Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel today issued a call for the European members of NATO to dramatically increase military spending, saying the alliance was in “danger” because of their failure to spend more.
Hagel cited Russia’s annexation of the Crimea, saying that “reminded NATO of its founding purpose” of containing Russian advancement into Europe, and could serve as a “clarifying moment.”
Hagel complained the other NATO nations were putting a “lop-sided burden” on the United States, which spends more than the whole rest of NATO combined, and many-fold more than Russia does.
Hagel’s comments are just the latest in a long line of calls from US officials to increase spending on the military across Europe, calls that began long before the Russian annexation of Crimea, and have only recently been spun as having anything to do with Russia.
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