frigidweirdo
Diamond Member
- Mar 7, 2014
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No, nothing means anything. The same for Trump. Trump shouts his mouth off, doesn't mean anyone listened.
So you've just destroyed your own argument.
The FACT that they said they'd increase it in 10 years, before Trump got in, and after 10 years, 23 NATO countries hit that target... a coincidence? Probably not.
But it's a hell of a better argument than "Trump got angry, and then all the NATO members shat themselves and started pumping money into their military"
Maybe 23 wouldn't have hit that target in 2024 without a kick up the ass. But that kick up the ass was not Trump. It was Putin.
Why did they decide in 2014?
Obama urges NATO to increase defence spending
US president says European NATO members should “chip in” for a credible deterrent force because “freedom isn’t free”.
"Obama urges NATO to increase defence spending"
26 Mar 2014
The annexation of the Crimea happened on the 18th March 2014.
So, Obama's saying this because of what Russia did.
Then Russia invades the Ukraine in 2022 and defense spending then increases within two years.
As opposed to Trump who shouted his mouth of a bit and didn't see results.
A closer look at Trump's years of criticizing NATO, particularly on defense spending
Trump has long been critical of NATO, the post-World War II alliance between the U.S. and many European countries, particularly over defense spending
abcnews.go.com
2016 before he was president he made some comments and in 2017 he did the same. Then he attacked Germany in 2019.
Germany spent 34 billion euros in 2014, added 1.1 billion the next year, 1.7 billion the year after when Trump first made his comments.
Are we suggesting Germany increased its budget two years in a row because they knew Trump would criticize NATO two years later?
By 2019 Germany was spending 46 billion, that's 13 billion more than it was spending in 2014.
In 2020 it added added another 4 billion, because of Trump? Doubtful, defense spending doesn't just increase the next year, you need to plan for this way in advance. Then because of the coronavirus spending increases weren't so high.
Then in 2024.... they spend an extra 23 billion. Why? Probably because they're sending money to the Ukraine. That's what a lot of this is. You send equipment to the Ukraine and money as defense spending, it appears.
Does it mean their defense is better? No, it doesn't.
