NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has announced that more NATO member states than originally expected were set to fulfill the 2% target of GDP defense spending this year.
To be clear:
“NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced on Monday that 23 of its 32 member states were expected to meet the alliance’s defense spending commitments this year. That is 13 countries more compared to last year’s data, and five more than an earlier estimate in February.”
This kind of ramp up takes time to come to fruition. It’s not like we can just earmark the funds and suddenly be prepared for Russia’s future designs on the Baltics. We’ve got to (at minimum) keep them busy with Ukraine for as long as possible, and ideally get Ukraine free and clear ASAP ahead of a NATO bid. Especially as a Russian defeat would hopefully leave no opportune moment for China to take on further territorial ambitions. These things are all connected. Lot more lives on the line than most realize.
To be clear: “NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced on Monday that 23 of its 32 member states were expected to meet the alliance’s defense spending commitments this year. That is 13 countries more compared to last year’s data, and five more than an earlier estimate in February.”
This kind of ramp up takes time to come to fruition. It’s not like we can just earmark the funds and suddenly be prepared for Russia’s future designs on the Baltics. We’ve got to (at minimum) keep them busy with Ukraine for as long as possible, and ideally get Ukraine free and clear ASAP ahead of a NATO bid. Especially as a Russian defeat would hopefully leave no opportune moment for China to take on further territorial ambitions. These things are all connected. Lot more lives on the line than most realize.