Shall we name and shame the NATO countries that didn’t meet the target for defence spending?
Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Turkey, and Luxembourg
USA exceeded it by a wide margin so who originally undermined the alliance is debatable.
I’m not entirely convinced the Russia-China relationship is all it seems…
USA exceeded it by a wide margin because that suited the Military Industrial Complex.
Wars also suit the Military Industrial complex.
When last was America not provoking a war somewhere?
Once upon a time they’d send drafted GIs but Vietnam put an end to that, then it became wholly volunteers only but that still pissed people off seeing Americans coming home in body bags from Iraq and all the fuss at the airports and baseball games. So then it became contractors and in Ukraine it was “bleed 'Russia down to the last Ukrainian” as that pig of a senator from South Carolina put it.
We have to have childish political and media characterisations of Putin as an irredeemably bad guy in order to manufacture consent for war.
Likewise with Maduro, Khamemi, Gadaffi, Assad and Saddam.
Soon it’ll be Xi too.
But somehow the war criminal Netanyahu (whose plane recently flew unhindered over countries bound by the Rome treaty to arrest him), the Saudi and UAE leaderships and the former public executioner in charge of Syria, are all OK.
So yeah, Europe spending more on defence would suit the military industrial complex.
just as billions to Israel to buy 1000lb bombs to incinerate people in tents suits them.
And more billions of dollars to Ukraine to buy arms suits them.
And just like with AIPAC, what the military industrial complex wants, it gets.
Focus on drug prices? AFTER HE TOOK HEALTH INSURANCE AWAY FROM OVER 70 MILLION VETERANS, PENSIONERS, HANDICAPPED, INFIRM, AND GENERALLY POOR PEOPLE TO FINANCE TAX BREAKS FOR THE SUPER-RICH???
You can’t make it up. Nobody would have thought the Americans are stupid enough to vote Trump in for a second term.
FWIW Canada has decided to spend more on defence
NOT necessarily buying US gear
NOT necessarily tying into US systems
And NOT necessarily ceding command to the US in matters related to the arctic etc
Well I doubt I’d say no one thought that
They fell for the BS the first time around and got screwed
Trump had to bail farmers out for his crazy trade war then & has to do it again
And they fell for the BS
again
As if Drill Baby Drill is going to lower gas prices
Or invading Venezuela will
Or that it will stop the flow of fentanyl into the USA
Its all distraction from the Admin having failed to live up to any promises, follow the law (like releasing the Epstein files) etc
But the sound bites sound great !
Lower prices day 1 which hasn’t happened
Stop the Ukraine war day 1 which hasn’t happened
its crazy but its why Trump says he loves the poorly educated
Europe has to be able to deal with Putin, and as the US can no longer be relied upon (on the contrary, see Greenland) as well as massive changes in warfare (see Ukraine) spending more on defence is simply necessary.
As for warmongering: no soldier wants war. THEY are the ones send to fight and die, and they are very aware of that. They see the necessity, and they do their duty, but the warmongering isn’t done by the military - it’s done by politicians and greedy bastards that don’t care how many die. So I have a problem with the polemic use of ‘the military-industrial complex’.
There’s a lot of dangerous talk about Russia. One of the most reckless being your Chancellor Merz.
Russia doesn’t want to attack Europe. On the contrary it has a history of being attacked by European powers. Bush Snr, Baker, Thatcher, Kohl and the rest of them back at the time of German reunification promised Gorbachev that if the Soviet Union didn’t stand in the way of reunification that Nato would never move eastwards one inch beyond Germany’s borders.
We all know how that worked out, culminating in Dubya’s wanting to issue a formal NATO invitation to Ukraine and Georgia at Bucharest in 2008.
The Ukraine war actually began in 2014 with the Maidan coup which the US neocons and the CIA via the NED and USAID (both CIA fronts) were behind along with their Ukrainian Banderite Nazi allies. See, for example, the released recording of the infamous phone call between the US Ambassador Pyett and Victoria Nuland in which they discussed the make up of the new Ukrainian Government before the coup had even happened.
The 80% of US Generals who move between the Pentagon and Arms manufactures in the ‘revolving door’ system can quite easily persuade themselves of the necessity of war, I’d say, not least because the US no longer sends its soldiers in any great numbers, preferring air and drone strikes and the use of contractors and foreign proxies.
I think that Canada will need to be very careful. Trump and his ilk have been emboldened by the utterly supine reaction in the West to Israel’s complete disregard for International Law in its attacks on Gaza and 7 other countries.
If puny little Israel can disregard international norms without consequence how much more so the US?
Canada was one of those spineless Western countries and now it’s discovering that with international law thrown out the window it’s just as vulnerable as Brown skinned countries always have been.
Dont think I’d call Canada spineless
Maybe quiet - sure
Did we underspend on our NATO commitment for a long time ?
You bet … and thats totally on us & our successive governments
But spineless isnt accurate
We joined WWI before the USA
WWII as well
Heck Canada declared war on Japan after Pearl Harbor BEFORE the USA did 
And every wars games & exercises the Americans are ALAYS impressed with Canada troops
Could we win an all out war against the USA ?
