this post was submitted on 27 May 2025
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[–] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 26 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Its not "NATO" eying it. Its the US.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said for months he wants to see NATO countries increase their defence spending to five per cent of GDP.

I assume most other countries are against it.

[–] WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 16 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I swear I've seen figures that most of the EU have gone from <2-5% between 2015 and 2026/7, so I'm sure that includes most of NATO.

They better redirect those funds away from the US though, otherwise we really are screwed.

[–] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 12 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

The goal for the last decade was 2%, this has been reached now as you can see. So basically NATO was like "We really need 2% plz if we have 2% everything will be fine" and then as soon as all countries reach 2% they go "We really need 5% plz if we have 5% everything will be fine"

What we need isnt really that much more money, its a better strategy for how we use that money. Nationalization of industry contractors and fixed price points for bulk produced items.
At the moment the military complex is driven by the "We can ask for as much as we want because they keep giving us money" strategy. That needs to change and many other things with it like documentation and repairability of equipment.

[–] WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

Yeah, well Russia and the MAGAzi's have forced all to shoot past 2%. Restructuring takes time and money.

The figures I saw were recent and projected commitments for the next couple of years.

[–] grte@lemmy.ca 19 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

It's not especially challenging if we simply refuse. 2% is fine.

Of course the idea is that 5% of our budget goes to American weapons. Just another shakedown attempt from the wannabe gangster president.

[–] elgordino@fedia.io 12 points 1 week ago

The crazy thing is, it’s not 5% of the budget it’s 5% of GDP. Usually a government budget is somewhere around 20% of GDP. So spending 5% of GDP on NATO would mean about 25% of all government spending going on the military.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 week ago

"refuse"?

That's hypocrisy, and we're not hypocrites yet, are we?

[–] AGM@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 week ago

Puts in context all the fear mongering about China's military buildup while they're sitting at 1.7% of GDP.

[–] rumimevlevi@lemmings.world 2 points 1 week ago

Aren't the targets just recommendations. Canada should decide how much it spend based on it own needs

[–] kbal@fedia.io 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

1% is a little much. 2% is clearly excessive. 5% is ... I don't even know.

[–] kbal@fedia.io 3 points 1 week ago

If people are even taking it seriously I guess it means we won't have long to wait for world war 3.

[–] humanspiral@lemmy.ca -1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

At least we will talk tough for a few months before increasing our subjugation level to USA to over 9000.

The great prosperity of war and fascism to the rescue.

[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It's the US pulling back from NATO that's spurred this increase.

[–] humanspiral@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 week ago

No. It's appeasing trump, and his number.