BRUSSELS (AP) — In just one speech by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth this week, the most powerful member of NATO has thrown the world’s biggest military alliance into disarray, raising troubling questions about America’s commitment to European security.
Hegseth told almost 50 of Ukraine ’s Western backers on Wednesday that he had joined their meeting “to directly and unambiguously express that stark strategic realities prevent the United States of America from being primarily focused on the security of Europe.”
EU has been told since at least Obama to step up…
Germany is still slacking…
Ukraine is so fucked but Ukraine is EU issue first, so EU should be the leader in handling it.
This behavior enabled Trump and his acolytes to do this. He is able to explain to his base that EU doesn’t carry its own weight which is objectively true. Maybe EU and Germany specifically would finally take a hint.
Obama also laughed at Romney when he said Russia was a threat.
European NATO has stepped up since 2014. Only 6/29 + Germany are the ones slacking. EU has been the leader in handling the Russian invasion contributing more to Ukraine than the US has, while the US has been an unreliable ally under Biden.
That whole selfish argument also fails to recognize the benefits of defense alliances. If the US and EU defend each other instead of playing selfish games, then it becomes cheaper for BOTH OF THEM when it comes to deterring threats like Russia and China. Trump doesn’t understand this.
Trumpists live in an alternate reality where EU are lazy socialists that never manage to meet Trump’s moving goalposts, while at the same time complaining that they’re censoring fascists and racists like Orban and Momika.
The deal used to be that Europe accepts US hegemony in exchange for protection. Only a Trumper is dumb enough to think they can cancel the deal without negative consequences for themselves.
They’re still improving at least. There are ~3x as many nations meeting the 2% spending requirement over a decade ago. Here’s hoping it continues and can supplant aid to Ukraine plus fight any other claims over NATO members in the very near future.