No
But then probably only China could as they meet or exceed the USA in industrial capacity
And we do have a decent amount of economic leverage
Good points and Canada undoubtedly had an impressive martial record in both World Wars.
But that was then.
In 1981 Margaret Thatcher condemned Israel for its attack on an Iraqi nuclear facility, explaining her position as follows:
I uphold international law. Once we go away from that, we shall not know where we are. So if any country is an aggressor, an unprovoked aggressor on another, I will condemn that country whatever that country is, and against whomsoever it operates. I believe firmly in fair dealing and fair principles, the right of each country to live at peace and security within its own borders. … If we are not going to live by a system of international law, we are going to live by international anarchy. Then no people anywhere in the world are safe
Well Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Australia and the USA (especially) have all adopted the three monkeys approach to Israel and its transgressions against international law since October 7th.
And judging by the actions now of Trump’s US it looks like Thatcher is being proved right.
By failing to defend international law they have green lit international anarchy.
What was hidden is now in plain sight. Both Stephen Miller (White House deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security advisor) and his wife have expressed the view that Greenland rightfully belongs to the US because they are stronger and can take it. It’s no coincidence in my view that they are also strong supporters of Israel
Not JUST then
we’ve been a partner of the USA in pretty much every conflict since WW II
Indeed
And citizens have protested this given how those arms are used
Personally I am ashamed of it and have let my MP know - but he’s basically the Canadian version of a republican 
Trump & his supporters definitely believe in “Might Makes Right”
I’d LOVE to see China step in & take Trump JUST for shits & giggles
Then see the shoe on the other foot
Or maybe Iran should ?
The political systems have been corrupted/captured. The same goes for the media.
When you look at the money that the super rich can make if they can determine government policy the amount of money that needs to be spent to control the politicians and the media is probably chickenfeed. Now they are working hard to do the same with social media with the purchase of TikTok by Larry Ellison.
He, the largest private donor to the IDF, has also just bought Paramount and thus CBS.
The problem with TikTok was never the Chinese, it was free speech.
I don’t know about the USA but in the UK victims of a sex crime have the right to anonymity so I’d expect all the documents would need to be reviewed / redacted to ensure that before being made public.
Israel faces an existential threat from the explicitly stated genocidal intentions of at least 3 of its neighbours. It’s “Iron Dome” exists to protect it from exactly that.
Iran has a countdown clock to the day it states Israel will no longer exist and if they ever got a nuclear weapon it’s not infeasible they would use it for that purpose.
Playing nice didn’t work out great for Lebanon, did it?
Your Answer has nothing to do with this. In real America is doing something what makes the problems much bigger looking on Taiwan and also the Ukraine. What this has to do with the payment of Nato member states? Nothing. Absolutely NOTHING.
But this move with the president of a foreign country and the following: we, the USA will be the ones which tell you what you will do and what not isn’t the right way. It was not working in Iraq and it will also not really work here.
May be that you are not convinced. That changes nothing at the end. When and if America tries to protect Taiwan what would really be in their national security interest it will not be so that China will accept that. I do strongly believe that China will do anything they can against it. And I will see what will be happened when and if there is the first aircraft carrier sinking. For example the Gerold R. Ford with 4500 American Soldiers on Board? And what if the next one is also sinking?
This would directly lead into the third world war. And Trump isn’t the guy which will winf any kind of a diplomatical solution with China. He is the one which is believing that America is untouchable. This War he can’t really win. While US needs for example Aircraft Carriers for Taiwans protection China does not while they are close enough to reach the Island of Taiwan with their Jets.
That makes a big problem. As they (the Chineese Army) have high precise weapons and many of them, they even have hypersonic rockets, they could come to the conclusion that the aircraft carriers should sink. That would make a big problem. Americas power would be destroyed in seconds.
And yes, we can believe that they will protext the ships from chineese rockets. But as they have so many of them they can send many of them in one time. That could lead in overloading of the air defense. That would result in hits of Chineese rockets on American Air Carriers. And believe it or not: one of their Hypersonic Rockets could be the end of the Ship.
As this is like we got now a really dangerous game Trump is the most dangerous guy to play it. As the nuclear option is on both sides available in form of intercontinental rockets. That makes this game extremely dangerous. And yes, America has no real protection against. So we will see what happens. I have no good vision when thinking about Trump acting with China while he thinks that China has no chance against America while America is untouchable.
We will see what the future will bring for us.
American politics certainly
Media has different require emts in different countries so it can be worse in some that others
The FCC dropping the fairness doctrine in the late 1980’s simply fed the polarization of the media that we see in full effect today
Plus owners have capitulated (WaPo, CBS, etc)
Absolutely
And their super rich owners
Hence why independent media is vital
Wasnt aware that the UK’s laws applied to the USA
Now the Act that compels the release DOES say that victims names must be redacted the DoJ has been redacting possible accomplices names as well
