Other NATO countries need to pay their fair share
invite response
2014 Apr 9, 3:49am 3,379 views 13 comments
Comments 1 - 13 of 13 Search these comments
Strategist
2014 Apr 9, 5:16am
APOCALYPSEFUCKisShostikovitch says
Nuke Vienna!
Worthless fucks!
That is bad, we don't need violence.
Nuke Russia. Problem solved!
That is good, we need to solve problems.
Basically, united states is being played for suckaz - it's like going out to restaurant with a group of friends and paying 70% of the group's bill time after time. Or buying a mansion with "extended family" and having to foot 70% of the housing costs.
Heraclitusstudent
2014 Apr 9, 5:39am
This is stupid.
Other countries have reasonable defense budgets relative to the risks they face...
The US, on the other hand has a imperialist budget, forcing its will onto a reluctant world through military might, and feeding a military-industrial complex with contractors making fortunes out of no bid contracts.
You make it sound like other countries are getting something out of this power while not paying for it. What? A bigger share of Iraq, or Afghanistan?
You can keep that, thank you.
You make it sound like other countries are getting something out of this
power while not paying for it. What? A bigger share of Iraq, or
Afghanistan?
You can keep that, thank you.
In geopolitics, potentiality is just as critical as actuality. Thus, it pays to have the right friends and allies. This ain't about what the nato members are getting out of iraq and afghanistan booty, it's about the fact that the implicit guaranteed protection from united states in the event of potential attack from russia, china, iran or some nuclear power "stan" results in an enormous peace dividend for them which is further magnified by the fact that they are not paying their fair share. Additionally, this lack of investment allows them to invest resources in other areas such as social welfare and safety nets and in these 2 categories they provide way more to their citizens than united states.
Heraclitusstudent
2014 Apr 9, 10:31am
results in an enormous peace dividend for them which is further magnified by the fact that they are not paying their fair share.
You're missing the point.
America invests a lot to be powerful and wields that power. This is not done as an act of charity for anyone. This is done strictly to profit the US. If you think you are doing the world a favor by dominating it, you should know no one else in the world thinks that.
This allows the US to push its agendas around the world. This allows the US to maintain the world reserve currency, get access to the resources it wants. This allows the US to have pliant allies that go to war when it decides, support the financial system it decides, barely raise their voices when they are spied upon, etc...
No American politicians would go to Europe and say "hey... you should pay us since we defend you" because they know the European answer would be "Ok, bye bye".
Instead the point argued here is strictly for American propaganda. As in: "we are doing the world a favor by spending all this money to advance our own power". No you are not. If that's what you think you are doing, then, by all means, you can stop now. It's ok.
America invests a lot to be powerful and wields that power. This is not done as
an act of charity for anyone. This is done strictly to profit the US
Agreed - the united states is not doing this out of altruistic or selfless motives. This is consistent with the fact that we are the most individualistic society in the world (not concidentally Britain is #2 and our closest ally). However, I don't think that western europeans would tell us to buzz off as casually as you are implying and if they really had moral qualms with our conduct as you are alluding then they would have told us by now that they don't need our "protection" and instead handle their own biz in a manner that's consistent with their cultural norms and values. That fact that they don't speaks volumes in it of itself and hence they should pay their fair share.
prodigy
2014 Apr 10, 2:36am
Better to push your agenda around the world, then to have russia's shoved up your ass....
results in an enormous peace dividend for them which is further magnified by the fact that they are not paying their fair share.
You're missing the point.
America invests a lot to be powerful and wields that power. This is not done as an act of charity for anyone. This is done strictly to profit the US. If you think you are doing the world a favor by dominating it, you should know no one else in the world thinks that.
This allows the US to push its agendas around the world.
FortWayne
2014 Apr 10, 6:21am
US doesn't get to push its agenda around the world, we can push little shit countries around. But anyone else can too. It's just a waste of our tax dollars that is going straight to support right wing enrichment schemes.
FortWayne
2014 Apr 10, 6:22am
Nuke Russia. Problem solved!
Problem isn't nuking them, problem is them nuking us in retaliation. And I sure as hell don't want to make planet of the apes become a reality. Because the only survivors will be the few right winger assholes hiding in some bunker with their banker buddies waiting it out, while the rest of us average folks who are going to be dying out here.
justme
2014 Apr 10, 6:36am
Nuke Russia. Problem solved!
Your joke is not just morally wrong, but also factually wrong. Look what happened after the cold war ended in 1990s: We promptly started generating new enemies and terrible wars all over the world by sending our military where it should not be. The conclusion is that making peace with one enemy does not help, and the right-wing loonies will soon find some new ones to fight with.
prodigy
2014 Apr 10, 7:34am
Already is....
Why do you hate evolution?
And I sure as hell don't want to make planet of the apes become a reality.
http://www.stripes.com/news/despite-cuts-nato-still-accounts-for-most-of-world-s-military-spending-1.269882
United States accounts for 70% of military expenditures of Nato's 28 member countries.
Unites States spends 4.1% of GDP on defense, only estonia, greece and britain spend more than "target sum" of 2% of GDP. So, 24 coutries are spending under the target.
These factors may be part of the explanation for why some of NATO counties offer more generous safety nets and benefits compared to united states. In a way, united states may be subsidzing this at the expense of our own citizens.