 2y ago
Sure, it's not fair, but that's irrelevant. The real dilemma is - will pressing this issue hard have positive or negative effects on the future US strategic position? It's not just the GDP percentage which is on the line, you can't isolate it from the rest of the relationship. I'll use an analogy from my personal life. A friend is consistently late to meet ups. It bothers me, since I'm losing time by showing up on time. It's clearly not fair. When I bring it up, he apologizes, but ultimately his lack of punctuality never changes. Now I could go hard on him - give him ultimatums, send reminders before the meetup etc. The question is - will I be able to change him and get him punctual? Is it possible I will seriously harm or even destroy the relationship by continually pressing this apparent weakness of his?
- thunky 2y ago
  You can show up later than him. Disrespect his time the same way he disrespects yours. That would be "fair". Or, try not to work with him anymore.
  - The_Colonel 2y ago
    > You can show up later than him. Disrespect his time the same way he disrespects yours. That would be "fair". Right, it would be "fair", but would it do something good for our relationship? Perhaps it's worth a try once, but should I just keep trying to one-up (be later than) him every time? > Or, try not to work with him anymore. I think it comes down to this in the end - is the relationship worth it for you even with some faults? To me, it is, so I choose to overlook the faults.
    - thunky 2y ago
      > I choose to overlook the faults Fair enough.
microtonal 2y ago
You know that the vast majority of NATO countries spend according to the 2% norm this year? https://www.politico.eu/article/defense-spending-target-nato-joe-biden-jens-stoltenberg/ https://www.politico.eu/article/defense-spending-target-nato...