NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday that some alliance members would like to push others to increase military spending by setting a minimum target of 2% of a country’s gross domestic product.
“Some allies are strongly in favor of turning the 2% goal into a minimum target,” Stoltenberg told the German news agency DPA.
NATO’s goal has been for all 30 of the alliance’s members to reach the 2% mark by 2024, but few members are spending that much. According to an estimate from Britain’s lower house of parliament, the House of Commons, only nine NATO members would have reached the 2% mark in 2022, although NATO has yet to put out an official report on its members’ spending for last year.
The House of Commons estimates factors in pledges to increase military spending that were made in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as the policy of supporting Kyiv is a boon for Western arms makers.
Germany, Europe’s largest economy, announced in 2022 that it would increase military spending by $107 billion over the next five years. But German officials say they likely won’t reach the 2% GDP mark until 2025.
Some NATO members are looking to radically increase their military spending, including Poland. According to Stars and Stripes, Poland’s goal is to bring its military spending to 3% of its GDP by 2023, with a longer-term goal to reach 5%. For reference, the US, the biggest military spender in the world, dedicates about 3.5% of its GDP to its military.
I would have thought, by this point in time, we would have risen above such primitive ways…
If those countries want to bankrupt themselves, I say have at it.
Well Russia spends 70 billion a year on defense on a GDP or 1.8T almost 4%. I wonder who goes bankrupt first
They get more for their money than we do. And oil exports are profitable they make profits like our energy war profiteers.
He probably means the US, though. lol?
He probably means the US, though. lol? An aside: remember when Trump chastised the EU members for not giving their fair share and everyone gasped?
We’re all on a suicide mission.
This is no surprise. NATO exists to encourage conflict and higher military spending.
“Some allies are strongly in favor of turning the 2% goal into a minimum target,” Stoltenberg told the German news agency DPA.
Why not name those allies? Sounds more like a tactic.
“hold my beer”
…. Uncle Sam
Maybe they are anticipating the next war?
Countries above 2% should be asked to reduce. Fair is fair.
Can it get any crazier? Their economies are falling apart and Stoltenberg wants more to support the corrupt governments in Ukraine?
Would be nice to know how much he pockets, maybe not as much as Zelensky, and who knows how much von der Leyen and others made. Money, corruption is the only explanation for the lunacy of the NATO governments. How else can they talk about their non existing democratic values.
I feel like we are looking for problems instead of looking for ways to avert them. All of this money is being used to gear up for conflict and I do not see much activity to avert it… I find it deeply troubling because I believe very strongly the third World War will be our last….two World Wars and we’ve learned nothing?…………………………………………………..