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zepheriths , (edited )

An easy fix: European nato country reach their contribution requirements and the US can downsize

CalicoJack ,

But then the Europeans would need to come up with new jokes to feel superior to Americans. Not as easy as expected.

takeda ,

It doesn’t work that way, each country spends it for themselves, NATO allows to combine the defense force.

The reason US spends so much is to maintain its status of super power and to allow us to live without having wars on its territory. For example what happened in Ukraine in 2014 and in 2022 is sobering experience that if you are militarily weak others will exploit the situation.

A lot of things that we are assuming are normal are possible because of it. For example. US naval force for example allowed to protect international waters allowing for global trade.

zepheriths ,

In 2006, NATO Defence Ministers agreed to commit a minimum of 2% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to defence spending to continue to ensure the Alliance’s military readiness.

That literally is how it works.

Source: www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_67655.htm#:~:te….

Knightfox ,

Nah, even if they did their NATO % contribution the amount would be pitifully small. When you look at most of the articles that talk about “10 Best Places to Live” it’s mostly super small population, low immigration, countries with virtually no military.

Most NATO countries are between 1-2.5% of their GDP, but that’s only ~$300 billion. The US does ~3.5% which amounts to ~$811 billion.

The other NATO countries wouldn’t just need to meet their NATO 2%, they’d need to more than triple it. Even just for the US to come down to 2% would cause a ~$348 billion decrease (more than the rest of NATO combined).

If I were a European country free riding in NATO the last thing I’d be pushing is the US to reduce military spending.

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